More than 700 migrant geese arrived at the national wetland park of Poyang Lake in the eastern Jiangxi Province, marking a start of bird migration this year to China's largest fresh water lake.
The lake is the biggest winter habitat for birds in Asia, according to the Jiangxi provincial forestry department. As many as 136 types of birds migrate to there annually in autumn and winter.
The most recent migration included the swan goose and bean goose.
Birds flew to the lake from Russian Siberia, Mongolia, Japan, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as well as northeast and northwest China.
Statistics from the administration bureau of Poyang Nature Reserve showed that in recent years, the population of migrant birds fluctuated between 600,000 and 700,000.
Among all the birds, the number of white crane, one of China's Class A protected birds, has topped 4,000, 98 percent of the population of this species in the world.
"We are ready now," said Wen Sibiao, an official with the bureau. "We have enhanced monitoring and protection efforts, so as to welcome these birds."