Good news for bird lovers: A new generation of "Beijing Common Wild Birds Atlas" released in Beijing
2024-08-25
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Environmental organization Friends of Nature, in collaboration with the National Zoological Museum and other parties, recently released a new generation of "Illustrated Guide to Common Wild Birds in Beijing" in Beijing.
The Illustrated Guide to Common Wild Birds in Beijing is compiled by Li Zhaonan, Wang Ruiqing and Li Qiang. According to the authors, this edition of the guide adds 101 new bird species compared to the previous edition published 10 years ago, recording 416 species of wild birds in 20 orders, 71 families and 416 species commonly seen in Beijing. It is a practical pocket book that focuses on identifying wild birds. The book also selects more than 100 common or highly recognizable bird calls, which can be listened to by scanning the QR code.
The launch of the "Beijing Common Wild Birds Illustrated Book". (Photo courtesy of China Machine Press)
In the past 10 years, bird watching activities in Beijing and even nationwide have developed explosively, and more and more bird lovers have joined the bird watching army. Gao Wu, a professor of the Department of Biology at Capital Normal University and the earliest advocate of public bird watching activities in mainland China, said that the publication of the new generation of "Green Book" provides a convenient and practical tool for this group of people. Compared with bird identification software, paper-based atlases do not directly give identification results, but provide a learning path for bird watchers to understand the basic form, living habits and relationship between birds and the environment. This process of understanding and thinking is very valuable and cannot be replaced by software.
Zhang Jinshuo, director of the National Zoological Museum, said that the number of bird records in Beijing has continued to grow, from more than 200 species recorded in the first generation of atlases published in 2001 to more than 300 species in the second generation of atlases, and then to more than 400 species at present. This is very gratifying and exciting, reflecting the richness of Beijing's bird species diversity, which is also an important part of the capital's biodiversity.
He Yini, general manager of Friends of Nature, said that over the past 30 years since its establishment, Friends of Nature has always been committed to providing a platform for everyone who wants to protect the environment. Friends of Nature has been conducting bird watching activities for nearly 30 years, and will continue to play the role of Friends of Nature as a platform in the future, providing support for more people to get close to nature, observe and record birds, and protect our common home with birds.
Beijing is located in the East Asia-Australasian bird migration corridor, and a large number of migratory birds pass through it every year. According to the "Beijing Terrestrial Wildlife List (2024)" released in April this year, there are 519 species of wild birds in Beijing, accounting for more than one-third of the total number of bird species in China, ranking second among the capitals of the Group of Twenty (G20) countries, and it is a veritable "bird paradise."
