Unfeathered friends flock together

Growth of the birders

In 1996, Friends of Nature founded the first birding organization on the Chinese mainland. The organization has been researching avian diversity in Beijing for at least 16 years.

Shari Deghi, right, a birding enthusiast from the United States, prepares for her trip to Miyun. [FENG YONGBIN / CHINA DAILY]

Shenzhen Bird Watching Society, in Guangdong province, has published research into bird conservation annually since it was founded in 2004.

Chengdu Bird Watching Society, in Sichuan province, works with other environmental groups, including The World Wildlife Fund, and Conservation International, to promote bird watching and environmental protection.

Last year, China's bird watchers helped promote stricter law enforcement and prevent the habitat of wintering birds from being turned into hunting grounds by illegal poaching and poisoning.

During the National Bird-loving Week, started in 1992 and usually held in April, it has become traditional to include lectures and forums on environmental protection for bird lovers.

Zhu Jiangling, 37, said when she began bird watching last year, she found a whole new dimension to the natural world. "It was like, there's this other thing in the world, which is completely unlike anything else, but so beautiful and amazing," she said, referring to the experience of watching a willow warbler in a Beijing park.

"I heard their trills and chirups and saw them perched on the tip of a branch," she said. "Through my binoculars, I even saw their eyes and the details of their feathers. Such a piece of art."

For Zhu, birds are special creatures. They symbolize the ability to take off and go wherever they please without limits, breaking the boundaries gravity imposes on earthbound creatures. Birds are the most liberated species because of their ability to fly, she said.

"We watch the birds, but we don't disturb them," said Hou Xiaoru, deputy director of the BBWS. "Birding itself is an example of environmental protection."

Hou said those who appreciate the beauty of birds, or any wild animal, could never hurt them or the environment in which they live: "Birds spread their wings and bridge the gap between our world and the natural world. Environmental protection can sometimes appear abstract, but once you actually start having an emotional connection with a part of nature, like birds, you know what needs to be done and what shouldn't."