Protecting birds can be dangerous work

Driving his old car along a path, Fu Jianguo started his daily work patrolling the Zhalong National Nature Reserve, where red-crowned cranes were stalking the reeds.

The Zhalong reserve in northeastern China's Heilongjiang province serves as habitat for over 190 species of rare birds, and its red-crowned cranes and oriental white storks are closely monitored by Fu, 56, who is head of a wildlife protection association in Lindian county, which encompasses part of the reserve.

He calls the birds in the vast marshland his children.