Eco-park planned at migratory bird stop in north China

Plans are afoot for an eco-park in the Beidagang wetland, a key stop for migratory birds, in north China's coastal city of Tianjin, local authorities said Tuesday.

The overall plan for the park, designed as a sanctuary for birds and a research base for ornithologists, has been drafted.

The local government will cooperate with international environmental groups on the project, according to a Tianjin Binhai New Area government spokesman.

The 34,887-hectare wetland is a stop for birds migrating from Inner Mongolia to Bohai Gulf in east China. It is a key component of one of world's eight bird migration routes.

Since early November, birds including swans, wild geese and the endangered oriental white stork, have arrived at the wetland, said director of the Beidagang Wildlife Protection Station, Yang Jiwen.

Every year, more than one million birds of 200 species stop over in the Beidagang wetland, he continued.

Authorities are striving to better protect wild birds in the wetland, after 20 oriental white storks were killed by a highly-toxic pesticide in late 2012.

There are only about 3,000 oriental white storks in the world and over 800 stop over in the Beidagang wetland, said Zhang Zhengwang, an ornithologist with Beijing Normal University.