April 1 to 7 is Hubei Bird Love Week. Today (1st), the Wuhan Bird Watching Association released the "2019 Wuhan Key Area Bird Monitoring Annual Report" (hereinafter referred to as the "Annual Report") to the society.
According to the data of the Annual Report, in 2019, Wuhan observed and recorded 342 species of wild birds, an increase of 20 species over 2018, the largest in the calendar year, of which 8 species of birds were newly recorded in Wuhan, namely the red-breasted black goose, the copper bluebird, the gray-crowned sandpiper warbler, the small sandpiper, the tumbling sandpiper, the gray-tailed drifting sandpiper, the white-tailed blue-earth ibis, and the grey tree magpie.
What do these little cuties look like, and how were they discovered?
Red-breasted black goose (Photo by Yao Bo)
On January 21, members Xie Honggang and Zhifei recorded a red-breasted black goose in the Fuhe Baiquan section of The East and West Lake District when carrying out bird monitoring in the Fuhe Wetland, and the red-breasted black goose breeds in the Arctic Circle in summer, wintering in Eastern Europe, Southern Europe and the Middle East, which is a rare fan bird in China, with only 3-5 records in China every winter, becoming the first new record in Wuhan in 2019.
Copper Blue Wren (Photo by Yao Bo)
On March 3, Wuhan University Life Explorers Association Piao Houhua and Wei Zhourui photographed a blue-green ibis in the mountain forest near qinglongshan metro town in Jiangxia District, which was confirmed to be a copper blue ibis, the second new record in Wuhan in 2019. It mainly inhabits montane forests and forest margins such as evergreen broad-leaved forests, mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forests and coniferous forests at an altitude of 900 to 3700 meters, and also descends to the foothills and plains in spring, autumn and winter.
Grey-crowned warbler (Photo by Lu Zheng)
On April 19, bird enthusiast Lei Jinyu recorded a gray-crowned warbler in Jiefang Park in jiang'an District, a downtown area, which is the third new record in Wuhan in 2019. The breeding area of the grey-crowned oriole is mainly in the southwest mountainous area, north to the Qinling Mountains at an altitude of 1400-2500 meters in the evergreen broad-leaved forest or bamboo forest, in Wuhan is an occasional migratory transit bird.
Little Sandpiper (Photo by Peng Guanghua)
On April 20, bird photography enthusiast Peng Guanghua photographed a small sandpiper in The Zhongshan Lake in the Wuhan Economic Development Zone, which was identified as a small sandpiper. The breeding of the small sandpiper from northern Scandinavia in Europe to northern Russia, wintering in Africa to South Asia, migrating through the northern and southeast coasts of China, before Wuhan City or even Hubei Province has no observation record, this is the first time to record the bird in Hubei Province, but also added a new member to the bird list of Wuhan City.
Tumbling Sandpiper (Photo by Yao Bo)
Grey-tailed drifting sandpiper (Photo by Peng Jian)
On September 8 and 21, members Yao Bo and Peng Xi observed a stone sandpiper and a gray-tailed drifting sandpiper in the Niushan Lake and Fuhe Baiquan sections of Jiangxia District, respectively, becoming the fifth and sixth new records in Wuhan in 2019.
White-tailed Blue Plover (Photo by Wei Bin)
On November 10, member Deng Xuefeng observed a white-tailed blue-tailed ground bustard in Jiefang Park, Jiang'an District, with obvious tail white spots, which was the seventh new record in Wuhan in 2019. The white-tailed blue-tailed plover is only distributed in the southwest region of China, and the population is not very rich.
Maitree Magpie (Photo by Xiao Li)
On November 16, bird friend Xiao Li photographed a gray tree magpie in Ma'anshan Forest Park, which became the eighth new record in 2019, the record of 415 bird species in the Wuhan Bird List.
With the addition of 8 new "little cuties", in 2019, Wuhan observed and recorded 342 species of wild birds in 18 orders and 63 families, which was the largest number of observed species since the monitoring of birds in key areas in Wuhan in 2016, accounting for 23.66% of the list of Birds in China (1445 species). So far, the total list of birds in Wuhan has reached 415 species.
In addition, in November 2019, monitoring of waterbirds in the wetlands of Shenyang Lake International Importance found that the distribution of 8 species exceeded the global population of Wetland International in 2018 by 1%.
Yan Jun, president of the Municipal Bird Watching Association, analyzed that there are two main reasons for the increase in birds: first, in recent years, Wuhan attaches importance to greening construction and environmental protection, the increase in urban green space, the improvement of water quality, and the implementation of measures such as retiring fields and returning fishing to lakes in protected areas such as Zengdu Lake and Shenhu Lake, which provides a good ecological environment for birds to inhabit; second, the number of volunteers participating in bird monitoring and submitting observation records increased last year, and there were 81 people who insisted on recording all year round, and 2178 bird monitoring reports were received, an increase of 896 over 2018.
Where to find the most "new birds"
The Jiefang Park and Fuhe Baiquan section produce the most "new birds".
The reporter concluded that Jiefang Park and the Fuhe Baiquan section are the places where the most new birds were found in Wuhan in 2019, with 2 species each. Among them, bird enthusiast Lei Jinyu and Deng Xuefeng, member of the Bird Watching Association, found the gray-crowned ibis warbler and the white-tailed blue-tailed sandpiper in Jiefang Park, and Xie Honggang and Peng Xi, members of the Bird watching association, found red-breasted black geese and gray-tailed drifting sandpipers in the Baiquan section of the Fuhe River.
Yan Jun introduced that these two places do have their own special features, which can be called "urban green island", with a large green area and more human activities around them. The green space rate of Jiefang Park is as high as 85%, and the environment is relatively quiet. Fuhe also set aside a 2 square kilometer protected area for wintering birds, with a special patrol team to patrol, and the birds are safer to inhabit.
According to the relevant person in charge of the Wuhan Municipal Bureau of Landscape Architecture and Forestry, as of the end of 2019, the city's wetland area was 1624.61 square kilometers, the wetland rate was 18.9%, and the effect of wetland protection continued to improve. The city has 3 scenic spots, 5 wetland nature reserves, 10 wetland parks, 6 forest parks and 1 national geopark. Volunteers from more than 30 NGO organizations, such as the World Wetlands Foundation, the Yangtze River Conservation Foundation, the Alxa Foundation, the Wuhan Bird Watching Association, and the Wildlife Conservation Association, have been involved in wuhan's nature conservation and wildlife protection work all year round. Last year, Wuhan was also approved to host the 14th Conference of the Parties to the International Convention on Wetlands in 2021, which is the first time that China has hosted such a meeting.
In 2019, the Municipal Bird Watching Association carried out threat monitoring, patrol protection and rescue rescue for important bird habitats and key birds through the "Ren Bird Feifu River Wetland Bird Monitoring and Civil Protection Action", "Yangtze River Tianxingzhou Wetland Bird Monitoring and Protection Volunteer Action" and wild bird rescue action, collected and reported illegal clues that threatened the survival of birds and evidence of destruction of bird habitats, reported a total of 41 bird catching nets and 16 times of destruction of various types of habitats, and submitted them to the wetland management department and forest public security for timely handling.
Will this year's outbreak have an impact on bird monitoring?
Because of the epidemic situation, the February bird monitoring report data released by the City Bird Watching Association in early March came from the birds in and around the community that members and enthusiasts monitored at home. So, will the 2020 Bird Monitoring Annual Report be affected by the epidemic?
Yan Jun, president of the Municipal Bird Watching Association, said that from January to March every year, the species of birds is relatively stable, and the winter migratory birds that can be monitored have been basically recorded before the outbreak of the epidemic in January, so it will not have much impact on the data of the whole year.