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China Birding Trip: September-16-30, 2013 |
Day 4 September 18 - Summer Palace and Beidaihe
Bird of the day: Black-crowned Night-Heron
We prepared for a rainy morning for our
6:30am hotel birding. Ian and Bill kept their long lenses
protected.
We were rewarded this morning with a Black-Crowned Night Heron
who was not at all bothered by the rain.
Just like the day before, we all enjoyed our hearty Chinese
breakfast.
Today we would visit the Summer Palace. June introduced us to the
palace's history. It is a royal garden, enlarged and embellished
by Emperor Quianlong in the 18th century, vandalized during the
Opium Wars and the Boxer Rebellion - there was a major
restoration in 1949. As we were driving through the smog, June
showed us the mask she wears when cycling to work.
Our group posed for a photo together at
the Summer Palace.
We toured the gardens and hiked along the foggy lake, of course,
keeping our eyes open for birds. We met some happy Chinese
tourists.
As music drifted over the grounds, we
found a choir and onlookers singing with enthusiasm. Check out
the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOYViWV_wy4&feature=youtu.be
Note that Barbara, who was shooting the video, was called away to
bird…
The birds blended in with the architecture – magpies, doves,
pigeons, finches, a Chinese Grosbeak, a Chinese Nuthatch...
We said goodbye to the rain and fog at the Summer Palace and
hopped on our bus.
We were off to the coastal tourist town of Beidaihe (north ribbon
river). It took us a long time to exit Bejing as tomorrow was the
start of a national period and many people were leaving town. We
had a good view of the businesses en route – a few familiar
western ones sprinkled in. It was interesting to see the Olympic
Bird’s Nest stadium.
June arranged a hot Chinese lunch prepared by last night’s
restaurant – delivered to our van on the autoroute by some
of her friends on small motorbikes. It was a quick turnover. A
hot Chinese lunch with chopsticks delivered to our bus was a new
experience for us.
We arrived at Beidaihe and quickly got settled into our rooms at
the Jin Shan (golden mountain) hotel. http://www.hrs.com/uk/booking/en/peoples-republic-of-china/qinhuangdao-hebei-sheng/jinshan-hotel---beidaihe-567364.html
It is a large estate with several
buildings. At our building 3, some little birds greeted us,
likely Japanese Tits, Dave said – a good sign. The air was
refreshingly clear after smoggy Beijing.
Soon we were birding at nearby Longxing Park, a reservoir
environmental area. We enjoyed a beautiful nature walk. The birds
we saw were Great Egret, Chinese Pond Heron, Eastern Water Rail,
Yellow Bittern and Black-crowned Night-Heron.
Dave decided we should check out the ocean salt flats as the tide
was out – a good time for feeding shorebirds, ducks and
herons. We saw Ruddy Shelducks, Mallards, a few Eurasian Teal,
Black-tailed Godwits, Whimbrels, Far Eastern Curlews and other
plovers, sandpipers and lapwings. There were dozens of Little
Egrets and Great Egrets, several Grey Herons and a couple of
Pacific Reef Herons.
Dave asked June to get some up-to-date information about recent
bird sightings from some Chinese observers. She hopped over a
fence and reached them at a lower viewing platform. One of them
came and talked to Dave using June as an interpreter. She needed
a bit of help returning over the fence to our viewing level.
Soon, as the sun set and the moon rose, we returned to Jin Shan
for a Chinese beer and a good Chinese dinner together.
English signs of the day:
