The Biennial Dongting Lake Birdwatching Contest will be held in Yueyang between December 8 and 10, 2017.
The opening and closing ceremonies will fall on December 8 and December 10 respectively. A number of prizes will be given, including Lesser White-fronted Goose Award (Excellent Award), White Crane Award (Best Organization Award), Flamingo Award (Latest Discovery Award), Cygnet Award (Best Participation Award), and White-tailed Eagle Award (Best Discovery Award).
Dongting Lake, Hunan’s mother lake, is an important wetland and an important wintering ground of birds in the world. In 1982, the East Dongting Lake Nature Reserve was established. There are 346 species of birds recorded in the reserve, including white stork, black stork, white crane, hooded crane, great bustard, Chinese merganser, white-tailed eagle, and other birds under first-class state protection.
In December 2002, the Hunan Provincial Forestry Department and the Yueyang Municipal People's Government jointly hosted the first Birdwatching Festival, also the first of its kind in Chinese mainland. So far, it has been held for 8 sessions. According to incomplete statistics, more than 170 teams from more than 30 countries and regions competed for the festival prizes, and nearly 1 million people participated. Now the Dongting Lake Birdwatching Contest has become a recognized eco-cultural activity brand in Hunan and around China.
The 2017 Dongting Lake Birdwatching Contest is sponsored by the China Wildlife Conservation Association, and organized by the Yueyang Municipal Forestry Bureau, the Hunan East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve Authority, the Junshan District People's Government, and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
