Beidaihe Bird Watching
Beidaihe is one of the 4 bird watching havens in the world. But the best time for bird watching here is April, May, October and November.
So June is not the right time for bird view. But still we went to the four bird watching spots in Qinhuangdao - Dachaoping ( Beidaihe ), Yanghe River( Nandaihe ), Lianfeng Peaks( Beidaihe ), and Jiaoshan Great Wall ( Shanhaiguan ).
Dachaoping is Unquestionably the best bird viewing spot in Beidaihe. It is on the north side of the Dove Nest Park. Dachaoping is a vast wetland under the Chitushan Bridge. This salty wetland is under the state-level protection due to its importance. Though it is not a right time to view the birds in June. If you up earlier in the morning, you still can see many birds drinking water and looking for food there.
After seeing the sunrise on the early morning of June 03, 2009, we began to focus our attetion to the birds on the wetland. We found some old photographers armed with excellent cameras shooting the birds flying or drinking water or seeking food. I used my clumsy camera catching some photos of the birds also. You will see ducks, waders, gulls, terns and more.
Yanghe River is, to my opinion, the second best spot for bird viewing. After viewing the sunrise and bird watching on the early morning of June 03, 2009, we went back to our Jinshan Hotel. Taking a short break, we had a big breakfast at the hotel restaurant. After breakfas, we drove along the seaside road to the mouth of the Yanghe River, which is located about 13km southwest of our hotel. The taxi driver told us that each year during the birdding time, a lot of bird finders, many from foreign countries come to the Yanghe River for bird watching. He continued to say the wetland of the Yanghe River is fresh water wetland, so the birds there are a little different from the birds on the salty weland in Dachaoping. We came out of the taxi perching on the Yanghe Bridge and saw the wetland below the bridge, finding some birds looking for food there. For same reason, we didn't find many birds there.
Lianfeng Peaks
Then we drove back to Beidaihe for Lianfeng Peaks. The Lianfeng Hill near has two peaks covered by abundant green pines and cypresses. We spent two hours at the hill for bird watching. We expected to see Green Sandpiper, Oriental Pratincole, White-cheeked Starlings, Chinese Bulbul, Forest Wagtail,Japanese Quail, Black-faced Bunting and etc. But to our disappointment, we only listened to some bird singing instead of seeing birds themselves! The trees on the peaks were too thick to see the birds, maybe a nice place to listen the bird singing.
Jiaoshan Great Wall
Yesterday we took the chairlift and expected to see some mountains species there including Pere David's Laughingthrush, Chinese Hill Warbler, Yellow-streaked Warbler and more. But also we were disappointed to find that there were few birds there. Maybe during the bird migranting time, people can find the birds.
The birds found on the Dachaoping wetland.
The birds found on the Yanghe River wetland.
We listened to the bird singing in the Lianfeng Peaks.
Where are the birds in the Jiaoshan Great Wall?
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