White-faced birds decide Zhuhai is good place to be

A biodiversity survey carried out on Jiuzhou Island recently recorded two white-faced plovers for the first time in Zhuhai. The island, a holiday resort area, is about a fifth of a kilometer in size and close to Jiuzhou Port in Jida.

Conducted by volunteers from the Zhuhai Bird Watching Association, the two were seen foraging on the beach. Larger than Kentish plovers, which weigh about 40 grams as adults, white-faced plovers look like blushing Chinese opera performers painted with white faces.

White-faced plover

White-faced plovers are a subspecies of Kentish plovers and are found in China, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. Unlike other plovers, they stand more upright and prefer dryer, sandier areas. Although only recently arrived in Zhuhai, they are known to breed from Hainan to Fujian provinces.

The association affirmed that the plover is a new visitor in the city.

Pacific reef heron [Photos courtesy Zhuhai Daily]

The biodiversity survey recorded 19 bird species belonging to 13 families in six orders. Among them, the black-nape tern (sterna sumatrana) and crested myna (acridotheres cristatellus) were observed as dominant species while Pacific reef herons (egretta sacra) and greater coucals (centropus sinensis) are under state-level protection.

Specialists state that the increasing numbers of migratory bird species indicates that the environment of Jiuzhou Island has clearly improved.