Over 115,000 birds winter in China's second-largest freshwater

More than 115,000 migratory birds including the lesser white-fronted goose, one of the most endangered bird species, passed the winter in central China's Dongting Lake, according to a local nature reserve.

Dongting Lake, located in central China's Hunan Province, is the second-largest freshwater lake in the country.

The east Dongting Lake national nature reserve administration said they spotted 12,428 lesser white-fronted geese this winter, a significant increase compared with 10,779 last winter.

Yao Yi, chief engineer of the administration, said that there are fewer than 35,000 lesser white-fronted geese currently in the world, indicating that east Dongting Lake has become one of the most important wintering places for the species.

The improvement of the ecological environment of Dongting Lake in recent years has led to a better habitat for the endangered species, and the nature reserve has played a role in protecting the reproduction and survival of this globally endangered bird, Yao added.

The management departments of Dongting Lake organized nine teams to carry out research on the species and a number of waterbirds between March 16 and 17. The overwintering waterbirds are ready to leave the wetlands in Dongting Lake and travel to the Yellow River basin areas for summer, according to Yao.