Textual content and two photographs by Jane Hahn, September 2025
On August twenty third…
I stood on the tidal flat at Maehyang-ri, squinting by means of a scope whereas the August warmth shimmered off the mud. Our job was to rely shorebirds. It meant hours of stillness, sweat, and shifting dots that changed into flocks of curlews, sandpipers, and spoonbills. It additionally meant listening to the voice of Dr. Nial Moores, who has spent a long time occupied with what wetlands imply for each folks and birds.
1) Quiet creates marvel, and marvel creates assist
Wanting by means of the scope, I had a flash of awe as a curlew settled on the flat. Then a truck rattled previous and the second vanished. Dr. Moores defined why that issues for coverage change. Perhaps the primary time you noticed that curlew and there was a second, after which a truck got here to get by, after which all of us needed to transfer, and all of that sense of marvel was all gone.
If on a regular basis, there’s noise, distraction, hazard, it’s nearly not possible for folks to say, “I wish to change my values.” You should have a secure house the place folks can step into it.
That’s why he argues for easy design fixes like secure pull-offs, a cover, a spot to take a seat, so common guests can really see birds with out fixed disturbance.
Hwaseong’s problem is just not solely to guard birds, but in addition to design these undisturbed areas the place folks can look, and really feel what’s at stake.
2) One uncommon chicken makes the entire world matter
We discovered that whether or not a web site is “internationally necessary” is definitely measured in opposition to Ramsar Conference standards. Any wetland with greater than 20,000 waterbirds, or one which helps 1% of a inhabitants, is internationally necessary. Hwaseong ticks the containers.
That definition hit residence once I noticed a Spoon-billed Sandpiper by means of the scope. There are regarded as solely about 400 left in your entire world. To see one right here, scurrying alongside the tide line, was surreal. For me, the one chicken embodied the urgency of defending an entire system.
3) When folks and birds each discover room
Conservation is usually framed as sacrifice, but it surely doesn’t need to be. Dr. Moores advised the story of Martin Mere in England, the place offended farmers as soon as wished to shoot geese consuming their crops,
“So what did they do? They made this protected space and supplied subsidies to the farmers. The farmers have been glad, the geese have been glad. And guests left pondering, ‘Wow, birds are unbelievable.’”
At Hwaseong, comparable options, linking birdwatching to pensions, cafés, or eco-education, might construct satisfaction and livelihood collectively.
4) Sweat, numbers, and the form of a wall
At Maehyang-ri, our particular mission was to see how birds have been responding to a brand new “blue carbon” seawall. For 90 minutes earlier than excessive tide, we measured with rangefinders how shut every flock dared to roost. If a seawall is constructed larger than a chicken’s eye stage, the chicken can’t see approaching hazard and can keep away from the location, but when the wall is lowered sufficient to permit visibility whereas nonetheless breaking waves, the birds can roost and feed in security.
In different phrases, knowledge helps you to argue for reducing a wall as an alternative of tearing it down. Counting shifting birds below the solar could also be scorching and sweaty, but it surely interprets lived discomfort into proof that may persuade a mayor to regulate a wall and defend hundreds of lives.
By the point we packed up, I understood why conservation is much less about “taking motion” and extra about “searching for options.” Actions can repair fast issues, however options create the circumstances the place issues now not come up. Numbers matter as a result of they make points seen, however options matter as a result of they modify values and habits. On that tidal flat, I discovered that admiration, as soon as allowed to settle, can form selections. Science gives the proof, marvel provides it weight, and collectively they will construct the assist wetlands like Hwaseong must endure. In the event you’ve by no means visited a tidal flat, attempt one nonetheless hour with binoculars. A single glimpse of a curlew probing for crabs may change the way you see the coast, and why it deserves safety.
Concerning the Writer
Jane Hahn is a highschool pupil from Chadwick Worldwide positioned in Songdo, South Korea, who works on the intersection of sustainability and storytelling. She has organized campaigns with the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership, linking native colleges and communities to international conservation; volunteered with BFS & Pals, supporting native consciousness and training actions for the conservation of birds; and joined restoration efforts on the Clark Avenue Seashore Chook Sanctuary in Evanston, Illinois, eradicating invasive species and putting in public training signage.
Along with her conservation work, Jane has pursued journalism for 4 years as a reporter and editor for her college newspaper, deepened her coaching by means of the Medill Northwestern Journalism Institute, and labored as an intern reporter with the Korea JoongAng Every day.
Past these experiences, Jane writes articles and delivers speeches to spark dialogue concerning the stability between city growth and ecological survival. Rising up in Songdo, a metropolis constructed on reclaimed tidal flats, she has used journalism and inventive writing to remind others that migratory birds aren’t solely passing guests, but in addition highly effective indicators of the Earth we share.
