🦩8.22 BirdWatching Society (Anthropos EP03): Meeting John MacKinnon— The Man Behind the Bird Guides of China

Thanks to Chengdu Birdwatching Society and a good chaperone (since I speak English lol), I had the chance to meet John MacKinnon. He is the author of Guide to the Birds of China (2022) and co-author of A Field Guide to the Birds of China(2000).

For both Chinese and foreign birders, these two books are the gold standard for identifying birds in China. Beyond birds, MacKinnon wrote the primate and ungulate sections of Mammals of China, and he was the main author of China’s master plan to save the Giant Panda.

In 1992, he was part of the Vietnam-based team that discovered several new large mammals, including the Saola. He has been advising the Chinese government on biodiversity for over 20 years and is chief technical adviser to a UNDP-GEF project strengthening wetland protection in six provinces.

I sat down with him for what I’d call Anthropos Ep03.

Me: Any birds you still want to see in Sichuan but haven’t?
John: Green-tailed Sunbird and Yellow-legged Fish Owl.
Me: Hahaha even the master hasn’t seen them?
John: Also parrotbills. Maybe I’ll see some this time at Wawushan.

Me: I know you just came back from Tangjiahe. How was it?
John: My first time there was 1986. Bird diversity has grown a lot since then. This time I only saw 40 species. Rainy weather, plus I’m old and can’t spot like before. Still, it was good to see common birds again. And I reunited with Lee, who was there with me in 1986. That felt great.

Me: What do you think about our work recording common birds?
John: I’m very impressed. In the UK, we’ve done similar work for 50 years. Overall bird numbers look stable, but habitat analysis shows sharp declines in woodland and farmland birds, while city birds increase. Farmland loss is disastrous. Government had to change farm policies—keep hedges, limit field size, stop some pesticide use. Looks stable on the surface, but actually packed with info. Sparrows are nearly gone, maybe due to feeders. Greenfinch too.

Me; How did u get into birding?

John: I started at age 5. My dad was a birdwatcher but also a bird killer. At school I was a falconer with a hawk. One day an old lady scolded me—called me cruel. She was right. I let the hawk go. But it flew around and came back to my hand.

At 16, I went to East Africa. Met the best birders: John Williams, Peter Scott, Richard Fitter. I learned fast. Later I worked more with mammals. I studied chimpanzees with Jane Goodall. In Indonesia, I studied orangutans, wrote bird books for Java and Bali, rediscovered “extinct” civets, and helped discover the Saola in Vietnam.

I came to China with WWF for panda conservation. Oxford University Press asked me to write a bird book. At first I only knew 200 species in China. I spent years collecting info, reading provincial reports on “economic value of birds,” and finding illustrators. My main illustrator, Karen, had access to Chinese birds through a zoo in Hong Kong. She gave up on warblers, so I found someone else. We published. At first, no one bought the book. Later, sales grew strong, especially after World Bank funded the Chinese edition.

Me: Any near-death moments?
John: Too many. Look at my pinky…it’s gone. The wild took it.

John MacKinnon has given so much to China’s biodiversity and conservation. His guides are affordable, reliable, and priceless for Chinese birders. I’m grateful for his signature in my copy, and even more grateful for his lifetime of work.