Endangered crane spotted in southwest China

A national nature reserve in southwest China's Yunnan Province has recently found a Siberian white crane, a critically endangered bird species, said the reserve's administration bureau.

It is the first time for Yunnan's Zhaotong City to spot the species and the white crane had likely lost its way during migration, said the Yunnan Dashanbao National Nature Reserve for Black-necked Cranes.

The reserve, located in Zhaoyang District of Zhaotong City, is the most significant wintering habitat and transfer station for migratory black-necked cranes on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau.

Rated as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, the Siberian white crane, also known as the snow crane, only numbers around 4,000 on earth, with just a single migrating route left for them on the planet – the east route to Poyang Lake, China's largest freshwater lake.