Bird Island at Qinghai Lake

Bird Island or more like peninsula at the west of Qinghai lake is home to thousands of birds. It was one of the places which open to tourist in the early stage of China’s tourism development. Later, it became one […]

Bird Island or more like peninsula at the west of Qinghai lake is home to thousands of birds. It was one of the places which open to tourist in the early stage of China’s tourism development. Later, it became one of the top tourist attractions in Qinghai Province, Amdo Tibet. 

little birds at Qinghai Lake

Bird Island of Qinghai lake is located at the west end of the lake and it is about 300km from Xining, the capital of Qinghai province, with an area of only 0.11 square kilometers. The Island consists of two small hills rise 7.6 meters above the lake. One called the egg Island and the other called Cormorant Island. Thousands of birds are made the Island as a intermediate stop during their migration from India and middle east to Mongolia and south Russia. Travelling thousands miles and across the snow-capped Himalayas with a fresh breath. Along the way, they stop at Qinghai lake one month and then again move northwards.

Bird Island at Qinghai Lake

During the May each year, the Qinghai lake bird island will be a paradise of birds. when the young birds on the island grew and could fly, the parents took care of them to wander around and seek food. Some go to the nearby high mountain, and some to play in the rivers around the lake. The main birds habitat on the island are wild geese, gulls, cormorants, sandpipers, extremely rare black-necked cranes and other bird species. There are more than 30 species of birds on the island, the number of which is more than 165000 from May to June. In order to protect these precious wildlife, the Bird Island Nature Reserve was established in August 1975, and was listed as a national nature reserve in 1980.

BIrds in the Qinghai Lake

In 1986, the provincial government allocated 600,000 yuan to build underpasses, bunkers and other facilities for tourists to watch. The best time to visit the Qinghai lake and the bird island is from May-July when migratory birds have stopped over to nests and Qinghai lake is also consider to be one of the best places for bird watching, and the best time to watch big swans is between November and February of each year.

Bird Island at Qinghai Lake

In 2019 Bird Island was closed indefinitely to allow ecological regeneration.

You can either take bus fro Xining to Qinghai Lake or Xining to Gangcha or drive from Xining to Qinghai Lake via a scenic route.