Saunders's gull is a rare winter bird designated as endangered species (VU) on the Red List of the Ministry of the Environment of Japan. About 200 of these birds spend their winter at the Sone Tidal Flat. A Japan-China joint research team learned that they migrate from the coast of Bohai in China. Due to developments being built on tidal flats, their habitat is disappearing. The exhibited specimen was donated to Kitakyushu City by the Liaoning Province Wildlife Conservation Society and the Liaoning Shuangtai Hekou National Nature Reserve.