WBCM enters the stadium during the opening ceremony on the 12th November 2016. The Opening Ceremony of the 7th Asian Bird Fair 2016 in Jingshan, China including the parade of nations, pledge to protect wild birds led by James Zhang (President, CCX), the environmental-themed performances, were all recorded. You can watch the recorded performance by clicking on the picture at the end of this Part 2 article.
Police escorting our buses to the birdwatching sites (and primary school) in San Yang, Lu Lin, and Yang Ji. First time ever to be escorted by police for birdwatching outing – first-class treatment for us birdwatchers!
Primary School in San Yang town where the students briefed us on birdwatching which forms part of their co-curricular activities.
The tour to San Yang, Lu Lin and Yang Ji took place on 14th November 2016.
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Bird’s nest was found in one of the trees within the school compound
Suspension bridge leading to rustic village in Lu Lin
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Mushroom
cultivation shacks (Top left). An elderly lady cutting stems from freshly harvested mushrooms (Top right). Tree laden with persimmons in winter season (bottom left and right)
Cropfields & fruit trees in rustic village
Scenery at Lu Lin town after our lunch break (Top left). Waterfall area where the Plumbeous and White-Capped Redstarts “posed”
willingly for the happy photographers (Top right). Lu Lin’s own “ Jiuzhaigou” (Bottom left). Roasted Chestnuts at the end of our walk (Bottom right). At RMB10 per packet, grabbed
one just before boarding our bus as we headed to our final stop at Yang Ji town
Yang Ji Town. Billboard introduction included industries producing ginkgo, chestnut, mushrooms, edible fungus, cedar and poplar. Educational theme for schools is “Loving Birds, Loving Nature”. Reeve’s pheasant could be found at WangFengling village!
Ginkgo tree with Black-billed Magpie’s nest in centre. These magpies are very common in this area and throughout Jingshan county
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A raft of Mandarin ducks were spotted swimming on the far left corner of
this lake above
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Birdwatching festivals, competitions of watching and
photographing wild birds, all these have held by Jingshan County for nine years
since 2008, and this included environmental knowledge lecture, theme essays,
paintings, ecological photography exhibitions and environmental competition
activities. Nearly 200,000 Jingshan citizens were involved as well as 300 teams
of primary and middle school students, university students and groups from all
over the country. These activities have also attracted birdwatching
associations from more than 20 provinces and cities in China and more than
5,000 bird-lovers to watch and photograph birds in Jingshan. Central Hubei
Province has a population of 64 million according to the introduction from the
activity guidelines. The potential for growth in eco-tourism (through birdwatching
etc.) within this province alone is evident. Haowei Hotel, Jingshan at night-time below. Local
cuisines sourced from surrounding countrysides of Jingshan county, which we had
for our breakfasts, lunches and dinners.
Performances at Jingshan Theatre included martial arts, lion dances, wushu and a grand welcome to all delegates. Felt like Chinese New Year came early that night
Group picture with delegates from all over Asia after dinner at Yufeng
International Hotel
WBCM presenting souvenirs to CCX President Mr. James Zhang
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Tang and Andy putting down best wishes from WBCM on “Good Luck Ulsan
for ABF 2017”
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When Sandy Komito the character in “The Big Year” movie was
having dinner in a Chinese restaurant on Christmas Day (a public holiday in USA
hence all local diners were closed) and on his way to winning the American Big
Year, he invited the Chinese waiters to accompany him since he was literally
the “lonely birder”, still birding on a major public holiday. He asked the
waiters what was the most interesting bird in China and the waiter plainly
answered “Peking Duck”. For me, after attending this Asian Bird Fair in
Jingshan, my perception of birdwatching in China has changed entirely and is no
longer influenced by that particular (albeit funny) scene in that movie. A
total of 79 bird species were sighted at Wenfeng Park, Mandarin Duck Lake, Yang
Ji town, Mandarin Duck Creek, Lu Lin town, and Yangji, Hubei reservoir.
The weather was kind to us from 12th to 14th
November, with sun shining although it was chilly at night when the temperature
dropped to around 9 degrees Celsius. We checked out of Haowei Hotel, Jingshan
by 15th November, Tuesday as we headed back to Wuhan City. As we
left Jingshan county, our fond memories of the Bird Fair, the friendships
forged, the lifers seen, recorded and photographed will remain with us as we
headed home to Malaysia.
The 2017 Asian Bird Fair will be held in Ulsan, South Korea. The 1 hour 16 minutes plus video of Opening Ceremony was published through Asian Bird Fair Facebook page and is available for viewing below:-
Text by Yeo Yee Ling
Pictures by Tang Tuck Hong, Wilbur Goh, Yeo Yee Ling &
Asian Bird Fair Facebook page
Chenhu wetland and wetlands near Wuhan airport on 15th
November 2016.
