A race strictly for the birds

Monitoring

Wei instructed the participants on how to download an app to record their sightings on their mobile phones. The app also enabled judges to monitor and verify contestants' claimed sightings.

After the briefing, some teams went to the wood around the hotel in the evening to familiarize themselves with the terrain. Prophetically, one of the judges heard the calling of a brown wood owl, a rare protected bird.

Wu Shuqin, head of the county, said Zixi had recorded more than 300 bird species. The county has forest coverage of 87.7 percent and is home to a national nature reserve. She said by hosting the competition, the local government hoped to benefit from becoming a popular birdwatching destination and an ecotourism hotspot.

Yu Changhao, deputy director of the Jiangxi Forestry and Grassland Department's wildlife protection division who initiated the competition and helped broker the society's cooperation with the Zixi government, said: "Holding a bird-watching competition is like launching a comprehensive bird survey. It's an effective way to promote bird conservation and raise environmental awareness among the local people."

He Fengqi, an ornithologist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Zoology in Beijing who was one of the judges, said he expected the birders could find Blyth's kingfisher, slaty bunting and Chinese francolin, three rare birds which are theoretically distributed in the area.

Fun and games

On the first day of competition, teams left the hotel at 4:30 am carrying breakfast and lunch packages. Zhong, Lei and Wei and some judges separated themselves into two teams. Any sightings they made would also be added to the final list.

"We have to visit all of the race areas, and watch birds just like the other bird-watchers so that we can make the correct judgement on their claimed sightings," Zhong said.

The judges followed the teams on their mobile phones as the day's events unfolded. After three hours, the teams had recorded a total of 100 bird species. After 10 hours, the number jumped to 150, and when 24 hours had passed the figure stood at 169. "So far the count has been an absolute surprise and very reassuring," Lei said.

In January and March, Lei and Zhong traveled to Zixi separately to visit different sites and plan for the race. Both were disappointed they had only seen dozens of common birds. "Although it was off season for bird-watching, I gained a 'no bird' impression of Zixi and felt a little uneasy about the competition," Lei said.

As the intensity of the competition picked up, one team thought they spotted a Blyth's kingfisher at a stream near the Matoushan National Nature Reserve, but failed to record an image. Without evidence, Lei said the sighting was invalid. Zhong then forwarded the sighting location to a WeChat group and other contestants went to the area to look for the rare bird.

"The bird race is more a fun game than an intense competition," Zhong said. "While seeing some rare or endangered birds, the birders enjoy sharing with others. Also, a double sighting is a solid record of a bird."

The same day, another team claimed to have seen the bird, but failed to capture an image. There were no more claimed sightings, and the kingfisher was removed from the final checklist of birds that might be in the area.

Meanwhile, event organizers had to solve all kinds of "small accidents". One involved a team of birdwatchers who got lost and found themselves in a neighboring city outside of the race zones. Wei and his teammates drove to a deserted resort near a reservoir and found a tunnel entrance to the area was locked. He obtained the mobile phone number of the gatekeeper and shared it with the teams.

A driver of one team lost his way when he left the hotel at 4:30 am and finally found the road to Mount Chuyun, a major bird-watching site on the western zone, around noon. However, it was raining and the team had to leave the site. Still, the team managed to see more than 100 bird species during the competition even though they later titled their WeChat article "A Race Too Despairing to Forget."

The race was exhausting. Often in the afternoon, Zhong took naps in the judges' car.