When: December 2025 Weather: Cool 15C

Nikon P900

Back in Hangzhou Intercontinental Hotel in the new city area for a meeting. I’d never found the birding in hangzhou particularly good, and especially now in winter…so instead of bringing my OM1mk2 and heavy 150-400mm zoom lens, I brought my old faithful, the Nikon Coolpix P900, light and capable in good light.

First walk was to the adjacent CBD park and Forest Park just 5 min from the hotel…..

I had been informed by a birding mate that there were mandarin ducks around in the south eastern corner of Westlake or Xihu and that was my objective this day. We stopped by the botanic gardens on the way but sheer weight of human and vehicular traffic meant that there was little bird life….after inching around the bottom end of Xihu, we saw some water birds on MaoJiaBu Lake on the southern end of Xihu and so we alighted and spent an hour or so walking around the lake.

The best place to seek the mandarin ducks were near this classical pavilion on the banks of Maojiabu…..

So although just a brief trip to Hangzhou, I was delighted to shoot the Mandarin ducks in their natural habitat…..recommended.