Southwest China nature reserve's annual rendezvous with cranes

Staff at the Gaoligong Mountains Nature Reserve in southwest China's Yunnan Province were excited to welcome 11 common cranes as their annual winter guests.

Every autumn for the last seven years, a few common cranes, which are under second-class state protection, have been migrating from the north to the wetland at the reserve where they stay until spring.

Han Jiguo and his colleagues waited for the birds for days until October 26, when 11 were spotted foraging on the farmland near water.

Han was glad that the number of his guests is on the rise from the two that were spotted seven years ago.