🐼X🐦 5.28 A New Role in Bird Research (Wildlife Tech Lab & CBBS)
Recently, I got the chance to lead an intern student at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. The head of the science education department assigned me this responsibility—probably because I volunteer so often that they trust me to handle it.
The intern I’m mentoring is quite interesting. Every day, she shows up with dark circles under her eyes, looking extremely tired, and often arrives late. My curiosity got the better of me, so I asked if she was feeling unwell or if volunteering was too exhausting for her. After all, if it was too much, she didn’t have to push herself.
To my surprise, she told me that she’d been waking up at 5 a.m. to observe animals. Naturally, I assumed she was studying pandas, since we’re at the base and she’s a college student studying in animal science already. If so, that would have been exciting! But when she revealed that she was actually observing birds, my enthusiasm dropped a little.
It turns out she’s involved in the first Chengdu Breeding Bird Survey, and the research lab organizing it—the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, Laboratory of Information Technology for Endangered Wildlife Conservation (led by Dr. Que Pinjia)—is in need of field researchers. She asked if I’d be interested in joining.
Since it's summer and I don’t have too many commitments, I figured this would be a great opportunity to gain more research experience (also I love observing animals anyways!) while also exploring Chengdu and its rural areas at dawn. So, I agreed! She was kind enough to send me a list of bird species to familiarize myself with before starting.
Now, I have a new role as a Field Researcher for the lab. My job involves surveying specific 10km × 10km grid areas to record bird species composition, population size, and distribution of both breeding and resident birds. I also document habitat conditions, elevation, GPS coordinates, and any signs of breeding behavior.
Excited to see what this experience brings!
