Birding in Shijiazhuang City
As the capital and largest city of Hebei Province in north China, Shijiazhuang is a relatively young city compared with other provincial capitals in China. Standing at the edge of the North China Plain, Shijiazhuang is about 280km south of Beijing and has a total population of 10 million, with 2.86 million in urban areas in 2010. Now this city has become an important industrial city and one of the economic centers in north China, especially famous for pharmacy and textile industry.
With about 590,000 hectares of farmland, Shijiazhuang also serves as an important agriculture production base in China. The city has a continental monsoon-influenced semi-arid climate featuring four distinct seasons with hot and humid summers and cold, windy and dry winters. In terms of birding, there are not so many places inside the city.
Some Important Birding Sites in Shijiazhuang
Pingshan County
Located about 30km from Shijiazhuang City, Pingshan County is sitting on the migration passage of migrant birds. The birds recorded in this county account for about half of the total bird species recorded in this province. Every year, during the migration season, a large number of birds can be seen along the riverbank of Zhihe River which is located by the site of the county town. If you are lucky you can even see Whooper Swan, Mandarin Duck, and Black Stork here. In the forest by the side of the river you may see Koklass Pheasant, Red-footed Falcon and Tiger Shrike. Also in the Tuoliangshan area, there are various habitats including forest, shrubs and streams. Lots of birds live in these habitats. When we walk along the road we have chances to see Brown Dipper, Daurian Redstart, Forest Wagtail, Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Grey-headed Woodpecker, Azure-winged Magpie, Red-billed Blue Magpie, Coal Tit, Yellow-bellied Tit, Willow Tit, Silver-throated Bushtit, Manchurian Bush Warbler, Chinese Leaf Warbler, Claudia's Leaf Warbler, Plain Laughingthrush, Vinous-throated Parrotbill, Chinese Hill Babbler, White-bellied Redstart, Chinese Beautiful Rosefinch, etc.
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