Safeguarding the Critically Endangered Siberian Crane

Poyang Lake in Jiangxi Province is China's largest freshwater lake and a key wetland nature reserve. Situated on the southern bank of the Yangtze River in the plains of northern Jiangxi, it is fed by five major rivers and connects to the Yangtze River in Hukou County.

Poyang Lake is also the largest wintering ground for migratory birds in Asia. Each year from October to April, over 700,000 migratory birds from nearly 400 species transform the lake into a transit hub that connects global migration routes. Remarkably, over 90% of the world's Siberian cranes winter at Poyang Lake.

The Siberian crane is a rare migratory bird species with a global population of around 6,500. It is the provincial bird of Jiangxi and a Class I protected species in China. On the IUCN Red List, this rare crane species is classified as Critically Endangered. Tall, graceful, and characterized by a red face, orange bill, white plumage, and pinkish legs, the Siberian crane flies thousands of kilometers from Siberia to Poyang Lake each autumn. Battling strong winds and traversing countless mountains, rivers, and lakes, the crane shares its stopover with other rare birds, like the Oriental stork and the tundra swan.

When spring arrives, they embark on their long flight back to Siberia.

Figure: Siberian cranes foraging in the shallows of Poyang Lake at sunset

The annual nation-spanning journeys of birds are not just vital for bird species, but also for regulating global ecosystems and maintaining biodiversity. Bird migration, for example, reduces damage caused by unsustainable habitat resource use and facilitates pollination and seed dispersal.

Poyang Lake is located at a key node of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. Enhanced monitoring and protection of migratory birds at Poyang Lake is part of China's nature conservation efforts, setting a global benchmark for conserving biodiversity with technology. As the vast Poyang Lake comprises many wetlands and sub-lakes, bird habitats are scattered and change dynamically, making bird monitoring and protection very challenging.

Safeguarding birds with tech

While Poyang Lake National Nature Reserve has extensive conservation experience and has deployed large numbers of monitoring devices, up until 2025 it relied on field surveys and experts to analyze bird populations and behaviors in specific habitats.

In 2024, Huawei's TECH4ALL digital inclusion team began to explore AI-powered solutions for biodiversity conservation with Poyang Lake National Nature Reserve and the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). In October 2025, the partners completed a pilot project for an intelligent biodiversity monitoring system that combines sensing, connectivity, and AI. The system collects data on bird activities via front-end devices deployed in the reserve's key areas, and transmits the data over high-speed networks to the back-end platform in real time. AI algorithms identify species, count individuals, analyze their behaviors, and generate visualized data reports, significantly improving the efficiency of scientific research and patrol efforts.

Figure: Intelligent bird monitoring in key migratory hubs like Dongying and Poyang Lake

With the help of AI, we can quickly identify bird species and analyze their behaviors to see whether they are foraging, preening, being vigilant, or resting. This helps us better understand the activities of rare species like the Siberian crane in both natural and artificial habitats.Duan Houlang,
Associate Researcher, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences

The use of digital technologies like AI is increasing for research and monitoring in protected areas around the world. To enhance conservation while not disturbing wildlife, research institutions and protected areas are using these technologies for the more granular, systematic, and scientific monitoring and protection of rare species.

Figure: A flock of Siberian cranes wintering at Poyang Lake (Photo: Wang Pengpeng)