Tianjin

The following posting by Zhang Juan describes her visit to a Tianjin wetland with Masha Vladimirtseva, Three White Cranes educator and researcher from Russia, this past fall. The Siberian Cranes along the east Asia flyway are migrating through this region now (see the Spring Migration posting for news and images from the migration). Click here to download a fact sheet and PowerPoint presentation on Tianjin (the second of our spring 2008 field updates for Three White Cranes classrooms).

Most wetlands in Tianjin are coastal wetlands. But, this time, we observed a wetland in an urban area. Guided by a taxi driver who is very interested in watching birds, we went around the wetland. Our companion from Green Friends of Tianjin (an environmental organization in Tianjin) told us that they arranged a successful photo exhibition on coastal wetlands in Tianjin last year. Environmental organizations like Green Friends of Tianjin are the leaders in environmental protection in Tianjin and are flourishing day by day.

Ignoring shivery winds in winter, Masha frequently got out of the car and watched birds in the wetland. The observation took almost a half day. Except for several grebes, we did not find many kinds of birds. But, one common hoopoe rejoiced Masha deeply, since she had never seen this bird in Russia (click here to view an image of a hoopoe). Oh! What an enormous world we are living in! What biodiversity we have!