Hello and welcome.

This is the Science of Birds.

I am your host, Ivan Philipson.

The Science of Birds podcast is a lighthearted exploration of bird biology for lifelong learners.

This episode, which is number 108, is all about my recent experience birding and traveling through China.

If you listened to the last couple episodes, you know that I'm on this big Asian odyssey through five countries in Asia.

Starting with Vietnam, then Cambodia, then China, and then Nepal, which is where I'm recording this episode right now.

And then I'm on my way to Bhutan very shortly.

And if you're new to the podcast, if you're just starting to listen and this is one of your first episodes,

then I should tell you that this is not my normal format.

I have no script that I'm working off of today. I'm just kind of talking at you based on an outline, recalling my experiences.

But normally with the podcast, I have a script, and it's a little more organized and information

rich. But it's been really fun to do these from the field episodes, and I've actually gotten some

really nice feedback from my listeners, people saying that they actually enjoy this.

So that's great. So this is my third from the field episode on this great Asian Odyssey.

When I was in Vietnam and Cambodia, I was actually leading a birding tour. But when I went to China,

that was actually what we call a scouting trip. I have an upcoming tour in

China in June, and I wanted to come over and check things out and check out the hotels and

restaurants and considered logistics and all that kind of stuff. And of course, get familiar with

the birds. I was there for three weeks and let me tell you it was spectacular

and that's what I'm going to talk about here in this episode. So let's go ahead and get right

into it talking about China and its wonderful birds. So we'll first start with a little background information kind of setting the stage.

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