Bird post at Chongming Dongtan

Chongming Dongtan is a very critical stop for migrating plovers in China and even in the entire Asia-Pacific region. Every spring, migratory birds flying from the southern hemisphere to the Arctic Circle to breed make a short stop here to take in large quantities of food and replenish the energy needed for their migration. For them, Chongming Dongtan is the equivalent of a gas station. Without such a gas station, these birds would likely not be able to complete their thousands of kilometers of migration.

Not long ago, "Focus Interview" about the ecological restoration of Chongming Dongtan wetland report let Dongtan Nature Reserve into the public's field of vision. Looking at the familiar faces of the staff of the reserve on the TV screen, I can't help but remember the time I spent with the migratory birds in Dongtan, and the most unforgettable thing is the melodious bird whistle.

Every time a migratory bird stops, the bird ringing in Dongtan begins. Different from the common maze net method, Dongtan Reserve to do the ringing of birds in a unique way, called the "flip net" method. The general practice is: in the area where migratory birds often go to feed, the fine nylon thread woven into a large net spread on the ground, near the end of the people tied to a long rope, the people through the pulling of the long rope bolted on the stick to control the net of the rise and fall.

How can the birds be attracted to it? First of all, we need to put a few birds made of bird feathers and wooden sticks next to the net to create a picture of the companions are already foraging for food; the next step is also the most critical step, is the bird catcher with a wonderful whistle to invite the birds to come to the "guest".

The best bird whistler in Dongtan, Chongming is Master Jin Weiguo, whom the locals affectionately call "Lao Jin". Lao Jin not only can use the bamboo whistle to blow the sound of more than 30 kinds of birds, but also can use the whistle to communicate with the birds. From the morning, foraging for food to attract companions, return to the nest, Lao Jin are imitated perfectly, people nicknamed "Golden Whistle".

I met Lao Jin in the early spring when it was still cold. At 6:00 a.m. that morning, when I followed the staff of the reserve down the embankment to the location of the ring of the East Beach, Lao Jin has already begun to work in the morning sun.

He was blowing his whistle while observing the birds flying around nearby, and adjusting the pitch and rhythm of his whistle according to the bird species. The crisp sound of the bamboo whistle sounded particularly pleasant on the quiet East Beach. "Although Dongtan is not a mountainous forest, the same mood is felt when you are in the middle of it.

When he saw us coming, he waved to us to squat down. Because wild birds are afraid of people, we squat down and do not move, and the natural environment into one, in order to make the old gold whistle more credible.

It didn't take long for a group of birds to land not far in front of Master Jin. Not waiting for them to stand firm, the original flat on the ground of the bird net turned up, in the air out of a perfect arc, the birds will be included in the net.

After the birds are released from the nets and put into the bird cages, Lao Jin needs to re-lay the nets to start the next round of trapping. He works like this for five or six hours a day during the peak of bird migration, and at most he can catch more than 200 birds in a morning.

After he wrapped up his work, Lao Jin came over to help ring up the birds and talk and laugh with the group. It was only then that I realized that the famous "Golden Whistle" was an easy-going man with a good sense of humor. He has dark skin, strong muscles, bright eyes like a hawk, the lower edge of the incisors is slightly curved, is always biting the whistle mark (bird hunting needs to whistle and pull the net close together, so you can not use your hand to hold the whistle when blowing the whistle).

Lao Jin's characteristic way of birding has been featured in the BBC documentary China the Beautiful (starting at episode 6, minute 23:55), which is quite fascinating to watch if you're interested.

However, Lao Jin originally learned bird whistling not because he wanted to protect wild birds, but to sell game meat.

The Jin family's craft of whistling for birds was passed down from their ancestors, and Lao Jin started out on his own at the age of 14. At first, he sold the birds he caught to bird traders, a large bird can be sold for 50 yuan, and small birds can also be sold for 20 yuan per catty. After a spring, the income can reach several thousand yuan, which is very substantial for the crop farmers who make a living from farming.

Time has changed, and Dongtan has set up a bird nature reserve, where bird hunting is strictly prohibited. This has worried Lao Jin. Just when he was at a loss, planning to "poach," the reserve reached out to Lao Jin and offered him a new job. The same is still the bird hunting, but this time it is for the sake of the ring, for the protection of birds.

And so, Lao Jin was "recruited" by the reserve. Every year during the migration season, Dongtan's ringing numbers are always the highest in the country, thanks to his excellent birding skills.

Although Lao Jin's livelihood has been secured, the skill of bird-whistling is facing a shortage of successors. "Young people nowadays are unwilling to learn" - Lao Jin lamented whenever he mentioned this. His sons and daughters are not interested in bird whistles at all.

Learning to whistle requires more patience and perseverance than anyone else. Every day, you have to get up at 4:00 a.m., go to the beach, listen to the bird calls, and then imitate them with a bamboo whistle. There is no textbook for this line of work, only oral teaching, and it takes at least six or seven years to learn.

In addition to this, bird hunting is also wearing heavy water shoes, carrying bird cages, bird nets and bamboo poles to support the nets, in the wet and difficult to walk on the mud flats "out of the stalls", the wind and the sun, it is really hard.

Fortunately, the Dongtan bird whistle has been included in the Shanghai Municipal Intangible Cultural Heritage project in 2007, the past two years by the municipal government's strong support, but also organized a "bird whistle into the school, looking for the inheritor of such activities. I hope that this traditional skills on the verge of extinction can be widely noticed through these publicity, and passed on.