We reached Harbin, the last stop on our Chinese odyssey, about 10 days after arriving in Qinghuangdao. Our northern transect was substantially easier than our trip through the western desert, although still not without its challenges. In Shenyang we scoured the city for hours and hours but only turned up 15 nests. That would ordinarily be enough- we try to catch 20-30 birds per site, and 15 nests would give us 30 birds since both males and females sleep on or near the nest. Unfortunately, when we returned at night we were banned from two of the houses that had previously granted us permission, robbing us of 3 nests. The other nests we had identified were on the outside of buildings around a market, but it was so windy that netting was difficult and several birds escaped our nets. Two nights of work left us with 14 banded birds and no ideas for where to find more nests, plus rain in the forecast for the next day, so we cut our losses and headed north to Changchun.
In Changchun our hotel was right next to the train station and walking distance to a big outdoor market. In just a couple hours we found half the nests we needed, and scooped up 10 birds on our first night. Finding the rest of the nests was a little trickier, especially since we had an afternoon of rain that made it impossible to search for birds, followed by a night where half the nests we had managed to find didn’t have birds sleeping on them. Luckily, by our last night we had found another outdoor market with another cluster of swallows in the surrounding stairwells, all of which were sleeping exactly where they were supposed to be. We finished up in Changchun with 31 birds, a very nice sample size.
We were excited to get to Harbin, which has an interesting history. Although now most famous for its wintertime technicolor ice festival, Harbin once served as a Russian administrative and military base, and the Russian influence is evident in the onion-domed St. Sofia cathedral (now a museum) and a picturesque old neighborhood sporting distinctly European-style buildings. Harbin was also the first place in China where we found bakeries and coffee shops producing fresh, western-style loaves of crusty bread- albeit served with a non-traditional ice cream topping.
We arrived in Harbin in the afternoon and, as usual, made our way to an outdoor market. There were swallows everywhere, but we couldn’t find any nests- the birds weren’t flying in any windows, they weren’t visiting nests on the outsides of buildings, and they weren’t picking up mud to build new nests. After a few hours of wandering and spotting dozens and dozens of birds, we had only found 3 nests that were definitely active. I was frustrated- this was our last stop, and I really wanted to end the field season on a good note. We decided we would return at night to visit the few nests we had found, and come up with a new plan the next morning- we had three nights to get our samples before heading home.
We arrived in Harbin in the afternoon and, as usual, made our way to an outdoor market. There were swallows everywhere, but we couldn’t find any nests- the birds weren’t flying in any windows, they weren’t visiting nests on the outsides of buildings, and they weren’t picking up mud to build new nests. After a few hours of wandering and spotting dozens and dozens of birds, we had only found 3 nests that were definitely active. I was frustrated- this was our last stop, and I really wanted to end the field season on a good note. We decided we would return at night to visit the few nests we had found, and come up with a new plan the next morning- we had three nights to get our samples before heading home.
When we returned at 10pm, the market was still buzzing with people- street vendors were out in force, grilling oysters and clams and kebabs, rolling noodles, and serving up pastries. We picked our way through the crowds to check the nests, all of which were under long driveway arches that connected the main street to the inner courtyards of high-rise complexes. We walked under the first archway- and there were six birds, fast asleep on the wires and easy to catch. What? We checked another archway- another pair of birds. Across the street there was another pair perched above a doorway.
We started to get excited, walking up and down the side streets with our headlamps out. There were swallows everywhere, sleeping in archways and garages and on wires and signs. The breeding season was apparently starting late in Harbin, and the birds had paired up but hadn’t started building their nests yet. Rachel, Liu Yu and I could hardly believe our good luck. In about an hour we had scooped up 14 birds and found at least 30 more- enough to keep us busy for the next two nights as well. Harbin was going to work out after all.
Since we had found all the birds we needed on the first night, we had two days to hang out in Harbin and see the sights. Rachel and I wandered down to the cathedral and old neighborhoods, stopping for lattes in a western-style coffee shop. On the second night we headed back to the market and ate street barbeque for dinner while we waited for the crowds to thin out. By 1:30am we had finished banding another set of 15 birds.
On our last evening in Harbin we had a big celebratory dinner before returning to the market one last time. We finished up with 43 birds in total, our biggest sample from anywhere in China. The birds looked exciting too- they had been getting progressively darker in color as we moved north from Qinghuangdao, and the Harbin birds had the darkest bellies yet. Liu Yu is going to have lots of exciting data to work with as he redraws subspecies boundaries in the region.
On our last evening in Harbin we had a big celebratory dinner before returning to the market one last time. We finished up with 43 birds in total, our biggest sample from anywhere in China. The birds looked exciting too- they had been getting progressively darker in color as we moved north from Qinghuangdao, and the Harbin birds had the darkest bellies yet. Liu Yu is going to have lots of exciting data to work with as he redraws subspecies boundaries in the region.
The next day Rachel and I said goodbye to Liu Yu- he was heading farther north to his hometown for more fieldwork, and we boarded a train back to Beijing to begin our long trip home. It was an excellent field season: we discovered what looks like a new hybrid zone in the west, and mapped out the phenotypic boundaries of two subspecies in the northeast that have been contested in the taxonomic literature since the early 1900’s. It’s rare that a field season goes so smoothly and works out just the way you hoped. Now the hardest work begins- actually analyzing the data. Stay tuned for updates.
-Liz
-Liz