Chorus for change: A participant looking at her trophy during the bird call competition at the University of Hong Kong. — AFP
The chirping of birds echoed through a packed lecture hall in Hong Kong, though there wasn’t a feather in sight.
Residents, some pressing the sides of their throats or contorting their bodies, imitated the rhythmic calls of the koel, brown fish owl and Asian barred owlet.
One donned elaborate headgear to mimic the yellow-crested cockatoo – a bird that is among the world’s most endangered species. About a tenth of the 1,200 to 2,000 left call the financial hub’s concrete canyons home.
Bob Chan, who took top prize at the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society’s first-ever bird call contest on Saturday, chose the tiny Eurasian Tree Sparrow, another longtime urban dweller.
He was among nearly 100 other participants, each judged on their rhythm and tone.
One judge, Hong Kong-based ecologist and ornithologist Paul Leader, said he was thrilled the competition had gotten people like Chan thinking about the birds they share the city with.
“If people don’t care about birds, how are you going to get them to protect them and conserve them?” he said.
Despite its relatively small size, more than 580 types of birds have been recorded in Hong Kong.
That diversity is attributed to Hong Kong’s status as a vital stopover on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway for migratory birds, thanks to the city’s varied habitats – from wetlands and forests to shrublands and coastal areas. — AFP
