On 16 May, China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) established China Conservation Area for egret at Qinglongshan (CCAfa), to work with the conservation site staff to protect the biodiversity of Qinglongshan.

There is a Qinglongshan (Green Dragon Mountain) in the southwest of Jinan City, Shandong Province. Here the forest is dense, sparsely populated, every spring, summer, autumn, you can see thousands of egrets breed in this habitat. The number remains in excess of ten thousand year-round. According to experts, this is the largest known breeding ground in the north for egrets. They usually nest in the dense woods of the mountains. Thousands of small egrets are born there every year.

As urbanization continues to expand, hundreds of tall buildings have been built around the area, and the foraging grounds on which the egrets depend: wetlands, rice fields, lakes, are eroded and encroached upon year by year. The food on which the egrets depend: fish, shrimp, crab, clams, frogs, etc. have been drastically reduced, making it extremely difficult foraging. What's more, the original foraging ground is getting further and further away from the breeding ground, and the flight distance of each foraging has been extended from the initial few hundred meters to more than 20 kilometers today. Because of the need to breed young birds, adult egrets frequently and extremely fly hard every day to and from the Yellow River wetlands 20 miles away, encountering wind and rain is twice as difficult. According to statistics, up to 70% of young birds die every year due to lack of food.

In order to better protect the environment and habitat of Qinglongshan, CBCGDF established this CCAfa site, actively promote caring people's efforts to rescue the egrets, to popularize expertise knowledge the bird lovers, and jointly protect this part of common home of egrets.

(Photo credit: CBCGDF CCAfa)

Original Chinese article:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4855/9031.html

By / Niu Jingmei