Every few months, with dreary predictability, a new member of our editorial board flies in, bursting with ideas and enthusiasm. A Long-tailed Shrike insists we “unlock cross-species synergies” or “reimagine the nest-building pipeline.”
We do what any responsible organization would: assign a majestic but meaningless title (“Chief Strategic Molt Officer”) and let them lead initiatives specifically engineered to achieve absolutely nothing.
By the end of the season, they’ve realized what we all did long ago: no initiative survives contact with daily life.
And then we publish the next set of posters.
Kai has lived in Shanghai for 22 years. He only started birding after moving to China, so he is far more familiar with Chinese birds than the ones back in his native Germany. As a birder, he considers himself strictly average and tries to make up for it with photography, which he shares on a separate website. Alas, most of the photos are pretty average as well.
He hopes that few clients of his consulting firm—focused on China’s chemical industry—ever find this blog, as it might raise questions about his professional priorities. Much of his time is spent either editing posts for 10,000 Birds or cleaning the litter boxes of his numerous indoor cats. He occasionally considers writing a piece comparing the two activities.
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