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Hunan Dongting Lake Bird-watching Festival to Start
 2016-12-20 18:03:49 

As one of the theme activities of the 8th Dongting Lake (Yueyang) International Bird-watching Festival, the event “Following Birds to Dongting Lake” will invite 100 wetland protection volunteers to participate in a tour around Dongting Lake from Dec. 10 to Dec. 11. The activity has become a hot topic widely publicized on Wechat’s circle of friends.

Less than a day after the invitation released, more than 1,000 bird-watching enthusiasts including Steven from America have applied for the event. The 61-year-old senior bird-viewing fan said he has long dreamed of watching birds in Dongting Lake and that is why he works in Changsha.

It is learned that the transportation fee of the bird-watching tour is all covered by Uber. Volunteers will start their journey from Changsha Nanjiao Park to East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve, where they observe bean goose, little swan and pied avocet at Big West Lake and lesser white-fronted goose, oriental white stork, Eurasian spoonbill and white crane at Small West Lake.

A sub-activity of “Snapshot of Beautiful Dongting Lake” will be held during the trip. Participants are encouraged to upload their Dongting Lake-themed pictures on a publicity H5 page, repost it to circle of friends and collect friend’s likes. Those at the top of the ranking are likely to win the title of “Bird-watching Expert” and cash rewards.

In recent years, Yueyang Municipal People’s Government and East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve have taken series of effective measures and publicity campaigns to protect the Nature Reserve with closed-end management, intensified wetland research and comprehensive law enforcement. The East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve as the main venue for the Dongting Lake International Bird-watching Festival was rated as one of the first batches of 23 green protected areas granted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2014. It is the first of its kind in China winning such international honor.