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Reporter's Note: When it comes to birds, this "Bird Doctor" has changed from being taciturn to gushing. Handing over their bodies and minds to nature, Gao Shaoxiong and his team guard the green of Jiangxin Island.
"'Dr. Bird', what is this bird with a golden body and black wings and tail?"
"This is the black-naped oriole, which is mainly a summer migratory bird on the mainland, and some are resident birds, often active in the canopy of tall trees, rarely falling to the ground, and the morning song is the most frequent."
"'Dr. Bird,' is this black bird a crow?"
"This one is not a crow, this one is called a crow and it mainly inhabits a variety of different types of forests. Before perching on the branches, it often makes a short 'squeak, squeak', and the song is bright and beautiful, and it is good at imitating other birds. It is also timid, reacts sensitively to the outside world, and flies away from its original habitat when frightened at night. ”
……
The twenty-third day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, the summer solstice.
Guangyang Island, which is full of spring and early summer, is full of greenery in early summer.
On the island, a dark-skinned man wearing a sunhat and a pair of binoculars around his neck is being surrounded by a group of elementary school students who have come to the island to study, three floors outside and three floors. In the face of the children's "tricky" questions, he answered them with ease.
His name is Gao Shaoxiong, who came to Guangyang Island in 2020 as an ecological restoration designer on the island, responsible for the monitoring, recording and evaluation of biodiversity in the process of ecological restoration.
For Gao Shaoxiong, the ritual sense of early summer consists of many tiny fragments.
7:00 a.m. Peak terraces
"I studied botany in graduate school, and when I first came to the island, I didn't know anything about birds!"
"Whether the ecological environment is good or not depends on the number of birds", in recent years, the development of ecological diversity protection has always been the focus of Gao Shaoxiong's work. Every morning, Gao Shaoxiong carried a line on his back and started the day's work.
"Getting up early is to match the movement of birds, and many birds mainly appear in the early morning." During the conversation, a group of white-waisted literary birds flew over the peak terraces, and Gao Shaoxiong took out his camera, pressed the shutter, clicked, clicked, and did it in one go.
"Don't look at me now and listen to the sound to know what kind of bird it is, two years ago, I would definitely have to recognize the white-waisted bird as a similar-looking 'sparrow'." Gao Shaoxiong laughed.
In 2020, Gao Shaoxiong came to Guangyang Island and was responsible for the research and investigation of plant biodiversity on the island because he was a graduate student in botany.
One day in September, the ripe rice in the terraces attracted a flock of birds to steal food, their bodies were reddish brown or dark sand brown, and there were white feathers, the waist was white, the tail cover feathers were chestnut brown, and the forehead, mouth, and throat were black brown, often crowded together when flying or resting. Gao Shaoxiong thought to himself, what kind of birds are in front of him? Both the size and color look like a sparrow.
"Could it be some other kind?" While muttering, Gao Shaoxiong hurriedly pulled out his camera, trying to capture the birds that were "lazing in the air" in the terraces. However, dynamic birds are not the same as static plants, either they can't shoot the front of the birds, or the shutter sound disturbs the birds and makes them fly. After taking more than two dozen photos, Gao Shaoxiong did not take a satisfactory photo.
Gao Shaoxiong stood in place and did not dare to move, and the atmosphere did not dare to breathe. Finally, after nearly half an hour of shooting, a "perfect" photo was born. Excited, Gao Shaoxiong hurriedly carried an eight-pound telephoto camera, trotted all the way back to the office, sat in front of the computer, exported the photos he had just taken, and sent them to the experts of the Chongqing Bird Watching Association for the first time.
"It's not a sparrow, it's a white-waisted bird." The expert's reply verified Gao Shaoxiong's conjecture.
Although it was a small thing, for Gao Shaoxiong, who had never been exposed to the study of birds, it seemed to open up a new world, and he was greatly shocked. Within sight of the island, birds gathered, more and more, famous, nameless, flying, singing, all kinds of birds, scrambling to enter Takao's eyes. "It turns out that like plants, the world of birds is also so rich and mysterious", Gao Shaoxiong sighed, pecking at all things under the wings, the life of birds is minimalist, the most simple and the most fulfilling.
Starting with "0", Gao Shaoxiong began to study, monitor and record the biodiversity of birds on the island.
17:00 PM East Island Head
"Most birds, I know by sound what kind of bird it is!"
As the sun sets, the light and shadow shimmer, the water waves are leisurely, and the glow reflects the river.
"Due to the high temperature during the day, there are not many birds, so when the sun is about to set, I will come out to tour the island." At The Goose and Duck Lake at the head of the East Island, Gao Shaoxiong watched the black capuchin and the golden plover playing in the lake.
Patrolling the island seems to be a very easy job, just walk around the island every day, but it is not. "The 183 Riverside Trail is located in a sloped wetland, a circle of 11 kilometers, and it takes at least two or three hours to walk down a circle, which does not include the mountain area and the Pingba area." With that, Gao Shaoxiong remembered an incident in early 2021.
"I was patrolling the island at the time, and I saw two birds suspected of being gray cranes in the Rabbit Plain Wetland," said Gao Shaoxiong, who is a national second-level protected animal, a new species that has never been recorded in Guangyang Island before, which made him excited at the time.
At that time, just in the dry period of the Yangtze River, the water level was about 170 meters, in order to observe and confirm more clearly, Gao Shaoxiong passed through the shallow water level of the Rabbit Ping Wetland, at this time, he only had these two birds in his eyes, completely ignoring that all below his calves had sunk into the mud.
The wetland is like this, looking at it is a piece of grass, stepping on it will find that it is mud, and Gao Shaoxiong is one foot deep and one foot shallow and slowly approaching the birds. In the depths of winter, the beads of sweat on Gao Shaoxiong's face kept dripping down.
It took two full hours for Gao Shaoxiong to take a clear picture of the two birds. Looking back, he saw a trail of footprints left on the wetland.
"Congratulations, I photographed birds that are not easy to see in Chongqing, although the number of gray cranes in other provinces is large, but it is rare in Chongqing!" Receiving an affirmative reply from the experts of the Chongqing Bird Watching Association, Gao Shaoxiong was very excited.
On January 4, 2021, the number of bird species recorded in Guangyang Island was "+1".
"Most of the birds, I hear their calls now, I probably know what kind of species", day after day of observation and study, Gao Shaoxiong practiced the special skill of "listening to the sound and recognizing birds". To achieve such a level, Gao Shaoxiong has made a lot of hard work.
"In addition to working outdoors, 'Dr. Bird' often holds a bird book or looks at the computer, checks the videos of birds, and listens to the sounds of birds." Gao Shaoxiong's colleague Yang Kangping introduced that in fact, "Dr. Bird" is not really a "doctor", it is precisely because of his love and research for birds, his work and research, over time everyone called him "Dr. Bird". "Now, whoever asks him questions about birds, he can answer them quickly and accurately."
In addition to using the sporadic time outside of work to study and encounter birds that he has never seen before, Gao Shaoxiong will also send photos to the relevant experts of the Chongqing Bird Watching Association and the zoo to discuss together. Slowly, he knew more and more birds, and also learned what time birds appeared on the island, and what the characteristics of different birds were...
"Although I have never done bird-related work before, I believe that diligence can make up for it, and my 'stupid bird' must fly first." Gao Shaoxiong quipped.
Victory meadow at night at 20:00
"The birds recorded in Hiroyang Island have gone from 124 species two years ago to 213 species today"
The night covered Gwangyang Island with a veil. In the forest pasture, patches of fireflies share the romantic light with people.
"In May and June last year, fireflies were found on the island for the first time," Gao Said, adding that the appearance of fireflies also shows that the ecology of Guangyang Island is getting better and better.
At night, Gao Shaoxiong is still patrolling the island, "Birds like nighthawks appear mainly at night, because they can't see, mainly by listening to their voices, monitoring and recording." ”
In the memorandum that Gao Shaoxiong carried with him, he densely remembered the more than 100 kinds of birds he observed with the naked eye on the island, the time, place, and number were detailed, "With more than two years of uninterrupted observation records, the island's bird gene pool is also becoming more and more perfect." ”
Guangyang Island is the largest green island in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, located in the trough valley between the Tongluo Mountains and the Mingyue Mountains in the eastern part of Chongqing's central city, with a unique special location between the parallel ridges and valleys, which is one of the important passages for birds to migrate north and south.
"Why do birds stay in Guangyang Island?" The fundamental reason is that there is food and shelter on which they depend. Gao Shaoxiong introduced that mountain woodlands have expanded the food source species of birds; The Pingba fields form a rich bird habitat; The slope-side wetland makes GuangyangDao one of the areas with the richest diversity of waterbirds in the central urban area of Chongqing, and many species of waterbirds are only recorded in the wetland waters of Guangyangdao.
In just two years, the number of bird species recorded on the island has ranged from 124 to 213 species, and Gao Shaoxiong has witnessed the rebirth of Guangyang Island, and an ecological green island that can see the mountains, see the water, and remember the nostalgia is presented in front of him.
As of May 2022, a total of 16 orders and 48 families and 213 species of birds have been found in the Guangyang Island area, accounting for 41% of the total number of birds in Chongqing, and 4 species of national Class I protected animals: Chinese Autumn Sand Duck, Black Stork, Black Eagle and Yellow-breasted Stork.
"Birds are an important part of the ecosystem, and I hope that through my work, I can more fully grasp and understand the composition and distribution pattern of bird species in Guangyang Island, and promote the development of biodiversity on the island." Gao Shaoxiong said.
Hualong Network - New Chongqing Client
Text / Zhou Ying
Figure video / Zhang Qian, provided by some respondents
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