Winter adds a sense of tranquility and vastness to the wetlands, making the red-crowned cranes stand out even more elegantly.

It is currently peak season for wintering birds. Located on the coast of the Yellow Sea, the Yancheng Wetland Rare Birds National Nature Reserve in east China's Jiangsu Province is the country's largest coastal nature reserve and a vital habitat along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, one of the world's nine major bird migration routes. Every year, during this period, it welcomes millions of visitors from afar.

From November to March, 400 to 600 wild red-crowned cranes choose to spend the winter there, where they frolic, forage and soar.

Crane story, her story 

Wetlands are the foundation for the survival of red-crowned cranes. "Cranes, especially red-crowned cranes, have high requirements for their habitat," Su Liying, an ornithologist from the International Crane Foundation, told Beijing Review. Su has been researching cranes for over 40 years. In Su's opinion, to protect red-crowned cranes, one must first understand the importance of their habitat. "Efforts in crane conservation are focused on protecting their habitats, which will remain a challenging task in the future," she said.

Restoring the ecological environment and protecting wetland birds require the dedicated efforts of many people over many years—Su is just one of them. After graduating from a wildlife conservation program, Su began working at the Zhalong National Nature Reserve in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, the largest breeding ground for wild red-crowned cranes in China, in the early 1980s.

In her view, this experience has provided her with extensive field knowledge. "A part of biology and ecology is empirical science. Without sufficient observation and field experience, one's understanding of theory would be superficial, and profound thinking cannot be inspired," Su said. Meeting many outstanding ornithologists, ecologists and conservation experts, both domestically and internationally, has been central in broadening her professional horizons.

Su conducted field surveys in multiple red-crowned crane breeding grounds for 18 years, monitoring their population dynamics and understanding their habitat status. Meanwhile, she organized volunteers at different locations along the flyway of the red-crowned crane migration to conduct synchronized surveys and conducted a walking cross Zhalong Marsh survey, which focuses on the birds, plants and hydrology annually.

"Changing the hydrological characteristics of wetlands has a substantial impact on the integrity of their ecosystems. Addressing this issue requires the joint efforts of scientists and the assistance, understanding and acceptance of people from all segments of society," Su said.

The red-crowned crane is a migratory bird that lives in different places throughout the year due to seasonal changes. To protect red-crowned cranes, China has established a network of protected areas. "When I used to take the train [from one location to another], people often asked me what I did for a living. When I answered that I worked in wildlife conservation, many would be skeptical," Su recalled. In those days, people didn't have as much awareness about wildlife conservation as they do now. "Now, when people hear about my job, they all say it's great," Su added.

In Su's view, science popularization should start with the younger generations. By increasing curiosity and encouraging and helping the public to understand nature, they will naturally grow to like and cherish it, or at least not harm it.

The power of the younger generation is also becoming evident, as more and more people are joining the effort to protect red-crowned cranes. Last summer, Zhang Xuan, a student from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Jiangsu, along with 12 other students from the same university, formed a Gen Z Red-Crowned Crane Protection Group. In August 2024, they embarked on a week-long social practice activity to protect red-crowned cranes at the nature reserve in Yancheng.

The red-crowned crane symbolizes auspiciousness, happiness, health, longevity and fidelity in love in traditional Chinese culture. But they receive less attention than giant pandas and other first-class nationally protected animals. Zhang said he hopes that the actions of their protection group will draw more people's attention to these wetland fairies.

"Young people today have better conditions than our generation. They have their own ideals and I believe they will go further than us. Those of us who are ahead should facilitate them by building platforms, promoting exchange and create opportunities," Su said.

A bridge 

On October 28, 2023, Gavin Newsom, Governor of California, visited Yancheng, and toured the rare bird nature reserve there. At that time, a red-crowned crane with the identification number YC224 captivated the delegation with its elegant posture and composed stride. Later, the crane was given the name California, and it also received a new identification number CA, making it the only red-crowned crane in the Yancheng reserve with dual identification numbers.

Subsequently, crane lovers opened an overseas social media account in the name of California to share snippets of the bird's life with its friends, which has garnered much attention from followers.

On November 7, the 2024 China (Shanghai) Operations Conference, organized by the U.S.-China Business Council, took place in Shanghai. During the conference, experts, scholars and member companies engaged in in-depth discussions on topics including China-U.S. relations and climate cooperation. During the conference, California the crane made a delightful appearance via video link.

Staff from the Yancheng nature reserve expressed their delight at seeing the red-crowned crane garner so much attention and affection from social media. They vowed to continue safeguarding the ecological home of the red-crowned cranes and said they eagerly anticipated netizens worldwide joining efforts to protect red-crowned cranes and other bird species in the future.

The visiting migratory birds at the tidal flats have bridged China and the rest of the world both online and offline. Among the nine major bird migration flyways in the world, the East Asian-Australasian Flyway is the busiest. At its core, the Yancheng coastal wetlands serve as the wintering grounds for between 200,000 and 300,000 migratory birds annually, and the stopover for more than 3 million others, including 17 endangered species.

In an article written last year, Su wrote, "Upon closer reflection, aren't the drifting ice floes on the sea, the plants thriving in the wetlands and the cranes soaring through the sky all emissaries connecting the world?"

The cranes follow an invisible ancient route for their migrations, repeating the cycle endlessly. Their persistence is a result of millions of years of natural evolution, where they pass on this flowing from generation to generation, supporting them in perpetuating this natural cycle and connecting one end of the world to the other.

Today, thanks to over three decades of unwavering efforts by scientists from multiple countries, people know much more about these connections through banding and improved satellite and GPS transmitters for tracking cranes.

"We know that these cranes link one place to another, one group of people to another and one nation to another," Su wrote in her article. "They are not just symbols of beauty and messengers of friendship; they are also carriers of material connections across regions." BR

Copyedited by G.P. Wilson

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