A stunning wildlife discovery has been made along the Yalu River in Northeast China’s Jilin province, where local photographers have documented a flock of rare Chinese mergansers, one of the world’s most threatened bird species. \n\nThe sighting, which took place in Maxian township, Ji’an city, captured the graceful birds both soaring through the sky in a synchronized display and gliding along the rocky Yalu River shoreline in search of food. The images and video footage, collected by local wildlife photographer Zhu Guimin, offer a rare glimpse of a species that has long hovered near the brink of extinction.\n\nClassified as a national first-level protected wild animal by China’s government, the Chinese merganser—also called the scaly-sided merganser—holds a spot on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List as an endangered species. With an evolutionary history stretching back millions of years, the bird has earned the popular nickname “living fossil” among conservation biologists and wildlife enthusiasts alike. \n\nConservation experts note that sightings of large flocks of the species in their natural breeding grounds along the Yalu River are increasingly encouraging, signaling that ongoing ecological restoration efforts along the transboundary waterway have helped improve the bird’s natural habitat. The Yalu River, which forms the border between China and the Korean Peninsula, has remained one of the few remaining intact breeding habitats for the vulnerable species, thanks in large part to lower levels of industrial pollution and reduced human disturbance in recent decades.