🪺11.12 CBBS: Challenges I Observed During Our First BBS (After comparing it to North American BBS)
Differences Between North American and Chengdu Breeding Bird Surveys
North America
Clear and well-defined objectives
Simple and easy-to-follow field survey protocols
Standardized, scientifically rigorous sampling design
Skilled and effective volunteers
Well-organized structure with efficient coordination
Chengdu
Clear and well-defined objectives
Simple and easy-to-follow field survey protocols
Standardized, scientifically rigorous sampling design
Volunteer numbers and experience need improvement
Organization still has room for growth (progress tracking, training, evaluation, app development, etc.)
My Observations & Thoughts
Compared to North America, Chengdu’s breeding bird survey faces challenges in volunteer participation, field experience, and birdwatching habits. The organizational structure also needs refinement.
From what I’ve seen, one of the biggest gaps is the difference in birding culture. The U.S. has a well-established community of birdwatchers, while in China, the number of experienced birders is still relatively small. This directly impacts the availability of skilled volunteers for large-scale surveys.
I’ve been thinking about possible solutions:
Expanding the birdwatching community to increase the number of potential volunteers and fostering a birding culture that supports survey work (enhancing visual and auditory identification skills, improving quantitative recording, etc.).
Engaging individuals and institutions (birding organizations, research institutes, government agencies) to establish collaborative surveys and data-sharing mechanisms. A unified approach could be implemented, such as dividing mainland China into 100 km × 100 km survey grids, adjusting grid density based on volunteer availability in different regions.
Where Do I Go from Here?
Right now, my lab is in the early stages of developing citizen science initiatives with local stakeholders. The biggest challenge I face is recruiting skilled volunteers. Without a strong network of trained birders, the project remains limited to internal leadership.
How can we train and retain skilled volunteers while ensuring the data remains scientifically rigorous?
What strategies could encourage greater participation in long-term monitoring efforts?
How do I balance scientific precision with making data collection more accessible to citizen scientists?
What lessons can I take from North America’s success in engaging birdwatchers at scale?
These are the questions I need to explore as I continue working on bird surveys in Chengdu.