On February 4, the staff of the Management Center of Changli Coastal National Nature Reserve in Hebei Province found that 15 black-billed gulls, a national first-class key protected bird, were foraging on the tidal flats of the Qilihai Lagoon wetland. This is also the highest number of black-billed gulls recorded in a single day for wintering in the wetland.
The black-billed gull, a national first-class key protected bird, inhabits the Qilihai Lagoon wetland. Photo by Liu Xun.
It is understood that there are 44 species of seagulls of the same kind as black-billed gulls in the world, and there are less than 2,000 black-billed gulls in the world, mainly inhabiting coastal flats, swamps and estuarine areas, which are vulnerable species (VU) in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and a first-class key protected bird in China's "List of National Key Protected Wild Animals". As an indicator species, the black-billed gull is extremely sensitive to the ecological environment.
Qilihai Lagoon Wetland is one of the main protection objects of Changli Coastal National Nature Reserve in Hebei Province, located in the East Asian-Australasian migratory bird migration zone, and is an important stopping place and feeding place for many migratory birds.
The black-billed gull, a national first-class key protected bird, inhabits the Qilihai Lagoon wetland. Photo by Liu Xun.
In recent years, two phases of the "Wetland Ecological Restoration Project" of Qilihai Lagoon have been implemented in the area to expand the lake area, strengthen the water exchange capacity in the lake, improve water quality, create a variety of wetland ecological environments suitable for birds, provide rich food sources and habitats for birds, and improve the ecological service function of the wetland.
Since 2021, more than 5,000 meters of physical separation fences have been built around the lagoon, and human activities have been effectively curbed.
In order to further protect the safety of the wetland and create a "bird paradise", the reserve has built a multi-element monitoring system, which improves the accuracy of observation through the monitoring platform, increases the frequency of field surveys of birds in the wild, and combines the observation feedback of bird protection volunteers.
Up to now, a total of 204 species of birds of 19 orders, 48 families have been recorded in the Qilihai Lagoon Wetland, including 16 species of birds under national first-class protection, 37 species of birds under national second-class protection, and all crane species on the migration route in eastern China have been recorded. At present, in addition to black-billed gulls, there are also white-headed cranes, white-tailed sea eagles, gray cranes, mute swans and other national key protected birds that wintering in the Qilihai Lagoon.