A flock of red-crowned cranes gather at a rare bird national nature reserve in Yancheng, east China’s Jiangsu Province. (Photo/Qi Xiaoyun)

Millions of migratory birds have come to winter at a rare bird national nature reserve in Yancheng, east China’s Jiangsu Province, since the beginning of winter. Dozens of varieties of birds have stayed, lived and foraged at the site.

The Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of the Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf (Phase I) in Yancheng was inscribed on the World Heritage List as a natural site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2019. It is China’s first and the world’s second world natural heritage site of coastal wetlands.

As an important part of the Yellow Sea wetland in Yancheng, the nature reserve mainly preserves rare wild animals including red-crowned cranes as well as the intertidal mudflat ecosystem that sustains them.