Zhalong National Nature Reserve

Ramsar Wetland Of International Importance And The Main Breeding Ground Of The Red Crowned Crane · Qiqihar, Heilongjiang

A vast reed marsh on the Songnen plain outside Qiqihar in Heilongjiang, and the most important breeding ground in the world for the red-crowned crane, the tall white bird with a scarlet cap that has symbolised long life in Chinese and Japanese art for centuries. Fewer than three thousand survive in the wild, and several hundred nest in these wetlands, which spread over more than two thousand square kilometres of reeds, shallow lakes and channels recognised as a wetland of international importance. The reserve also shelters white-naped and demoiselle cranes, storks, spoonbills and huge numbers of migrating waterfowl, and its boardwalks and viewing towers let visitors look out over an immense sea of reeds that turns gold in autumn. The great attraction is the daily flight: keepers release captive-bred cranes at set times to exercise, and the birds lift off in a bugling, wheeling flock over the marsh before circling back, at several set times a day in summer and twice a day in winter. The reserve is also remembered for Xu Xiujuan, a young keeper who drowned in 1987 searching for a lost swan and became the subject of a famous song.

Zhalong National Nature Reserve, Tiefeng District, Qiqihar, Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, China

Daily about 7:30-17:00 from May to October with last entry 16:00, and about 8:00-16:30 in winter with last entry 15:30. Crane flights about 9:30, 11:00, 14:00 and 15:30 in summer; 10:30 and 15:00 in winter.

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