, Oct. 12 -- Each winter, tens of thousands of black-headed gulls travel from as far as Siberia to Kunming, a city in southwest China's Yunnan Province famed as the "Spring City."

This year, these regular visitors are greeted not only by local residents but also by high-definition cameras and drones positioned around Dianchi Lake, ready to operate in AI-driven "bird facial recognition" mode.

The long-standing connection between the people and these gulls is a unique ecological and cultural hallmark of Kunming. Technology is now reshaping this relationship, as research teams work with institutes and tech companies to deeply integrate artificial intelligence into bird protection, creating an intelligent observation system centered on this...