This year's race attracted 20 teams of birders from home and abroad, including the United Kingdom, Germany and Russia. Donegan-Cross and his friends entered a team under the name What a Pheasant Surprise, and on the morning of Oct 21 they recorded more than 20 species within the first two hours.

"It was amazing," he said. "We identified an eastern marsh harrier while it was circling above our heads about 15 meters away. We also saw 40 bean geese flying south in a V formation."

All together, teams recorded 155 species, according to Wang Xiaoping, one of the race judges. "Most spotted at least a third of that number," he said, adding that some even spotted endangered species, such as golden eagles and Oriental white storks.

The annual race is considered a bird survey of the Lyushun area, and it is also a platform for birders from around the world to communicate and learn from each other, said Wang, who is a researcher at the Liaoning Snake Island-Laotie Hill National Nature Reserve.

First prize this year went to a team from Shanghai whose members regularly volunteer for bird-protection projects and bird surveys.

"The joy of bird-watching is like tasting a crab," said Guo Ran, a member of the winning team. "Whatever I might say, you can only really feel the joy by tasting it yourself."

Gu Guoqiang, a retired journalist with Dalian Daily, fell in love with bird-watching while researching a story about poaching in 1999. Since then, he has set up a volunteer group that protects birds and captured many species on camera.