Black-necked cranes play with water in Yunnan. [Yunnan.cn]

Black-necked cranes march in a snowfield in Yunnan. [Yunnan.cn]

Black-necked cranes spend winter in Yunnan. [Yunnan.cn]

Black-necked cranes in Yunnan increase in number. [Yunnan.cn]

[InKunming--Yunnan]  Black-necked crane, also called "giant panda in birds" for its exiguity, is ranked as one of the First Class National Protected Animals in China. They live in low altitude of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in summer and autumn, and used to spend winter and spring at the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau.

Black-necked crane is the latest one to be recorded by scientists among 15 kinds of cranes in the world, as well as the only species which live in plateaus all the year round. Population of black-necked crane is around 8,000 at present, yet 95 percent of them are distributed in China.

Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Lijiang City, Zhaotong City and Qujing City are the 4 main habitats of black-necked crane in Yunnan. Data showed that the number of black-necked cranes in the 8 habitats had slowly increased in past years in 2 reasons. One reason is that Yunnan has devoted great effort on recovery and protection of wet lands, the other reason is that residents of Yunnan has stronger awareness in protecting black-necked cranes than before. Yunnan’s 8 black-necked cranes habitats has launched a series of protection measures, such as recovering wet lands to expand the habitat of black-necked cranes, banning fishing for providing enough food for black-necked cranes, etc.

Black-necked cranes have attracted crowds of visitors every winter. Here are the 8 famous black-necked crane habitats in Yunnan:

Dashanbao (大山包) of Zhaotong City

Dashanbao is the biggest black-necked crane habitat in the world. Number of black-necked cranes last year reached 1,364, accounting for one fifth of black-necked cranes all around the world.

Dashanbao is located at Zhaotong City, and is about 410 kilometers away from Kunming. The best time period to admire black-necked cranes there is from December to March in the next year.

Huize County of Qujing City

Huize Black-necked Crane Nature Reserve has two areas, namely the Daqiao (大桥) and Changhaizi (长海子). The nature reserve attracts thousands of waterfowl in all species to spend winter every year. Last year, around 800 black-necked cranes were recorded there.

The nature reserve is about 250 kilometers away from Kunming. The best time period to admire black-necked cranes in Huize is around the Spring Festival. Number of black-necked cranes there this year is expected to exceed that of last year.

Dahaizi Wetland (大孩子湿地) of Zhaotong City

Dahaizi Wetland is located at Yong’an Village (永安村), Maolin Town (茂林镇), Yongshan County (永善县), Zhaotong City. A total of 283 black-necked cranes spent winter there last year.

Black-necked crane ranger feeds them from 14:00 every day, which is suitable time for visitors to take photos. The best visit time period usually lasts until April.

Lashihai Wetland (拉市海湿地) of Lijiang City

The wetland is only 8 kilometers from urban Lijiang City. It is crowned as the paradise of migrant birds, since more than one hundred thousand migrant birds spend winter there. Last winter, 280 black-necked cranes were recorded in the wetland.

The best visit time to see black-necked cranes there lasts from the middle of December to April of the next year.

Napahai (纳帕海) of Shangri-La

Napahai is renowned as the most beautiful black-necked crane protection zone in China’s Tibetan area. Besides black-necked crane, other 160 wild birds also live in the wetland.

It is around 670 kilometers away from Kunming. The best observation time is from November to April of the next year.

The first batch of black-necked cranes had arrived there on October 4. The number had added up to 162 until November 6 and is still increasing.

Dahaizi (大海子) of Qiaojia County

Altogether 195 black-necked cranes spent winter in Dahaizi of Qiaojia County, Zhaotong City.

Best time period to observe black-necked cranes is around 7:00 in the morning and around 19:00 at night. Visitors can dial 13649684156 to Dong Fazhi (董发知), the black-necked crane ranger there, to consult more details.

Daxiantang Wetland (大陷塘湿地) of Yongshan County

Daxiantang Wetland is located at Baiyun Village (白云村), Wuzhai Town (伍寨乡), Yongshan County of Zhaotong City. The recorded number of black-necked cranes there in last winter is 126.

Best observation time is around 12:00 in the winter. Visitors can also dial 18287049698 to Li Huaishun (李怀顺), the black-necked crane ranger there, to consult more details.

Kongjiaying Village (孔家营村) of Qiaojia County (巧家县)

Last year, 86 black-necked cranes spent winter in Kongjiaying Village, Qiaojia County, Zhaotong City.

Visitors can dial 15240875403 to Kong Depin (孔德品), the black-necked crane ranger there, to consult more details.

Click here to view Chinese report.

(Editors: Tracy, Cathy Chen)