“As birds are the most sensitive animals to the environment, watching and studying birds, in some way, is the same as watching and caring for our own environment, so protecting birds is a way of protecting ourselves,” Zhao said in his small laboratory at Beijing Normal University. Although this is the summer vacation, he is still busy researching and attending meetings. However, Zhao has never quit his responsibilities as an ornithologist in Green Earth Volunteers.

“I love birds and I wish more people loved birds, for they are the best friends of humankind,” Zhao said.

Captivated by World of Birds

Zhao was born into an ordinary family in Beijing. Most of his childhood was spent in a big Siheyuan quadrangle. “We had a big courtyard which was about 100 square meters.”This was the place that inspired him to go into biological research.

In the courtyard, his parents planted dozens of kinds of flowers and trees, where a great number of butterflies, bees, and birds congregated. Those little animals captured the imagination of the young boy. He would spend most of his time watching them flying and listening to their beautiful songs. The courtyard buzzing with living creatures planted seeds of harmony between nature and human beings in this young heart.

At the age of 17, Zhao quit studying and became an art teacher in a middle school. He later enrolled in Beijing Normal University in 1977. He chose biology as his major following his heart’s love for nature.

The Bird Teacher

After graduation, he became an ornithological professor at his Alma Mater. The love for nature quickly expanded into a love of teaching. Zhao mentioned an ecology box he designed in his classroom.

“Every time students walk into the classroom, they directly go over to the box to watch the living creatures in it. Thus they can watch an animal’s whole living process, and notice its surroundings,” Zhao said.

For field practice, Zhao taught students to catch birds with a net, make records, and then release them, rather than shooting birds as sport. His rich knowledge and true love for nature have sparked spontaneous interest among his students in ornithology.

As time passed, his lessons even attracted some students from other departments. Their interests in ornithology inspired Zhao to run an extra course entitled Bird Banding and Preservation for all the students from 15 other universities and colleges in Beijing.

“Birds are the best species in the animal kingdom and easy to watch as an object of scientific study. Besides, this is also a very hands-on way of teaching conservation to

university students,” Zhao said. Zhao pumped all his energy in the extra course. Besides the regular courses, he arranged for students to visit the conservation area to watch and band birds. Sometimes they would make the bird rings by themselves: “This red one is a neck ring for a swan, and that blue one is a leg ring for a crane.”

Zhao pointed at a journal entitled Bird Banding and Preservation on his desk, smiling proudly. “This is an academic publication made up by all the students from the extra lessons.”

More than 150 students appeared in Zhao’s classroom this semester, while at the beginning only 30 enrolled. As a student wrote in the journal: “I began to love birds thanks to Professor Zhao’s lessons, and at the same time I began to deeply worry about the birds’ living environment, for they are gradually disappearing from sight.”

Zhao said: “The concept of conservation needs to be disseminated in an interesting and effective way, for nearly everybody, as a matter of fact, will be concerned with our environment and want to preserve nature.”

The Most Civilized Activity in the World

In 1996, Zhao was invited to guide a bird watching session organized by Green Earth Volunteers in which about 40 volunteers from different circles, including several foreigners, took part.. Although the volunteers were very enthusiastic during the session, they couldn’t see any birds because of a lack of basic bird-watching skills. In contrast, a French volunteer stayed distinguishably calm and skillful. She watched birds and made records professionally with the telescope and bird guidebook.

“She was only an amateur birdwatcher in her country,” Zhao said emotionally. This was when Zhao realized his obligation to spread knowledge of ornithology to a broader range of people.

According to Zhao, bird watching, as a way of promoting environmental education, is the most civilized activity in the world. In the USA, there are more than 4,000,000 people watching birds in a year, and Japan has got 50,000 regular amateur birdwatchers. But there isn’t any mature bird-watching tradition in China. What we lack is not the enthusiasm of the public, but the professionals to educate people,” Zhao said.

From then on, Zhao has been a regular member in Green Earth Volunteers. Besides his lecture every Wednesday evening, Zhao has also organized volunteers to watch birds every month in mountain forests, reservoirs, city parks, and other nature reserves. On his desk is a pad of papers entitled Avifauna Research Records, which were written by these amateur birdwatchers.

“What satisfies me most is that we have already got 30 core volunteers in this activity and some of them have become the leading members among Beijing’s birdwatchers,” Zhao said.

Zhong Jia, a journalist from People’s Daily, can recognize more than 300 species of birds and even can choose the spot for bird watching. “These volunteers who have certain knowledge about birds and their living environment will consciously put scientific ecology concepts into their work and management. They will never destroy the ecological system consciously or unconsciously and will become the future disseminators of environmental protection.” Zhao said.

Two Big Wishes

“When I was young, I could see woodpeckers, tit, culvers, and many other birds in my yard, but now you have to walk for a long time or go to a remote place to find even an ordinary bird,” Zhao said with a sigh. A volunteer involved in the report said, “Any extinction of a bird is a kind of disaster, an unredeemable loss of nature and human beings. People may already be losing the harmonious relationship with nature.”

Nevertheless, Zhao is very happy to see more and more people begin to be conscious of the environment and get involved in environmental issues through the activity of bird watching.

Zhao said he still has many wishes to complete. One big wish is to collect all the birdsong in China. Though he has collected about 200 kinds of birdsong in 20 years, there are still more than 1000 kinds of birds altogether in China waiting to be found. Zhao hopes more and more bird-lovers will help him to fulfill this dream.

“Another big wish,” he said, “is to train a group of volunteers who can grasp basic knowledge about birds and try to protect their environment and therefore conserve our own ecological balance.”

Zhao wrote on the back of his book The Atlas of Beijing Bird: “Only when Chinese ornithologists are joined by thousands of bird-lovers in studying and taking care of birds, can we at last become their true friends.”

Zhao is always likely to help and talk with any bird lovers through his e-mail address Zhaoxinru@263.net.

“I hope to see more people loving birds,” Zhao said. “When that happens, more birds will come back to Beijing, and I will be able to hear their beautiful songs again just as I did in my childhood courtyard.”

(China.org.cn translated from China Youth Daily by Liu Wenlong 09/03/2001)