A group of students at a Chinese high school in Shenzhen were disturbed by a nest of screeching birds interrupting their studies. Instead of removing the nest, the principal turned the issue into a learning exercise, inviting university researchers to teach students about the science of birds and setting up artificial nesting sites to lure the birds away from the school.
Is there anything more annoying than distracting noises when you're trying to focus on work? Usually it's shouting neighbours or loud music, but for the students of one Chinese high school the cause was rather different - a nest of screeching birds.
They were so annoyed by the birds interrupting their studies before a set of important exams that they petitioned their headteacher to have the nest removed. But he refused. And like any great teacher, he turned the issue into a learning exercise. The noise started in March and had gone on for weeks, leaving everyone at the high school in Shenzhen - a tech hub in the south of China - feeling increasingly exasperated.
The source was a nest of koels, a species of black, red-eyed birds protected under China's wildlife laws. In Chinese, the bird is known as 'Zaojuan', meaning 'noisy cuckoo'. As the name suggests, its piercing call can reach up to 80 decibels - as loud as a vacuum cleaner.
A koel on the campus of Shenzhen Bao'an Middle School in April 2025 Scientists say the birds sing most in the early morning and at night, when people are most sensitive to noise. During the breeding season, from March to May, their calls grow louder, more relentless and more repetitive as they try to attract mates.
Some students at Shenzhen Bao'an Middle School could endure the squawking and treat it as a natural alarm clock, but most found it highly irritating. One student described the constant sonic bombardment as a form of torture.
'Once, my teacher paused during class and said, ''Listen, they are fighting again'', they recalled. One brave student, called Le, decided to take matters into his own hands and wrote a letter to the principal calling for action.
'My classmates and I are under pressure due to the college entrance exams, but the noisy birds in the treetops outside our window have been full of vitality, singing passionately. Please remove their nest and let these free spirits fly back to nature,' Le wrote. He added: 'I know removing the nest is not easy, but I can't think of a better solution.
' But Principal Yuan Weixing denied his request and explained why he believed it was better to let the nest stay. In an open letter, Yuan explained that birds have their own natural rhythm and should not be disturbed. Connected with nature: Teachers and students of Shenzhen Bao'an Middle School near a pond on the school campus He described them as an integral part of the school and said they were sharing an ecosystem with the students.
He added that, piercing as the calls may be, they could one day become unique memories of their schooldays that they would recall long into the future.
'I know your urgency, but I cannot grant your request,' he wrote. 'It is not because I don't sympathise with your hard school work, but because I want you to understand that the ultimate goal of education is not to make the world adapt to us, but to teach us how to get along with the world. ' But refusing the request did not mean doing nothing. Instead, the principal went online to buy earplugs for the students.
He also asked the campus staff to set up artificial bird nests further away from classrooms. Since koels occupy the nests of other birds rather than building their own, the idea was to provide alternative nesting sites to lure them away from the dormitory and classroom buildings. The school has also invited university researchers to tell students more about the science of birds.
A flock of birds over a mangrove wetland in Futian, Shenzhen Liu Yang, a professor from the School of Ecology at Sun Yat-sen University, was recently invited to deliver a lecture. The bird expert praised Yuan's approach, saying that teaching young people how to coexist with animals was essential. He added that a greater focus on biodiversity and conservation had boosted urban wildlife, meaning conflicts between humans and animals would become more common.
Shenzhen is a key stopover along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, one of the world's most important routes for migratory birds. The city is home to more than 450 species of wild birds - about one-third of the total bird species in China, according to official figures. Liu noted that similar human-bird conflicts also occur in residential areas. In the past, solutions largely relied on raising public awareness to ease frustration, but more high-tech methods have now emerged.
One project Liu has worked on since 2023 has involved installing 100 passive acoustic monitoring devices around the Greater Bay Area, a megalopolis encompassing nine cities - including Shenzhen - alongside Hong Kong and Macao. These devices use AI-based recognition algorithms to track bird sounds and map their movements. Liu's team are now preparing a study to predict where koel calls are most likely to be heard, using factors including vegetation, the presence of water bodies and building density. The aim is to create an early warning system for residents
Chinese High School Shenzhen Bird Nest Removal Koels Noisy Cuckoo Education Conservation Urban Wildlife Human-Bird Conflicts Passive Acoustic Monitoring Devices AI-Based Recognition Algorithms East Asian-Australasian Flyway Greater Bay Area
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