Winter int'l bird watching festival held in Shangri-La, SW China's Yunnan

The 6th Winter International Bird Watching Festival kicks off in Shangri-La, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Jan. 9, 2024. (Photo/Diqing Daily)

A winter international bird watching festival was held in Shangri-La, a famous tourist city under the administration of the Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province, from Jan. 9 to 12, 2024.

The festival, now on its sixth edition, featured a range of activities, including an exhibition of achievements in ecological conservation, the promotion of featured ecological resources, a bird watching contest, a sharing salon on ecological tourism, and an ecological civilization-themed evening gala.

Organizers also prepared a map of bird habitats in Shangri-La to help tourists and bird-watching enthusiasts better observe birds, with three bird-watching routes and 16 optimal bird-watching spots covering the representative bird habitats in the city.

By virtue of its unique natural conditions and sound ecological environment, the Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture provides habitats for various bird species. It is home to 454 species of birds, accounting for 50 percent of Yunnan's total, and 38 percent of the bird species in China.