The CBCGDF CCA for Oriental Stork at Tianjin Established, Guarding Migratory Birds’ Migration Fortress
2019/11/26 13:44:00 本站

In order to further protect the throat on the main migration route of Oriental stork, on November 23, staff of China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) went to Tianjin in person. After many emergency consultations with local environmental protection volunteers who have been engaged in Oriental stork protection work for a long time, they decided to establish the China Conservation Area for Oriental Stork at Tianjin (CCAfa). The Conservation Area not only protects the habitat of Oriental storks in Tianjin but also protects Oriental storks in the Caofeidian nature reserve of Tangshan. Jia Jinting, a senior bird protection volunteer, served as the director of the China Conservation Area.

 

The Oriental stork is a large wading bird, which is endangered birds in the world. At present, there are only about 4000 birds in China. They like to wade in marshes, pond's edge, coastal beaches, and other wetlands, looking for small fish and shrimp for food. Since ancient times, Tianjin has been an important food supply station for large migratory birds such as Oriental stork, which has immeasurable social, economic and ecological value. However, in recent decades, under the influence of human activities and natural factors, the wetland landscape in Tianjin has changed a lot, the wetland area is shrinking, the ecological function is declining, which restricts the development of the regional economy. At the same time, it seriously affects the habitat change of wetland birds and greatly interferes with the migration and reproduction of wetland birds.

 

Because some reserves in Tianjin maintained a deeper water level after recovering the fishponds from fishermen this year but did not raise fish, a large number of Oriental storks had no place to look for food, only fly to the private fishponds outside the Tianjin reserve, or in the area of Caofeidian reserve further away. In November 2012, the Oriental storks in the Beidagang wetland nature reserve of Tianjin were poisoned during the migration, which attracted the attention of the society. "The protection of migratory birds involves complicated reasons, including poaching risks and management deficiencies. The phenomenon of birds competing for food with people has always existed. What we can do is to protect migratory birds as much as we can," said Director Jia. It is urgent to explore a long-term and effective protection mechanism for the Oriental storks.


http://file.cbcgdf.org/T18/O125/image/20191122/20191122103832_3756.png

(Photo credit: CBCGDF volunteer)


Original Chinese article:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4855/10534.html


By / Li Xue