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Listen to the Chinese hunter mimicking birds to protect them

Jin Weiguo, the bird trapper of Chongming Island. He switched from hunting shorebirds for the pot to catching them for conservation science.

For more than 40 years, Jin Weiguo has hunted shorebirds on Chongming Island, near Shanghai. In the last decade, Mr Jin has caught birds only for conservation research as an employee of Chongming Dongtan Nature Reserve. The birds are fitted with ID bands and flags so their lives and fortunes can be tracked by scientists from Russia to Australia. His traditional trapping method includes imitating the calls of the many wader species which migrating through the reserve. He mimics them on a bamboo whistle. With bird book in hand, Ann Jones asks Mr Jin to run through part of his repertoire.

Credit: Ann Jones

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Duration:

3 minutes