Challenges addressed at survey's annual meeting
During the China Breeding Bird Survey 2025 annual meeting, held at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, participants from six cities — Chengdu in Sichuan province, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen in Guangdong province, and Zhengzhou in Henan province, which joined the survey last year — shared data, experiences and challenges related to the survey.
Luo Gai, a researcher from the base, introduced the CBBS held in Chengdu. The city was the first on the Chinese mainland to hold a breeding bird survey in 2023, and completed its second survey last year.
Covering an area of 14,335 square kilometers, Chengdu has been mapped into 159 10-km by 10-km sample areas. Between 2023 and 2024, volunteers visited 1,081 sample points in 150 sample areas and recorded 170 bird species, totaling 28,087 individual birds. In 2025, volunteers visited 782 sample points in 77 sample areas and counted 152 species with a total of 20,654 birds.
Yang Bohao, a doctoral student from Shanghai Ocean University, discussed the breeding bird survey launched by his teacher Zhang Dongsheng in Shanghai's Nanhui district. The survey focused on the Dongtan wetland area in Nanhui, with 102 1-km by 1-km sample areas. A total of 120 volunteers participated in the survey from May 15 to June 25, recording 99 bird species, including large breeding populations of several waterbird species such as the gull-billed tern and black-winged stilt.
Due to the remoteness of some sample areas, they struggled to attract volunteers, many of whom were beginners. "So we need to accommodate both new and experienced bird-watchers," Yang said.
Zhang and his team plan to expand the CBBS to cover all of Shanghai and attract more volunteers.
Sha Fei, from the bird-watching division of Friends of Nature, a Beijing-based national grassroots environmental nongovernment organization, expressed envy at the survey coverage in other cities. Beijing has 183 10-km by 10-km sample areas, but in June and July of last year, only 26 volunteers visited 36 sample areas, recording 87 breeding bird species.
"The CBBS survey method is different from the usual method we used," Sha said. "In the field, the surveyors were bothered by a few problems. For example, the map app showed a sample point only 300 meters away. But the surveyors found the road was broken or closed and had to add a new sample point."
Weather is also a factor that influences the survey. The breeding season coincides with Beijing's rainy season, and geological disasters led the team to give up certain sample areas, he said.
The distance of sample areas from urban centers also required volunteers to arrive the day before, increasing logistical challenges.
Liang Zhijian, a doctoral student from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangdong province, said 56 volunteers (24 of whom were surveyors) from Guangzhou, and 49 (21 surveyors) from Shenzhen participated in the CBBS between May 19 and Aug 19 last year.
"Only about half of the volunteers who signed up actually joined the survey. Many of our volunteers, even after training, struggled to identify birds without the aid of mobile phone apps," Liang said.
Despite the challenges faced, Liang said, the volunteers were enthusiastic about participating in offline activities organized by the CBBS project team. Many of them showed significant improvement over the past year. These activities provided opportunities for hands-on learning and skill development, helping volunteers to enhance their bird identification abilities and gain more confidence in conducting surveys.
Que Pinjia, an ornithologist with the giant panda base who co-initiated the CBBS project, said that the data collected from the survey is valuable. "But it's more important for us to address the challenges faced and find sustainable ways to promote the survey in the long run," he said.
































