Spoonbill, four-spot midget appear in OCT Wetland Park

The Eurasian spoonbill in OCT Wetland Park in Nanshan District. Courtesy of the interviewee

Two kinds of endangered species, the Eurasian spoonbill and four-spot midget (damselfly), were spotted in the OCT Wetland Park in Shenzhen this year, as the city’s ecological environment further improves, Shenzhen Evening News reported yesterday.

On the afternoon of May 14, 2020, the staff of OCT Wetland Park spotted a white bird, not previously observed, on the flats. After expert observation and identification, it was confirmed as a Eurasian spoonbill, or common spoonbill.

“It marked the first time that this kind of bird has shown up at the wetland park and it made us excited. To some extent, it reflects the improvement of the ecological environment in Shenzhen,” a staff member with the OCT Wetland Park told the News.

“The Eurasian spoonbill, which lives in marshes and river beaches, is a wildlife species under national second-class protection,” the staff member explained, adding that spoonbills are not common in Shenzhen and has been listed in China’s “red book” of endangered animals.

According to the staff member, the OCT Wetland Park, which is connected with the Shenzhen Bay water system, is an important part of the Shenzhen Bay coastal wetland ecosystem and one of the important stopovers on the international bird migration route.

On April 25 this year, a four-spot midget, or Mortonagrion hirosei, was also spotted in the OCT Wetland Park. “It was quite an achievement to be able to find a four-spot midget at the wetland park,” the staff member told the News.

Due to its special ecological habits and relatively high environmental requirements, the four-spot midget is a rare and endangered species listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It is mainly distributed in estuarine and coastal areas.

From the perspective of biodiversity, the appearance of the species in the park reflects the steady improvement of the wetlands, said the staff member.

Since 2007, more than 800 species have been recorded at the OCT Wetland Park, including 16 orders, 47 families and 171 species of birds, and 99 families, 278 genera and 369 species of plants.

According to the latest survey data, there are 1,916 species of wild vascular plants belonging to 199 families and 858 genera in Shenzhen, among which 34 species of wild plants are newly recorded.

Additionally, there are 559 species of anima