An albino magpie and two other black and white magpies aloft together in Nanhaizi Park [Photo/kfqgw.beijing.gov.cn]

To add to the 15 cygnets, 126 Anas formosas and 10 spot-headed Merganser and other national key protected wild animals that have appeared on the lake of Nanhaizi Park, a rare white magpie recently visited the same area.

The white magpie has black irises and slightly black feathers. 

"This is a variation of feathers, which is caused by gene mutation or recessive gene homozygous. Just like the brown panda, it is rare in nature," said a zoology expert. The incidence of albino white magpies is not more than one in a million, so the observed bird is very rare.

However, the appearance of rare species is nothing new in the Beijing Economic and Technological Development (BDA). 

Nanhai Park has focused on the construction of wetland, elk protection, ecological priority and similar issues, and has been included in lists of important wetlands in Beijing.

In recent years, the Beijing Biodiversity Conservation Research Center has carried out normalized bird surveys and monitoring work in the park, and has successively discovered many rare waterfowl such as Sinian crowbirds and green-headed pochards. 

In the "Nanhaizi Park Fauna and Flora Handbook" released by the research center a few days ago, more than 100 common wild animals and plants in the park are listed. 

Nanhaizi Park is now home to more than 100 species of plants such as winter jasmine, cherry blossoms, mountain peach, Chinese locust tree, white magnolia, and dragon cypress, as well as over ten species of animals like peacocks, swans, sika deer, elk, gray cranes, and Przewalski's horses. 

According to the "Survey Report on River Ecology of Economic Development Areas" jointly compiled by the Chinese Academy of Environmental Sciences and Beijing Urban Drainage Monitoring Station Co., Ltd., there are also seven species of fish, 17 species of birds and six species of submerged plant species in the Liangshui River (BDA section). They include tadpoles, prawns and dragonfly larvae that have been extinct in cities for many years.