After a few busy work weeks, it was cool (in -11 temperatures, coolness is assured) to get out to Wild Duck Lake on Saturday to see what the cold weather had brought in since my previous visit in late November. And it was even cooler to be in the company of Paul Holt, one of the world’s finest birders.. (I am constantly astounded by Paul’s super-human hearing – there are calls that he hears, geolocates and identifies before I have even registered a sound… and I would have certainly missed several species had he not been there).
On this occasion I hired a car for the weekend and so, early Saturday morning, I picked up Paul from near his home in south-east Beijing and we headed north-west to Wild Duck Lake. The traffic was unusually light so we arrived on site around 0715, just as the sun rose. Paul’s trusty thermometer told us that it was -11 degrees C but with a biting westerly wind, it felt colder. I was relieved that Paul had brought along his super-sized thermos for coffee and noodles..
We checked thoroughly the area at Ma Chang, including the ‘island’ to the north, where we enjoyed a close encounter with a very confiding Chinese Grey Shrike. As we were in the car the shrike seemed oblivious to our presence, and it posed beautifully for Paul to grab the images below with my camera out of the passenger window… Superb shots, Paul!


At the island, the angle made viewing difficult so we decided to venture onto the ice to gain a better position from which to check the swans and duck. I am always nervous about walking on ice and, with various creaks and groans coming from underneath our feet, my experience on Saturday did nothing to improve my confidence..! We could see the ice was at least a foot thick but, even so, I didn’t feel comfortable.. that was until we later saw a fisherman WITH HIS CAR on the ice… It was then that I had to admit that I was a wimp… 🙂
After checking the wildfowl and finding a single White-fronted in the Bean Goose flock, we enjoyed a very welcome pot noodle. To me, this was one of the most delicious meals imaginable after a few hours out in freezing temperatures.. I temporarily took off my gloves to eat and, despite holding a lovely warm tub of noodles, my hands were hurting with the cold.. and I knew it was still well below freezing when the condensation from the steam on the lid of my pot noodle froze solid..! Wild Duck Lake is quite a bit higher than Beijing – at about 580 metres (Beijing is only around 80 metres above sea-level) – so it was noticeably colder than in the city centre.
We drove to Yeyahu, entering via the ‘secret passageway’, and covered the area down to ‘eagle field’. No sign of any Black Bitterns this time or anything else outrageous.. but we did see a few wintering Chinese Penduline Tits, more Pallas’s Reed Buntings (common in winter), a Common Reed Bunting (anything but common at Wild Duck Lake), a couple of Hen Harriers, an Upland Buzzard and a very large and active flock of Vinous-throated Parrotbills.. these birds have bags of character and roam the reedbeds in tight flocks, chattering away as they go.
After marvelling at the constitution of the local ice fishermen on the reservoir, we headed back to the car for the journey back to Beijing, enjoying a pre-roost movement of well over 100 Common Magpies..
Thanks to Paul for his company on a ‘bracing’ day out…



Full species list:
hi T
note you have decided to call them Chinese hill babblers like me! Have great Christmas and New Year T and get in touch if you come this way in 2012. I am back at home with my girls after an epic 5.5 weeks with great clients and some superb natural history moments. Beijing 2011 with you and Jesper ranks up their with the birding moments of 2011, thanks again. Fingers crossed you will get another visitation next year, cheers p
Great to hear that you are back home, Phil, and that you were successful with Tiger in India, as well as Giant Panda in China. It was very cool to host you in Beijing and you are more than welcome any time… Hopefully we’ll see you again in 2012 if we are still here..! T
Brrr… that’s why my winter birding is limited, though walking around on foot thick ice that cracks is pretty interesting! (I skated on real ponds as a youngster – they are noisy!) Anyway, thanks for going out and doing it and letting us hear and see (nice picture of the shrike). I just saw a single vinous-throated parrotbill a few weeks ago, and wondered why it was alone – I guess that was rather odd.
By the way, I really like your current heading photo with the insect that the warbler is watching – that’s great!
Hi Gretchen… thanks for the comment. Very unusual to see just one parrotbill… they are usually such social birds. The header photo on the blog is a Pallas’s Warbler eyeing an insect.. a fraction of a second later, the warbler caught the (ex-) insect. Unfortunately, I didn’t capture that on film… they move so fast!
Great photos… it looks seriously cold up there !
Yes, it’s cold. Hot water and thermals required!