The lush mangrove forest on Qi'ao Island in Tangjiawan has become a haven for hundreds of thousands of birds migrating south for the winter.

Droves of pied avocets, common greenshanks, and marsh sandpipers can be spotted in the shallows of the mangrove forest, while great and white egrets and Chinese pond herons have berths on the branches. 

Birds fly over lush mangrove forest [Photo by Zhong Fan, He Kehong & Lan Yuxing / Zhuhai Daily]

In the open water of Dawei Bay on the outskirts of the forest are thousands of northern shovelers, tufted and falcate ducks, and Eurasian wigeons resting, frolicking, and fishing. Black-headed gulls can be spotted in Powan Bay.

Part of the Qi'ao-Dangan Island Provincial Nature Reserve, the Qi'ao mangrove forest conservation area is on northwestern Qi'ao Island. It is situated along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway – one of nine major migratory routes recognized globally. A 500-hectare (1,236-acre) mangrove forest and wide-stretch mud flats of 5,104 hectares (12,612 acres) make it an ideal habitat for migratory birds every October to April. The reserve was hence chosen as one of the Top 10 Birdwatching Sites in Guangdong Province in 2018.

A growing number of black-faced spoonbills have been tallied in the reserve: three in 2019, 18 in 2020, and 20 in 2021. The species has been listed as a first-class protected animal in China's Catalogue of Wildlife under State Key Protection and recognized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as Endangered.

The increasingly improved ecology environment reflects the reserve's success in ecological restoration and resource monitoring and protection.