While Trump Was Discussing Multi-Billion Dollar Deals, a Member of His Delegation Was Silently Counting Sparrows at the Temple of Heaven

@Zou Xiaoying: While Trump was discussing multi-billion dollar deals, a member of his delegation was silently counting sparrows at the Temple of Heaven.

This is not clickbait.

At noon today, someone in our birding group suddenly shared an account named Seamus Fraser.

According to this person's eBird account—eBird is a global birdwatching recording and citizen science platform developed by Cornell University; I also have an account on it—he appeared at the Temple of Heaven at 7:11 AM, observed 7 species of birds, and meticulously recorded the number of each species (9 sparrows, 2 Spotted Doves, etc.). He also very professionally selected "Stationary Count," which in eBird means the walking distance during observation does not exceed 30 meters.

So everyone was puzzled: Who the hell could be birding at the Temple of Heaven this morning? Isn't this when the Trump delegation was touring the area and then made remarks about the "Great China"!!

Soon, this birdwatcher named Seamus Fraser uploaded another birding record: at 9:28 AM, he observed 9 species of birds at the Ming City Wall Ruins Park. There were so many sparrows here, 33 of them. Besides common northern birds like the Azure-winged Magpie and the Magpie, he also saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker! This is a species not found in the United States; even I haven't seen one yet. This guy must be thrilled! He scored some serious lifers!

(Moreover, his upload record was also very rigorous; this time it was a "Traveling Count," distinguished from the previous "Stationary Count," covering a distance of 0.69 miles over 1 hour and 49 minutes.)

So, we matched the itinerary again—yes, this guy is definitely a member of the Trump delegation. One hundred percent. Then, following the name, we discovered that Jane Fraser, the CEO of Citigroup, was in the Trump delegation. On Jane Fraser's Wikipedia page, it clearly states she has 2 children. Therefore, this Seamus Fraser, who persistently added new species on eBird, is highly likely the son of Citigroup's CEO.

While the big shots were discussing multi-billion dollar deals, this guy was at the diplomatic scene, completely undistracted, fiercely adding lifers, and promptly posting them on eBird.

Alright, this perfectly fits my stereotype of birdwatchers.

(The current me is exactly the same. No matter where I go to perform a concert, the first thing I ask is where I can add new species.)