Today's article comes from He Yujia, an old friend of the translation agency, a freelance translator and contributor.
Recently, she became obsessed with bird watching.
Bird watching refers to a scientific outdoor activity that uses observation and recording equipment such as telescopes in the natural environment to observe birds without affecting the normal life of wild birds.
He Yujia in the wild
In addition to being obsessed with bird watching, Yuka re-read Teruyuki Kobayashi's "The Last Words of the Crested Ibis", and after becoming more familiar with birds, she gained a deeper understanding of this work.
"Learn about their habitats, their sleepovers, their predicament, their predators... They are no longer just 'birds', but creatures who coexist with me on the same earth and have equal needs than me. ”
For example, Haruo wrote to the students in "The Last Words of the Crested Ibis", "Both humans and crested ibises live on the earth, the same creatures, the same life. ”
Author: He Yujia
In November, at the mouth of the Huayanzi Tunnel at an altitude of more than 3,800 meters, at five o'clock in the morning.
The stars that fill the night sky fade away, and Venus hangs high and is about to open dawn. The surrounding rock walls and mountains are full of shadows before sunrise. As soon as people spoke, they all turned into cold ice qi.
We were silent, taking advantage of the slight slight on the eastern mountain, and quietly walked forward. In addition to me and two friends, there were five or six other people, all walking up the mountain in the dark, some with binoculars, others carrying tripods and telephoto cameras.
The altitude is high, there is still ice on the ground last night, it is not easy to walk, and everyone's steps are very slow; It was deliberately placed very lightly, for fear of disturbing the "aborigines" on the high mountains.
Footprints of the green-tailed rainbow pheasant. Photography: The Great God of Life Experience
"Look at that!" I don't know who said it, my voice was very low, but it was an excited shout.
I didn't have time to pick up the telescope, and at the top of the ten-meter-high rock wall in front of me, several huge shadows jumped up; In the silence, the "flapping" flaps made a loud noise, and in an instant they returned to silence, and they flew to the mountains not far away, almost at the same time as the sunrise.
I was still a little confused, and almost unconsciously raised the telescope with my fellow friend. After adjusting the focus, two large birds appeared in the eyepieces, the sky was not yet bright, and I could only use the yellow and bare mountains in winter to distinguish some different color blocks on them. My friend Congcong lowered his voice and said to me, "This is the green-tailed rainbow pheasant." I always like to say the name Green Rainbow Pheasant. ”
Green-tailed rainbow pheasant eating breakfast on the hillside. Photos cannot show the beauty of the scene in a thousandth. Photo by Ning Ren
Whatever the name, I don't have a concept. After all, this is my first bird watching, and the telescopes are borrowed. When Satoshi invited me, I followed because "bird watching" was fun and the scenery in western Sichuan was beautiful. At this time, the excitement around me made me a little overwhelmed.
Then, the bird in the eyepiece met the first rays of sunlight.
I could see the "color blocks" on them: black cheeks, green and gold heads, golden necks, a little green gradient down, to sapphire blue-violet wings on their backs, and peacock green tail feathers. They don't move much, looking down for insects to eat. However, the sunlight gives them a quiet and brilliant dynamic, and those wings shine, real and unreal, like a dream. My telescope turned into a kaleidoscope, and it was like I had suddenly fallen into a wonderful dream.
Ren Ning, a friend who was holding a camera on the side and frantically pressing the shutter, said calmly, "It seems that there are seven in total." Five males, two females. You can look for female birds. ”
The wonder of creation. Photo by Ning Ren
I held up my binoculars and searched carefully, and with great effort I found that next to the two "flower peacocks" there were two female birds that almost blended in with the color of the barren mountain rocks. As we know about birds, they are bleak compared to male birds. It is tan all over with a hint of white spots on the feathers. But the body is quite elegant, the stretched neck is slender, quietly looking into the distance; Maybe because I don't dress "flowers", in my human eyes, I am more calm.
Ren Ning said to Congcong, "Now you will never be mistaken, because they are indeed 'rainbow' pheasants." ”
Yes, if you witness the dance of the bird feather and the sun, you will understand how appropriate the word "rainbow" is. Between the mountains and blue sky, several moving colored lights flashed higher and higher, and the scene in the eyepieces was fascinating. My heart had already screamed countless times, but my mouth seemed to have forgotten to breathe. After all, this heaven and earth belong to them, and I am an alien who broke in for no reason, and was inadvertently blessed by them with an unforgettable morning.
Both females and males forage for food, and slowly become invisible. I also held up the telescope for a long time, waiting for my friend to remind me that it was impossible to see, before I put it down, noticing that my hand was very sore.
Green-tailed rainbow pheasant male. Photography: The Great God of Life Experience
The large area where the Huayanzi Tunnel is located is the Wolong Nature Reserve, which is rich in bird resources. I also saw many birds that time, from fat chirps smaller than my palms to large birds of prey hovering in the air. But as soon as I closed my eyes, my mind and eyeballs were always filled with the brilliance of that moment. Because I haven't done any homework, I see that the happiness of the green-tailed rainbow pheasants comes from the simplest and most direct visual impact, and the simplest natural shock. After that, they were popularized by friends, they are national first-class protected animals, known as "Shushan Divine Bird". Well, worthy of the word "rainbow", and worthy of this word "god".
When I got home, I turned over "The Last Words of the Crested Ibis" that I had seen a few years ago. After too long, I only vaguely remember that it was a non-fiction work, from the discovery, protection and near-extinction of the crested ibis in the Japanese natural world, talking about animals and nature conservation, which left me with general feelings, sorrow and anger, an ordinary reading.
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[Day] Kobayashi Teruyuki
Translated by Wang Xin
Shanghai Translation Press
This time, it's no longer ordinary. With the "rainbow" shadow left in my heart by the "Shushan Divine Bird", I can almost completely empathize with Chunxiong, who is watching the crested ibis in the valley flat of the early morning. Watching him get up early and travel long distances to see the beautiful birds, I just think "it's worth it!" The white and flawless bird spreads its wings, revealing a vivid pale pink vermilion ("crested ibis") under its flight feathers, which in Haruo's eyes "contains a majestic and long-standing vitality", a description that can be translated to the green-tailed rainbow pheasant in the silky morning light.
Although the crested ibis disappeared from sight, Haruo "screamed" at the thought that they existed somewhere in the mountain and were multiplying, isn't this the scream in my heart? Thank God and nature for allowing me to witness such beautiful creatures, and when I think of them eating breakfast on a high mountaintop, and thinking of coexisting with such a sacred bird on this earth, I will give birth to the sigh of "It's good to be alive" and "How can he be deed" at the same time.
Crested ibis
While rewatching "The Last Words of the Crested Ibis", novice birdwatchers have a deep resonance with birdwatching old-timers separated by years and borders. At the same time, I recalled the later plot, and I couldn't bear to watch it anymore.
On the third day after returning from that bird watching, I received a message from a friend saying that someone had seen the green-tailed rainbow pheasant appearing, and I also went the next morning, but I was impatient, and in order to quickly take a good picture, I used the high beam to shake the top of the opposite mountain, so that the pheasants were frightened and temporarily abandoned this feeding ground.
Pheasants are inherently alert to both mammals and humans, and it is difficult to observe them up close; The green-tailed rainbow pheasant is a vulnerable species, a bird that many people have watched for many years, or have visited many times. (My friend jokingly said that I could see seven this time, all thanks to my "novice bird luck.") As soon as I was frightened this time, I don't know how long it will take to regain trust in that area.
He Yujia in bird watching
How similar this current reality is to the situation that Haruo encountered. In the name of "love" and "protection", human beings rushed into the nesting ground to carry out basic research on the artificial breeding of crested ibis, but this frightened the crested ibis in the breeding period, and thought that they "did not attract their attention at all". This cannot but be said to be arrogant.
In 2004, a paper in the journal Zoological Research found that no matter how humans carry out various activities such as tree planting and wetland abundance, the most effective way to increase the number of birds, in short, is to "do nothing", in wasteland areas with less human intervention, vegetation is closest to the natural state, diversity is high, birds can safely hide in it, choose from abundant food; Therefore, "bird species richness is significantly positively correlated with wasteland area", but "forest land area, population density, water body area, etc. are not significantly correlated".
This kind of research indirectly supports the book's protagonist Haruo's "human enemy theory" that the low hatchability of crested ibis chicks is not due to the proximity of natural enemies crows to bird's eggs ("Since ancient times... To deal with natural enemies, the crested ibis has its own way." Instead, it was disturbed by humans. Reading this passage of the book, I remembered the shame that rose in my heart that magical morning: I was the alien who rushed into this mountain, those beautiful birds, this heaven and earth should belong only to them.
A still from "The Year the Earth Changed", penguins took to the streets in droves during the epidemic.
The documentary "The Year the Earth Changed" records that in 2020, the plague forced people to isolate at home (think about the reason for the plague, it is also a bit ironic, maybe it is nature's revenge), the sky, land, and sea are gradually returning to their original appearance, wild animals are more safely multiplied due to reduced human activities, and nature shows amazing self-healing power. This phenomenon may correspond to the joke: don't say "the earth is heading for destruction", it is human beings who are going to destruction, and the earth will live better.
After my first encounter with the sacred birds of Shushan and the various cute birds of Wolong Nature Reserve, it was hard not to become a birdwatching enthusiast. I have my own telescope and other basic bird-watching equipment, go to the park, go to the wild, and even near my own community, like Haruo in the book, to observe some of the more common and smaller birds. I have to say, it's fun.
Take the birds that are often found in my neighborhood. The whole body is black, the bird's beak is bright yellow is the black thrush, it has hundreds of calls, most of them are gentle to listen, I heard it flying in the air is a continuous high-pitched "dripping and dropping", standing on the branch there will be three stops, four sounds, and then a series of crisp songs, feeling that a black thrush is a musical.
The black thrush in our neighborhood is acting in a musical. Photo by He Yujia
The white-cheeked noisy stork known as the "earth thrush". Photo by He Yujia
Even more present than the call of the thrush is the white-cheeked noisy stork, a dark tan bird, a white cheek on both sides, crest feathers often proudly erected, and the call is a short, sharp single voice, like who is continuously turning on the battery car, "Tweet! "They are numerous and medium-sized, and they can often be seen bouncing cutely on the grass; If you encounter it flying, please take a good look at the fan-shaped tail feathers, and there will be a rusty red reflected translucent by the skylight.
The best recognizable flying posture is the white wagtail, which is a parabola like a continuous mountain, falling on the ground and likes to walk leisurely with its tail wagging up and down, and the black and white color scheme often makes it look like it is walking with its back hand.
White wagtails walking in our neighborhood. Photo by He Yujia
Clustered among the trees, it is the red-headed long-tailed that makes a small, short call "chirping". This is the smallest bird in China's official records, with a body length of only about 10 cm, red head, black face, red belly, brown feathers, and a small piece of black on the throat, which we jokingly call "bow tie", although the are small, the color scheme is complete; The long tail feathers are also quite cute and beautiful. It loves to jump between branches or fly back and forth to feed, and is a small master of eating pests.
Nicknamed "Little Red Head" because it is really small. Photo by He Yujia
In The Last Words of the Crested Ibis, the more people observe and understand the crested ibis, the more they develop feelings for it, and I felt the same way after I started bird watching. Before that, for me, they were just "birds", small animals that occasionally flew in front of me, and "trinkets" that were captured in photos of flowers and trees, adding a little natural interest.
However, now I gradually understand their names, habits, favorite habitats, observe their walking, flying, foraging, courtship, and courtship from telescopes... Learn about their habitats, overnight stays, predicament, predators from books... They are no longer just "birds", but creatures who coexist with me in the same world, with different but equal needs; As Haruo wrote to the students in the book, "Both humans and crested ibises live on the earth, the same creatures, the same life. "The "me" in the "anthropocentrism" that I have been indoctrinated little by little since birth intentionally or unintentionally became smaller and smaller; However, the world I observed and perceived was getting bigger and bigger because of the birds.
Between a small and a big, "environmental protection" for me is no longer an abstract self-moral requirement, but out of equality with me (certainly cuter and more beautiful than me!). Respect of friends. For example, not littering plastic bags is no longer because "plastic bags cause white pollution, which is a bad behavior", but a small plastic bag causes various butterfly effects, which may cause a disaster for a bird population. From the selfish point of view of a birdwatcher alone, I also hope that every bird will live well, flying and jumping freely in the forest field, let me hold the telescope to see enough, and exclaim "so cute, so beautiful!" ”
via:news.cgtn.com
Haruo and Takano, who dedicated their lives to the crested ibis, and Uji, who regretted his death because he was ordered to capture the crested ibis, were just moved by the beauty and cuteness of this bird. So I can imagine the pain of Japan's last wild crested ibis (especially Haruo, who has been observing the crested ibis in the wild) when they went extinct.
The crested ibis was once abundant and could coexist safely with humans; Even the endangered crested ibis can build trust and friendship with friendly humans, but because of the arrogant egocentrism of human beings, the wanton exploitation of its beautiful feathers, all kinds of production and development regardless of ecological balance, and even self-righteous capture and attempt to breed in captivity, it has gradually disappeared.
The crested ibis is not an isolated case, there are many animals in ecological history because of human extinction or endangerment, and birds are also the hardest hit. Needless to say, distant examples such as dodos and parakeets in paradise are the "yellow-breasted bunting", a black-headed yellow-breasted, nice-called, small and cute songbird.
Yellow-breasted bunting female. via:hbw.com
I am very reluctant to name the alias "Grass Sparrow" that is better known. Because after being given this name, they became a delicacy, and it is even said that they have the miraculous effect of "nourishing yin and tonifying yang". As a result, foodies flock to the crowd and bird trappers covet it, and in just a few decades, millions of yellow-breasted buntings are illegally hunted each year. They quickly went from "shading the sky" to becoming a rare critically endangered species.
However, as mentioned at the end of "The Last Words of the Crested Ibis", China's scientific methods and protection have restored the number of wild crested ibones, and the small yellow-breasted bunting has ushered in the dawn of protection before extinction.
In the book, there is a contradiction climax, that is, the dispute between artificial breeding and natural reproduction, which mentions a sentence of Zhuangzi, "Birds raise birds", in fact, there are a few sentences behind, "Birds raise birds, the deep forest of Yiqi, the altar of wandering, the floating rivers and lakes, the loach minnows that eat, stop with the procession, and the snake is at the disposal." "We should respect the habits of birds, let them inhabit nature, return to the population, and live calmly. This simple view of nature may be exactly what we should return.
Bibliography:
1. LUAN Xiaofeng,HU Zhongjun,XU Hongfa. Characteristics of bird community in agricultural area of Shanghai and its relationship with concentrated habitat factors[J].Zoological Research,2004(1):20-26.)
2. Yellow-breasted bunting: from the brink of extinction to the dawn reappearing,
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzIwMzkwNDM3Ng==&mid=2247492683&idx=1&sn=29cf2dc61b13edece195c9ae5f5205bd&chksm=96cae05ca1bd694a6382b12ddc9aef9d44ce20e519da7515561a753091e1979dc25fbd641394&scene=27
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[Day] Kobayashi Teruyuki
Translated by Wang Xin
Shanghai Translation Press
Nipponia nippon, the scientific name of the crested ibis, symbolizes Japan.
This beautiful bird once found all over Japan.
By the 1930s, only Sado in Niigata Prefecture had observed their sightings.
Local bird lovers spared no effort to protect the last crested ibis...
According to Haruo Sato's observation, Japan's crested ibis undergoes a major change every decade. In the early years of Showa, the Japanese government designated the crested ibis as a "natural monument"; In the Showa 10s, the crested ibis was forgotten because of the war; In the Showa twenties, a conservation organization represented by the Sado Crested Ibis Love Association was established, and the crested ibis returned to people's attention. Every decade thereafter, the conservation of the crested ibis enters a new phase.
This year, the seventh year of Heisei, if converted to Showa, should be the seventieth year of Showa. Haruo Sato is convinced that new changes will occur this year, and the change Haruo is looking forward to is the success of the crested ibis' first spawning and hatching in Japan.
Little Green and Phoenix began mating on April 4 and successfully laid eggs.
Sado's three crested ibis conservation organizations rejoiced. Five eggs mean five baby ibises, and visitors to the conservation centre are thrilled.
However, people's joy and expectations were once again disappointed. On April 30, Midori died suddenly. The five eggs left by Midori carry the bloodline of the Japanese crested ibis and are people's last hope. Whether they can hatch is a matter of interest.
On May 20, the Environment Agency announced: "Five eggs have no possibility of hatching, artificial multiplication failed." ”
The death of Little Midori and the failure of hatching cut off the bloodline of the Japanese crested ibis. The only surviving Japanese crested ibis, Xiaojin, is also no longer fertile. Feng was returned to China in June.
Seven years of Heisei, seventy years of Showa (1995). Haruo never dreamed that the great changes he was expecting for in the Japanese crested ibis would be a complete extinction.
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