Black-headed gulls spearhead to Dianchi Lake in Kunming.[Photo/Meng Zhubin]

A fisherwoman feeds black-headed gulls on Dianchi Lake.[Photo/Meng Zhubin]

A black-headed gull is flying in the sky over the Dianchi lake.[Photo/Meng Zhubin]

"At around 9:00 a.m. yesterday, we saw over 400 black-headed gulls flied on open waters of Dianchi Lake, including quite a few of young birds," Wang Yanping, an observer from Kunming Birds Association, said, "They might be spearhead group of the black-headed gulls. Citizens may see more black-headed gulls flying at Haigeng dam near to the Dianchi lake in a week."

Yang Ming, deputy secretary general of Kunming Birds Association, said: "To judge whether a group of black-headed gulls is a spearhead or not is to see whether young birds live in the group. By observing some characteristics of the gulls, we could judge that the group of black-headed gulls seen in the morning yesterday is a spearhead of mass black-headed gulls which may arrive in Kunming soon."

Yang pointed out a fact that feathers of these black-headed gulls on the Dianchi lake look bright and white also proves they had newly arrived at the place.

According to recent five years' data, the earliest time the black-headed gulls came to Kunming was on October 13, 2011, and the latest time the black-headed gulls came to Kunming was on October 22, 2012. And arrival time of the black-headed gulls to Kunming this year is 6 days earlier than that of the gulls last year, on October 21.

Yang said except for the black-headed gulls, more than 130 species of migratory birds also come to Kunming for spending winter every year.

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(Editors: Cathy Chen,Tracy)