Found in Sichuan
A hundred years ago, an American bird watching note on Mont-top Mountain
Gao Yao
In March 1916, under the bell tower of Huaxiba in Chengdu, an American girl named Jane Baldeston began her indissoluble relationship with birds for more than 30 years.
In this year, Jane Baldeston taught at West China Union University and married Professor Dai Qianhe (American, founder of the Museum of Antiquities of West China Union University, the first director), and took the Chinese name "Dai Zhen" with her husband's surname. After that, Ms. Dai Zhen carefully observed and recorded the birds she saw in an area of hundreds of kilometers around Huaxi Dam, and persisted until she left Chengdu in 1949.
Red-tailed Bully
cuckoo
Dai Zhen also left bird watching footprints in Ya'an.
In July 1943, Dr. Kepped, who was working in Ya'an (an American, who had opened a hospital and run a school in Ya'an, and still has the former residence of Kepped on Zhangjiashan in the city) invited Dai Qian and his wife to Ya'an for summer bird watching.
Arriving at Mengding Mountain on July 10 and leaving on August 2, they stayed at Yongxing Temple on Mengding Mountain for more than 20 days. During this period, they also "hiked" bifeng Gorge for bird watching. Later, Dai Zhen wrote a bird watching note of more than 30,000 words, "Birds of the Mengding and Emei Summer", which was published in the "West China Frontier Research Society".
In 1938, Dai Zhen went bird watching in Mount Emei for more than a month. Although before Dai Zhen, some scholars had published sporadic reports on birds in Sichuan, but all of them were aimed at collecting bird specimens, and Dai Zhen was the first scientific bird watcher. In her pen, we not only see information such as residence status, time of appearance, relative number, etc., but also leave us with how to watch birds in the natural environment without affecting the normal life of wild birds.
Dai Zhen and his wife live on the second floor of Yongxing Temple, with balconies on all sides, which is an excellent place for bird watching.
Returned to downtown Ya'an on August 2 and Zhougong Mountain, 7,000 feet above sea level on August 7. On August 14, they returned to Chengdu, ending their bird watching activities in Ya'an for more than a month.
How do you watch birds at Montpour Mountain?
Dai Zhen said: "In the process of this bird research, we did not collect any bird specimens, our job was just to try to identify and familiarize these birds in their natural habitat. Between July 18 and 28, some birds that do not belong to the area flew here. So I wondered how much the weather and temperature conditions would affect the movement of birds. ”
Let's see, what bird did Dai Zhen see at Montynon Mountain?
"It was raining in the morning, wet and cold. I was on the small balcony and wanted to see what I could find. At this time, I saw movement in the bamboo forest, and then two birds jumped out. The two birds jumped over the fence and across the road, moving cautiously and quickly, eventually disappearing into the bushes under the trees in the distance. The next day, I saw the two birds in the same place, they looked very similar, as big as chickens, they looked short and plump, the back of the neck and the upper part of the back were red, and the lower part of the body was a messy brown. Later, we saw a flock of birds appear in front of us, made up of a bird that looked like a parent and four or five young birds, who flew over the road ahead and then disappeared into the bushes below. Dai Zhen said that such a bird is a "gray-breasted bamboo chicken."
turtle dove
There is also the "ring-necked pheasant": "It will fly when we are approaching, it is several times longer than the bamboo chicken, its tail is wedge-shaped, and the top of the tail is pointed." After carefully comparing references, I think it belongs to the ring-necked pheasant. Early one morning, a pheasant flew up to me, with a wedge-shaped tail and a reddish head. ”
"This bird is a very common pigeon near Yongxing Temple, and it appears in the low hilly areas of west China. For this bird, people usually only hear it but don't see it; their call is 'djae djae go', and the last two syllables come out of the throat and the sound is relatively low. This bird is distinctive, with white banded stripes on its tail feathers, and we've seen it a few times in the wild and can hear its calls every day. ”
Of the Yunnan wedge-tailed green dove, she said: "This wedge-tailed green dove is one of the most interesting discoveries. The 4 of us stood on the second-floor balcony, staring intently at a tree outside the temple. On that tree, a larger bird was constantly moving, looking like a pigeon, but its whole body color was generally green. It travels among the leaves, like a parrot. Two days later, the bird appeared again in the same tree. Obviously, it was eating the fruit of the tree. On the eighth day, the birds reappeared, but this time two came, and they ate the fruit from the tree for a while, and then flew to another tree to eat. On the ninth day, the birds came again, and we watched them again. We see this bird as one of our summer neighbors. On the night of the ninth, a gunshot suddenly came from downstairs, and the bird flew away and never returned. ”
Montyned Mountain
Dai Zhen was watching birds in Mengding Mountain, and there were many birds that came into her sight, such as "Black-eared Iris Black-eared Iris", "Great Cuckoo Xinjiang Subspecies", "Little Cuckoo Bird", "Big Eagle Crane", "Eagle Owl", "Spot-headed Grebe", "Short-billed Swiftlet", "Black-naped Green Woodpecker Sichuan Subspecies", "Star-headed Woodpecker", "Spotted Woodpecker", "Grey Grebe", "White-fronted Swallowtail Chinese Subspecies", "Grey-backed Swallowtail Chinese Subspecies", "Little Swallowtail", "Brown-breasted Noisy Grebe", "Brown-necked Hook-billed Grebe", "Red-headed Spiked Grebe Common Subspecies", "White-headed Blackbird Nominated Subspecies", "Collared Bird-billed Plover", "Green-winged short-legged grebe South Asian species", "Yellow-rumped Grebe South Asian species", "Red-tailed Bulbul", Striped Mountain Wren Warbler...
David recorded a total of 53 species of birds. Dai Zhen was very surprised by this result. She also wrote in the article: "In fact, I ignored many species of birds because of the limitation of the article space, and partly due to the lack of data. I hope that someone else will be able to supplement my list of birds so that the awareness of birds in the region will continue to increase. We don't have a real book on birds in West China yet, so we desperately need to make one as well. ”
In Dai Zhen's bird watching report, in addition to the rigorous scientific description, there is also a funny description: "I saw a small and poor male northern red-tailed plover working overloaded, constantly feeding the clumsy juvenile cuckoo birds." As a young bird's scream was heard, we were surprised to find a larger gray bird in the bush that was planning to fly out of the cornfield. At this moment, a northern red-tailed plover that was busy feeding came into our sight, and the gray bird was a cuckoo cub, which was now sitting in the cornfield, making the same scream, calling on its father to come and feed it quickly. The northern red-tailed plover is constantly on the move, bringing a small bite of food to the cuckoo cubs about every 20 to 30 seconds. ”
"On July 23, the four of us were sitting under a grove of trees when we suddenly heard a soft knock at the door, so we turned our heads and found the woodpecker. The woodpecker was not far away from us, but it seemed that it was not afraid of us, so we sat there and continued to observe for more than twenty minutes. The bird's head is reddish-brown and has a very conspicuous line at its eyebrows. If you look at it from behind, it has some greenish tinge yellow, but its wings appear more yellow. Its throat is white or pure white, but the white is accompanied by black spots or black markings. The color of its tail seems to be white in the middle, while the sides are all black. We saw or heard about this bird a few times when we were in Chengdu. ”
Dai Zhen not only watches birds, but also "watches" others.
Guan Temple: Through the observation of the temple, she also saw the "society" behind the temple.
"Yongxing Temple is about 3,500 feet above sea level, located northeast of Ya'an in Xikang Province, 4 miles in a straight line from Ya'an. The temple is built on a platform on the side of Mengding Mountain, facing south, surrounded by dense ancient trees. However, due to the influx of people into the West China region during the war in recent years, the demand for timber and quality houses has increased dramatically, so some ancient trees have recently been cut down. But even if there are fewer trees, the remaining trees are enough to be a refuge for birds. In front of and below the temple there is a dense wood that grows along a small stream and stretches down to the river valley. From the valley down to the northeast, there is a plain, and the main road to Chengdu is also located on this plain; there is also a river valley to the south of the temple, which winds and winds all the way to Yazhou. ”
"Yongxing Temple once made the Mengding camellia business very popular, and it is still at the center of the industry." However, she regretted to see that "the temple has been dilapidated, two monks have become addicted to opium, and there are very few pilgrims to the temple." We also want to know how the local people lament the decaying temple, and if convenient, an interesting survey can be carried out to study the relationship between the Sichuan temple industry and the locals. ”
"My husband and I live in a room on the second floor which is in good condition with balconies on all sides and is an excellent place to prepare for homework and do bird research. The Crook family lives in a room on the ground floor, with one room facing the beautiful temple garden and the other facing the dining room and the kitchen. They also often came up to the second floor and enjoyed the balcony with us. On the second floor there are several other rooms, which face the courtyard in front of them; and at the front gate of the temple there is a narrow balcony from which to observe not only the large and dense trees next to the temple, but also through these woods, a glimpse of the river valley below the mountain and the plains in the distance. ”
Guan Cha: "Yangtze River Heart Water, Mengshan Mountain Tea." In Dai Zhen's eyes, she also saw tea and saw a "homestay" tourism similar to today.
"On both sides of the temple, corn was planted on one side and tea was planted on the other. There was also a temple at the top of the hill called Mengding Temple (today's Tiangai Temple). On the mountainside of Mt. Mengding, there are two temples, one is Zhizhi Temple and the other is Jingju'an, and these two temples are now in full swing in the hotel business. ”
Viewing: "Behind the temple is the ridge of Montyding Mountain. At the top of Mengding Mountain, which is 4,725 feet above sea level, you can overlook the Chengdu Plain. If the weather is clear, people can clearly see Mount Emei 40 miles away in The Yongxing Temple. ”
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