Apparently the problem is you are so used to not seeing wildlife near homes in Chinese cities that you are completely misinterpreting what he is talking about when he talks about the scarcity of birds.
He isn't talking about having to go to a city
park or a
nearby river to see birds.
He is saying in many countries you walk outside your
home and hear birds singing and flying near the entrances.
People see
birds landing on their apartment balconies. The thought of needing to go the nearest park or river just to snap a picture of a bird is laughable.
These scenarios apparently are such an incomprehensible concept to a typical Chinese reader that he gives examples of Chinese people
getting into their cars and driving early in the morning to snap a picture in some nature preserve of birds to prove him wrong..when in reality they are actually proving him
right...and sadly they don't even realize it.