Officials issue warning after observing alarming shift in endangered birds: 'The key is to restore the balance'

An endangered bird, the Siberian crane, is rapidly losing an essential habitat, according to People's Daily.

What's happening?

Every winter, the Siberian crane, a large, white bird, migrates thousands of miles from its home in Siberia to Poyang Lake in China. 

Poyang is the largest freshwater lake in China. Wetlands surround the lake, which is filled with fish. But for the past several years, thousands of cranes have arrived to find a different habitat.

Because of flash floods, droughts, and other extreme weather events connected to Earth's rising temperature, crucial wetlands along the Siberian crane's migration route have been damaged and lost, according to People's Daily.

Why is a loss of habitat concerning?

Low on food and with significantly smaller breeding grounds, the desperate cranes seek out farmland instead, much to the frustration of the local farmers.

Siberian cranes are critically endangered, and conservationists estimate their global population at around 5,000. 

Without enough food, hundreds of cranes could die. Lei Xiaoyong, former director of a local wildlife protection station, has seen it before.

"Around eight or nine years ago, some cranes migrated to Wuyuan County and died. Upon examination, it was discovered that their intestines were empty and they had almost no body fat," Lei said, per People's Daily.

What's being done to protect the cranes?

Conservationist groups, like the International Crane Foundation, are working to protect the cranes from extinction.

Locally, farmers in the surrounding wetlands began to dedicate sections of their rice fields to the birds, but protecting the cranes in the long term will take more than just food. 

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"The key is to restore the balance of the Poyang Lake ecosystem and ensure that their original habitats — wetland conservation areas — offer sufficient food," Dai Nianhua, the vice president of the Ecological Society of Jiangxi Province, told People's Daily. "The migratory birds will naturally return to their rightful places."

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