Sydney Is for the Birds. The Bigger and Bolder, the Better.悉尼宜鸟——愈大愈勇愈佳

【导读】2月下旬，纽约一只名叫弗拉科（Flaco）的猫头鹰不幸离世，引发媒体广泛关注，纽约市民纷纷化身观鸟人和爱鸟人，通过多种方式悼念这只带给他们快乐和启发的传奇的鸟。一个月后，在地球另一面，斑鸠和布谷的啼叫唤醒沉睡的北京，大街小巷的人们通过这种独特的声音建立起与悠久传统的连结，也畅想起“人与自然和谐共生的中国式现代化”。

在南半球的大都市悉尼，鸟与城市的关系又呈现出另一番景象。这座集海岸、港湾、河流、森林为一体的“翡翠城”是各类本土鸟和外来鸟的天堂。译者仍清晰记得，若干年前初到悉尼时，曾把乌鸦错听成啼哭的婴儿，把笑翠鸟错听成狂笑的醉汉；在室外餐桌用餐时，不知名的小鸟落到桌上，若无其事地分享我的午餐，而几只我误认为白鹤的大鸟就在垃圾桶边上徘徊。

达米安·凯夫这篇文章标题里的“悉尼宜鸟”绝非虚言。读完这篇文章，我们会进一步了解到：笑翠鸟固然调皮、聒噪，但对于家庭和孩子却意义重大，还是一夫一妻的典范；被人们称为“垃圾鸟”的白鹮其实走过了一段非凡的环境适应历程；而公园里的各种鸟儿带给老年朋友们的快乐超出我们的想象……

鸟与城市的关系之所以重要且有趣味，是因为它不单是生态环境问题，更关乎现代都市人的心灵需要和诗意寄托，代表着人们对于城市共同生活的美好想象，从一个终极的意义看，也象征着人类对于地球家园的一份温情。

The bushy pair of laughing kookaburras that used to show up outside my daughter’s bedroom window disappeared a few months ago.

几个月前，经常出现在我女儿卧室窗外的一对羽毛浓密的笑翠鸟突然不见了。

The birds simply vanished—after rudely waking us every morning with their maniacal “koo-koo-kah-KAH-KAH” call， after my kids named them Ferrari and Lamborghini， after we learned that kookaburras mate for life.

它们就这样凭空消失了——在每天早晨用疯狂的“呼呼——哈哈哈——”叫声毫不客气地将我们吵醒之后，在我的孩子们给它们取名法拉利和兰博基尼之后，在我们了解到笑翠鸟属于配偶终生相伴的鸟类之后。

And here’s the odd thing： I missed them.

然而奇怪的是，我开始想念它们。

This is not normal， at least not for me， but Sydney has a rare superpower： It turns urbanites into bird people， and birds into urbanites. Few other cities of its size （five million and counting） can even come close to matching Sydney’s still-growing population of bold， adaptable and brightly colored squawkers.

这并不寻常，至少对我来说不寻常，但悉尼有种罕见的超能力：它能将城市居民变成爱鸟人，将鸟类变成城市居民。在与悉尼规模（500万人口且仍在增长）相近的城市中，几乎没有哪个地方比得上悉尼的鸟类数量，这里的鸟儿胆大、适应能力强、色彩鲜艳、种群数量仍在增长。

“We’ve got a lot of large conspicuous native birds that are doing well and that is very unusual globally，” said Richard Major， the principal research scientist in ornithology for the Australian Museum in Sydney. “It’s quite different in other cities around the world.”

“我们有许多体型大、辨识度高的本地鸟，它们生活得很好，这在全球范围都很少见，”位于悉尼的澳大利亚博物馆的鸟类学首席研究科学家理查德·梅杰表示，“与世界其他城市大不一样。”

The reasons—some natural， others man-made—are fascinating， and we’ll get to them. But lest anyone doubt Mr. Major’s assertion， at a time when the bird population of North America is suffering a steep decline， compare a typical day of avian interactions in Sydney with anywhere else.

其中的原因——有自然的，也有人为的——都很有趣，我们会逐一了解到。但在这样一个北美鸟类数量急剧下降的时候，为了避免有人质疑梅杰先生的说法，我们不妨将悉尼鸟类普通一天的活动与其他任何地方做个比较。

Morning here begins with a chorus. Relentlessly chirpy， the noisy miner blasts the alarm before dawn alongside the screeching and flapping of rainbow lorikeets， parrots brighter than Magic Markers and that argue like toddlers. And of course， there are the kookaburras， with their cackles carrying across neighborhoods declaring： “This is MY territory！”

悉尼之晨始于百鸟齐鸣。黎明前，聒噪矿鸟便开始不停地吱吱喳喳，与彩虹鹦鹉的尖叫声和拍翅声一同组成响亮的闹钟，这种鹦鹉的羽毛比魔术笔还鲜亮，它们会像顽童一样争吵。当然，还有笑翠鸟，它们的笑声响彻社区，宣示着：“这是我的地盘！”

A walk to the car or train may require dodging attacking magpies—in spring， they swoop down on your head to protect their young—and rarely does a week go by without seeing a sulphur-crested cockatoo， or a dozen， spinning on a wire like an escaped circus act.

步行到汽车旁或火车站可能需要闪躲喜鹊的袭击——春天，为了保护幼鸟，它们会俯冲到你的头顶——而且很少有一星期见不到一只或十几只葵花凤头鹦鹉在电线上旋转的样子，就像从马戏团逃出后在表演。

Even the local scavenger is extraordinary. As grubby as any New York pigeon but much grander， the white ibis， known here as a “bin chicken，” is a hefty， prehistoric-looking creature with a curved beak.

甚至本地的食腐鸟类也绝非俗物。白鹮在这里被称为“垃圾鸟”，和纽约市的鸽子一样邋遢，但体型却要壮硕得多，是一种有着史前外观的弯喙大鸟。

It’s a remarkable mix.

这真是一种奇特的混搭。

Even as ornithologists point out that some small birds are struggling in the city， they note that a generation or two ago， Sydney didn’t have nearly as much avian diversity as it does today， nor as many flocks of birds that have mastered what city living requires： competitiveness， an obsession with real estate and the ability to adapt.

虽然鸟类学家指出一些小型鸟类在悉尼处境艰难，但他们也指出，一两代人以前，悉尼的鸟类还没有今天这么多样，也没有这么多掌握了城市生活秘诀的鸟类种群，这些秘诀包括竞争力、对建筑物的喜好和适应能力。

Why so many birds are thriving here is increasingly a subject of international study. Scientists believe it is due in part to how Sydney was settled—relatively recently， compared with many global cities， with less intrusion into wildlife habitats.

为什么这么多鸟类在这里繁衍生息，这日益成为一个国际研究的课题。科学家们认为，部分原因是悉尼的定居方式——与许多全球性城市相比，悉尼的定居时间相对较晚，对野生动物栖息地的入侵程度相应也轻一些。

The luck of local terrain has helped. Sydney’s rocky coastline didn’t lend itself to clearing land for agriculture， which slowed development and left lots of native plants untouched. Australia’s early leaders also set up large national parks near Sydney， protecting bushland for animals of all kinds.

得天独厚的地形地貌也起了作用。悉尼岩石密布的海岸不适合农垦，这使得土地开发速度减缓，大量本土植物得以保存。澳大利亚的早期领导者还在悉尼周边划设大面积的国家公园，从而保护了各类动物赖以栖息的原始林区。

But making the city a bird capital was probably not on their agenda. The British colonialists in charge hated the sound of Sydney’s birds enough to import songbirds like common starlings to soothe their tender ears.

但使这座城市变成鸟都或许不在他们的计划之列。英国殖民者当局对悉尼的鸟叫声厌恶得无以复加，为了安慰自己敏感的耳朵，他们引进了诸如普通椋鸟一类的鸣禽。

Today， some early examples of those imports， from the 1860s， are stuffed and tagged in the Australian Museum’s collection room. When I stopped by one recent morning， Leah Tsang， the museum’s ornithology collection manager， sifted through the white metal cabinets containing the taxidermy archives to show me the supposed improvement sent from Europe.