In pics: Migratory birds fly to West Lake to overwinter

Migratory birds arrive at West Lake to spend the winter. (Photo/Wang Xiaodong)

Migratory birds have recently been flocking to West Lake in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, to spend the winter.

There are four species of birds that overwinter at West Lake - cormorants, mandarin ducks, herring gulls and mergansers. Cormorants arrived at West Lake on Sept. 17 and mandarin ducks arrived there in October.

Lu Jianli, a volunteer mandarin duck patroller at West Lake, explained that herring gulls will fly to the lake around November while mergansers will fly there in late December or January the next year, when the temperature drops to its lowest level.

This year, Eurasian coots have been spotted at West Lake. The volunteer patrollers said that Eurasian coot are expected to become the fifth bird family to overwinter at the West Lake.