The population of endangered birds in the world is growing thanks to an increase in protection, according to the Dunhua forestry bureau in Jilin province.

One of the beneficiaries being the Chinese merganser, which is as rare as the panda and has been declared an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

Its habitat is the Russian Far East and Changbai Mountain in China, and it spends its winters in central and southern China.

File photo taken on Jan 7, 2015 shows that an endangered Chinese merganser in the Three Gorges Reservoir. [Photo/xinhua]

Zhang Peigang, deputy director of the city's forestry bureau, named some of the protection measures implemented, such as prohibiting logging in a certain area, putting up posters in villages and near farms, starting a website to raise public awareness of the need to protect this rare species and hiring guards to protect the area where the birds breed from end of March to April.

And the protection moves appear to have been successful, in view of the fact that the number of the species' breeding in Dunhua has gone from 200 in 2009 to 1800 Chinese mergansers these days.