Wing and a prayer

Environmental experts fear the increase in chemical plants could do irreversible harm to the birds and their habitat.

"Nature reserves have boundaries but we cannot limit the birds' flight route," said Zhang Zhengwang, a professor of ecology at Beijing Normal University, who is concerned that the fumes, odors and potential pollution may impact the migration process.

Residents have already complained about the odor from Haike Ruilin. On March 25, gas emitted from the petrochemical plant was blamed for sickening two workers at Shengli Oil Field.

"Many people living in the town have reported (the odor) to the environmental authorities," said Xianhe engineer Lu. "The factory did not discharge the waste gases for about two weeks in mid-April. After they started again, the smell came back."

While Huanghekou and Dawenliu stations receive more tourists and public exposure about the wetland protection, residents and bird lovers near Yiqianer say the booming economic development could seriously damage this untapped natural ecology.

Ding Hong'an, a photographer in his 50s, once spent seven months and used 750 rolls of film to capture just one shot of a very rare bird on the reserve, which is home to 21 percent of all species native to China.

"I looked at my pictures before the last Spring Festival and discovered that I have already recorded 282 different varieties of birds in the past years," he said excitedly.

Energetic and talkative, Ding is popular among local bird watchers for his collection of work over the past 10 years, which includes the female bird feeding her fledglings and birds swooping to catch fish.

"I haven't done all this for myself. I just want to leave some historical record for future generations, because these birds may disappear sometime," he said.

That could be sooner than Ding thinks, according to his friend Sun Jinsong, who believes it has become far more difficult to get photographs of rare birds in recent years.

"In the 1990s, you can easily spot white swans, even near the highways. Nowadays, you need to go deep into the reserve (to find them)."