A race strictly for the birds

Competition to log highest number of species adds to avian knowledge, boosts tourism

At 11 am on April 21, Zhong Jia arrived in Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi province, from Beijing by air.

Over the next four days, the 68-year-old retired newspaper editor and former environmental reporter, along with several peers, coordinated a bird-watching competition in Zixi county in the province's east.

Nearly 80 bird lovers from 20 provinces and autonomous regions were organized into 18 competing teams to take part in a "race" from 5 am on April 22 to 7 pm on Saturday to check off the largest number of bird species. Those who are in it for the sport of compiling a list of species are known as "twitchers" and "tickers", while more serious bird watchers think of themselves as "birders". While the Zixi event had some tickers, the majority were birders eager to help expand knowledge of the different species and habitats.

"Before the competition, almost no records of birds from Zixi could be found on our (bird-watching) record website," said Zhong, who is one of the founders of the Rosefinch Center, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting birdwatching and conservation.

"After our race, with three days of records compiled by the teams, Zixi will become a promising birdwatching site." Zhong was one of the first bird-watchers on the Chinese mainland.

The competitors were housed at a hotel in the Mount Dajue Scenic Area, a major tourist attraction also located in one of the competition zones.

Before the event, Zhong, Lei Jinyu, general-secretary of the center, and Wei Ming, head of the group's office in Kunming, Yunnan province, introduced the three competition zones to the participants.

The zones covered bird habitats that included primitive and bamboo forests, paddy fields, tea plantations and reservoirs. The teams－each consisting of four members－drew ballots for a turn to compete in different zones at different times as well as for the allocation of drivers.

"By dividing the race areas, we wanted to spread our teams across wider areas," Zhong said. "A good driver sometimes decides the final score of a team. So we use a lucky draw to ensure everything is fair."

The rules of the competition stipulate that recordings cannot be used to lure a bird and a claimed sighting of a rare bird must be supported with an image. Hearing a bird's song can be counted as points, but a recording of the creature is preferable.