With the imminent development of the Bai Niao Hu (White Bird Lake) New Area in Urumqi, Xinjiang, how to protect the lake within the new area—crucial for safeguarding the globally endangered white-headed duck—is one of the most pressing concerns among bird enthusiasts and ecological conservationists nationwide these days.
On the afternoon of August 9th, at Room C101 of the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Nature University’s School of Birds and Beasts was honored to host a roundtable discussion with local birdwatcher Xirui from Xinjiang, conservation law advocate Xie Yan, Li Li from the Black Leopard Wildlife Protection Station—a grassroots NGO—and Xinjiang ecologist Ma Ming, as well as Zhang Yaodong, a volunteer from the Xinjiang Bird Association. The common goal was to formulate a protection plan for Bai Niao Hu as soon as possible and submit it to the Urumqi municipal government and forestry authorities. The aim is to establish a nature reserve for the white-headed duck at Bai Niao Hu in Xinjiang, thereby preserving this rare species. This initiative may also serve as a live case study for improving China’s protected area management system.
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(The white-headed duck primarily breeds in the southeastern part of European Russia, western Siberia, and sporadically in northwestern Mongolia, certain areas near the Black Sea in Europe, southern Italy and Spain, as well as the northwestern corner of Africa. In China, it breeds in the Alatau Mountains in northwestern Xinjiang, with the Altay Shan Alashankou area being one of the observed migratory routes. Photo by Xirui)
White-headed Duck: A Globally Endangered Species Still Not Nationally Protected
There’s no doubt that this snow-white-headed waterbird with a sky-blue bill is eye-catching enough to attract any birder. Zhang Yaodong, a member of the Xinjiang Birdwatching Association, recalls how he was drawn to this peculiar dabbling duck and quickly snapped photos of it in mid-May 2007 at a small reservoir wetland on the outskirts of Urumqi, the regional capital.
After identification by experts from the bird association, this wild duck with a “Donald Duck”-like bill turned out to be the white-headed duck—an extremely rare species listed by WWF as one of the globally endangered birds and also included in China’s Red List of Threatened Animals. Over the past decade, there have only been scattered sightings in China, all confined to Xinjiang, with no confirmed breeding records.
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(In recent years, media reports about the destruction of Bai Niao Hu, the habitat of the white-headed duck, and the sharp decline in its breeding population have made the species widely known. Photo by Xirui)
Why is breeding so important? According to data from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the global population of white-headed ducks is only between 2,500 and 10,000 individuals, having declined by 60% overall. Successful breeding is crucial for the survival of the species, making every breeding habitat especially vital to protect.
In June 2007, Wen Zhimin, a member of the Xinjiang Birdwatching Association, observed 14 white-headed ducks at the sewage reservoir in Kuytun City, northern Xinjiang—six adults (three males and three females) and eight juveniles. In the same year, Zhang Yaodong recorded the largest known group of white-headed ducks in China at Bai Niao Hu, a wetland 14 kilometers from downtown Urumqi, consisting of 45 individuals including adult males, females, and juveniles, filling a gap in the species’ breeding records in China.
Based on years of monitoring, Zhang Yaodong and other local birdwatchers in Xinjiang have summarized the following: every year from mid-May, white-headed ducks arrive at these very few observation sites in northwestern Xinjiang and stay until mid-October. They nest in dense but secluded reed beds and bays, sharing the habitat with moorhens and mallards. The hatching and brooding period occurs between May and June, with chicks usually first appearing around mid-June. After hatching, the female duck leads the chicks away from the nest to forage and swim, but they generally stay close to the reeds, with broods numbering 1–5 chicks. In the later stages of brooding (usually after early August), white-headed duck families gradually begin to group together and prefer larger open waters away from the shore, mixing with other waterfowl. This is when the distinct presence of females, males, and juveniles becomes more apparent.
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(As the white-headed duck has gained more attention, more birdwatchers from various regions have contributed sighting data, including enthusiasts from inland China. However, this year’s statistics are not optimistic—only two males, one female, and 11 chicks have been recorded so far. Photo by Xirui)
But Zhang Yaodong says that since then, no observation site has seen a group with chicks reaching the size of the 2007 Bai Niao Hu group. Moreover, among the four currently known distribution points of the white-headed duck—two natural water bodies and two sewage pools in northwestern Xinjiang—two have been completely abandoned. Of the remaining two active breeding sites, one is in the natural wetland of Bai Niao Hu in western Urumqi, and the other is a sewage pool in nearby Kuytun City, but both situations are not optimistic.
Ma Ming, an ornithologist from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, told us via phone: he had just visited Bai Niao Hu twice recently. On the second visit, he didn’t see any ducks; on the first, he only spotted one male. The reason is simple—human disturbance is too high. People are swimming and boating in Bai Niao Hu...
Before Ma Ming could finish, the image of a male duck being harassed and bullied in the middle of the lake immediately came to the author’s mind. This is also reflective of the legal protection status of the white-headed duck in China. In today’s list of protected wildlife in China, the white-headed duck is still classified as a “Class III protected animal,” not a national-level protected species. There is still no legally recognized nature reserve in China dedicated to protecting the habitat of the white-headed duck.
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(The peak number of white-headed duck breeding groups recorded at Bai Niao Hu reached 45, but has since plummeted, dropping to just five in 2010. Across all of Xinjiang and China, there are only four confirmed distribution sites, two of which have been completely abandoned. Photo by Zhang Yaodong)
Bai Niao Hu: The Future Urban Lake—How to Protect It?
Xirui is a resident birdwatcher in Xinjiang who has visited nearly every birding spot in the region since 2006. He says there are many ponds and wetlands with fish and shrimp in Xinjiang, but no lake has consistently attracted the white-headed duck like Bai Niao Hu.
Located in the western suburbs of Xinjiang, 14 kilometers from downtown Urumqi, Bai Niao Hu is a natural wetland covering only 1.1 square kilometers, surrounded by mountains on both sides and covered in reeds. Xirui says Bai Niao Hu has no external water source—it is formed by rainwater and melted spring water—so the water is oxygen-rich, supporting only some plankton besides waterbirds.
This matches perfectly with the habitat requirements of the white-headed duck—“shallow, eutrophic saline wetlands, enclosed inland waters, and semi-arid regions (baohu.org).”
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(Bai Niao Hu is currently the only natural wetland breeding site for the white-headed duck, yet today it faces heavy human disturbance, leading to a sharp decline in the duck’s population. Photo by Laolao Niu)
Compared to the artificial sewage pools in Kuytun, Bai Niao Hu has always been considered a more ideal breeding ground for the white-headed duck. Moreover, protecting Bai Niao Hu is not just for the sake of the white-headed duck.
Xirui explains that apart from the white-headed duck, birdwatchers have recorded 113 bird species here over the years, making Bai Niao Hu a critically important biodiversity hotspot. At the same time, it is the last hope for these hundreds of bird species. Zhang Yaodong says that wetland protection in Urumqi is a serious issue—the wetlands in the eastern suburbs have turned into stinking pits, those in the northern suburbs have become dumps and garbage dumps, and the southern wetlands continue to shrink and fragment. So far, the wetlands of Bai Niao Hu in the western suburbs have at least not completely disappeared.
Over the past five or six years, as the white-headed duck has frequently appeared in local media, Bai Niao Hu has transformed from a quiet place into a recreational spot for residents. People who come here to barbecue and swim do not sense the threats facing the lake. Zhang Yaodong says that the northern bank of Bai Niao Hu was planned as a large industrial park in 2010, and a major drainage outlet now faces the lake. Quarrying activities have been ongoing for years just one kilometer from the northwest bank, while a sand mining site lies just 300 meters from the eastern bank. The western bank, which he previously thought was relatively desolate, has recently started seeing construction of building complexes. “If these buffer zones disappear, the replenishment sources for Bai Niao Hu will vanish—can the lake still be preserved?”
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(Besides egg poaching and bird-netting, burning reeds is also a direct threat. Reed beds are the nesting areas of the white-headed duck, but local herders burn them every 2–3 years to promote regrowth. Zhang Yaodong once wondered if it would be possible to negotiate with the herders to avoid burning during the nesting and hatching periods to ensure successful breeding of the white-headed duck. Photo by Zhang Yaodong)
Ma Ming explained via phone that according to the published planning map of the Bai Niao Hu New Area, the future Bai Niao Hu will become the center of the entire development zone—“an urban lake.” The surrounding 100-square-kilometer area will be developed with industrial parks to the west, transportation hubs such as high-speed rail and highways to the east, and a technology park to the north. The city, currently home to 2 million people, is set to grow to 5 million, with extensive residential and industrial construction and a crisscrossing network of roads.
“The entire environment will undergo tremendous change. Once it becomes like that, without any buffer zones, how can we protect it? Moreover, the government has not yet finalized whether to protect Bai Niao Hu or the white-headed duck...” Ma Ming said with concern.
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(This natural water body is one of the distribution points abandoned by the white-headed duck and was once seen as the future of Bai Niao Hu. Located about one kilometer north of Bai Niao Hu, it covers less than 0.5 square kilometers, with dense reed cover and surrounded by barren hills. There were records of sightings in 2007 and 2008, but after 2008, road construction began 500 meters away, followed by gradual industrial development, with construction activities approaching the lakeshore. From spring 2009 to July 2010, there were no signs of white-headed duck activity. Photo by Zhang Yaodong)
Nature Reserve: The Last Hope for the White-headed Duck
Yang Haiming, creative director of the Development Planning Center at the Beijing Tsinghua Urban Planning & Design Institute and head of the Natural Heritage and Ecological Protection Research Office, said as an on-site audience member that, from his observation, the reason why urban planning in China today generally suffers from serious mistakes in biodiversity protection is that the current landscape architecture curriculum is completely divorced from environmental and biological conservation. “It’s not that designers lack conscience, but that they lack knowledge.”
Fortunately, however, there are still some outstanding counterexamples in China today. After launching the open letter campaign titled “Establish a Nature Reserve for the White-headed Duck,” many people mentioned the case of the Blue-throated Bee-eater conservation in Xiamen, where developers proactively sought advice from birdwatchers, ultimately modifying the development plan and successfully protecting the bird species.
In addition, the discussions on that day focused more on the feasible space for establishing “nature reserve communities.” Although maintaining habitat integrity and connectivity is undoubtedly important in China’s nature conservation efforts, small, fragmented habitats are equally crucial for the protection of many endangered species.
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(In the future, Baihu — referred to as “Bainiao Lake” on the map — is designated as an urban lake in the Baihu Lake New District planning. Will such a plan allow Baihu to retain sufficient buffer zones to ensure that its water level does not drop, thereby safeguarding the breeding of the White-headed Duck?)
Xie Yan, associate researcher at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, explained, “Many protected areas smaller than Baihu have already become nature reserve communities. These communities are flexible. If the area is small and targeted at a specific species, the procedures are simple and can be established quickly.”
The Black Leopard Wildlife Conservation Station in Shidu, Beijing, is a successful example. Li Li, head of the station, said that over the past 12 years, the station has led volunteers in patrol, rescue, advocacy, and law enforcement assistance efforts. It actively engaged with local governments, encouraged more local community villagers to join conservation efforts, and strongly promoted the establishment of the Demoiselle Crane Nature Reserve Community. “At that time, Teacher Xie Yan gave me a book on protected areas. I took it to discuss with the local forestry bureau, and they said that establishing a full protected area was hopeless, but a nature reserve community — that could work. Also, our team would cover the patrol costs for the reserve community, and in the end, it happened.”
Xie Yan believes that as long as someone is conducting patrols, consistently monitoring illegal activities, urging law enforcement, and educating local residents, these basic efforts are enough to justify the establishment of a nature reserve community. “The problem with many protected areas lies precisely in the lack of enforcement. Many protected area administrations don’t even have anyone conducting on-the-ground patrols. That’s why the voluntary patrol efforts initiated by volunteers are highly commendable and very much needed,” Xie Yan said.
For the past six months or so, Xie Yan has been working hard to promote research aimed at replacing the Natural Heritage Law with a Natural Protected Areas Law. She believes that operating businesses should be allowed as long as the goals of nature conservation are ensured. (In the four-tier classification of protected areas proposed by the Natural Protected Areas Legislation Research Group, which Xie Yan is part of, the latter two categories are ‘Nature Exhibition’ and ‘Restricted Use,’ both allowing a certain degree of business activity. For more statements by Dr. Xie Yan regarding the Natural Protected Areas Law, you can click here to download.) The backwardness of conservation management in many areas is precisely because managers have not clearly delineated the relationship between conservation and business modules. The same team acts as both protectors and operators. “These two roles need to be separated, and conservation must be extracted from the business side.”
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(Large-scale deep sand mining near the lake area has interrupted groundwater recharge. Once the newly planned Baihu Lake establishes a nature reserve community, sand mining may be halted for restoration, giving the birds back their Baihu. Photo by Zhang Yaodong)
Specifically in the case of the White-headed Duck, Xie Yan suggested that local governments need to be informed as soon as possible about the fundamental principles for protecting the White-headed Duck and Baihu Lake: “Ensuring no poaching? No theft of bird eggs? Ensuring the water quality of Baihu Lake isn’t polluted and its water level doesn’t drop? And so on. These hard indicators should be listed as routine tasks for the nature reserve community, with sufficient volunteer patrols assigned. From this perspective, if the White-headed Duck is protected, Baihu Lake will also be protected, bringing only benefits and no harm to the city’s overall economic development.”
This is also the ideal of Xi Rui and many other local birdwatching enthusiasts — transforming Baihu Lake into a birdwatching park that combines conservation and sightseeing, preserving Baihu while attracting White-headed Ducks to breed here annually, allowing more people to benefit from the ecological beauty of Baihu.
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