Ｃｈｉｎｅｓｅ ａｎｄ Ｆｏｒｅｉｇｎ Ｂｉｒｄ Ｌｏｖｅｒｓ Ｗａｔｃｈ Ｂｉｒｄｓ ｉｎ Ｄｅｙａｎｇ

Invited by the Sichuan Provincial People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (SIFA) and the Chengdu Bird Watching Society， 60 Chinese and foreign bird lovers went to Deyang， a city in Sichuan Province that had suffered grave damages in the Wenchuan earthquake， to watch birds， an activity for ecological reconstruction in the earthquake-stricken areas， on December 6， 2008. Dr. Sethapan Krajangwongs and Mrs. Jirapaphan Vorapongse， economic and commerce consul of the Thai Consulate in Chengdu; Ms. Isabel Yeo， vice commerce consul of the Singaporean Consulate in Chengdu， and other 13 specialists and bird lovers from Germany， India， Brazil， the United Kingdom， France and the United States took part in the activity.

Thanks to its fully-developed geological structure and landforms， varied climate， lush vegetation and well-preserved ecological environment， Si- chuan is endowed with rich bird resources and has more than 650 kinds of them. Of the 69 varieties of birds peculiar to China， the province is home to 37， ranking the first in the country. Deyang has a large variety of wild native birds and is an important winter home and stopover of migratory birds. It is one of the best cities for bird watching in Sichuan with over 100 kinds often sighted in the city proper.

Sichuan is accelerating post-quake reconstruction， which also includes ecological recovery. As the cold winter approached， the existence of wild animals drew people’s attention. The bird watching held in Deyang provided a good opportunity for the specialists， scholars and bird lovers who were concerned about ecological restoration to conduct scientific study and make environmental appraisal.

Seeing flocks of water birds of various kinds swimming on the clear water surface， Sethapan Krajangwongs， a doctor of ecology and long-time bird lover from Thailand， could not help saying: “It’s a feast for the eyes.” Everybody was excited when seeing a pair of scaly-sided mergansers listed under Class-A state protection. According to the president of Chengdu Bird Watching Society， only one such bird had been spotted in Sichuan once before. Dr. Krajangwongs said emotionally that this showed that the ecological environment in the worst-hit quake areas was not only recovering， but also improving.

Mr. Stephen Mohan， a doctor of biology from India said that he had not thought that there would be so many beautiful water birds in Sichuan， nor so many people who cared about the existence of birds and ecological recovery; and that as soon as he got back to school he would tell his students what he had seen and organize them to come to Sichuan to watch birds.

In a few hours， the Chinese and foreign bird lovers saw thousands of birds of about 30 varieties. It was a happy surprise to the foreign participants. They said that it was not rare to sight wild birds in mountains and forests， but to see so many rare birds in the central area of a heavy industrial city was indeed something extraordinary.

After the bird watching in the lake area， the foreign participants visited the office of theDeyang Bird Watching Society where they listened to the briefing given by bird watching societies of Chengdu， Deyang and Mianyang and viewed the websites of these societies. The Thai consuls said that they would publicize bird watching in Sichuan at the Consulate’s website and organize a bird watching tour from Thailand to take part in the international bird watching festival in Sichuan in May 2009. Mrs. Inge Dahm from Germany told a reporter from the Sichuan Daily: “I am relieved to see that people in the quake-hit areas have pulled themselves together again and the ecology is recovering gradually.”