There is a ginkgo tree outside the window, and I can't help but look up at it as I work, budding, turning green, yellowing, and falling leaves, changing from season to season, year after year. After I started birdwatching two years ago, it became my own birdwatching home. Because it is so close, you don't need a telescope, you can look up when a bird flies in, and you can see at least the pearl-necked turtle dove, the white-headed bulbul, the white-cheeked thrush, the sparrow, the red-headed long-tailed, the magpie robin, the white wagtail, the white-rumped wenbird, the blackbird, the starling, the starling, the mercerized starling, the black-tailed wax-billed finch and the red-eared bulbul. At the turn of March and April, the ginkgo biloba leaves are the size of a coin, but not dense enough to hide the birds, and the trees are full of male inflorescences. In the past two days, there is a collection of "Nature and Freedom" by Professor Liu Huajie on my desk, which mentions bird watching, and some noisy white-cheeked thrushes on the ginkgo trees remind me that I may be able to talk about some topics in the anthology in combination with my own bird-watching activities and bird-watching history research in the past two years.
"Nature to Freedom"
The fact that birds can fly is often a symbol of freedom, which is more in line with the themes of "nature" and "freedom". The reason why I say "naturalism in practice" is to respond to the anthology "A Rhetorical Strategy for the Study of Science and Culture", that is, the title of the work in the verb-object structure, and even the verbalization of nouns, such as Picturing the Book of Nature. I also agree that this rhetorical strategy is to emphasize "process", as Fan Fadi argues in the preface to the Chinese edition of The Empire of Knowledge, focusing on scientific practice is a trend in the study of the history of science. "Naturalism or naturalist culture is not in the 'past tense'", and "practice" not only refers to the practice of the research object (naturalist) or the events, opinions and objects involved in the practice of naturalism (such as tools, specimens, etc.), but also refers to the researcher's own practice process, including first-order naturalist activities and second-order naturalist research, that is, the "natural+" strategy advocated by the author. "Second-order researchers should also get dirty in the process of doing research and writing papers, practice at least one natural hobby personally, and stick to it for a long time, otherwise they will not be able to appreciate the deep affection of the research object (many naturalists) for nature. Professor Liu Huajie himself has been deeply involved in first-order and second-order naturalism for many years, and is a model for practicing "naturalism+", and he is also calling, encouraging and supporting naturalists and researchers to join this practice in various ways.
In my opinion, the concept of combining first-order and second-order naturalism is also the aspect that I was most influenced by Professor Liu Huajie, and my experience of growing up in the countryside and working in the botanical garden cultivated my love for nature, which planted the seeds for me to pursue the path of naturalist research. This seed made me resonate with female naturalists in history through the book "The Daughter of the God of Flowers" recommended by Professor Liu Huajie, and with his support, I made women and gender the focus of my own research on the history of naturalism for many years. After two years of birdwatching, I have experienced the charm of the "natural+" strategy more deeply, and the first-order naturalist hobby is not only full of fun and surprise, connecting with nature and other enthusiasts, but also making me more sensitive to discovering new research topics, such as women's bird collection, recording and painting practices in the colonies, and Jane B. Dai Zhen, a pioneer of female birdwatching in China in the early 20th century. Dye), etc.), and second-order research, in turn, has given me a broad and enduring passion for nature, though it may remain an amateur forever.
Birdwatching predates the advent of the term "birding" at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and the author's book "Birds in the Bush: A Social History of Birdwatching" traces birdwatching in Britain to the 18th-century priest naturalist Gilbert White. White has long been a pioneer in birdwatching in the diocese where he works and lives, using "ancient methods" (naked-eye) birdwatching, meticulously documenting and describing species, habits, and migratory behaviors. The book shows that birdwatching can be an effective way to understand the history of Western naturalism, the relationship between man and nature, and even Western culture, but there are some debatable points about the way it is written. Due to the limitations of observation tools and techniques, as well as the craze for natural collecting, hunting cultures, and a tradition of ornithermy research, early birdwatching activities were rarely tied to taxidermy, and even then, as in White, birds were occasionally hunted, dissected, and taxidermy. Of course, this is not to criticize pioneers such as Wright, but rather to emphasize that birdwatching is often intertwined with the more explicit activities of taxidermy, feather fashion, and bird conservation, and is far from becoming a popular trend. As a result, the focus of the book on the history of birdwatching before the 20th century is not on birdwatching, but on these more visible ways of human-bird interaction, with a particularly serious neglect of female birdwatching, to name a few. The British ornithologist John Gould, who was the same name as Audubon, took his wife, Elizabeth Gould (1804-1841), to study birds on the European continent and in the Australian colonies, who served as his ornithologist. During her visit, Elizabeth was not involved in hunting or skinning, but observed birds on the spot, documenting the plants and environment they inhabited in sketches, which laid the foundation for Gould's illustrations for Birds of Australia. Another example is the bird painter Jemima Blackburn (1823-1909), who never painted with specimens, but observed and sketched in the habitat, and was familiar with the behavior and habits of the subjects he painted. Eliza Brightwen (1830-1906), a writer, wrote a number of naturalist books for young people, observing and describing the birds and plants around them, disseminating knowledge about birds, discouraging bird destruction, and even making taxidermy to deal with birds that died naturally. In an era when bird research relied on shotguns, women were alien to this cruel naturalist activity, and taxidermy collections for various purposes were acquired by indirect means such as buying and gifting, and white's birdwatching was in line with the expectations of decent and elegant gender roles, but their birdwatching activities were overshadowed by other roles and identities, such as the painters or writers of these women, so it was difficult to be recorded in the history of birdwatching. As a result, although Birds in the Bush devotes a chapter to "Forgotten Characters: Women and Bird Watching," very few women are mentioned, especially before the 20th century.
Birds of Australia
The emergence of the term "birding/birdwatching" at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries can be seen as a sign of the rise of a popular birdwatching trend that was rooted in Victorian naturalist culture and closely associated with the bird conservation movement in Europe and the United States at the time. In the early 20th century, Europeans and Americans in China brought birdwatching to China, such as E. S. Wilkinson in Shanghai and Dai Zhen in Chengdu, which started the country not as late as is usually thought. However, due to the influence of economic and cultural development, the number of bird-watching people in Europe and the United States was limited at the beginning of the 20th century, let alone in China, and bird-watching became a craze only in recent years. As Professor Liu Huajie said, "Bird watching is a kind of enjoyment, an interesting life experience, and a good way of life...... Civilized, elegant, and the so-called moderately prosperous society can be measured by the degree of public naturalism and the number of bird watchers!" Naturalism helps people to become moral species and individuals, and can also help people "find and confirm value and meaning, and make daily life better", and more and more people are achieving such goals through bird watching. The author also repeatedly emphasizes that through naturalism, we can understand our hometown and second home, discover the nature around us, and cultivate the ability to perceive nature from ordinary life. I have thought many times about how to observe and understand my hometown, and I have been filled with emotion when I read Liang Hong's Liangzhuang series and Huang Deng's Rural Observations, but I finally found that naturalism allowed me to enter that familiar and unfamiliar place where I grew up, and even to understand my parents' way of life, their attachment and dependence on the countryside, and their accumulated knowledge of native flora and fauna. In the last year or two, more than 30 species of birds have been recorded in the village and its nearby mundane woods and valleys, and the number is expected to increase by accumulating nearly 60 species in a few bird-watching visits. In Chengdu, where I now live and work, the city/suburban parks accessible by subway and bus have attracted birders to check in repeatedly, and I often go out for a walk on a whim, as well as communities, campuses, surrounding parks, rivers and other places, all of which provide convenient bird-watching spots.
The boom in birdwatching has made ornithology the most representative form of "citizen science". The author does not agree with this formulation, because it is "initiated by the scientific community and is inherently asymmetrical", "still centered on science (family)", "basically makes the common people (enthusiasts, amateurs) a peripheral organization", and "cheap, free and even upside down workers". In May 2023, the Dialectics of Nature published three papers in the "Public Science Research" section, one of which cited the revival of naturalism as a local case of public participation in science, affirming the movement's reflection on science, modernity, and the governance of science and technology, and its positive impact is undeniable. The other two articles discuss the concept and ideological development of citizen science, and the "public as scientists" actively cooperate with scientists and participate in scientific research projects, so as to achieve the symmetry between public knowledge and expert knowledge, and the democratization of science. Both papers mention that the Cornell University Bird Lab project is a classic case of citizen science, and there are also some bird research projects in which the public participates, such as the Chengdu wintering waterfowl survey, the city park bird survey, the panda base and the Tangjiahe Reserve bird ringing, and the Longquan Mountain raptor monitoring. Except for the ring, which is initiated by the institution and the research team and recruits volunteers, the others are organized and participated by bird watching clubs and volunteers. Some project volunteers do work hard, need to "stick to their posts" from morning to night, are basically unpaid, and even need to solve their own transportation and accommodation, there are indeed these disadvantages mentioned by the author, but the disadvantages may not be all. From a volunteer's point of view, first of all, they have the autonomy to choose the project, time and place that suits them, such as the above types of projects, I only like the bird ring project. Secondly, from the perspective of the author's vision of "citizens doing some scientific inquiry to serve themselves", these projects will be guided by professional ornithologists and senior birders, so that volunteers can quickly improve their bird knowledge and bird-watching skills, which will help them practice naturalism on their own. Some projects can provide a platform for enthusiasts to "play on their own" that cannot be achieved, allowing them to "use" scientific research resources to serve their naturalist hobbies. For example, I learned a series of techniques from the Ring Project, such as "legally" entering the heart of the reserve, using research tools, getting up close and personal with birds, and participating in the collection of data on bird migration monitoring, which I could not achieve with "personal knowledge".
For the most critical piece of advice envisioned by the authors, the Citizen Science Project provides a platform that encourages the public to submit their observations, have them reviewed for inclusion in the database, or work directly with the research team to participate in knowledge production. This does not contradict "personal knowledge", especially when individuals have not yet reached the formation of a relatively complete knowledge system, citizen science can be an effective way to participate in knowledge production. After all, through long-term and systematic naturalist observation and then completing a naturalist expedition report or nature observation manual in a certain place, it is only something that a few people want to do and can do, and most people do not have the time, energy or conditions to accomplish such a goal. I can't help but think of Linnaeus's apostles, and later the European naturalists and collectors around the world who were at the center of science in the Imperial Naturalist Network, and even in an era of extremely underdeveloped and reciprocal information, there was not a complete relationship of control and control between the authority of Europe and the collectors and natives of the "periphery". Of course, this analogy may not be appropriate, but in citizen science in the information age, the public has more and more autonomy in accessing information, using scientific research results, and choice, and the scientific community's reliance on public participation will also make scientists constantly reflect on this partnership. The decline of naturalism is undeniable, but in the fields of ecology, ornithology, conservation biology, ethnobotany, anthropology, etc., professional scientists and scholars cannot deny the contribution of naturalists and native residents to knowledge, and even must rely on their participation to promote research projects using traditional naturalist methods with them. It may also be an option to improve the existing deficiencies of citizen science, so that the "superficial" naturalism and modern scientific methods can coexist and benefit each other, and build a win-win model for the public and scientists. Of course, there are many more aspects of citizen science that are worth discussing and exploring, and my own ideas are immature and will change through personal involvement, observation, and reflection.
This anthology is also Professor Liu Huajie's "naturalist collection", which collects naturalists and good naturalist books from different eras and places, as well as the wonderful naturalist culture they present, and of course, also brings together the author's own rich naturalist practice and thoughts.
Why freedom? Nature may give us some inspiration.