Land of the
Natural abundance of food and security from predators Bayanbulak into a nesting sanctuary for the waterfowl, r
Like an exquisite emerald ringed with diamonds, the verdant Bayanbulak Grassland lies in the midst of the snowcapped Tianshan Mountains. A river meanders through this vast pastoral paradise, branching into many tributaries and giving it a name that means “abundant spring water” in Mongolian.
The virgin lowland in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region is as close to a utopia as one can get and is now China’s only nature reserve for swans. Between mid-March and April every year, these graceful waterfowl flock to the Bayanbulak National Nature Reserve for nesting. By the end of September, they take their young and leave for warmer climes.
Ornithologist and former director of the Bayanbulak ecological station Ma Ming first arrived in the grassland during the early 1980s. “I have seen these elegant birds migrate for nesting umpteen times and yet I can never have enough of it. Our bond only continues to grow,” he says.
Ma recalls the arduous journey to Bayanbulak a couple of decades ago, when modern means of transport were few and far between. The sleepy town had a handful of nondescript houses and the chances of finding a local on the road, if one needed to ask for directions, would be slim. But, the sight of the majestic birds gliding on water or sunbathing in the green meadows with outstretched wings made it worth all the trouble.
In 1991, Ma and others at the Bayanbulak ecological station, under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, sought permission from the National Natural Science Foundation of China for their swan research project. Along with an assistant, the ornithologist went on a two-month raft expedition down the Kaidu River, which courses through the grassland. On the way, they dropped anchor several times and trekked through the reserve to collect field data.
The reserve sits at an altitude of 2,500 meters and covers an area of around 137,000 hectares. The river is mostly fed by the melting snow.
“This is one of the coldest areas in China, with a yearly average temperature of -4.7 C. In January, the temperature can plummet to as low as -48 C. July, on the other hand, is the warmest month, at 28 C, which is ideal for nesting,” he says.
Research shows that China is inhabited by three species of swans — the mute (Cygnus olor), the tundra (Cygnus columbianus) and the whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus). While the first two species almost always spend only the winter in China, Bayanbulak is the nesting site for the whooper swan.
“The Kaidu River twists and turns through the reserve, creating wetlands to draw the winged visitors. Swans cannot fly during their annual molting period (losing feathers, which later grow back) and living in the water or marshland protects them from predators like wolves and foxes,” Ma says.
Also, the wetlands are an abundant source