After being on the brink of oblivion, a group of relict gulls, often referred to as the "pandas of the bird world", have found a new home on a rejuvenated wetland in the desert.

Ordos, located in the U-shaped bend of the Yellow River and a key battleground against desertification in North China, and a crucial area for the "Three-North" Shelterbelt Project, is on the front line of defending against the southward and eastward expansion of desert sands.

Bojiang Lake (meaning "turbid lake" in Mongolian), a "lost then found" wetland on the Ordos Plateau, sits at the confluence of the Kubuqi Desert, China’s seventh-largest desert, and the Mu Us Sandy Land, one of its four major sandy lands, serving as a vital barrier for soil and water conservation in the Yellow River basin. In the prolonged tug-of-war between sand and water, this wetland has played a pivotal role in safeguarding the ecological security of the Yellow River basin and the survival of endangered species. The lake has become the only internationally recognized wetland (No 1148) dedicated to the protection of relict gulls and their habitat, and holds irreplaceable global ecological value.

Although they cover only about 6 percent of the Earth's land surface, wetlands are home to or the breeding grounds for 40 percent of the world's plant and animal species. If wetlands are destroyed, countless creatures will be left homeless, migrating birds will face starvation and exhaustion due to disrupted routes, and droughts and windstorms will become even more rampant.

In the early 1990s, ornithologists discovered breeding populations of the endangered relict gulls, a first-class nationally protected animal, at Bojiang Lake. Each spring, as the weather warms, these gulls fly over 1,500 kilometers from Bohai Bay to nest and breed here. Year after year, this cycle repeats, and at its peak, the population at Bojiang Lake accounts for over 60 percent of the global relict gull population, making it the most concentrated site for this species worldwide.

In 1990, the relict gull population was fewer than 2,000 birds. By 1998, it had grown significantly to nearly 15,000, reaching a historical peak with 3,594 breeding nests.

In 2001, with approval from the State Council, the area was upgraded to an Ordos Relict Gull National Nature Reserve. In 2002, it was designated a "World Important Wetland".

Due to successive years of drought, the wetland area has shrunk. As one of the "most vulnerable birds" on the plateau, highly sensitive to environmental changes, the relict gull population has been declining since 2003. By 2014, only 30 adult birds remained. By 2020, very few relict gulls were seen inhabiting here.

The once-familiar calls of the gulls faded away, with it difficult to even spot one in this national nature reserve named after them.

The name "relict gull" means "a gull that has been forgotten". It was not identified as an independent species until 1971, making it the most recently discovered gull species. The name reflected zoologists' regret at the late discovery, yet ecological changes would once again leave this species "forgotten".

This "forgetting" pained the hearts of the wetland guardians, who took on the mission of ecological conservation: implementing ecological water replenishment, dredging upstream rivers, and restoring habitats. As a result of these efforts, the ecosystem here has gradually recovered.

Today, the long-departed relict gulls have returned home, with the adult population recovering to over 4,000 birds with 1,801 nests, the highest in nearly 20 years. 

The water area of the Ordos Relict Gull National Nature Reserve has steadily restored, and four lake islands suitable for the gulls and other birds to inhabit have been re-formed. The reserve now supports over 100,000 birds annually, with the number of recorded bird species increasing from 83 at its inception to 115 today.

The functional evolution of the Ordos Relict Gull National Nature Reserve reflects both the ecological transformation of Ordos and the enduring efforts of the city's 1,286 river and lake chiefs and over 2,000 forest chiefs.

Since 2000, the city's forest and vegetation coverages have risen from 12.2 percent and 33 percent to 27.4 percent and over 70 percent, respectively. Overall air quality has steadily improved, and annual precipitation has also increased.

During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period (2021-25), the city added 20.41 million mu (1.36 million hectares) of desertification-control and sand-fixation areas.

Management rates for the Mu Us Sandy Land and the Kubuqi Desert were 85 percent and 50 percent, respectively, with the Ordos Relict Gull National Nature Reserve, located within the desert, preserving its ecological integrity.

As of 2025,  the city's total wetland area has reached 2.22 million mu, thereby creating biodiversity habitats in arid and semi-arid regions, with more than 100 species thought to be previously extinct returning to their native range.

To date, 317 bird species have been recorded in the city, with over 25,000 migratory waterbirds recorded during the fall 2025 migratory waterbird survey.

National first-class protected animals, such as the black stork, oriental white stork, white-tailed eagle, and Baer's pochard, are frequently observed. They are either wintering birds or migratory birds, serving as the most direct indicators of ecological improvement.

Today, "Green Ordos" continues to expand into the desert, wetland protection and restoration are steadily advancing, and biodiversity continues to flourish. 

The "Three-North Spirit" continues to thrive between the desert and oasis, creating a robust scene of "relict gulls soaring in flocks", further strengthening the green barrier of China's northern frontier.