Cold. Very cold. Several degrees below zero. Windchill factor minus
a silly number. And I'm talking about today's high, not lows.
But brilliant sunshine from sunrise to sunset. It was
the latter that persuaded me to venture out today needless to say. And I'm pleased I did.
There were lots of birds
around. In easy-to-spot, hard-to-scare flocks. The desire to find food outweighed the fear of people.
For someone with a camera, this is good news.
Most of the bird activity was in the young conifers on the
track to Wofo temple. Even better news, most of those trees' canopies are between 4 and 6 yards off the ground.
So, it was just a matter of waiting for the bird to sit out, and turn towards the sun with a glint in its eye.
Easier said than done of course. Posing in this part of the
world can be dangerous, and every Chinese-born bird has had any propensity to do so stamped out of its gene-line
many centuries ago.
Today was a day of firsts:
The first time I've seen any parrotbill feeding on pine cones (let alone a flock of 30). The first
time I've seen Chinese Hill Warbler feeding in conifer trees. The first time I've seen any warbler (Chinese Hill) eating
snow. And the first time I've seen a spider (or at least something with lots of legs) in winter in Beijing.
Here's
the list of species (not many you may think, but in this part of China at this time of year, I'm more than
happy).
......
Brambling
c10
Tree Sparrow
Lots
Yellow-bellied Tit (photo)
c15
Chinese Nuthatch (photo)
sev
Eastern Great Tit
few
Vinous-throated Parrotbill (photo)
c30
Marsh Tit
1
Great Spotted Woodpecker (photo) few
Grey-headed Woodpecker
1
Long-tailed Tit (photo) c15
Chinese Hill Warbler (photo)
3
(1 near Wofo; 2 in Cherry Valley)
Azure-winged Magpie (photo) c30
Magpie
c10
................................................................
"Not that
bad" photos today of 7 species (all new for 2010)
2010 = 13 species photographed /12 days
