Glossy ibis, once believed extinct in China, spotted in SW China's Chongqing for first time

A glossy ibis perches on a tree branch in the Shuanggui Lake national wetland park in Liangping district of southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (Photo/Yu Huaixian)

A glossy ibis was spotted in the Shuanggui Lake national wetland park in Liangping district of southwest China's Chongqing Municipality on July 30. The bird, which is under first-class state protection in China, was once thought extinct in the country.

In the footage captured by a monitoring platform backed by artificial intelligence (AI), the bird, together with several egrets, wandered leisurely in the wetland park. The bird's legs were long, its feathers were nut-brown and its beak was long and pointing down. It was seen searching for food in the water with its beak or arranging its feathers with its beak.

The population of glossy ibis is small in China and the birds are distributed in just a few places in the country. The bird was once announced extinct in China.

Three days earlier on July 27, the bird was spotted by birdwatching enthusiasts in the same wetland park. This marks the first time the bird has ever been discovered in Chongqing.

The discovery makes local bird lovers feel excited.

"I hear that a glossy ibis has been spotted in Liangping and I'm excited. It's very lucky to be able to take pictures of the bird, which is rarely seen. It is the sound ecological environment that has attracted the bird to the wetland park," said Ao Wei, a birdwatching enthusiast in Chongqing.

Liangping district has nearly 20,000 hectares of wetlands and the wetland protection rate in the district has reached 52 percent.