Dedicated to advancing the understanding and protection of the natural world, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology joins with people from all walks of life to make new scientific discoveries, share insights, and galvanize conservation action. Its mission is to interpret and conserve the earth’s biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds.
In China, the Lab of Ornithology has participated in several ornithological research projects including the Arctic Flora and Fauna Conservation Association (CAFF) on the Arctic Migratory Birds Initiative (AMBI), and the East Asia-Oceania Travel Route Partnership (EAAFP) to create research and media communications about the Yellow Sea. View the resulting stunning video clips below.
Wetland Loss along China's Yellow Sea Coastline (5:10 min)
The Yellow Sea lies at the center of one of the most populated regions on earth. More than 420 million people live in it’s vicinity and the pressure on natural resources cannot be overstated. Already more than half of the Yellow Sea’s intertidal areas have been converted to land through a process dubbed “reclamation” and the pace of this reclamation is accelerating. If the remaining intertidal areas are lost, long distance migrant bird species and the livelihoods of people that make their living from these mudflats will be lost as well. Already, the Spoon-billed Sandpiper’s population has declined to only a few hundred individuals and the IUCN has stated “that unless major steps are taken to reverse current trends, the East Asian-Australasian Flyway is likely to experience extinctions and associated collapses of essential and valuable ecological services in the near future.” Through satellite imagery, animations and on the ground footage this film visualizes the scale and speed of changes that have occurred along the Yellow Sea’s coastlines in recent years. This film is also available in Korean, Mandarin, Japanese and Russian. Filmed by Gerrit Vyn. Edited and narrated by Tom Swarthout. Additional footage by Eric Liner. 2016.
Birds of the Yellow Sea (12:58 min)
The intertidal mudflats of the Yellow Sea contain the most important stopover sites for migratory shorebirds in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway - a flyway that has transported birds from breeding grounds in the Russian and Alaskan Arctic to wintering areas in Southern Asia, Australia and New Zealand for hundreds of thousands of years. The productivity of the Yellow Sea’s mudflats and the food they provide to migratory birds are critical to the survival of many species. This film provides a primer on the basic biological principles of migratory shorebird ecology and why the Yellow Sea is a critical international hub for bird migration. Film is also available in Korean, Mandarin, Japanese and Russian. Filmed and narrated by Gerrit Vyn. Edited by Tom Swarthout. 2016.
Filming Migratory Shorebirds on the Yellow Sea (2:34 min)
Cornell Lab Photographer and Cinematographer Gerrit Vyn shares images from a recent trip to photograph migratory shorebirds in China and Korea. 2014.
Read more about the worldwide decline of shorebirds as a result of wetland loss in the Yellow Sea in this article from the Lab of Ornithology's Autumn 2018 issue of Living Bird magazine on Losing Ground: What’s Behind the Worldwide Decline of Shorebirds by Pulitzer-nominated author Scott Weidensaul, who has written more than two dozen books about natural history and is a frequent contributor to Living Bird.
