Where might an adult male with a crest and curly tail have been? To answer this question,
may require 10 years of continuous observation. Using the long-term monitoring group of hair crowns and curly tails based on personality markers established in Dongzhai, Xinyang, Henan Province in 2008, since 2012, researchers from Sun Yat-sen University , Beijing Normal University , Australian National University and the University of Groningen in the Netherlands have Several professors have tried to track the migration of curlies using various trackers.
In the spring of 2021, after experiencing the problem of insufficient solar charging in the early stage, the high-precision GPS tracker finally successfully recorded the northward migration of a crested curly tail from its wintering ground to its breeding ground.
This bird that only migrates at night left its wintering ground in northern Thailand in April 2021, flew 2,090 kilometers in 19 days, and arrived at its breeding ground Dongzhai on May 2. Scientists found that it only has 7 days of migration, and the rest of the time is "precisely clocked in" at its resting places, including Laos, and 6 resting places in China, all of which are very close to national borders or Chinese provincial boundaries. .
Scientists believe that this "accuracy" may be due to the fact that most of these resting places are inaccessible mountains with complex terrain, the forest ecological environment is better protected, the insects are more diverse, and the hair-crested curly tail can quickly replenish the energy consumed by migration during the day. energy of.
When scientists cheered for the first tracking success in 10 years, warnings followed: This migration is likely to come to an abrupt end due to a bird collision with a building.
In September 2021, volunteers from the New York City Birdwatching Association showed on Twitter the carcasses of birds they had picked up that day and died due to impact.
Bird strikes against buildings refer to the fact that birds cannot be recognized due to the transparent and reflective properties of glass. The presence of glass may cause collision with buildings, especially glass windows, resulting in injury or death. Relevant studies in North America show that bird strikes on buildings are considered the second leading cause of bird mortality caused by humans after domestic cat predation. In Canada, about 25 million individual birds are killed each year due to bird collisions with buildings; in the United States, this number reaches an astonishing 365 million to 1 billion.
Three of the eight important migratory bird migration areas in the world—West Asia-East Africa, Central Asia, and East Asia-Australia—pass through China and cover almost the entire Chinese territory. This means that a large number of birds fly over Chinese cities or villages every year, and the risk of them colliding with buildings is not small. However, compared to decades of investigation and research accumulation in North America, most people in China may have never even realized that there is a problem of birds striking buildings.
In September 2021, Duke Kunshan joined with Youth Action Network on Climate Change and the Chengdu Bird Watching Club to publish the first China-wide bird strike survey report. Li Binbin, the initiator of the survey and assistant professor at the Environmental Research Center of Duke Kunshan University, told the reporter of "global" magazine that in the spring of 2022, a new round of observations in multiple areas has begun. The WeChat public account of this survey project is "Anti-bird "Bumping Mobile Network" has also been officially launched. She hopes that through citizen science, it will not only make the public aware that bird strikes are a real problem, but also prompt the whole society to think more about how to achieve harmonious coexistence between humans and wild animals in cities.
article | Le Yanna
This article is reprinted from the WeChat public account "Globe Magazine" (ID: GlobeMagazine). The original article was first published on May 10, 2022. The original title was "These birds that died because of glass need attention!" 》.
1 Bird collisions around you
For birds during migration season, New York may be the most dangerous city in the world. In September 2021, a New York City Birdwatching Association volunteer posted on Twitter , showing the monitoring results that morning: "I picked up 226 birds that died because they hit the glass. Here are some of them. .There are 205 under the two buildings of New York's World Trade Center alone. Many more have been swept away or are too bloody to pick up. 30 are injured and the Wild Bird Foundation has been contacted. If you Be careful when you walk in New York today.”
The Circa Central Park high-end apartment located on the northwest corner of New York’s Central Park is also known as a “death trap” for migratory birds because of its curved facade shape and glass curtain wall.
March 2021, A bird flew over the Hong Kong Trade Center
Li Binbin told a reporter from Global Magazine that the cause of bird collisions is closely related to the glass on the building and night lights. During the day, birds see the reflections reflected on the reflective glass Scenes such as vegetation and the sky think that the places on the glass can be reached, so they collide with the glass; or birds see the plants or space on the other side through the transparent glass and think that they can fly to the environment on the other side. And at night , artificial light can disorient birds and attract them. Most birds will die directly after hitting the building. Even if they survive, they will suffer injuries ranging from beak breakage to intracranial hemorrhage.
Since the 1980s and 1990s, scholars in North America have begun to pay attention to the subject of bird strikes on buildings, and the number of academic papers has grown rapidly in the past decade. For example, including Duke University, Cleveland State University Universities in the country have conducted systematic bird strike surveys during the migration season, and have taken bird strike prevention measures on campus based on bird strike data; the McCormick Place Lakefront Center in Chicago has conducted a systematic survey that lasted for 43 years and recorded a total of There have been more than 40,000 bird strikes, revealing the pattern that night lights can cause bird strikes to occur more frequently. Large-scale systematic surveys are represented by the bird strike research project across North America conducted during the 2014 migration season, which includes 40 universities in North America and Mexico were studied, covering 281 buildings, and revealed the relationship between urbanization and the frequency of bird strikes.
In addition to systematic research projects, there are also a large number of random bird strike reporting projects in North America, including 11 years of random reporting projects The Chicago bird strike monitoring project, the bird-friendly building project affiliated with the Canadian Deadly Light Alert Project, etc.
In China, bird collision incidents have also been on the "hot search". For example, in April 2020, two buildings in Changping, Beijing The house between the floors was equipped with a glass curtain wall. Because the glass mirror reflected the sky, many migratory birds mistakenly thought the curtain wall was the sky and were killed. Later, the relevant personnel covered the curtain wall with a tarpaulin and covered it. Although it was not The Children's Animal Protection Association has paid attention to this, but systematic and scientific research projects have always been absent.
In 2017, Li Binbin, who participated in the research on Duke University's bird collision project in the United States, also witnessed several bird collisions at Duke Kunshan University. After the collision incident, she began to change the concept that ecological protection is more carried out in the wild, believing that cities are also important places to realize biodiversity and carry out ecological protection. That year, she began to organize graduate students in the field of environmental policy to conduct research on the phenomenon of bird collisions on campus. conducted research and produced the first bird strike report on campus. In the fall of 2019, under her guidance, the Bird Strike Project Team of Duke Kunshan University began a systematic investigation of the phenomenon of bird strikes on buildings on campus during the bi-annual migration season. In September of the same year, Dr. Zhu Lei and others from the Chengdu Bird Watching Association created a national random report submission platform for bird collision incidents based on the WeChat applet.
However, due to geographical limitations or random reporting, these two projects cannot fully reflect the actual occurrence of bird strikes. In the spring of 2021, the Bird Strike Project Team of Duke Kunshan University, the Youth Action Network on Climate Change, and the Chengdu Bird Watching Association cooperated to launch a nationwide systematic bird strike survey. After registration and screening by
, 128 individual volunteers and 33 volunteer groups finally participated in this 77-day survey, covering all Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities except Tibet, Ningxia and Taiwan. A total of 39 bird strikes were recorded in 12 provincial administrative regions , and there were 42 randomly reported bird strike records outside the survey during the same period.
2 Unexpected survey results
Compared with the data in North America, there is a huge gap. In this regard, Li Binbin said that the published research report is only a single accumulation of data, and the amount of input calculations is far from enough to estimate the number of bird collision incidents in China. "Only through many years of continuous citizen science surveys, covering areas with different levels of urbanization, including multiple data on different floors and building glass areas, can it be possible to obtain a more accurate estimated data."
Although the data is limited, The research report still reveals some issues worth pondering. For example, the report results show that 82.1% of bird strike incidents occurred in buildings below 6 floors, which is even nine times more frequent than high-rise buildings, and 74.4% occurred in buildings surrounded by trees. Li Binbin said, "This is indeed an unexpected result, and more investigations and data are needed to confirm it. The occurrence of bird strikes is mainly related to whether there is more glass coverage on the building surface, whether there is vegetation around the building, and whether It is related to factors such as reflecting vegetation. Bird strikes do not only occur on skyscrapers, many factors must be considered together. Therefore, for low-rise buildings, especially buildings with the same height as trees, we recommend reducing the use of glass or using special glass ."
For another example, the most bird collisions occur among passerine birds. Li Binbin explained that this is because many passerine birds are forest-dwelling and often shuttle between leaves or "tunnels" formed between trees, and are more easily affected by the shape of houses , such as two buildings There is a gap between the buildings. When the bird is flying, it will subconsciously fly forward along the gap in the corridor. At this time, if there is an obstacle in front of the building, it will be easy to hit it. In addition, many passerine birds do not fly in groups, are small, and fly very fast, resulting in a high probability of bird collisions and high severity of injuries. Other types of birds, such as some raptors or waterbirds , either fly at higher altitudes or move near the water. Their habitats are far away from glass buildings, so the chances of bird collisions are relatively low.
"The purpose of carrying out bird strike surveys is to help everyone get to know these birds living in cities and understand the biodiversity in cities. This will help everyone realize that due to the existence of some buildings, birds will face survival risks, and These risks can be avoided or reduced. For example, personally, you can put some anti-bird stickers on the glass windows, turn off unnecessary lights at night, draw the curtains, place indoor plants away from the glass windows, etc. . From the perspective of urban construction, urban planning practitioners, policymakers and architects can have a deeper understanding of the relationship between cities and biodiversity, and incorporate biodiversity into urban design considerations. After all, Humans spend more and more time living in cities, and current research will contribute important value on how to make cities a good habitat for people and wildlife," said Li Binbin.
3 The Beginning of Citizen Science
In the spring of 2022, volunteers from the three regions of South China, East China and North China have all arrived. Starting from April 18 at the latest, they will carry out bird impact construction on selected buildings for a period of 4 to 7 weeks. Conduct regular surveys, record and submit data as required. The survey can be conducted in the morning for 5 consecutive days a week. The time required varies according to the outer perimeter of the selected survey building, and can be completed in about 20 minutes.
Compared with the past, such projects are usually carried out by animal protection organizations. Li Binbin defines the project he is undertaking as a citizen science project. “This concept has been proposed in the West for a long time, but the important thing is not just to use data collected by citizens. To carry out analysis, it is necessary to formulate a scientific data collection process and set up corresponding scientific questions before the project is launched. Only in this way can correct data be collected and form the basis for subsequent policy support. At the same time, it is also necessary Provide regular training and guidance to participants."
In China, Guangxi's waterfowl animal observation and other projects also use citizen science methods, but the number of such projects is still small. “In the United States, many projects are led by associations. For example, bird collision projects are organized by many bird conservation associations. The problem that exists in China is that social organizations rarely hire scientists or professionals with high salaries to serve as full-time employees, resulting in a shortage of professionals in similar associations who can design scientific projects. Scientific research institutions do not have the energy to launch large-scale projects due to their own high academic pressure. scale social surveys or collect decades of data to draw a conclusion. Therefore, the combination of the two may be a direction for citizen science projects in the future. "Li Binbin told a reporter from "Global" magazine.
However, the bird strike research project gave Li Binbin full confidence in the prospects of citizen science projects. "When conducting field ecological protection research in the past, it was required to stay in the wild for at least one or two months. This actually limits the participation of many people. But bird strikes happen in cities, and many people will find that it is very simple to participate, so the project can affect more people. For example, volunteers who participated last year will sign up this year, and they will make simple modifications on some buildings where bird collisions have been reported and see their results. This impact will lay a good social foundation for future urban planning and construction. "
Uncle Ku's welfare
Uncle Ku's book donation activities are always going on! World Book Publishing Company provides Uncle Ku with 25 copies of "Ninety Thousand Miles Around the World" as gifts to enthusiastic readers. In 2019, China ranked first in flying around the world Dr. Zhang Bo flew around the world for the second time in his life. He flew over the Arctic ice sheet, across the Eurasian continent, traveled through the icebergs and canyons of Greenland, and flew at night over the brightly lit European towns and cities. Overlooking the vast deserts of Central Asia...a flying experience full of passion and courage shows a different attitude and realm of life. Please comment under the article, and the top 3 with the most likes (more than 50) will receive gifts book.
