White swans flock to Sanmenxia for winter

Thousands of white swans flew to Sanmenxia city to escape the cold weather as winter emerges.

Statistics show that the number of white swans at Swan Lake Wetland Park increased to 2,840 on Nov 11 from 570 on Nov 8. The number keeps increasing and will be stable by the end of December.

With multiple nature reserves for white swans, such as Yellow River Park, Wangguan Wetland and Lingbao Wetland, Sanmenxia is a major habitat for the elegant birds throughout winter.

Walking along the dam in Swan Lake Wetland Park, people can see hordes of white swans flying and foraging on the one-kilometer wide lake. Other migratory birds, like the common pochard and Eurasian coot, can also be found among the flocks.

The white swan attracted a great number of tourists and photography enthusiasts. Despite of the cold weather and strong wind, throngs of visitors strolled along the dam to admire the bird.

"I have learned that there are a lot of white swans at Sanmenxia, so I take my family to have a look at them on weekends," explained a visitor surnamed Ma from Luoyang, capital of Henan province. "Though we had been here several times last winter, the white swan is still very attractive to us. We cannot resist its beauty."

In the park, it is easy to find many captivated visitors snapping pictures of the majestic birds. Chen is one of the enthusiasts. He said that every winter he would come to take photos and sometimes he had to stand for a dozen hours for a good picture, but he thought it was all worth it.

No matter how eager tourists are to get comfortable with the lovely birds, they need to take heed of the park's stipulations put in place to protect the vulnerable swans. For example, unmanned planes are not allowed to use in the park as white swan is easy to get scared. People should also not make a racket or set off fireworks besides swans.

To ensure that the birds have enough food for the winter, Swan Lake Wetland Park planted aquatic plants and locus in the lake and assigned people to deliver corn to the flocks every day. Guiding signs were also erected to remind the tourists to protect the wetland and its white swans.

Flocks of white swans fly to Sanmenxia city, Henan province, to escape the cold of winter. [Photo/ WeChat account: hhsbzsjsj]

Tourists take photo with white swans at the Swan Lake Wetland Park in Sanmenxia. [Photo/ WeChat account: hhsbzsjsj]