Black-headed gulls to leave Kunming as temperature rises

According to experts from the Kunming Birdwatching Association (KBA), black-headed gulls —a species of migrant birds who have been traveling to Yunnan in winters from Siberia for over three decades — will soon be leaving Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan province, as the weather turns hotter.

In other words, the next 20 days will be the last chance for citizens and tourists to watch these birds before they fly back in October or December again.

People have been gathered near Haigeng Dam, a popular spot to watch and interact with black-headed gulls, recently to say goodbye to them.

“They are very adorable creatures. I don’t want them to leave, so I come over with my grandson and bring them some food,” says an elder lady.

“I come to Kunming for tourism this time,” says a tourist from Shaanxi province. “I thought these gulls may have gone. Now I feel lucky because I can still say ‘hi’ to them before they fly away.”

A local photographer, in addition, tells reporter that he has been talking pictures of black-headed gulls since 1985 when they appeared in Kunming for the very first time.

As Wang Zhibin, the deputy secretary-general of KBA, observes, many black-headed gulls have already left the city, and the rest will be heading north to Siberia within 20 days.

“Each February and March mark the molting season of seagulls when the snow-white feathers start to lose and be replaced by newly-grown black plumage covering not only their bodies and wings, but necks and foreheads,” Wang Zhibin tells reporter. “This is where the name ‘black-headed gulls’ comes from.”

Reporting by Zuo Xuejia (yunnan.cn); trans-editing by Wang Jingzhong; photographs by Huang Zhechun