The Beautiful Birds of Southern China

If you've ever walked around anywhere outside with me, it's likely that I pointed out a bird.  I LOVE birds.  They're such beautiful, strong, and majestic creatures.  One thing I hate about leaving North America is that all my bird books only cover North American birds.  For someone who likes to know what she is surrounded by, not knowing bird names while traveling is a bit stressful –honestly!!

Well, of the birds that I saw in China, here are a few that were pretty common that I have been able to identify.

Australian Magpie

Not 100% sure about this one since where I saw them was out of their natural range, but these Australian magpies most closely resemble what I saw, so we're going to go with it.  These were the first birds I spotted during my trip.  They were very common in Jiangsu and seemed to be the crow of the area.  Australian magpies are not actually a part of the magpie family, but their coloring resembles the common Eurasian magpie.  They are members of the cracticidae family, rather than the corvid family that other magpies are a part of.

azure Winged Magpie

These were pretty stunning birds.  I started seeing them at about the same time as the Australian magpies but found them to be common most places we went.  Actual magpies can be recognized by their long tails, while these were also easily recognizable with their black-capped heads. 

Red Billed Blue Magpie

I would say that these birds are more rare.  I only got a glimpse of one in a tree while walking around West Lake in Hangzhou.  I had already done some searching about magpies and common Chinese birds and had seen a little about the red-billed magpie, so when I spotted the red-bill I figured that this was the bird.

Black Crowned Night Heron

My tour group went to this terrible Japanese restaurant (the food was fine but the service was despicable) that was right near the water.  After we left, we walked through an active construction zone to stand on a deck/walkway behind the restaurant that overlooked the Huangpu River.  There was a beautiful view of the Shanghai skyline and a bunch of these cute, stocky birds just hanging out.  I loved watching the two little white feathers that extend off the back of their heads blow in the wind.  Throughout my trip I spotted lots of water birds while driving and exploring, but this was by far the cutest one.

Bonus: Kingfisher feathers

I'm guilty of mislabeling a bird while on my trip.  I referred to the black-crowned night heron as "maybe a kingfisher?" and then we went to a museum that had these stunning pins that used kingfisher feathers so I thought that I had been proven correct.  Well, now I know that the black-crowned night heron is the name of the bird I saw and that its feathers are in fact much darker than those of a kingfisher.  Although I've never been one who has enjoyed seeing or using products that required an animal's death (feathers can come out without killing the animal too, I know), these hairpins really took my breath away.  I have great respect for previous generations that found uses for every part of an animal and let nothing go to waste, especially considering the quality and longevity of furs and feathers.