Migratory birds to face starvation in winter haven

Migratory birds that are wintering at Dongting, China's second largest fresh water lake, may struggle to find food as water levels rise due to the worst winter floods in a decade, authorities warned.

The water level was more than 26 meters high on Friday, up four meters over the average for the same period in previous years. If the water keeps rising, many wetlands that provide food for birds will be flooded, said Zhao Qihong, head of the Eastern Dongting Lake Nature Reserve Administration.

Xu Yongxin, an official with the forestry department of central China's Hunan Province, said migratory birds began to arrive in Dongting lake in mid-October.

Spread over the central-lower Yangtze Plain, Dongting Lake is an ideal habitat for winter birds. Every year, more than 100,000 birds winter here.

Zhao said flocks are flying toward the lake. The nature reserve management is actively trying to store food. If the flood continues, and the temperature continues to drop, they will distribute grain.

Rare winter floods have ravaged Hunan since early November, affecting hundreds of thousands of people and damaging houses and farmland. Endi