Feathers of Change

Written by Molly Gao from Shenzhen, China

Today was, to Mr. Alex Atthis, the worst day of his life. Even worse than when his precious child swallowed a plastic strip, mistaking it for fish. 

No, today was worse. Today, he’d been stupid enough to let his curiosity win. Here he was at a coffee chat about who-knows-what, and with, for heaven’s sake, species of birds different from himself, including the offensive oriental magpie robin and red-whiskered bulbul! 

Alex glared at Cole and Patrick as they giggled like chicks. 

"Ahem!" squawked the Chinese red heron. “Let’s begin. I trust everyone here knows my name, but for the sake of clarity, I am Mr. Ardeola Bacchus. Call me: Arde.”

“Firstly, thank you all for coming. Though we aren’t many in number, even the smallest group can create a big change.” 

Alex didn’t understand; the others seemed just as confused.

As if seeing the question marks in everyone’s thoughts, Arde clarified: “To help the mangroves, obviously.”

Exasperation escaped Alex. “We’ve heard this before, but what you’re talking about is nonsense! Mangrove trees aren’t endangered!” Alex wanted to leave, NOW; it was clear to him that this meeting was a waste of time. He pushed up from his seat.

“Wait, Kingfisher!” a distinctively feminine voice called out. 

Alex stopped, his tiny orange feet pausing on the sticky floor. 

“Don’t you want to hear what he’s got to say?” 

Alex searched for the voice’s source, finding the Little Egret, whom he had previously ignored.

“I don’t care what he’s got to say.” Alex’s tiny blue body ruffled in irritation. “Everybody who’s heard it knows it’s fluff.”

The Little Egret’s eyes glinted defiantly. “Would it not interest you to know that one of his ancestors helped prevent my kind from going extinct in the 19^th century, when no one believed they were endangered?”

Alex looked out the window. Then down at his feet. Finally, he sheepishly sat back down.

“She is Marcia Garzetta,” piped up Arde, breaking the tension. “She’s... a friend of mine.” 

“Oh,” Alex muttered, realizing the introduction was intended for him. “Nice to meet you, Marcia.” 

The Little Egret regarded him with icy eyes. “You too, Alex.” 

Arde filled in the resultant silence. “Right now, you’re all wondering why we should care about and help the mangroves. Let’s start with me - firstly, my species of bird nests in them, whose ecosystems are rich in fish and insects, so we never have to worry about feeding our young. Its tightly-woven root systems also provide a safe, secure habitat for 341 other threatened species globally.

“Secondly, mangroves help everyone by converting carbon dioxide to oxygen. With tightly-woven roots and dense foliage, mangroves sequester carbon higher than almost any other Earthly habitat. For those of you who want statistics, healthy mangrove forests can store the equivalent of 21 gigatons of carbon.

“However, as idiotic humans mess with our environment, agriculture, coastal development, and overexploitation have led to over half of the mangrove forests being lost. Findings have also shown that half of the current mangrove ecosystems are at risk of collapse, classed by experts as Vulnerable, Endangered, or Critically Endangered.”

Alex was blown over. He’d never known mangroves to be so important! But could Arde be speaking fake news? He surveyed the birds at the table, recognizing the same contemplation. Despite their differences, every bird was as implicated in the future of the mangroves as Arde was. 

Alex’s wing shot up. “What can we do then? We can’t change the behaviors of humans.”

“Well,” Arde said, a mischievous grin splitting his face. “We absolutely can.”

Alex returned to his initial impression that Arde was a maniac. How could the tiny little birds change humans’ behavior? It was absurd.

“Hear me out.” Arde then proceeded to explain, leaving his audience in shock.

“Let me get this right,” disbelief painted Alex’s tone, “You want us to tell other birds to squawk loudly when humans are near mangroves?” 

“Yes!” Arde exclaimed. “The few humans that do care about us will notice our behavior, which will make them investigate the problem.”

Silence reigned. Then, Patrick spoke.

“I’m in. These trees sound pretty important, and it won’t cost us anything to squawk at humans.”

Slowly, one by one, each bird responded with one purpose: to agree with one another.

Arde laughed, making his eyes twinkle like obsidian under moonlight. “Alright! Let’s do this!”

And they headed out, heads filled with the mangroves and hearts full of determination. 

Bibliography:

"Chinese Pond-Heron." The Bird Identifier, n.d., https://thebirdidentifier.com/chinese-pond-heron/.

Collar, Nigel, David A. Christie, and Guy M. Kirwan. "Oriental Magpie-Robin (Copsychus saularis), Version 1.0." Birds of the World, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 4 Mar. 2020, https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/magrob/cur/introduction.

"Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis)." Birdfact, n.d., https://birdfact.com/birds/kingfisher.

Doniger, Wendy. "Kali." Encyclopædia Britannica, 31 July 2024, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kali.

"Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)." Birdfact, n.d., https://birdfact.com/birds/little-egret.

"Oriental Magpie-Robin (Copsychus saularis)." eBird, n.d., https://ebird.org/species/magrob/.

"Red-Whiskered Bulbul." The Animal Facts, n.d., https://www.theanimalfacts.com/birds/red-whiskered-bulbul/.

Rhodes, Colin. "Protecting Our Frontline Defenders: The Case for Mangrove Conservation." Earth.Org, 17 Apr. 2025, https://earth.org/protecting-our-frontline-defenders-the-case-for-mangrove-conservation/.

“State of the World’s Mangroves.” The Nature Conservancy, 26 July 2021, https://www.nature.org/en-us/what-we-do/our-insights/perspectives/state-of-world-mangroves/.