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Floating Rafts Help More Than 300 Mandarin Ducklings a Year at Ya’an Bird Island

Female mandarin duck swimming with ducklings
Conservation · Management

Floating platforms at Ya’an’s urban Bird Island in Sichuan, China, help more than 300 Mandarin duck (Aix galericulata) ducklings a year through the vulnerable period after they leave their nests, according to a first-hand report published by Sichuan Rural Daily on 24 March 2026 and later republished by China’s National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

The intervention was developed after local bird protectors found that young mandarin ducks instinctively entered the Qingyi River but could struggle to return to land. Hydropower operations cause the water level to rise and fall, while sections of the bank are high and steep. Project leader Luo Xiangbing described how ducklings that remained unable to get out of the water risked becoming cold and hungry.

The team placed large floating rafts on the water and supplied food on them, giving the ducklings places they can climb onto and leave again. The rafts form part of a wider urban bird-protection system at the site, which also includes 72 nest spaces used by several protected bird species. The National Forestry and Grassland Administration reported that the floating “lifeboats” assist more than 300 young mandarin ducks in growing safely each year.

Sources and image credit

  1. 迎来72家房客 雅安这座江心岛火了First-hand report from Ya’an Bird Island. Luo Xiangbing explains that Mandarin ducklings enter the Qingyi River but can struggle to climb the high, steep banks as hydropower operations cause water levels to fluctuate. Floating platforms with food were developed as places for the ducklings to climb onto and leave again; the intervention assists more than 300 ducklings annually.
  2. 属于鸟儿与守护者的春天——四川鸟类保护及候鸟迁飞通道保护纪实Government-hosted follow-up report confirming that several large floating rafts at Ya’an Bird Island act as ‘lifeboats’ for young birds and assist more than 300 Mandarin ducklings to grow safely each year.

Image: London looks / Wikimedia Commons / Flickr — feral female Mandarin duck (Aix galericulata) with ducklings at Richmond Park, London, England, photographed 22 May 2011; representative family image, not birds from the Ya’an intervention · CC BY 2.0 · Source

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