Jiangsu is a highly attractive destination for birdwatchers and other animal enthusiasts. With its large amount of water, Jiangsu is a birdwatcher’s paradise. The two most significant species of birds and animals in Jiangsu are Pere David’s Deer (milu) and the Red-Crowned Crane, both of which are ranked as critically endangered.

Pere David’s Deer
Almost driven to extinction, this deer is now slowly recovering.

Pere David’s deer is named after Father (‘Pere’ in French) David, who observed the last remaining Chinese herd and inspired a drive to bring them back from the brink of extinction. The Chinese people call this mammal ‘sze pu shiang’ which translates as ‘none of the four.’ This strange name refers to the deer’s appearance as it looks like it has the neck of a camel, hooves of a cow, the tail of a donkey, and antlers of a deer. Indeed it does have a donkey-like tail which ends in a black tuft, and the ‘neck of a camel’ description refers to the long slender neck of this deer. The head is also unusually long and slender, with small pointed ears and large eyes. Adult males (stags) do bear antlers and, unusually, there may be two pairs of antlers per year. The summer antlers are the larger set, and are dropped in November following the rutting season. The second set then appear in January and are lost a few weeks later. Unique among deer, this species has antlers with a main branched anterior segment, with the points extending backwards. This deer’s summer coat is reddish tan in color and becomes woollier and dark grey in the winter. The underside is a cream color and along the spine there is also a distinctive darker stripe. Juveniles are spotted with pale flecks

Dafeng Milu National Nature Reserve in the coast of the Yellow Sea wetlands beach, a total area of 78,000 hectares, is located in Yancheng, Jiangsu. The area was established in October 1985, and in 1995 joined the Man and Biosphere network of protected areas, on December 8, 1997 as a national-level nature reserve. In addition to Pere David's deer, 19 more species such as Greater Swan and Helu are listed as the first-grade state protected animals. The Reserve also has 95 species listed in the Sino-Japan Agreement on Migratory Bird Protection and therefore it is an important place for birds of passage to live through the winter.

Red-crowned Crane
The red-crowned crane, or Grus japonensis, a bird that the Chinese used to connect with a beautiful myth, represents longevity in greetings. It is listed as a first-grade protected species in China and also classified as Endangered under the revised IUCN Red List Categories. They are usually found in the northeast, east and far north regions of China.

Red-crowned cranes are the only crane species that have white primary feathers. The adult forehead and crown are covered with bare red skin, and a large white band extends from behind the eyes and meets sharply with the black lower neck. The majority of the body is pure white with the exception of black secondary and tertiary feathers. Eyes are black and legs are slatey to grayish black. Males and females are virtually indistinguishable, although males tend to be slightly larger in size. Juveniles are a combination of white, partly tawny, cinnamon brown, and/ or grayish plumage. The neck collar is grayish to coffee brown, the secondaries are dull black and brown, and the crown and forehead are covered with gray and tawny feathers. The legs and bill are similar to those of adults, but lighter in color. The primaries are white, tipped with black, as are the upper primary coverts. At two years of age, the primaries are replaced with all white feathers.

Red-crowned cranes are very communal and live in flocks. They are the second rarest species of crane; the whooping crane of North America being the rarest. There are between 1,700 to 2,000 red-crowned cranes in all of Eastern Asia. It is one of the world's largest birds, and also one of the largest cranes. These cranes are migratory, which explains the various types of food they eat. During the spring and summer, the cranes fly east to the wetlands in temperate East Asia. This is where they breed. The cranes winter along rivers and in salt and freshwater marshes in Japan, China, and the Korean Peninsula. The red-crowned cranes are generally monogamous, that is, mated birds stay together throughout the year, and even until one bird dies. Both the male and female build the nest. The female usually lays two eggs that hatch at the same time. Once the eggs hatch, the female is more involved with the domestic affairs, while the male is responsible for defense. These cranes are considered to be sacred to the Japanese people, and were declared the national Japanese bird in 1952.

Red-crowned cranes are highly aquatic cranes with large home ranges. They feed in deeper water than sympatric cranes, using a “walk-and-peck” feeding technique more than repeated probing and digging. From summer to fall they forage regularly on pasture lands in Japan. In winter, they use coastal salt marshes, rivers, freshwater marshes, rice paddies, and cultivated fields. Most of the birds breeding in China migrate along the coast of the Bo and Yellow Seas between their breeding grounds and their wintering grounds in Jiangsu.

Red-crowned cranes are generalist feeders, eating a wide variety of insects, aquatic invertebrates, fish, amphibians, and rodents, as well as reeds, grasses, heath berries, corn, and other plants during the warm season. They consume upland insects more in July-August than in other seasons. The winter diet varies depending on the site. In Hokkaido, they feed on human-provided corn and on aquatic plants and animals in unfrozen watercourses. In Korea, the diet consists of waste grain and animal food items. In the coastal salt marshes (from damp to water-covered areas) of China, they feed on aquatic invertebrates, plants, and some human-provided grain.

The red-crowned crane is seriously threatened by loss of habitat throughout its range. Human development, especially agricultural expansion, reed harvesting, river channelization, deforestation, and road building, are destroying many of the historic breeding wetlands. Additional threats include fires that destroy nests, harassment by people, and poisoning from pesticide-treated grain. Because of their size and weight, red-crowned cranes do not fly as fast as other cranes, and appear more prone to deadly collisions with utility lines.

Swan Goose
The swan goose (Anser cygnoides) is a large goose that breeds primarily in Mongolia and eastern Russia and winters in southern and eastern China. Introduced populations, many of which are domesticated and non-migratory occur elsewhere in Asia. The numbers of wild swan geese have declined rapidly in the past century. Threats include habitat loss from agricultural development, dam construction, and the grazing and cutting of marsh vegetation, as well as unsustainable levels of hunting.

It is large for its genus, 81–94 cm long (the longest Anser goose) and weighing 2.8–3.5 kg (the second-heaviest, after the Greylag Goose). It has a long neck, long, heavy black bill, brown cap and pale underparts apart from some belly streaking; the upperparts are brown and the legs are orange. The sexes are similar, although the male is larger, and juveniles are duller. The voice is a loud honking. It grazes on sedges, and rarely swims. It forms small flocks outside the breeding season.

It is a rare goose of steppes and mountain valleys, which breeds near marshes and other wetlands, laying 5–8 eggs in a ground nest. In the winter, it grazes on steppes and stubble, sometimes far from water.