China News Service, Urumqi, June 21 (Xu Qianma Zaiqing) A pair of folding reading glasses, a faded photographic vest, and a pair of leather shoes that are always stained with soil... Photographer Wang Xijun from Midong District, Urumqi City picked up the camera Quasi-distant, a white swan spreading its wings on the blue waves falls into the lens, dressed in a neon-like sunset.
"Now there are 20 or 30 species of birds such as golden-orbited plover, godwit, red-billed gull, grebe, etc. in several reservoirs in Midong District, which are 30 to 40% more than before. Among them, there are many countries such as black stork, swan and thread duck. Class I and II protected animals." Recently, Wang Xijun told reporters that he had been "chasing birds" in and around Urumqi for ten years.
Wang Xijun in filming.
Photo courtesy of the interviewee
"Look! The couple are quarreling, and the husband is going to run away from home!" Wang Xijun quickly pointed the camera at the two egrets chasing in the distance and pressed the shutter.
Wang Xijun likes to act as a screenwriter through the camera, "braining" various dialogues and storylines between birds.
He said: "The best is often in an instant. Watching the camera and waiting patiently is the normal state of 'bird chasers'."
In the spring and summer, apart from going home to supply food and drink, Wang Xijun basically soaked in the vicinity of the reservoir.
In order to take close-up shots of birds, I used tents and thatch to build a camouflage shack and hid it in there motionless for six or seven hours.
The longest shooting, he continued to track for 4 months.
Since he fell in love with photography, Wang Xijun bought 8 cameras and took more than 100,000 photos of thousands of birds. Each photo has a story behind it.
"Birds have a rich spiritual world, devotion, unity, and loyalty. The swans in the 'monogamy' system are typical representatives, and they are the gods." In recent years, Wang Xijun's most anticipated "model" is a crooked Neck swan.
Starting from the beginning of April every year, as an important "station" on the migration route of migratory birds, many rivers, lakes, reservoirs and wetlands around Urumqi have become the resting places for migratory birds.
In the past 10 years, Wang Xijun not only recorded these birds traveling from south to north, but also recorded the changes in the ecological environment of Urumqi.
"I have been catching fish and chasing birds in the reservoir since I was a child. At that time, there were only a few common birds such as wild ducks and cormorants. In recent years, the waters of Midong District have changed a lot, the water has become clearer and there are more and more creatures in it. There is water and food, and more birds have settled down." Wang Xijun said.
In fact, rare birds such as swans and pygmy cormorants have strict requirements on the ecological environment and water quality. The emergence of these "barometer" birds in the ecosystem is a direct reflection of the improvement of the ecological environment in the Midong District of Urumqi.
Of course, these changes are inseparable from the implementation of the most stringent water resources management system in Urumqi. The successive implementation of ecological projects such as ecological restoration, landscape transformation, and comprehensive river environment improvement have enabled birds to have a better and more comfortable home.
What is in the lens is the real "human and nature". For Wang Xijun, shooting birds has long surpassed his ordinary hobby.
"As long as I have free time, I will continue to shoot. I hope everyone will fall in love with nature and protect it through the bird world in my lens." Wang Xijun said.
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