AT a high school in Bao’an District, students stressed over the upcoming college entrance exam recently petitioned to remove a nest of noisy birds from campus, but their principal refused and instead offered them something more valuable than silence.

The noise has gone on for weeks since March at Shenzhen Bao’an Middle School, beginning before dawn and continuing into the evening.

The noisemakers are koels, a species of black, red-eyed birds protected under China’s wildlife law. In Chinese, the creature is named “Zaojuan,” meaning “noisy cuckoo.” As the name suggests, its piercing call can reach up to 80 decibels, as loud as a vacuum cleaner.

Scientists say the birds sing most in the early morning and at night, when people are most sensitive to rest and sleep. During the breeding season, from March to May, their calls grow louder, more relentless and more repetitive as they seek to attract mates.

Some students can endure the noises and treat them as wake-up alarms, but for most, these sounds are irritating.

A courageous student surnamed Le penned a letter to the principal, describing the disturbance. “My classmates and I are under pressure due to the college entrance exams, but the noisy birds in the treetops outside our window have been full of vitality, singing passionately. Please remove their nest and let these free spirits fly back to nature,” Le wrote.

However, the request was denied. Principal Yuan Weixing later responded with a public letter, saying the nest would stay.

In his letter, Yuan explained that birds have their own rhythm and should not be disturbed. They are also an integral part of the school, sharing an ecosystem with the students. He added that, piercing as the calls may be, they could one day become unique campus memories worth recalling after graduation.

“I want you to understand that the ultimate goal of education is not to make the world adapt to us, but to teach us how to get along with the world,” the principal said in the letter.

Refusing the request, however, did not mean doing nothing.

The principal bought earplugs online for the students. He also asked the campus staff to set up artificial bird nests farther from the teaching areas. Since koels do not build their own nests but instead occupy those of other birds, the idea was to provide alternative nesting sites to lure them away from the dormitory and classroom buildings.

In addition, the school has invited university researchers to give science lessons about the birds.

Liu Yang, a professor from the School of Ecology at Sun Yat-sen University, praised the approach, saying that teaching young people how to coexist with animals is essential.

Now, the birds’ songs still linger, but most students on campus have gradually adapted to the singing, including the teenage boy who wrote the letter.

Speaking to Xinhua, Le said he now focuses on his studies and thanked the school for the “lesson” that taught him how to manage his emotions.

“It’s not so much about making peace with the bird as it is about making peace with yourself, and ultimately, with the world,” he said. “Learning to adapt and to coexist with the world is the best form of growing up.”

(Xinhua)