Hutoushan Reservoir (, ''Hutoushan Shuiku'') is a man made reservoir in
Lhünzhub County
Lhünzhub County, also called Lhundrub or Linzhou County, is a county in Lhasa towards the north-east of the main center of Chengguan, Tibet, China.
It covers an area of and as of 2000 had a population of 50,895 people, almost all classified a ...
,
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
, to the north of the city of
Lhasa
Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in Southwest China. The inner urban area of Lhasa ...
. It is an important wintering place for
black-necked crane
The black-necked Crane (''Grus nigricollis'') is a medium-sized crane in Asia that breeds on the Tibetan Plateau and remote parts of India and Bhutan. It is 139 cm (55 in) long with a 235 cm (7.8 ft) wingspan, and it weighs ...
s and other migratory birds.
Location
The reservoir lies in Qangka Township, Lhünzhub County. The villages of
Gana
The word (; Sanskrit: गण) in Sanskrit and Pali means "flock, troop, multitude, number, tribe, category, series, or class". It can also be used to refer to a "body of attendants" and can refer to "a company, any assemblage or association of ...
,
Tiangacun,
Seronggang and
Zhujiecun lie near the lake.
The reservoir is bordered by large swamps and wet meadows, and has abundant plants and shellfish.
It takes its name from a nearby mountain, whose shape was said to resemble a tiger's head.
The Hutuoshan Reservoir is the largest in Tibet, with planned total storage of .
The reservoir lies in the
Pengbo River
The Pengbo River is a tributary of the Lhasa River that runs through the western part of Lhünzhub County, Lhasa municipality, Tibet, China.
Location
The Pengbo River is one of the main tributaries of the Lhasa River, located in Lhünzhub County. ...
valley.
Black-necked cranes
The endangered
Black-necked crane
The black-necked Crane (''Grus nigricollis'') is a medium-sized crane in Asia that breeds on the Tibetan Plateau and remote parts of India and Bhutan. It is 139 cm (55 in) long with a 235 cm (7.8 ft) wingspan, and it weighs ...
s migrate to the middle and southern part of Tibet every winter, and may be seen on the reservoir.
The cranes migrate from the frozen Changtang Grassland in northern Tibet in mid- to late-October, and overwinter in Linzhou (Lhünzhub) County.
They return when the weather becomes warmer, in late March. They are the only species of crane that lives and breeds at these high elevations.
In 2013 the population in Linzhou County was over 1,000.
Village volunteers patrol the Linzhou Black-necked Crane Preservation Zone, established in 1993, where the cranes eat the remains of farm crops.
A monitoring platform has been built to watch the health of the birds.
Flocks of the birds stay on the HuTouShan Reservoir overnight, where they can be observed around daybreak before they fly off to search for forage.
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
{{Lhasa Prefecture
Reservoirs and dams in Tibet
Lhünzhub County