On April 20, the Beijing Municipal Forestry and Parks Bureau officially released the Catalog of Terrestrial Wild Animals in Beijing (2026). Compared with the last year's version, the city saw four new bird species and one more reptile species following confirmation by experts.
The four bird species are namely: Malayan night heron (Gorsachius melanolophus), pale martin (Riparia diluta), rufous-bellied eagle (Lophotriorchis kienerii) and red-breasted goose (Branta ruficollis).
The newly added reptile is Gobi pit viper (Gloydius stejnegeri). Based on the latest taxonomic research findings, it has been upgraded from a subspecies of Siberian pit viper to an independent species.
The catalog also shows that Beijing is now home to a total of 625 terrestrial wild animal species spanning 108 families of 33 orders, including 531 bird species, 63 mammal species and 31 amphibian and reptile species.
A Malayan night heron
[Photo by Chen Xiao]
A rufous-bellied eagle discovered at Baiwang Mountain on May 15, 2025 by the Beijing Migratory Raptor Monitoring Project
[Photo by Yang Qing]
Red-breasted geese
[Photo by Zhang Biao]
A pale martin
[Photo by Li Juan]
A Gobi pit viper
[Photo by Shi Jingsong]
(Source: Beijing Daily)
