Fu Jianling was observing birds with a telescope.
The Hainan Parrot Ridge Bird Atlas contains photos taken by Fu Jianling.
Fu Jianling crouched under the tree to observe the birds.
In the depths of the Parrot Ridge National Nature Reserve, between the leaves, from time to time there are a few crisp and pleasant birdsong, but when you follow the sound, the birds seem to be gone, but the artistic conception of "smelling birds everywhere" can add more mystery to this tropical rainforest.
"I don't have to look at what the birds look like, but just by listening to the chirping, I can at least distinguish seventy or eighty species of birds." Whenever the chirping of birds came from the leaves, Fu Jianling, a ranger at the Nankai Branch of the Parrot Ridge Nature Reserve, could always count the family treasures, and sometimes he would whistle to imitate the "response" a few times; sometimes, he suddenly crouched down or lay still, took out the telescope to look for it, and pressed the recording button of the recorder, which was probably another rare bird chirping and singing.
Rooted deep in the mountains
Patrol the Bird Park
Towering ancient trees, supporting the shade of the trees, the vines meandering and entangled with the thick trunks to climb and grow, from time to time there is a series of crisp birdsong, or a few rapid noises in the bushes, the depth and mystery of the tropical rainforest of the Parrot Ridge Nature Reserve can always be fascinating.
One day in early July, early in the morning, the reporter followed Fu Jianling from the Shicai village area of Nankai Township, Baisha to the depths of the rainforest, and after a few miles of passing, birds chirping and chirping were heard from time to time on the treetops and next to the bushes. At first, only one bird was singing happily, and in a few moments three or five companions, even flocks of birds, were summoned to sing with them, as if playing a melodious song, accompanied by the clanging of mountain stream spring water, and the quiet morning of the rainforest was awakened.
"Don't look at the hundreds of bird songs I recorded, but they are so clever that I still don't see the appearance of some birds." Born in 1986, Fu Jianling is a native of Nankai Township, Baisha, and after graduating from college, he worked in Haikou, Sanya and other places until he returned to his hometown in 2013 to become a ranger, and has since taken root in the mountains. By chance, he followed the researchers of the Parrot Ridge Nature Reserve to conduct a week-long bird survey in the Parrot Ridge, and since then, he has been fascinated by these "elves" in the tropical rainforest. ”
The large area, large vertical drop and good forest quality of the Parrot Ridge Nature Reserve, thanks to the data accumulated by previous scientific expeditions and the effective management of scientific research monitoring, make the bird record data of Parrot Ridge constantly refreshed.
The book "Atlas of Birds of Hainan Parrot Ridge" published in 2019 records that of the 250 species of birds that have been recorded in the Parrot Ridge area, 97 species of non-passeriformes and 153 species of passeriformes, of which 146 species of resident birds and 104 species of migratory birds. These birds are all recording objects of Fu Jianling.
"Smell the birds everywhere"
There is a trick to identification
Many different birds look very similar, and their calls are more similar, and it is very difficult to see the "true appearance" of the birds between the swaying leaves. In order to find out the types of birds that are singing and do a better job of patrolling the mountains and protecting birds, since 2015, whenever he patrols the mountains, Fu Jianling will bring a camera and a voice recorder to "capture" the traces and calls of different birds.
"You see, the pictures of birds I have taken over the years such as the bead-necked dove, the silver-breasted silk-crowned bird, the black short-legged bird, the brown-crowned birdbird, and the white-fronted swallowtail have all been published in popular science books." Fu Jianling flipped through the book "Hainan Parrot Ridge Bird Atlas", and his face was full of pride. Fu Jianling said that now he can accurately identify the types of seventy or eighty birds just from the chirping of birds. Among the birds he knows, the Hainan Mountain Partridge, a national first-class protected species, although its call is slightly monotonous, its song "ju-gu, ju-gu, ju-gu" can be described as "worthy of its name". In addition, the yellow-browed willow warbler "boy" song appears to be sharp but crisp, while the white-fronted swallowtail is good at making a loud and thin double whistle, compared to the mountain emperor dove's low-pitched call. Fu Jianling said that the head of the bird song was the Tao.
"Just hear its sound, don't see it, this is also the pleasure of hearing the sound and identifying the birds." Fu Jianling again gave an example, the same belongs to the rhododendron family, four cuckoos, middle cuckoos, large cuckoos, these three birds look very similar, but the sound is the best way to distinguish them, when you hear a string of "cuckoo, grunt, grunt, grunt" four consecutive calls, that is the four cuckoos are welcoming you; and the "cuckoo" song issued by the middle cuckoo is a little low, sometimes giving people a hypnotic feeling; the big cuckoo often emits two syllable "cuckoo" calls, which seem a little monotonous but rude.
"Among the birds, there are also some very good imitators, very clever!" Fu Jianling smiled and introduced that the red-throated songbird in the breeding period is more rhyme and gentle, and can also imitate the chirping of different small insects, and the brown-backed Berau is not willing to show weakness, although usually it will only emit a whistle tone similar to 'zhiga-zhiga-zhiga', however, it is good at imitating the song of other birds such as red-billed acacia birds and yellow orioles, and the sound is gentle and melodious, and its "confusing" is not small. Fu Jianling said that even the same kind of birds make different calls when they are foraging, courting, calling for help, and being frightened.
Listen to the birds singing
Record precious audio
Photographing birds is not easy, and recording the birds' chirping requires patience and care. Sometimes, in order to record a bird song without noise, Fu Jianling could lie motionless in the bushes or under the roots of trees, and encountered dangerous situations several times.
Once, when Fu Jianling was patrolling the mountain to an altitude of about 400 meters, a series of red-winged ibises suddenly sounded in the quiet mountain forest, and he was so surprised that he lay down next to the hidden bushes and took out his telescope to search around, but he could only faintly see three or five birds beating on the treetops. From time to time there was a wind blowing, the sound of the swaying leaves, confused with the birds chirping, helplessly he just lay motionless, about 20 minutes later, the moment the wind stopped, he finally seized the opportunity to record a 30-second bird song audio. Just as he was about to finish his work, he found that a bamboo leaf green poisonous snake had curled up next to his heel at some point, and almost stepped on it. Another time, in order to record the chirping of the Hainan mountain partridge, he almost bumped into a basketball-sized honeycomb.
"The birds are chirping, it's like they're singing!" Over the years, Fu Jianling can't remember how many bird calls he ever recorded, but after screening, he now keeps more than 40 recordings of bird calls. In Fu Jianling's view, in the slightly boring mountain patrol work, carefully seeking and listening to the pleasant chirping of different birds, and then consulting the bird protection experts in the reserve to identify, not only increase the knowledge, but also add different fun and vitality to this work. Chen Zhengqing, who is nearly fifty years old, has changed from cutting down forests to protecting forests, from hunting birds to protecting birds, and he and Fu Jianling have also become confidants for bird watching and listening to birds. "In terms of collecting and identifying the species of birds in Parrot Ridge, Fu Jianling has done a lot of work for our protection station, and we are very supportive of his hobby." Fu Yanming, director of the Nankai branch station, believes that patrolling the mountains and forests is to find ways to understand more detailed information about the ecological environment under the premise of not artificially interfering with the inhabitation of species, so as to do a better job in scientific research and science popularization in the future.
According to the book "Hainan Parrot Ridge Bird Atlas", the birds located in the Parrot Ridge area are not only more varieties, but also rare species, at present, 51 species of birds have been listed in different bird protection or red list, accounting for 61.45% of the protected birds in Hainan, of which 40 species of birds under national key protection, the first-level protected species are Hainan Mountain Partridge and Hainan Peacock Pheasant, and there are 38 species of second-level birds, including various types of green doves, imperial doves and birds of prey.
Fu Jianling hopes that the artistic conception of "people and birds are not alarmed" can make more people pay attention to and care for the tropical rainforest of Parrot Ridge.