A bird glides above the lake in Yunnan Shangri-La, reflecting clear on the smooth lake surface. [Photo/Xinhua]

With most migratory birds already settled down for the winter season, now is arguably the best time for bird watching in Yunnan's Shangri-La county.

Groups of photographers and visitors, as well as birds have flocked to the so-called "kingdom of birds".

Shangri-La’s first bird watching festival recently concluded, with sharp-eyed photographers snapping 152 species of birds at Napa Lake and Potatso National Park, both rare bird hubs.

Napa Lake of Shangri-La is home to a large number of migrant birds. [Photo/Xinhua]

The prize winner for the best photo album was a team made up of members from the Yunnan Wild Bird Association and the Tianjin Bird Watching Society.

The Xiamen Bird Watching Society and Taipei Bird Watching Society brought home the "supreme bird category prize" for photos they took of some rare birds. A team from Yunnan’s Yingjiang county and Guangxi also won the contest for most accurately forecasting the number of birds in the two designated areas.

One can easily see birds in their natural state beside lakes in Shangri-La. [Photo/Xinhua]

Napa Lake, a seasonal highland lake, is home to a rare subtropical swamped meadow. It has one of the biggest clusters of black-necked cranes, a first-class protected bird.

Edited by Jacob Hooson