From November 14-17, 2024, the 2nd Asian Ornithological Conference in Beijing, probably the largest bird-related conference in Asia until now, took place at the Chinese National Convention Center with hundreds of ornithologists from Asia and all over the world attending. The conference was organized by the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in conjunction with a number of ornithological societies and mostly Chinese universities, including Beijing Forestry University, which is a partner of East Asian Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP) and hosts the EAAFP science unit. Established scientists, activists and young aspiring scholars came together to discuss advances of ornithological science, but also ways to better protect birds. In plenary sessions and dozens of concurrent smaller workshops all aspects of science and nature protection related to birds were discussed, with poster sessions and an exhibition with many different exhibitors, among them those offering binoculars and scopes, but also bird tags and technology to record bird song adding to the interest of visitors.
There were a number of Korean scientists joining, among others from Seoul National University and Kyung Hee University. Prof. Lee Sang-Im of the Gyeongbuk Institute of Technology was one of the keynote speakers of the conference with a paper on the breeding performance of Oriental Magpie in urban areas. A session on Asian bird flyways, which include the East Asian Australasian and the Central Asian flyway was convened by Vivian Fu from WWF Hong Kong and Ding Li Yong of Birdlife Asia. It showcased the advances of cooperation on flyway issues in East Asia, but also showed that the Central Asian Flyway is relatively understudied and underrepresented. Many other sessions lacked Korean representation, for example the workshop on the ecology and protection of Oriental White Stork.
Being not an ornithologist myself, I can only marvel on the advances in science – genetics in particular – and also technology: ways to record sounds, ultra-light-weight tags making incredibly detailed studies of migration routes possible etc. At the same time, the focus of academic research seems to sometimes fall short of the possibilities, these exciting new science and technology trends offer, but maybe my impression is wrong. It seems that in countries with less advances in sciences much more of greater relevance in particular for conservation can be researched. Nevertheless, for Korea and Korean researchers it was a great opportunity to mix with Asian and international ornithologists. The one sad thing is that North Korea again – like in the EAAFP Science Unit Conference last month in Beijing – was absent, though Beijing is the easiest foreign place for North Koreans to go. Hopefully, this will change again by next year.
