Early bird catches the pochard

Enthusiastic bird watcher Deng Xuefeng, 26, accidentally stumbled upon a habitat of Baer's Pochard (Aythya baeri) in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province.

The spot, at the north end of Baoxie Lake in the East Lake High-tech Development Zone, is a place often referred to as Optics Valley, which has long been considered as China's answer to Silicon Valley.

Baoxie Street recently established a volunteer team to preserve the national first-class protected diving duck and its habitat, and presented Deng an award for being a pioneer youth volunteer.

"For me, bird watching has transcended the realms of a mere hobby and evolved into a lifestyle," says Deng, who works at a pharmaceutical company based in Optics Valley.

Baer's Pochard was classified as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2019. According to IUCN, wetland destruction and over-harvesting of both birds and eggs are the key reasons for its decline.

The migratory duck mainly breeds in northeastern China and eastern Russia, and spends winters in Central and Southeast Asia, and wetlands are their primary habitats and breeding areas.