The Beijing Swift (Apus apus pekinensis) is a special bird. I remember Australian evolutionary biologist, Tim Flannery, saying that the swift is at the vanguard of evolution, the species that is closest to conquering the air. There are species that have their whole life cycle in the ocean and on land but no species, yet, has its whole life cycle in the air. The swift, landing only to lay its eggs and feed its young, is pushing the boundaries and it is possible to envisage a world in which, eventually, the swift will evolve to give birth to live young on the wing that can immediately fly and support themselves.
On 7 June, appropriately World Swift Day, international cooperation on the Beijing Swift formally resumed, with the fitting of 41 new, state of the art, loggers to birds at the Summer Palace involving a team from China and Belgium. These loggers will provide rich data about the migration and foraging patterns of these unique birds that spend only three months on the breeding grounds in Beijing, before heading on a c30,000km round trip to southern Africa. Some of the new loggers include accelerometers that will tell us whether these birds – that eat, drink and sleep in the air – make that journey to Africa and back without landing, as many suspect.
The catch at the Summer Palace, coordinated by the China Birdwatching Society, the Beijing Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center and the Beijing Municipal Academy of Forestry and Landscaping, was joined by UK-Belgian swift expert and veteran bird bander, Lyndon Kearsley.
The banding at the Summer Palace was the culmination of a week-long programme of engagement by a visiting Belgian delegation involving Lyndon and Martine Wauters, founder of Swifts Without Frontiers and creator of World Swift Day. The project, spearheaded by the Belgian Ambassador to China (and lifelong swift fan), Bruno Angelet, will run for three years with the aim of discovering more about the ecology of the Beijing Swift, including both during the breeding season in Beijing and during the non-breeding season in Africa. After the initial fitting of the loggers at the Summer Palace, the plan is to return next year to retrieve the data and, at the same time, involve African scientists from Botswana, Namibia and South Africa (the core wintering range). The scientific knowledge gained from the new loggers will not only help to inform actions to support swift conservation across its range but will also create the foundation for greater people to people connections, including schools and conservation organisations, in Beijing and southwest Africa.
Lyndon and Martine began their week in Beijing with a visit to the Beijing Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center (the bird banding authority), after which a day-long symposium on the Beijing Swift was held, involving senior government officials, scientists and civil society organisations.
Field visits to Yeyahu and Miyun Reservoir were followed by a training session for volunteers from the China Birdwatching Society, hosted by the Belgian Embassy, on how to fit the loggers.
The Belgium-China cooperation on this project is being implemented under the auspices of the Ambassadors for Nature initiative. It is a wonderful example of how countries can work together to support biodiversity conservation. It recognises that to conserve migratory species, there is a need to understand the ecology and to protect habitats not only on the breeding grounds, but also at the non-breeding grounds and important stopover habitats along the way. And, at the same time, involve more people to raise awareness of the incredible wildlife we have all around us, even in major cities, thus building support for policies and measures to protect it.
This project builds on the international cooperation on the Beijing Swift that took place from 2014-2017 which, thanks to new technology, discovered for the first time the incredible migration route from Beijing to southern Africa.
Huge kudos to H.E. Bruno Angelet, the Belgian Ambassador to China, for his enthusiasm, determination and leadership to make this happen. It is exceptional for a senior diplomat to put such energy into a project about nature, and I am sure that it will inspire others to follow. He was supported by a wonderful team at the embassy that crossed political, communications and logistics teams.
Huge thanks also to the Beijing Forest and Parks Bureau, the Beijing Municipal Academy for Forestry and Landscape, the Beijing Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center and, of course, the China Birdwatching Society, including the legendary Professor Zhao Xinru and his team of volunteers.
You can hear Jane Goodall’s special message for the Beijing Swift Project below:
Fascinating bird! Thanks Terry.
Thank you, Jane. It is an incredible bird and all the more remarkable that it makes its home on manmade structures in one of the world’s largest capital cities.