(ECNS) -- Large numbers of migratory birds, including cormorants, black-tailed godwits, great egrets and common redshanks, have arrived at the Futian Mangrove Nature Reserve in Shenzhen in southern China's Guangdong Province to rest and forage.
Located within the city along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, the coastal wetland is an important stopover and wintering site for migratory birds, offering plentiful food and safe habitat.
New regulations that took effect Nov. 5 require better management of nighttime lighting around mangrove wetlands and bird habitats, writing Shenzhen's "lights out for birds" practices into law.
The city has taken bird-friendly measures for years, including moving Binhai Avenue away from the mangrove core area in the 1990s and building a noise barrier to protect birds in 2002. This year, it designated the area around the reserve a Class I light control zone and replaced streetlights with low-interference warm-yellow lighting that is dimmed or switched off on a schedule to reduce disturbance to migratory birds.
(By Gong Weiwei)
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