Birds in Beijing

I hoped to do some birding in Beijing, but I quickly found out how difficult it was to get to places where there were birds.  But I had a wonderful discovery at the Beijing Zoo where there was a lake that attracted a lot of wild birds.  Heather was my guide there,  and then Cheney kindly got up early one morning and took me to a reservoir and nature preserve, and although the day was dark and cloudy, I still managed to get a few.

So here are the results.

Consider the challenges of a Westerner driving in Beijing....

The first bird of the day, a stunner. 

This is a Ruddy Shelduck (life list)

Young or molting Common Crane (life list)

Black-crowned Night-heron (found in Ma.)

Bar-headed Goose (life list)

Whooping Crane (life list)

Greater White-fronted Goose (life list)

And I couldn't believe it!

There were four Mandarin Ducks on the lake (life list, gasp!)

I told Heather that this sight was worth the 14-hour flight. 

Unbelievable.  

You couldn't make up this bird

(unless you were a very creative and imaginative child).

Red-crested Pochard (f) (Life List)

Common Shelduck (seen in Scotland)

Ferruginous Duck (Life List)

What a cutie!

Common Magpie (common out our West)

Spotted Dove (Life List)

Azure-winged Magpie (Life list)

And one doesn't visit the Beijing Zoo without dropping in on the Pandas

Off in the morning with Cheney to find some early birds 

Early Morning on the Reservoir

Common Kingfisher. 

One of these days I am going to get a great picture of him. 

He was about half a mile away, and it was so dark. 

Hundreds of Great Blue and Grey Herons (Life List)

Great White Herons, also great numbers. 

Little Egret (Life List)

And  as we were driving, I saw this huge flower, and Cheney told me

it was a Lotus, but way past it's usual season

The flower that is at the heart of so much Asian art. 

The only hawk I could identify, a Norther Harrier,  common on Cape Cod

After birding, Cheney Heather and I went to this shopping mall for dinner. 

Looks somehow familiar, doesn't it?

And here is breakfast the next morning. 

Perhaps now you know why I gained so much weight.  And this is just breakfast!

Look at the Quail eggs, top right.