Red-crowned cranes take flight at the Yancheng Wetland Rare Birds National Nature Reserve in Jiangsu province.[Photo/Xinhua]

The red-crowned crane, spoon-billed sandpiper, Nordmann's greenshank and Saunders's gull are endangered migratory birds that will now be better protected in China as their key habitats were listed as natural UNESCO World Heritage sites on Friday.

At the ongoing 43rd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Baku, Azerbaijan's capital, the Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of the Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf of China (Phase I) were added to the World Heritage list as a natural site.