The bird watching trip reporting time was 7:30 AM on Saturday at the west campus gate of our university. We reached there on time. We saw many students gathered there. I thought all of them are going with us for watching birds. No, I was wrong. In fact, they were a different group waiting for a different purpose. But, where is Sarah?
Here, I should mention that Sarah is the president of our club. Finally, we saw her. She was calling us standing beside of the gate showing her hand. It was April 21, 2018. The tour was arranged by CUG(DIDA) Bird Watching Club. Bird watching trip is getting popularity all over the world in line with hiking.
Eleven students of China University of Geosciences-Wuhan(CUG) visited Wuhan Botanical Garden for watching birds. Among them, 9 were Chinese students and 2 were international students. I was from Bangladesh and Bonita Redebaugh from Mongolia. The other Chinese students are:
- Lin Qiaohan (Sarah) – Geoscience
- Liu Binshuai
- Ruiyang Gao (Chathy)
- Nectar Young – Material Science and Chemistry
- Yin Xinquan – Photographer
- Zhenfeizhu
- Zhangjing – Biological Science and Technology
- Jiang Huiyu (Laura) – Geography Information Science
- Sienna
Bus no. 625 goes to Wuhan Botanical Garden which is the last destination of this bus. We can also use 401. We waited for the bus for more than 5 minutes. By this time we were introduced to each other. Finally, we got on bus 401 from the west campus gate stoppage. It is good that Wuhan Botanical Garden is not so far.
We arrived there in advanced. So, we had to wait outside of the gate for opening. The regular entry fee of Wuhan Botanical Garden is 40 yuan. For students, it is 20 yuan. To get this discount, you must have to show your student ID card(Blue-book only).
I entered free as I had the annual travel card. But, Bonita had to pay 40 yuan as she didn’t bring the blue-book ID card.
It was drizzling. We took the umbrella with us although I didn’t expect heavy rainfall. We were told to bring this as it might rain. Thanks to Sarah for this.
Entering the garden, we followed the right path of the garden. We saw some beautiful birds. We brought binoculars for watching birds.
To watch birds, we need to have patience. If we go near to a bird, it flies away. So, using binocular is the last choice of seeing birds from far. The other Chinese students were introducing various birds to us. When they saw a bird, they were showing its picture on the internet so that we can know it better.
Suddenly, it started raining. We visited the water lily zone. We saw many red and white water lilies in the pond. The white water lily is the national flower of my country(Bangladesh).
Then we crossed the water lily zone and saw the flower garden. There were many bloomed flowers and I liked especially the rose garden which was full of beautiful roses.
The enjoyment of our trip was interrupted by heavy rainfall. Later, we took shelter under the roof of a building. After that, we went to the greenhouse of Wuhan Botanical Garden. It is absolutely amazing. It has been decorated nicely. Here, I become amazed by seeing some kids who were playing the role of guides.
We saw some other tourists in the greenhouse. They were gossiping and taking selfies. The greenhouse is the must-see attraction of the botanical garden. We started bird watching again coming out from the greenhouse.
Birds were hiding, chirping and flying over the sky. Later, we visited another part of the greenhouse and it was the cactus garden.
Finally, the bird watching trip was ended. We took some photographs together. Some of us bought attractive things from the shop in the botanical garden before coming out. We came back to university with some good memories. All the Chinese students were friendly with us. I like them.
Wuhan Botanical Garden is a huge area. It is not possible to cover this big zone in a few hours. It needs time and patience for having true-enjoy of bird watching. We enjoyed the trip although we had insufficient time.
It was the first time I joined in a bird watching trip. Birds are part and parcel of nature. This is why we should take care of the birds’ habitat.