Birders race to top pecking order

When 30 bird-watchers from Chengdu gathered at the foot of Wawu Mountain in Sichuan's Hongya county on May 19, they were not there to admire the scenery. They were there as field marshals.

With a massive 100,000-yuan ($14,890) total prize pool on offer, the third annual Wawu Mountain Bird Race has probably become the richest birding competition in the country, prompting organizers to implement strict defenses against potential cheating.

To preserve the integrity of the 29-hour event, where teams race to identify and record the highest number of bird species, the Chengdu Bird Watching Society established a strict regulatory regime.

The core of the anti-cheating strategy relied on a blind-draw lottery that paired each of the 30 competing teams with an embedded, impartial volunteer record keeper who doubled as a compliance officer.

"While many bird races, even internationally, are primarily about fun and give winners awards of honors, we're offering substantial cash prizes," said Shen You, founder of the Chengdu Bird Watching Society and one of the event organizers. "The cash awards necessitated the implementation of specific measures to ensure the event remained scrupulously fair."

Watching the watchers

The volunteer field marshals, Shen said, were all seasoned birdwatchers, many of whom were already intimately familiar with the terrain of Wawu Mountain.

"We deliberately designed the system to prevent them from competing with birders from other areas, giving our visitors a greater chance to win," Shen said.

"In addition to keeping records, these volunteers acted as impartial observers, helping to ensure fair play throughout the event."

During the race, the record keepers monitored their assigned teams for any violations and kept a close eye on rival groups. The event regulations strictly prohibited using bird sounds to lure targets, recording and playing back bird songs, employing thermal imaging scopes to locate birds, and collaborating between teams.

The ban on team collusion was directly inspired by a controversy during the previous year's competition, in which two teams covertly worked together to sweep the podium. One team claimed first prize while the other secured second, turning in nearly identical species lists that differed by just a single bird.

"It was undeniably unfair to the other participating teams," Shen said. "So, for this year's competition, we listed this type of coordinated effort as an explicit violation of the rules."

Organizers also introduced an independent event supervisor this year to coordinate with the field record keepers, gathering real-time feedback to address any potential violations on the slopes.

Alongside Shen, the competition's five-judge panel included Professor Li Jianqiang from Beijing Forestry University, Wu Fei from the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Professor Amael Borzee from Nanjing Forestry University, and ornithologist Que Pinjia from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

During the competition, the experts tracked bird movements across various elevations of Wawu Mountain, ranging from 1,140 to 2,830 meters.

"We needed to get a general baseline of bird activity for this season," Li said.

On May 20, Borzee took the cableway to reach the 2,830-meter tabletop summit. After walking a 3-kilometer circuit across the mountain's 11-square-kilometer plateau, he descended along a 10-kilometer hiking trail, recording nearly 60 bird species.

"The event is a great opportunity for participants to have fun while doing something they like in an amazing landscape," Borzee said.

Volunteer vigilance

The field volunteers faced the most demanding physical task of the weekend, as they were required to match the frantic pace of the contestants. Among them was Li Bin, a 59-year-old birder who drew a highly competitive team from Hubei province.

During the grueling 29-hour event, Li's step counter captured the relentless pursuit: nearly 30,000 steps on May 19, followed by over 25,000 steps on May 20.

"They weren't just walking to find birds," Li said. "At times, they were practically running."

Despite the intense pace, Li's team successfully recorded more than 100 bird species, earning one of the five second-place prizes of 5,000 yuan. The top two teams, winning the first-place prizes of 8,000 yuan each, recorded 110 and 106 species, respectively. Eight teams received third-place prizes of 4,000 yuan each, while the remaining 15 teams were awarded 1,000-yuan fair play consolation prizes.

"This isn't a competition where the winner takes all," Shen explained. "Everyone gets a share of the cash prizes. Essentially, money has just added a little pepper to the game."

Tourism boost

The scenic park has hosted the annual bird race since 2024. According to Shen, the bird race was completely sponsored by Wawushan Investment Co, a State-owned enterprise that manages the Wawu Mountain Scenic Area.

"Unlike most bird races, which are typically organized by local governments or nature reserves for quick bird surveys or public environmental campaigns, the Wawu Mountain Bird Race is designed more as a tourism event," he said.

"The inclusion of cash prizes distinguishes our race from a typical bird race.

"That's why we launched our event on May 19, to make it part of a series of events celebrating China Tourism Day."

At the launch ceremony, He Kaiwei, president of Wawushan Investment Co, said that the scenic area welcomed over one million tourist visits last year, marking a historic first.

According to statistics from the scenic area, about 2.5 percent of tourist visitors were bird-watchers, yet their spending accounted for more than 5 percent of the park's revenue. "I think it was a cautious estimate," Shen said."While common sightseers usually spend one or two days visiting all of the attractions on Wawu Mountain, bird-watchers often spend 3-5 days exploring the park and would choose to stay in different hotels at various elevations."

Even though the park is a lesser-known tourist attraction compared to other popular sites in Sichuan, such as the World Natural Heritage sites of Jiuzhaigou and Mount Emei, ornithologist Que said that Wawu Mountain is a must-visit place for any birdwatchers from outside of the province. "Among 93 bird species endemic to the country, 46 are distributed in Sichuan and more than 15 can be found at Wawu Mountain," he said.

"To see endemic Chinese birds, including several species of parrotbills, Wawu is a place you can't miss," Que added. "Frankly, I think it is the bird-watchers who have turned the park from a hidden gem to a popular tourist site."

To cater to visiting bird-watchers, He said that the park has introduced several tour packages. These packages include hotel stays at various accommodations within the park and complimentary rides on the park's cableways and shuttle buses. The cheapest three-day package for two people is just 1,020 yuan.