Rare varieties observed at Hainan Bird Watching Festival

The two-day Fifth Hainan Bird Watching Festival and the First Xinying Bird Watching Competition concluded on March 25. 

Eighteen teams from inside and outside of Hainan province observed 97 varieties of birds at the Xinying Mangrove National Wetland Park, including rare species of black-faced spoonbill, pied harrier, water cock, Chinese egret, spoon-billed sandpiper and greater painted snipe. 

The winning team, which found 57 bird species, is from Beihai in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. 

The activity aimed to popularize natural science and promote ecological protection consciousness among the public. 

It was sponsored by the Hainan Wildlife Protection Management Bureau and jointly organized by the Xinying Mangrove National Wetland Park, the Hainan Wetland Protection Project of UNDP-GEF, the China Mangrove Conservation Network, and the Hainan Bird Watching Society. 

The forest coverage rate in Hainan is 61.9 percent. Plants grow at a rapid pace over the mountains of Wuzhi, Jianfeng, Bawang, Diaoluo and Limu. The ideal environment also makes Hainan a paradise to over 500 species of terrestrial vertebrates, including 37 kinds of amphibians, 104 kinds of reptiles, 344 kinds of birds and 82 varieties of mammals.