Spectacular! Watch the ‘Swan Lake’ Dance in Yaogai and Experience the Beauty of the Plateau
//sichuan.scol.com.cn/items/202003/200307155755853000141382.mp4
scolplayer video player
With the rise in temperatures, a flock of beautiful swans swam on the water and soared in the air in the Luojaqiong River in Maixiang Township, Yaogai County, Aba Prefecture. They resembled dancers, creating vivid scenes with the snow mountains and grasslands, a spectacular and beautiful sight.
‘Luojaqiong River has geothermal activity, the water never freezes, now it’s known as ‘Swan Lake’ in our county.’ Township head Yongzhong said that every year from November to March of the following year, a flock of swans would fly here from Siberia and Northeast China for a short winter break, with approximately hundreds or thousands of swans each year. ‘And this period also makes the Yaogai Plateau wetland more dynamic and vibrant.’
The swans are a national second-level protected animal, one of the highest-flying birds in the world, capable of flying over the Roof of the World – Mount Everest, with a maximum flight altitude of over 9000 meters. Yongzhong introduced that wild swans generally do not approach humans, but the swans that arrive in Yaogai are different, they are not afraid even when the photography team is close by. ‘However, around mid-to-late March, with the warming climate, these beautiful swans will leave Yaogai and return to their breeding grounds in Siberia and other places.’
Yaogai enjoys the reputation of ‘China’s Most Beautiful High-Altitude Wetland Grassland’ and is an important wintering and resting ground for migratory birds. According to incomplete statistics, Yaogai County has 15 orders and 34 families and 162 species of birds, accounting for 26% of the bird species in Sichuan Province and 12.2% of the bird species in China.
