Ringmasters

Bird-ringing is one of the major tasks of forest rangers at the biggest station in the reserve. They use finely woven mist nets to capture wild birds and attach a small metal tag to the leg of each bird for individual identification.

The method can help researchers keep track of a bird's movement and history, Hu said.

After a demonstration of the technique by Xiao Xi, head of the station, Li volunteered to try bird-ringing. Her skilled handling of a bird, and accurate measurement of its anatomy impressed some of the avian experts.

"I have tried bird-ringing five or six times before during field practice," the sophomore said. "I missed the warm feeling of holding a small bird in my hands," she said, while conceding that the forest rangers are more adroit at the process.

The Chinese Academy of Forestry's National Bird-ringing Center issues the numbered metal bird tags, Hu said.

"The metal ring is like an identification card for a bird," Hu said. A bird's information, such as its wing span, is kept in a database. Researchers who capture a bird far away from where it was tagged are able to access its information.

"If researchers in Beijing capture a bird we released in Guizhou, for instance, the data can help indicate how the bird migrated," he said.

Since the bird-ringing station in the reserve was established in 2021, a total of 154 birds of 37 different species have been tagged. However, none of them have been traced by other stations, Hu said.