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The Huang He, or Yellow River, flows through China's north-central hills and carries huge quantities of glacial silt down to the Yellow Sea. This silt, which gives both water bodies their yellowish color, has been accumulating over the years to form a fertile delta at the mouth of the river. The delta region provides exceptional habitat for many species, including huge populations of waterfowl and shorebirds.
The Yellow River reaches the Yellow Sea at the Bay of Bohai. More than 1.6 billion tons of sediment flow to the bay each year, increasing the area of the delta by 20 square miles (50 square kilometers) annually. On land, salt meadows dominated by goosefoot plants -- some species of which resemble the foot of a goose - experience regular flooding at high tide. These areas, combined with intertidal mud flats, are fertile places for waterfowl and shorebirds.
An estimated 800,000 water birds feed or nest in the coastal wetlands of the Bohai Sea Saline Meadow ecoregion. Sometimes just a few wetland areas, such as the Bohai meadows, are critical for feeding and resting for millions of migrating shorebirds and land birds. Rare Saunders' gulls use the delta as one their four world breeding sites. Red-crowned cranes and Siberian cranes depend upon the region as a refueling point on their migrations along the Siberian-Australasian flyway. Relict gulls also migrate through the region.
Some parts of this region have been severely modified by agriculture and aquaculture, especially the growing of rice and the pond-rearing of shrimp. Also, between 36,000 and 52,000 shorebirds are trapped each year by hunters. Pollution from nearby oil fields, land reclamation for commercial and industrial development, and rising sea levels constitute additional threats. For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report. All text by World Wildlife Fund © 2001
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