Bird whistle, a wind instrument with which villagers in Dongtan region, Chongming, used to catch wild birds, has several hundred years of history.

Flowing downstream from the Yangtze river basin to estuary, tons of silt sink and  accumulate before forming the extensive beach in the east of Chongming Island due to the abruptly widening surface of the river, slow flowing, tides, convergence of saltwater and fresh water and other factors. The beach, which abounds with creatures including razor clam, wedelia, reed and silk grass, is an idle place for birds to live. Located in the middle position on the migratory route of migratory birds from East Asia to Australia, Dongtan is a place that migratory birds must pass through. Every year, hundreds of thousands of migratory birds would stay here. Thus, the local villagers began to catch birds while fishing on beach. They made a “bird whistle” to catch wild birds.

The 3-inch long “bird whistle” is made of a small bamboo tub. The bird-catcher uses his tongue to control air flow and imitates the chirps of various birds. The bird-catcher would put a net on the ground and put some fake birds besides the net. When he saw a bird coming nearer, he would blow the bird whistle. The wild bird would mistake the fake chirp as the chirp of a real bird, and come nearer to the net, only to get caught by the net turning upside down. A skilled bird-catcher could imitate the chirps of more than 30 categories of birds, and could even attract birds that are flying high above the sky. Since the 1980s, China has begun to protect wild bird species and bird-catching has been prohibited by the government. Chongming villagers could no longer catch birds with bird whistles. In 2002, the local government of Chongming established a Shanghai Chongming Dongtan Birds Nature Reserve, and Jin Weiguo, a former bird-catcher who could imitate the chirps of more than 30 birds, was invited as a bird protector. Now he uses bird whistles to catch birds, records relevant data of them, attaches a ring on the birds’ feet, and sets them free again. Now the bird whistle is playing a new role in the protection of wild bird species.