26 crested ibises were released into the wild in the Shangluohuiyu River Wetland. The crested ibis habitat extends to the eastern section of the Qinling Mountains

China News Service, Shangluo, Shaanxi, October 21 (Alina Chen Junyao) "Guarding the Blue Sky Elf, Ibis Returns to Danshui Homeland" Crested Ibis Release into the Wild and Qinling Biodiversity Protection Activity were held on the 20th at the Huiyu River Wetland in Shangzhou District, Shangluo City. As the adaptive release cage slowly opened, 26 crested ibises spread their wings and flew towards the green waters and green mountains of the Danjiang River Basin. Up to now, Shaanxi Crested Ibis reintroduction has been carried out 15 times and 315 birds have been released.

The 26 crested ibises released this time were from the Hanzhong Crested Ibis National Nature Reserve Administration and the Qinling Giant Panda Research Center in Shaanxi Province. They have undergone strict wild training and health examinations. They are distantly related, have reasonable age structures, are strong, and have the ability to survive independently in the wild. The staff wore backpack-type Beidou satellite trackers for them. In the future, they will focus on continuous tracking and monitoring of the crested ibis's activity range, health status, and changes in breeding grounds, feeding grounds, and night sleeping grounds.

The crested ibis has strict requirements on its habitat and is a "barometer" of the ecological environment. The Huiyu Wetland in Shangzhou District, Shangluo City, where the crested ibis was released this time, has sufficient resources, rich food for water birds, and a complete ecosystem, which provides excellent conditions for the crested ibis to survive and reproduce in the wild. At the beginning of this year, the crested ibis appeared for the first time in the Danjiang River Basin in Muhuguan Town, Shangzhou District, where it built a nest and bred naturally. This was a breakthrough in the natural breeding of crested ibis in the eastern section of the Qinling Mountains, laying a solid foundation for the release of this wild species in Shangluo.

It is understood that after 45 years of unremitting efforts, the protection of Shaanxi Crested Ibis has gone through four stages: "discovery", "rescue", "reproduction" and "strengthening". The population has grown from only 7 in Yaojiagou, Yang County in 1981 to more than 12,000 worldwide. The threat level has been reduced from critically endangered to endangered, and it has been hailed as "a successful example of saving endangered species in the world." Especially since 2007, Shaanxi has successively carried out wild release of crested ibis in Ankang Ningshan, Tongchuan Yaozhou, Baoji Qianyang, Xi'an Zhouzhi and Lantian, Weinan Huayin and Linwei, Xianyang Qindu and other places. The crested ibis habitat has gradually been restored from a corner of Yangxian County to the entire Qinling Mountains and to the historical distribution areas in East Asia. At the same time, Shaanxi actively provides seed sources to Shanghai, Sichuan, Guangdong, Shandong, Hebei, Zhejiang, Liaoning, Hunan, Gansu, Jiangxi, Shanxi and other places to carry out artificial breeding and wild release experiments. A total of more than 200 animals have been provided, which has contributed to the rejuvenation of the national Crested Ibis population.