Feature: Chinese Birdman keeps his eyes to the skies

"Fewer and fewer owls can be seen in the Temple of Heaven,"says Lei Hong, a Beijing native who's been observing the city's birds for 20 years.

Last year, he saw only three owls in the royal garden. Ten years ago it was common to see 30.

Owls are the 59-year-old bird watching expert's favorite bird - he describes them as "a divine bird".

While his observation's are not backed by official records, Lei's observation is seen as "objective and accurate" by ornithologists, who say people like him are crucial to collecting data for research.

"Scientific studies need birdwatchers and civil environment organizations to contribute," Zhao Xinru, assistant professor of zoology at Beijing Normal University and a member of the China Ornithological Society.

OBSESSION

Lei is an avid birdwatcher, photographing and observing them year around. He can identify the chirps of the capital's birds in two or three seconds, something he attributes to years of keeping caged birds.

Lei's obsession with birds can be traced back to 1989. "There used to be 70 birds on my balcony," Lei recalls.

At that time, he was a fixture at Beijing's bird market. "I would buy birds that I am unfamiliar with, no matter where did they come from." He remembered a couple of birds from Indonesia cost him 60 yuan, "a very big expense in the 1990s."

He would go to great lengths to raise the birds properly, performing laborious tasks, such as disinfecting the cages, that most keepers would not. He even learned some veterinary skills, collecting unhealthy birds so he can grind medicine and help cure them.

Even when he was at home, he would watch his birds through binoculars, finding "interesting details" that others would miss, such as their dozing, fighting and breeding habits.

"The most depressing moment is their death," says Lei, who would bury birds' bodies into his flowerpots rather than give them away. "I viewed birds as my second life."

RESONANCE

But Lei soon gave up caged birds after reading an article about Friends of Nature, China's first environmental NGO, in 1996. He wrote a letter to the founder and succeeded in applying for the membership the next year.

"They called for people to observe birds in the wildness instead of caging them, which was actually a selfish hobby that hurt bird's life," says Lei.

The lesson helped him realize that his love for birds was nothing but a shackle to their freedom, so he said goodbye to his birds by setting them free.

"For northern birds, I released them at parks, and for southern ones, I released them during migration season," Lei said, emotional at the recollection.

Releasing birds also meant a new direction for his life. Lei began hiking around Beijing and neighboring provinces to watch and photograph birds. He even made a trip out to Xinjiang.

His photo of a bird in mid-hunt along a pond bank earned his much acclaim online, with one web user dubbing him the "birder king".

Some people say Lei's pictures always get large hits online because "full of humanity". He calls a walking magpie "a smart gentleman"; he describes a sparrow hawk in water as "taking a cold bath"; and in his eyes, a washbowl-sized nest looks like birds "mansion".

"You finally find you would resonate with birds," says Lei, "whose world is quite similar to ours, with joys and pains, poor and rich."

In 2013, Lei quit his job at a travel agency so he would have more time bird watching. He has volunteered to do bird investigations, give lectures in schools, and join a growing birding group which include many foreign birders.

Bird watching, however, was hardly known in China until 1990s.

Shortly after his birth, China's central government introduced a nationwide campaign in 1958 to terminated "four pests", which were rats, sparrows, flies and mosquitoes.

People believed sparrows are pests as they steal grain, and the opinion was supported by testimonies from biologists.

About 450,000 sparrows were killed by people in Beijing in three days that year, according to a report carried by People's Daily.

Along with the establishment of environmental NGOs in 1990s, bird watching expanded in Beijing and other cities, says Zhao Xinru, adding that there are about 40 specialized bird watching organizations in the mainland.

Terry Townshend, a British man working for an environmental organization, has been a birder in Beijing for 4 years.

He has recorded 460 species in the city, calling the city an ideal "service station" for migration.

Though the portion of bird watching population in China is still relatively low, he believed that the number of local enthusiasts will be grow when Chinese people have more leisure time and wealth.

Lei thinks differently. The experienced birder doesn't remember the number of his recording, what he keeps is just the pleasure of watching.

After the hardship in the Cultural Revolution, Lei devoted most of his time in making money. Years of bird watching have gradually made him an admirer of freedom and casual lifestyle.

"It helps me get rid of distractions", says Lei. "That's the change the hobby brings to me."

However, not all birders could find the inner peace.

Lei once caught a photographer throwing stones to wake up owls at daytime and others lure birds to get closer with food for good picture.

"They don't really love birds, only pictures," he said, raising his voice in clear agitation. "How could you impose your thoughts on another species and disturb their way of living?"

"Such behaviors break the laws of nature and will eventually backfire." Endi