Winter trip: what to see in Weining Caohai?

Weining Caohai

Weining Caohai is a real "bird kingdom", with more than 185 species of birds wintering here every year. Among them, 7 species such as black-necked crane, golden eagle and white-tailed sea eagle are national first-class protected birds, and more than 2 species such as gray crane and white spoonbill are national second-class protected birds. Every year around December, bird experts and birdwatchers from all over the world come in droves, so it is known as "the best birdwatching area in the world".

Caohai, known as the "Pearl of the Plateau", is the largest natural freshwater lake in Guizhou. It is as famous as Qinghai Lake and Dianchi Lake, and it is a national nature reserve, named after its lush aquatic plants.

The climate here is pleasant and warm as spring. In late spring, there are large, colorful and moving azaleas around Caohai. In winter, Caohai has become a bird-watching resort, which is also the best season to watch black-necked cranes. Especially when the weather is sunny, standing on the shore and looking from afar, the grass, the sea and the sky are one color, the smoke is vast, the kite flies and the fish jumps, and the geese cross the autumn, just like a natural watercolor painting.

Caohai is particularly rich in bird resources, and is known as the "kingdom of birds". There are more than 14 species of migratory birds and resident birds inhabiting here every year, including rare birds such as black-necked cranes and white-bellied pheasants. It is one of the national bird protection areas. Every winter, tens of thousands of wading birds and swimming birds gather here, including the national first-class protected bird-the black-necked crane.

It is the only crane in the world that lives in the plateau swamp. Every early winter, when the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is frozen for thousands of miles, the black-necked cranes move south with their families and fly to Caohai for the winter. Caohai, with its excellent water quality, dense aquatic plants and numerous fish and shrimp, naturally became the wintering place with the highest density of black-necked cranes, and did not fly back to its hometown until it returned to the earth in the following spring. At this time, it is also the best season for birdwatchers to go to Caohai to watch birds.

In Caohai, there are not only rare black-necked cranes, but also a large number of gray cranes, red-crowned cranes, yellow-spotted pheasants, black-winged long-legged snipes and grasshoppers. It is one of the top ten migratory bird activity sites in the world where people and birds live in harmony, and it is also called "species gene bank" and "open-air natural museum" in scientific circles.