MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
From 6-16 May I spent a week assisting in the second part of a Zhejiang University survey of Linan County and then made flying post-survey visits to Thousand Islands Lake and Wuyuan in NW Jiangxi to look for White-eared Night Heron at the former, and Brown Wood Owl, Yellow-throated Laughing thrush and Pied Falconet at the latter.
Thousand Islands Lake
Despite having a location for a nest discoverd by researchers in April, we failed to see any WENH, but did, very sadly, find an abandoned nest with eggs shells and the skeletons of two chicks which I estimate to have been about two weeks old. A major disappointment. A pair of Chinese Spotbills, a Silver Pheasant feather and a small flock of fokiensis Pale Martins offered little in the way of compensation.
Wuyuan
After a 4 hour drive from Hangzhou with my non-birding mate Chris we arrived at Jiang Wan in Wuyuan County and found in the dark a hotel that turned out to overlook a lovely stretch of river and farmland. Highlights here included Chinese Goshawk, Hobby, White-throated, Black-capped and Little Kingfishers, a fall of Brown Shrikes, plusSilky and Black-necked Starlings, Chinese Blackbird, Oriental Magpie Robin, Plumbeous Redstart, Grey and White Wagtails the piercing song of Mountain Bush Warbler, a couple of White-winged Terns hawking along the edges of the river and brief views of Yellow and Black Bitterns.
I also dipped on the Owl at Shaoqi in Wuyuan, possibly owing to the poor weather. However, this site did hold both Black Eagle and Pied Falconet, both of which were simultaneously in view at one point. Other birds here included a Striated Prinia - a rare bird in China, three Barred Owlets and a couple of Great Barbets, and the delightful sight of a flock of 25 Silky Starlings following an old man ploughing his fields behind a Water Buffalo.
We found about 10 Yellow-throated Laughingthrush in one of the traditional breeding sites where I'd seen them before near Wuyuan City, along witha fine supporting cast of Swinhoe's Minivet, Ashy and Hair-crested Drongo, Jay and Black-naped Oriole. We just spent a fw minutes here and were not able to find Mandarin, but I's sure they're still present.
However even more disturbing than the lost WENH chicks was the discovery of a new highway through the key valley for the laughers - within 500m of at least three of the known breeding sites - and a similar distance to the large trees at Shaoqi. Wuyuan used to stand out in China for the beauty of its scenery, but this highway is a major blight. It has even smashed straight through the village where I found Pied Falconet breeding just a few years ago.
Japanese Marsh Warbler breeding at Poyang
Another piece of interesting news was hearing that the supposed Japanese Marsh Warblers at Poyang may be a different species from the one in Japan. A friend of mine I called to get directions to the owl was watching a nest with three chicks at Poyang as he spoke to me!
The Linan Survey
As with many systematic surveys a good deal of time was spent in rather unproductive habitats, so this short report will only include an overview of species seen plus highlights rather than a blow-by-blow account.
The survey is itself of great significance as the first time I have heard of a municipal authority in China (Hangzhou) paying for a baseline assessment of the counties under its control. This was my principal interet in going, as, if such a survey could be rolled out across China, a huge amount of data could be collected.
[B]Linan County[/B]
With the exception of Linan City in the eastern corner, Linan County is distinctly rural. It is dotted by low steep hills covered usually in regenerating shrubs and conifers, and with extensive stands of commercial bamboo plantations. Agriculture is dominated by rapeseed, rice and bizarrely many are fields given over to bamboo - I think for harvesting of bamboo shoots (for which Linan is apparently famous). Rivers run mainly north to south and flow into a couple of larger rivers which run west to east down the centre of the county.
The north and west of the county are greatly enhanced by Tianmu Shan National Nature Reserve - a world heriatge site famous for its stands of huge ginkgo trees, and a number of less well-known sites in the west rising to about 1800 metres. These include Damingshan and Longtan Shan.
Survey Summary
This survey was a much more enjoyable follow-up to a rather quiet initial survey in October last year. With spring migration still apparent and good numbers of birds already breeding there was a much greater diversity of birds and far greater rewards for trogging round lots of rather similar and previously unproductive habitat.
Resident species here include Little Grebe, Great, Little, Intermediate and Cattle Egrets, Chinese Pond Heron and Black-crowned Night Heron. Typical raptors are Besra, Crested Goshawkand Crested Serpent Eagle.
The spectacular White-crowned Forktail, Blue Whistling Thrush, Plumbeous Redstart, Grey Wagtail and Brown Dipper, Common and Pied Kingfishers on the rivers. Striated Heron was also noted on a few occasions.
Typical farmland/bamboo/regenrating shrubland species includedChinese Bamboo Partridge and Common Pheasant,White-breasted Waterhen Chinese, Brown-breasted, Black, Mountain and Chestnut Bulbuls and the closly related Collared Finchbill. Spotted Dove, Oriental Turtle Dove, White Wagtail, Chinese Blackbird, Oriental Magpie Robin, Rufous-capped babbler, Streak-breasted and Spot-breasted Scimitar Babblers, Hwamei, Masked laughingthrush, Greater Necklaced Laughingthrush, Moustached Laughingthrush, Crested Myna, Long-tailed Shrike. Red-billed Blue Magpie is widespread, while Grey Treepie is scarcer and was generally found higher or where there were more mature woodlands, while Jay was scarcer still. Of the smaller passerines, Rufous-faced Warbler (aka the "Telephone Bird" - due to its call), Great Tit, Black-headed Tit, Vinous-throated Parrotbill and Tree Sparrow were common.
Typical summer visitors included Black Baza, Chinese Goshawk and Dollarbird, all of which were seen daily, Barn and Red-rumped Swallows (with Asian House Martins at a number of upland sites), Black-capped and White-breasted Kingfishers, while Chestnut-winged, Large Hawk, Indian Cuckoo and Koel were unsurprisingly heard more often than they were seen. Black and Ashy Drongos could have been either migrants or summer visitors. In some of the higher and better quality woodland Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush(including my personal bird of the trip - a superbly marked female carrying food) and Blyth's Leaf Warbler were obviously breeding birds.
A number of birds which I assume are residents were either much commoner or simply more visible in the spring. These included Barred Owlet, Silky Starling, Russet Sparrow, Plain Prinia, Hair-crested Drongo, Grey-cheeked Fulvetta, Mountain Bush Warbler, and Grey-capped Greenfinch.
Genuine migrants included Common Greenshank, Green and Common Sandpiper (including bizarrely,three on an artifical lake 1000 metres up Daming Shan), Gallinago snipe sp. Olive-backed Pipit, Lanceolated, Arctic, Yellow-browed, Eastern Crowned, Pale-legged Leaf and Black-browed Reed Warblers, Asian Brown, Grey-streaked and Mugimaki Flycatchers Yellow-breasted, Yellow-Browed, Chestnut and Little Buntings, good numbers of Brown Shrike.
Highlights
Black Eagle. Noted at one site in the west of Linan. Presumed resident whose known range is expanding in SE China, probably due to wider coverage of suitable habitats
Mountain Hawk Eagle noted in two transects. Scarce resident.
Brown Crake seen on small streams in three or four transects
Long-billed Plover Three birds were noted on a stony river during the October survey.
Collared Owlet Heard on a couple of occasions on both surveys.
Crested Kingfisher Seen at two or three sites on both surveys, including four together at a site in the far west, but too spectacular a bird not to be a highlight!
Ashy Minivet a flock of about ten with a couple of the next species at Daming Shan during the winter survey.
Swinhoe's Minivet. This endemic breeding species was found breeding at a number of sites, mostly in roadside trees near villages and in similar habitat to which I have seen them before in Wuyuan.
White-crowned Forktail Seen on one transect in the western Daming Shan.
Rufous-tailed Robin Heard singing at two sites in May.
Blue Rock Thrush one seen at long range atop a transmission tower
Dusky Thrush One seen south of Linan City on May 8th. a rather late migrant.
Chestnut-crowned Warbler Three or four birds responded well to pishing at Daming Shan.
Chinese Leaf Warbler One seen by another surveyor in May.
Striated Yuhina A flock seen in the western foothills of Tian Mu Shan was very close to the northerneasternmost limit of this species range.
Pygmy Wren babbler One heard sinign at Damingshan. another species close to its northern limit.
Short-tailed Parrotbill Substantially north of its known range. Found in at least six transects in groups of one to six birds, in the east and centre of the county. Previously there have been occasinal records from mountain reserves including Wuyi Shan in Fujian (where the type specimen was taken by Pere David) and Ba Bao Shan in N Guangdong.
On this survey, most records came from regenerating scrub/farmland edge, but also bamboo plantations. About half the records were of bird associating with flocks of Vinous-throated Parrotbills. A personal highlight as this was a new species for me.
Rusty Laughingthrush Four birds at approx 1000m on Damingshan and four birds fighting but seen by an inexperienced observer at another site appear likely to have been this species. A long awaited lifer!
Yellow-bellied Tit Noted on one occasion each on both October and May surveys.
Bull-headed Shrike One seen by another obsever during the October count.
Daurian Starling A small flock seen by another observer during the October count.
Crested Bunting a female noted on upland paddy in the extreme west of the county on one date in May.
Finally, warmest thanks are due to Chris Woods for organising the survey and driving meto Wuyuan and Thousand Islands Lake, to George Ho and John Holmes from HKBWS who joined me in October and May respectively, and from Zhejiang University, Xiao Li, Xiao Huang and Xiao Jiang, and Mr Li and to Todd Wood who particiapted in the May survey.
Thousand Islands Lake
Despite having a location for a nest discoverd by researchers in April, we failed to see any WENH, but did, very sadly, find an abandoned nest with eggs shells and the skeletons of two chicks which I estimate to have been about two weeks old. A major disappointment. A pair of Chinese Spotbills, a Silver Pheasant feather and a small flock of fokiensis Pale Martins offered little in the way of compensation.
Wuyuan
After a 4 hour drive from Hangzhou with my non-birding mate Chris we arrived at Jiang Wan in Wuyuan County and found in the dark a hotel that turned out to overlook a lovely stretch of river and farmland. Highlights here included Chinese Goshawk, Hobby, White-throated, Black-capped and Little Kingfishers, a fall of Brown Shrikes, plusSilky and Black-necked Starlings, Chinese Blackbird, Oriental Magpie Robin, Plumbeous Redstart, Grey and White Wagtails the piercing song of Mountain Bush Warbler, a couple of White-winged Terns hawking along the edges of the river and brief views of Yellow and Black Bitterns.
I also dipped on the Owl at Shaoqi in Wuyuan, possibly owing to the poor weather. However, this site did hold both Black Eagle and Pied Falconet, both of which were simultaneously in view at one point. Other birds here included a Striated Prinia - a rare bird in China, three Barred Owlets and a couple of Great Barbets, and the delightful sight of a flock of 25 Silky Starlings following an old man ploughing his fields behind a Water Buffalo.
We found about 10 Yellow-throated Laughingthrush in one of the traditional breeding sites where I'd seen them before near Wuyuan City, along witha fine supporting cast of Swinhoe's Minivet, Ashy and Hair-crested Drongo, Jay and Black-naped Oriole. We just spent a fw minutes here and were not able to find Mandarin, but I's sure they're still present.
However even more disturbing than the lost WENH chicks was the discovery of a new highway through the key valley for the laughers - within 500m of at least three of the known breeding sites - and a similar distance to the large trees at Shaoqi. Wuyuan used to stand out in China for the beauty of its scenery, but this highway is a major blight. It has even smashed straight through the village where I found Pied Falconet breeding just a few years ago.
Japanese Marsh Warbler breeding at Poyang
Another piece of interesting news was hearing that the supposed Japanese Marsh Warblers at Poyang may be a different species from the one in Japan. A friend of mine I called to get directions to the owl was watching a nest with three chicks at Poyang as he spoke to me!
The Linan Survey
As with many systematic surveys a good deal of time was spent in rather unproductive habitats, so this short report will only include an overview of species seen plus highlights rather than a blow-by-blow account.
The survey is itself of great significance as the first time I have heard of a municipal authority in China (Hangzhou) paying for a baseline assessment of the counties under its control. This was my principal interet in going, as, if such a survey could be rolled out across China, a huge amount of data could be collected.
[B]Linan County[/B]
With the exception of Linan City in the eastern corner, Linan County is distinctly rural. It is dotted by low steep hills covered usually in regenerating shrubs and conifers, and with extensive stands of commercial bamboo plantations. Agriculture is dominated by rapeseed, rice and bizarrely many are fields given over to bamboo - I think for harvesting of bamboo shoots (for which Linan is apparently famous). Rivers run mainly north to south and flow into a couple of larger rivers which run west to east down the centre of the county.
The north and west of the county are greatly enhanced by Tianmu Shan National Nature Reserve - a world heriatge site famous for its stands of huge ginkgo trees, and a number of less well-known sites in the west rising to about 1800 metres. These include Damingshan and Longtan Shan.
Survey Summary
This survey was a much more enjoyable follow-up to a rather quiet initial survey in October last year. With spring migration still apparent and good numbers of birds already breeding there was a much greater diversity of birds and far greater rewards for trogging round lots of rather similar and previously unproductive habitat.
Resident species here include Little Grebe, Great, Little, Intermediate and Cattle Egrets, Chinese Pond Heron and Black-crowned Night Heron. Typical raptors are Besra, Crested Goshawkand Crested Serpent Eagle.
The spectacular White-crowned Forktail, Blue Whistling Thrush, Plumbeous Redstart, Grey Wagtail and Brown Dipper, Common and Pied Kingfishers on the rivers. Striated Heron was also noted on a few occasions.
Typical farmland/bamboo/regenrating shrubland species includedChinese Bamboo Partridge and Common Pheasant,White-breasted Waterhen Chinese, Brown-breasted, Black, Mountain and Chestnut Bulbuls and the closly related Collared Finchbill. Spotted Dove, Oriental Turtle Dove, White Wagtail, Chinese Blackbird, Oriental Magpie Robin, Rufous-capped babbler, Streak-breasted and Spot-breasted Scimitar Babblers, Hwamei, Masked laughingthrush, Greater Necklaced Laughingthrush, Moustached Laughingthrush, Crested Myna, Long-tailed Shrike. Red-billed Blue Magpie is widespread, while Grey Treepie is scarcer and was generally found higher or where there were more mature woodlands, while Jay was scarcer still. Of the smaller passerines, Rufous-faced Warbler (aka the "Telephone Bird" - due to its call), Great Tit, Black-headed Tit, Vinous-throated Parrotbill and Tree Sparrow were common.
Typical summer visitors included Black Baza, Chinese Goshawk and Dollarbird, all of which were seen daily, Barn and Red-rumped Swallows (with Asian House Martins at a number of upland sites), Black-capped and White-breasted Kingfishers, while Chestnut-winged, Large Hawk, Indian Cuckoo and Koel were unsurprisingly heard more often than they were seen. Black and Ashy Drongos could have been either migrants or summer visitors. In some of the higher and better quality woodland Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush(including my personal bird of the trip - a superbly marked female carrying food) and Blyth's Leaf Warbler were obviously breeding birds.
A number of birds which I assume are residents were either much commoner or simply more visible in the spring. These included Barred Owlet, Silky Starling, Russet Sparrow, Plain Prinia, Hair-crested Drongo, Grey-cheeked Fulvetta, Mountain Bush Warbler, and Grey-capped Greenfinch.
Genuine migrants included Common Greenshank, Green and Common Sandpiper (including bizarrely,three on an artifical lake 1000 metres up Daming Shan), Gallinago snipe sp. Olive-backed Pipit, Lanceolated, Arctic, Yellow-browed, Eastern Crowned, Pale-legged Leaf and Black-browed Reed Warblers, Asian Brown, Grey-streaked and Mugimaki Flycatchers Yellow-breasted, Yellow-Browed, Chestnut and Little Buntings, good numbers of Brown Shrike.
Highlights
Black Eagle. Noted at one site in the west of Linan. Presumed resident whose known range is expanding in SE China, probably due to wider coverage of suitable habitats
Mountain Hawk Eagle noted in two transects. Scarce resident.
Brown Crake seen on small streams in three or four transects
Long-billed Plover Three birds were noted on a stony river during the October survey.
Collared Owlet Heard on a couple of occasions on both surveys.
Crested Kingfisher Seen at two or three sites on both surveys, including four together at a site in the far west, but too spectacular a bird not to be a highlight!
Ashy Minivet a flock of about ten with a couple of the next species at Daming Shan during the winter survey.
Swinhoe's Minivet. This endemic breeding species was found breeding at a number of sites, mostly in roadside trees near villages and in similar habitat to which I have seen them before in Wuyuan.
White-crowned Forktail Seen on one transect in the western Daming Shan.
Rufous-tailed Robin Heard singing at two sites in May.
Blue Rock Thrush one seen at long range atop a transmission tower
Dusky Thrush One seen south of Linan City on May 8th. a rather late migrant.
Chestnut-crowned Warbler Three or four birds responded well to pishing at Daming Shan.
Chinese Leaf Warbler One seen by another surveyor in May.
Striated Yuhina A flock seen in the western foothills of Tian Mu Shan was very close to the northerneasternmost limit of this species range.
Pygmy Wren babbler One heard sinign at Damingshan. another species close to its northern limit.
Short-tailed Parrotbill Substantially north of its known range. Found in at least six transects in groups of one to six birds, in the east and centre of the county. Previously there have been occasinal records from mountain reserves including Wuyi Shan in Fujian (where the type specimen was taken by Pere David) and Ba Bao Shan in N Guangdong.
On this survey, most records came from regenerating scrub/farmland edge, but also bamboo plantations. About half the records were of bird associating with flocks of Vinous-throated Parrotbills. A personal highlight as this was a new species for me.
Rusty Laughingthrush Four birds at approx 1000m on Damingshan and four birds fighting but seen by an inexperienced observer at another site appear likely to have been this species. A long awaited lifer!
Yellow-bellied Tit Noted on one occasion each on both October and May surveys.
Bull-headed Shrike One seen by another obsever during the October count.
Daurian Starling A small flock seen by another observer during the October count.
Crested Bunting a female noted on upland paddy in the extreme west of the county on one date in May.
Finally, warmest thanks are due to Chris Woods for organising the survey and driving meto Wuyuan and Thousand Islands Lake, to George Ho and John Holmes from HKBWS who joined me in October and May respectively, and from Zhejiang University, Xiao Li, Xiao Huang and Xiao Jiang, and Mr Li and to Todd Wood who particiapted in the May survey.
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