In the continuing sultry heat of Beijing in August it’s uncomfortable to spend much time in the field, even during the early morning or evening. A sun hat and lots of water are essentials. And so for my latest visit to the Olympic Forest Park, I packed a heavy 2-litre bottle of water with my camera gear and made my way to the Metro for the 40-minute journey to the south gate. I was hoping to catch up with the breeding Yellow Bitterns and some more dragonflies.
The large reedbeds in the south-west of the park were now very tall and, in contrast to my last visit when the bitterns were constantly flying to and fro with food, it took me over an hour to catch sight of my first – a young bird – that made a short flight across one of the lakes. My only other sightings were of two other young birds, leading me to suspect that the adults have already left the breeding grounds and are on their way south.
Other birds were few and far between. The reedbeds that have, for the last couple of months, been full of the chattering of Oriental Reed Warblers, were eerily silent with just the odd sub-song from one or two of these birds and, as with the bitterns, noticeably less feeding activity.
In contrast to the birds, the dragonflies were seemingly more abundant than ever. One particular species is very common at this site. I think it is a Sympetrum sp, possibly Sympetrum kunckeli. Photos of the male and female below.
The Yellow Bittern has a great poem – you can read Seamus Heaney’s translation of it here –
http://www.eofeasa.ie/cathalbui/public_html/danta_CB/yellow_bittern_heaney.html