This Spring I have been fortunate enough to enjoy two encounters with Oriental Plovers, surely one of the best looking birds in China..! These charismatic waders breed in north eastern China and south eastern Russia with the majority of the population wintering in north-west Australia. The population is estimated to be around 160,000 individuals.
These birds pass through the Beijing area on passage at the end of March and early April and Wild Duck Lake (Ma Chang in particular) is a regular site. They can be very confiding and, this year, I have been able to capture some pleasing images and a short video. On 5 April I counted 19 of these stunning birds at Ma Chang in a variety of plumages.
I took this video handholding my Canon EOS7D with 400mm f5.6 lens. Image has been ‘stabilised’ using iMovie.