NANCHANG, May 10 (Xinhua) -- For Li Zengming, a resident in Nanchang, east China's Jiangxi Province, flocks of snow cranes wintering on Poyang Lake, China's biggest freshwater lake, has been a familiar scene for decades.

The pure-white cranes stop here before continuing their great migration, a long and arduous adventure to Siberia.

In late April, when Li, as usual, took a walk along a river, he caught sight of a crane lying in the water. "The crane lay motionless, so I immediately jumped into the river to save it," he said.

Without much struggle, the crane was dragged to the bank and soon sent to the provincial rescue and reproduction center for wild animal and plant.

"The crane was one or two years old," said Wang Zhiru with the center. "It was very vulnerable and could hardly stand on its own. It could have fallen behind due to malnutrition or illness."

After two weeks of good care, the crane was nursed back to health and could survive in the wild. But the main bird population had left Poyang Lake in mid-April and were taking a rest at the Momoge nature reserve in northeast China's Jilin Province, some 2,000 km away. They will soon embark on a new journey in the coming days.

After discussion with the vet, Wang decided to escort the crane to Jilin so that it could rejoin its flock before they leave for Siberia.

A 95-cm long, 42-cm wide, 85-cm high crate, with 32 air vents, was prepared to ship the crane by air. The oxygen level was also raised in the plane's cargo hold to ensure the smooth breathing of the crane.

The crane arrived in Changchun, capital of Jilin Province late Monday and was in good mood. "We prepared fish, its favorite food, to welcome it," said Wang Haijun with the wildlife rescue and breeding center in Jilin.

On Tuesday morning, the crane finally arrived at Momoge nature reserve after another 5-hour drive. Researchers at the reserve conducted a body check for the crane and a tracker was installed to monitor its navigation and condition.

The crane was set free Tuesday afternoon and researchers are closely monitoring the activity of the birds. No left-behind crane has been spotted in the reserve so far.

This is not the first time an injured snow crane was rescued and sent to rejoin migrating birds in China. In 2012, a crane in Shenyang, northeast China got stuck and injured in a hunter's trap, it was later successfully set free in Poyang Lake.

"Most of the injured cranes were released locally," said Yang An, head of the wildlife protection administration in Nanchang.

Snow cranes are listed as a critically endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. The world population was estimated at 3,600 birds, while a recent survey showed that about 3,440 of the cranes spent the last winter in the Poyang Lake area in Jiangxi, which means 95 percent of the world's white crane population now winter in China.

The cranes originally had three migration routes, but their population in the western and middle ranges have almost gone extinct due to hunting and habitat degradation.