The Minjiang River Estuary Wetland in Fuzhou, Fujian province, has a high density and variety of waterfowl. It serves as an important stopover along the East Asian-Australasian flyway. [Photo by Wei Peiquan/For chinadaily.com.cn]

"According to our monitoring, there are 313 bird species in this area, with over 50,000 waterfowl resting here during their migration. More than 80 percent of the 80 national key protected wildlife species found in the wetland are birds," said Zheng Hang, director of the Minjiang River Estuary Wetland National Nature Reserve.

Staff members in the reserve's administrative office showed satellite images illustrating the visible transformation of the wetland over the years.