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Sorry to keep moaning about the weather in Beijing. Freezing temperatures? Smog? Cruel, penetrating
wind? I have but a distant memory of such things.
Today was glorious. Spring-like even. Blue sky, no wind. And
several degrees above freezing.
At times like this it's time to head for the aptly named Summer Palace (I only
have fond memories of this place, because I only go when the sun is shining).
Most of the lake - and it's a big
lake - was still frozen of course, but there were quite large ice-free areas. And, what's more, there were hundreds of duck
of 8 species. Among these, standing out by a mile in more ways than one - a party of 6 Whooper Swan.
The swans
were directly opposite from where I entered, so it took about 40 minutes or so of fast walking to get to within a reasonable
distance of them.
A pair of Falcated Duck appeared alongside (far too far to photograph normally, but with light
this good, I thought I'd give it a whirl). The swans were surrounded by rafts of more than a hundred Goosander, as well as
a sprinkling of c40 Smew (half males).
It was a delight to watch the various plots and sub-plots develop: A single
male Pochard had "paired' with a female Goosander (not really of course, but inexplicably they were following each other
from one side of the lake to the other); 30 Pintail - one of my favourite ducks - couldn't decide whether to go swimming or
ice-skating; 2 Goldeneye did their best to hide among the 100 or so Mallard; a pair of Ruddy Shelduck stared lovingly at each
other; and, last but by no means least, a male Red-crested Pochard appeared from nowhere.
This is only the second
time I've seen this species in China (the first was on the Tibetan plateau of all places). According to Mark Brazil's Birds
of East Asia it's a rare winter visitor to these parts.
As nice as it was, it's the swans that really stole the
show.
Photographs of 7 species (all "new" for 2010)
192 Ruddy Shelduck
193 Goosander
(ssp orientalis)
194 Pochard
195 Falcated Duck
196 Whooper Swan
197 Pintail
198 Red-crested Pochard
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