CCTV News: According to the WeChat official account of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration, on April 18, the results of the recently completed simultaneous survey on wintering of green-headed ducks in China showed that the population of green-headed ducks in my country reached 2,555, a doubling of 1,000 in 2012; 16 important habitats were identified. This survey fully grasped the population information of the green-headed duck for the first time, and objectively reflected the effectiveness of population protection.
Qingtou diving duck feeds ducklings Photo by Zhou Xingwu
Qingtou diving duck is a national first-class protected wild animal. It is listed as a critically dangerous species by the "World Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Endangered Species". It is one of the most popular key bird species in the East Asia-Australia migration zone. This species was once widely distributed in East Asia, Southeast Asian countries and the Russian Far East. Since the 20th century, the population has decreased dramatically due to habitat loss and illegal hunting. At present, the green-headed duck is mainly distributed in my country, and in recent years, there have been only a small number of individuals in other countries.
According to the survey results, the green-headed ducks in my country are distributed in 76 overwintering habitats. Among them, there are 16 habitats with more than 30, totaling 2,136, accounting for 83.6% of the total. Among the overwintering habitats of green-headed ducks, lake wetlands are the main type, accounting for 71.51% of all types of habitats, followed by river wetlands and reservoir ponds. At the same time, the survey also found that the overwintering habits of green-headed ducks are different from traditional cognition. They prefer abandoned fish ponds and small and medium-sized lakes with small and medium-sized lakes with small and abundant vegetation, showing a clear trend of agglomeration and distribution.
Flying green-headed duck Photo by Ye Yuanxing
The National Forestry and Grassland Administration attaches great importance to the protection of birds such as greenheaded ducks. In recent years, it has issued the "National Action Plan for the Protection of Bird Migration Channels (2021-2035)" and the "China Action Plan for the Protection and Restoration of Migratory Birds' Flying Channels (2024-2030)", and announced the "List of Important Habitats for Land Wildlife (First Batch)", guiding all localities to steadily promote the construction of important habitats for nature reserves and wildlife, carry out habitat protection and restoration, strengthen scientific research support, carry out investigation and monitoring, strengthen patrols and guards, absorb private forces to participate in protection actions, and effectively promote the fundamental improvement of the protection and management of migratory birds such as greenheaded ducks. In the next step, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration will deepen the application of investigation results, further improve the construction of the monitoring system, continue to increase the protection of green-headed ducks and their key distribution areas, and promote new developments in the protection of wild animals such as migratory birds in my country.
This investigation innovatively adopts a government-led, departmental linkage and private participation. The State Forestry and Grassland Administration established the China Green Head Duck Protection and Monitoring Working Group, and jointly carried out a synchronous survey on green head duck overwintering with 57 units. The survey scope includes 21 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in my country where green-headed ducks are distributed overwintering, with a total of 212 habitats. The survey results of the number, distribution status of the population of green-headed ducks in my country, as well as important overwintering habitats and threatened factors, will provide a scientific basis for the next step of population protection.
