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China Hebei

Red-rumped Swallow Hirundo daurica ŠAlister Benn http://www.availablelightimages.com/index.html

The provincial capital of Hebei is Shijiazhuang.

top sites

Beidaihe [Happy Island]

4 hours from Beijing, legendary coastal migration spots, with peak time being first three weeks of May, then a protracted Autumn migration beginning in late June with reverse shorebird migration, peak passerine diversity in late September, and Crane migration from mid October through to early November. Expectations: 150-200 for experienced birders in a three-week peak-time trip.

useful reading

* Field Guides & Bird Song

For a comprehensive list of recommended titles covering China as a whole - please see the China page of Fatbirder

clubs

Xipobo Bird Watching Society

http://www.chinabirdnet.org/xipobo.html
Xipobo Bird Watching Society (Xipobo BWS) established in 1999 at Hebei Province during a "Love Bird Week" activity at Ping Shan County...

trip reports

Travelling Birder
http://www.travellingbirder.com
The Travellingbirder.com birding trip report search engine guides you to 7,000+ birding trip reports on the Internet. You can search for trip reports from a specific country and time of year. Not all these reports are in English. So, if you cant find the trip report you want on this Fatbirder page give them a try!

2002 [December] - Jesper Hornskov and Jan Kiel - Beidaihe area, Beijing

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/china/beidaihe2/dec-02.htm
...On 2 Dec we visited scrub-covered hillsides at the Great Wall near Shanhaiguan before JK departed on the 13h30 train, enjoying prolonged sessions with several N China birds, incl. Pere David`s Laughingthrush, Vinous-throated Parrotbill, Chinese Hill Warbler, and the exquisite Godlewski`s, Meadow & Yellow-throated Buntings...

2002 [February] - Steve Bale - Beidaihe (& surrounding area)

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/china/beidaihe/beidaihe-jan2002.htm
Train from Beijing to Beidaihe (Four and a half hours via Tianjin. Although there is one much faster train per day throughout the winter). Arrived at about 3 pm. Reservoir area at 4 pm. The reservoir was frozen, but the lagoon to the east was virtually frost free and held c30 Mallard + 1 male Mandarin Duck...

2002 [May] - Bas van den Boogaard - Happy Island

http://www.surfbirds.com/mb/trips/happy-gb-0203.html
In spring 2002 Bas van den Boogaard, Rob Bouwman, Antonio Mendoza, Edwin de Weerd, Hans Vrolijk and Henk Hendriks visited China for a birding trip to the famous Happy Island, on the Chinese east coast. Several members of the group had limited vacation time available, therefore our stay lasted only for two weeks (between April 28th and May 12th). However, a good number of species were seen (198 in total); the quality of the species was even better...

2003 [June] - Steve Bale - Wuling Shan

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/china/China6/china-jun-03.htm
There are many wonderful mountains within easy reach of Beijing, but very few, if any, that are blessed with the stature, beauty, ecosystem and accessibility of Wuling Shan. The foot of the mountain is about a two and a half hour drive from the centre of Beijing. The summit (c180 KM north-east of central Beijing) is reached via a 40 minute ascent along a winding, but generously wide paved road; followed by a 5 minute gentle walk. Waitao peak, at 2118 metres, is the highest point of Hebei and Beijings majestic Yan Shan range (literally, swallow mountains)...

2005 [May] - Bas van den Boogaard - Happy Island, Beidaihe and north of Huairo

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/china/china5/Tripreport_China2005.pdf
pdf

2005 [October] - Jesper Hornskov & Jay Vandergaast

http://www.limosaholidays.co.uk/tripReportDetail.cfm?reportID=365
... picnic breakfast of pastries and moon cakes was spiced up a bit by a party of Red-billed Blue Magpies fluttering through the hillside scrub and whetting our appetites for whatever else the day held in store...

2006 [October] - Jesper Hornskov

http://www.netfugl.dk/trip_reports/asia/HappyIsland_9-12Oct06_JesperHornskov.pdf
pdf

China Bird Report

http://www.cnbirder.com/
For the most part these are just lists of birds seen on individual dates at locations across the whole of China - but none-the-less, useful... In Chinese and [mostly] English.

tour operators

Fieldguides

http://www.fieldguides.com/china.htm
A truly fabulous birding adventure, beginning with a tide of stunning autumn migrants at Beidahe and Happy Island and concluding high in the mountains of the remote Tibetan Plateau... next trip planned September 2007

Limosa Holidays

http://www.limosaholidays.co.uk/tourDetail.cfm?tourID=220
An extraordinary birdwatching adventure - Led by one of Chinas foremost bird tour guides... [Next planned trip Sept 2006]

Sunbirds

http://www.sunbirdtours.co.uk/beidaihe.htm
Beidaihe and Happy Island are now widely accepted as being among the best places in the whole of Asia to witness eastern Palearctic migrants travelling to and from their breeding grounds in northern China and eastern Siberia...

Beidaihe

http://www.drmartinwilliams.com/beidaihe-birding/beidaihe-hub.html
I first visited Beidaihe, a resort on China`s east coast, in spring 1985, and have returned each year since, mostly as leader or co-leader of migration surveys and birding tours, a couple of times for a holiday. In all, I have spent over a year at the town, garnering a Beidaihe list with over 300 Asian migrants, and experiencing superb spells of birding. In addition, trying to stimulate conservation work it was partly on my urging that, in spring 1990, the town established an unimpressive nature reserve...

Beidaihe Checklist

http://www.drmartinwilliams.com/beidaihe-birding/beidaihe-list.html
A Checklist of the Birds of the Beidaihe/Qinhuangdao District, Hebei Province, China

Birding in Beidaihe

http://members.tripod.com/~MartinWilliams/index.html
Welcome to the Wild East - the web site by writer, photographer and nature tour leader Dr Martin Williams that covers the green side of the Far East in general, and Hong Kong in particular. Follow the links below for a whirlwind cyberhike through Hong Kong`s finest scenery, an extended birding tour to Beidaihe, east China, information on books on green Hong Kong, fine photos, and an eclectic mix of articles (ever wondered what it might be like to hunt for dinosaurs in China, climb South-East Asia`s highest mountain, roam the planet`s oldest rainforest, hop back in time to hunt frogs and deadly snakes on the island destroyed to make way for Hong Kongs airport? You`ll find the answers here).