JINAN - A nature reserve in East China's Shandong province has welcomed a record number of endangered hooded cranes.

Since mid-October, the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve has recorded the arrival of 128 migrating hooded cranes, a peak since the reserve was established in 1992, said its administrators on Monday.

The number of hooded cranes migrating to the reserve has increased significantly over the past decade. In 2002, only 36 were recorded.

The administration bureau attributed the rise of the crane population to the improved environment and conservation work in the reserve.

Classified as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, hooded cranes are on China's highest-priority protection list.

There are about 11,600 of them worldwide. They reproduce in Russia and China's Heilongjiang river basin and most of them migrate to southern Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River when winter arrives.

Located on the Yellow River estuary in Dongying, the Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve covers 153,000 hectares and is now a paradise for wild birds.