The Qingming holiday finally arrived, and with it another chance to search for the Oriental Plover. This was my third consecutive week looking for it. By this time last year, the plovers had already visited Guanting; I hoped this time I might meet one.
I was watching a Hen Harrier hunt and almost missed a small flock of Mongolian Short-toed Larks feeding in the grass not far from the car. They are a little bigger than Asian Short-toed Larks, somewhat stockier overall, with longer, heavier bills. They kept their heads down at their meals with no intention of resting, and two of them even broke into a run, legs blurring, like flight skimming the ground. Late for something, perhaps?
After the larks, to my surprise the Hen Harrier nearby actually succeeded in its hunt, and settled onto an open patch to enjoy its meal.
Near one stretch of water, a big flock of Northern Lapwings was mixed with a large group of Common Starlings, while Black-winged Stilts and a few Grey-headed Lapwings fed nearby. The lapwings here weren't as wary of people, and I could study the metallic sheen of their plumage clearly.
The Common Starlings dropped into the wasteland, and perhaps because the lapwings here are less alert than the horse ranch birds, they flew back and forth feeding right beside the car. I had finally, properly, watched Common Starlings feeding on the ground in Beijing. (Back to the horse ranch and Early spring, time for the horse ranch again: both times at the ranch the starlings followed the lapwings too, but they would stop feeding and fly off while we were still far away.)
Raptors patrolled the sky now and then: Black Kites, a Merlin, Common Kestrels, an Eastern Marsh Harrier, and Common Buzzards. Migration really is bringing the raptors through in numbers.
Because I had things to do that evening, and since there didn't seem to be much left to see, I left early. Almost home, a message arrived from a birding friend: the Oriental Plovers had been seen! I regretted leaving enormously, and blamed myself for not searching more carefully while I was there; perhaps a careful search would have found them. Next week should be the last birding trip before midterms, and I've decided to keep searching for the Oriental Plover. Fingers crossed for better luck.
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