@napoleon,
These are Siberian seagulls (on vacation). They don't get those in America.

Wow, there were already many good advices and I planed a few day trips, thanks a lot to everyone!

@Alien, I've been only to Sanja (and a bit around) a few years ago.

Yesterday I've been to the Green lake to see the seagulls ;) I wasn't impressed by seagulls (since I was grown on the Baltic Sea), but by their quantity... similar to the population here ;)

Gosh, I can't understand why anyone wouldn't like the seagulls. These sh*t birds have red beaks. The Chinese love them and get so excited feeding them. The more they eat. the more they....

Considering most wildlife is extinct in China, I understand the fascination with the gulls. I used to not ride by them cause of the droppings. Now, I don't ride by them cause of the huge traffic jam of sightseers and cars they bring.

Yunnan itself still has some spots I agree. But the whole tourist frenzy is swallowing them up. It is really sad what has become of Kunming in the near decade I have lived here. All the old villages razed and towering empty apartment complexes take their places. Just more and more rows of drink shops and fetish shoe stores. If I had to suggest something some of the temples can be charming and appear to be old, though they are simply redesigned to appear old now. Yea, a travel adviser suggesting one go to Green Lake to look at birds. Now that is definitely off the beaten path. The temples used to be cool but the ones you can find easily are full of people with smart phones doing peace signs. There are some of the path old ones with few people, but I tend to find them accidentally and can't remember even how to get back.

Most wildlife is extinct everywhere. Zhudan describes the effect of modern tourism pretty accurately, I think, although the 'peace sign' thing seems to be particularly widespread in China, as well as the interest in having your picture taken.