
Every year from late May to early June, routine banding work for Beijing swifts (雨燕) is carried out at the Summer Palace. This year, a total of 89 swifts received careful physical examinations and ___1___ (profession) banding. Using harmless mist-netting skills, staff ___2___ (gentle) caught the birds and moved them to inspection stations. Specialists fitted each swift with a unique numbered metal leg band from China’s National Bird Banding Center and recorded key biological data like body weight and length before ___3___ ( release) them back to the wild.
Bird banding is a vital scientific method ___4___ (track) migratory birds’ routes, life cycles and population changes. Since the 1990s, researchers have stuck ___5___ this annual program at the palace’s Kuoru Pavilion. Among the 89 banded swifts this year, 23 were new individuals while 66 were recaptured ones, ___6___ (mark) a 74 percent recapture rate. The high rate proves that Beijing swifts are highly loyal to their nesting sites and enjoy a stable living environment with steady population reproduction.
For decades, Beijing swifts have chosen the Summer Palace as their ideal habitat. They complete an amazing 10,000-kilometer ___7___ (migrate) yearly: traveling from southern Africa to Beijing in mid-April to nest under ancient building eaves (屋檐), breed and raise chicks, before flying back south in July and August. Kunming Lake is rich in insects, providing sufficient food for ___8___ (they) young.
As a precious ecological and cultural symbol, Beijing swifts inspired Nini, a mascot for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and served for the Beijing Central Axis’ World Heritage application. To protect them, the Summer Palace ___9___ (adopt) closed protection measures since 2019. It also trains patrol (巡逻) staff to rescue fallen young swifts and holds public education activities annually to raise ___10___ (aware) of bird protection.
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