Rare bird specimens discovered at Hainan's forest park

A white-breasted kingfisher at the Yalong Bay Tropical Paradise Forest Park in Sanya. [Photo by Huang Qingyou/hinews.cn]

A pair of white-breasted kingfishers was recently discovered at the Yalong Bay Tropical Paradise Forest Park in Sanya, Hainan province. 

Staff of the scenic spot captured clear photos of the birds and found their nest and eggs.

The rare bird was included on the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature in 2015.

Its body length is between 27 cm and 30 cm and its weight is from 54 grams to 100 grams. The main color of its feathers is blue and white can be seen in the chin, throat and breast. The bird inhabits West Asia, Southwest and South China, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, the Indo-China Peninsula, Malaysia and the Philippines. It feeds on insects, fish, spiders, snails and rats. The reproduction period lasts from three to six months with about four to eight eggs each time.

A white-breasted kingfisher's nest burrowed into the ground at the Yalong Bay Tropical Paradise Forest Park in Sanya. [Photo by Huang Qingyou/hinews.cn]

The Yalong Bay Tropical Paradise Forest Park is situated 25 km from the southeast of Sanya and surrounds the Yalong Bay National Tourist Resort, which is honored as "The Most Spectacular Bay in the World". About 1.9 billion yuan ($296.2 million) has been invested to make it the first tropical coastal forest park for mountain ecological sightseeing and ecological tourism in Hainan province.

The park has become a large-scale ecological tourist resort that integrates hiking, outdoor training, recreation and sightseeing, science popularization education and folk culture. Its various tourism resources include 1,506 hectares of urban green coverage, 1,500 odd species of tropical plants, 190 odd species of wild animals, 210 villa guest rooms on the mountain, and several unique hilltop restaurants.