Cycling The Silk Road In China – Birds Island In Qinghai Lake

Yesterday we woke up to a freezing morning.
The thought of putting on our cycling clothing and our open toes cycling gloves, did not appeal to me at all.
So I suggested that instead of cycling to Bird Island, we will drive there.
It would have been an easy cycling trip to get there, if it was not so very cold.

Bird Island is a wonderful bird sanctuary.
We spent a couple of pleasant hours, observing the variety of birds who come to nest and breed there.

Because the birds lay their eggs directly on the sand and rocks, you are not allowed to walk there, but they’ve built a wonderful wooden observation deck and a wooden walkway to allow people to observe the birds from a comfortable distance.

It felt magical to be on this remote island, surrounded with open sea and land and no human development in sight.
It even felt very romantic, to walk hand in hand, to watch and listen to the cry and song of the birds.

As the ice melts across the Qinghai lake, in this Tibet plateau, thousands of birds from southern China, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and the Indian subcontinent, and arrive here to lay and hatch their eggs.