Expert origins

Nanling is the largest mountain range in southern China, and the source of nearly all of Guangdong's major rivers, according to Liu. This vital ecosystem, dubbed "Guangdong's Water Tower", provides drinking water and irrigation for a population of 100 million people. The Nanling reserve, a treasure trove of biodiversity, is the province's largest gene bank for plant and animal species.

Although the nature reserve management bureau's team of research and public outreach has 15 members, Liu said, only three people are truly engaged in scientific research and biodiversity monitoring. "Most of our members work across different departments of the reserve and are occupied by their own responsibilities so they have no time to help us," he said.

"Scientific monitoring is not only difficult to learn, but it also requires a genuine passion," Liu said. "Without it, you just can't stick with it." And that's where the public bird-watching community comes in, he said.

After graduating from the South China Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2010, Liu plunged headfirst into the embrace of the Nanling Mountains.

His dedication deepened in 2012 when the reserve partnered with the Guangdong Academy of Sciences' Institute of Zoology to conduct the reserve's second comprehensive survey of terrestrial wildlife. As a relatively new ecology graduate, Liu jumped at the opportunity to assist in the bird survey.