A new birder’s birding day—XiaoMing in China (1 Viewer)

[rockfowl]

Hello Xioming,

I guess we just missed each other, I lead the WildWings group! Magic Wood once again fulfilled the promise of lots of good birds (we were the team that renamed it from the little wood) and our daily visits always produced something special. This years best birds were probably a Japanese Bush Warbler, 2 Brown Hawk Owl, Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher, Japanese Waxwing and Grosbeak. Having seen dramatic development to the area over the last few years we are extremely concerned about the protection of both the Magic Wood and the Big Wood as both sites are incredibly important staging posts for tired migrants. As the only green oasis in a fairly desert like landscape they remain the only decent refuge and is confirmed by the observation of birds clearly arriving from Happy Island. A Cuckoo with damaged tail feather that was well observed on Happy Island was then found the following day in Big Wood is a good example of the status of these linking corridors. Lets hope between us, we can do something to help get these sites the protection they deserve.

Mark

 

[xiaoming]

24hours' trip in SanYang, Hubei

June 6, I went to Wuhan by train (Z 77 from Beijing west railway station to HanKou--a part of WuHan, HuBei province--- railway station). When we arrived at HanKou at 0710 in June 7, we saw four Common Kestrels flying over the station. In the square before station, we saw many Spotted Doves, Black Drongos, and a Long-tailed Shrike. We wanted to buy a ticket to Jingshan at 0840, but it sold out. So we had to take another train at 1025. On the train, I saw two lifers: Cinnamon Bittern and Greater Coucal. From Jianshan, we taxi to Sanyang, which took us 1 hour. We got to hotel at 1400. San yang is a small town. There are many rice paddy round it.
Our birding began in the hotel, Oriental Magpie-Robin, Silky Starling(red billed starling).One local birder told us, somebody took several pictures of Fairy Pitta in Bailupo (Egret Hill) that noon. We decided to find it. On our way there, some famers was transplanting rice seedlings.(pic 1) Many birds in the rice field: Little Egret, Intermediate Egret, Large Egret, Cattle Egret, Chinese Pond-Heron, Striated Heron and Black-crowed Night-Heron. Almost all kinds of common Herons in China can be seen there. Collared Crow and Black-eared Kite fly in the sky.
Wire was also a good place for birds: Collared Finchbill, Russet Sparrow, Yellow-billed Grosbeak and Spangled Drongo. Manchurian Bush warbler and Brownish-flanked Bush-warbler sing in the bush, but we can’t see them. Two White-rumped Munias jumped in the bush.
Bailupo is a hillock and many Egrets make their nests in the trees on Bailupo. We met many birders there, they told us only one group see Fairy Pitta and other people just hear their songs. After saying goodbye to them, we went on. In the hill we saw: Black-naped Oriole, Ashy Drongo, Forest Wagtail, Swinhoe’s Minivet and White-breasted Waterhen. It was a litter dark, however, we haven’t see Fairy Pitta. So we give up and go back to the hotel. Tiger Shrike and Brown-breasted Bulbul waited us on the path back.

To be continued………….

 

[xiaoming]

June 8th

We got up at 0500, then we went to another part of the town. There is a river go through the town. Along the river, we can see many old trees. A Red Collared Dove stood on a deadwood. A black and white bird walked in the bank of the river, that is White-crowned Forktail. But in fact we didn’t see the white crown, maybe this is a young one?
The biggest gain this day was that we found two nest in these trees. One belonged to a couple Asian Paradise-Flycatchers. The other belonged to a couple Orange-headed Thrushs. They all hatched their eggs. Male and female alternated staying in the nest. Asian Paradise-Flycatchers had a very small nest. White male’s head and long long tail were out of the nest.
We went back to have breakfast at 0830. After breakfast we walked to a village near the town. We found a Brown Crake in the rice field. There is a chestnut garden, many interesting bird there: Large Hawk-Cuckoo, Asian Koel and Ashy Drongo, also several Asian Paradise-Flycatchers. When we sit in a famers’ eave to take shelter from the rain, I see a Grey- headed Lapwing flying over my head.
After lunch, it rain pitchforks. We tidy our baggage and go back to Wuhan. Then we took a train to Xinyang, Henan province. Another great trip was waiting me.

Ps: who know what's this(pic 3)??

 

[xiaoming]

Some pictures of birds in Sanyang in the forum of Wuhan bird watching society

http://www.whbws.org/ShowPost.asp?ThreadID=1621

http://www.whbws.org/ShowPost.asp?ThreadID=1623

 

[Yuko]

June 8th


Ps: who know what's this(pic 3)??

1 waiting for your discription(anyway,it's noble posture)
2 prum or pursimon(looks delicious but edible?)
3 I didn't know his English name,and "tadpool shrimp"( wikipedia said|:x|)

HI, this is the first visit to your site.
Here I find another queue of nice report.Keep coming!

Yuko

 

[xiaoming]

HI Yuko

pic 1 is Brown Crake. I think it is looking for its breakfast. This posture is the ending of preening.
Pic 2 is Green Prum. of course , it's edible, which can be used to make wine.

Xiao ming

 

[Yuko]

HI Yuko

pic 1 is Brown Crake. I think it is looking for its breakfast. This posture is the ending of preening.
Pic 2 is Green Prum. of course , it's edible, which can be used to make wine.

Xiao ming

Hi,
I confirmed the Brown Crake in the Opus. But,there may be several subspecies, so the bird on the photograph seen there looks like different from your area's.What a gentle eye it has! I've not seen the kind of bird in my region.
Then, Prum. Well, I'm in the rainy season known "prum rain" in Japan,far from nice day for birding recently.But you possibly have the way to enjoy birding in rain.I hope, you do.

Yuko

 

[Paul Collins]

Really good thread at the moment. Would be very interested in knowing what birds I might see in the following areas this July (am going to China for 11 days from 14th):
*GREAT WALL
*FORBIDDEN CITY
*SUMMER PALACE
*parks in Shanghai and Beijing nearby
*SUZHOU
*HANGZHOU and WEST LAKE

I've got the McKinnon guides (photographic and drawn), and Where To Watch Birds In World Cities, which gives me a lot of the birds found in those places, but seeing that you've probably been to all of those sights, what common birds should I see?
Thanks

 

[citrinella]

Really good thread at the moment. Would be very interested in knowing what birds I might see in the following areas this July (am going to China for 11 days from 14th):
*GREAT WALL
*FORBIDDEN CITY
*SUMMER PALACE
*parks in Shanghai and Beijing nearby
*SUZHOU
*HANGZHOU and WEST LAKE

I've got the McKinnon guides (photographic and drawn), and Where To Watch Birds In World Cities, which gives me a lot of the birds found in those places, but seeing that you've probably been to all of those sights, what common birds should I see?
Thanks

Hi Paul,

I don't know Shanghai, apart from that ...

Forbidden City is the easiest, mainly swifts and tree sparrows. The latter are truly ubiquitous, and the former most places with traditional architecture affording nest sites. Probably a few magpies (2 types) too but much better elsewhere.

For the rest it is a tall order to ask someone for a list as there are so many ! In order of accessibility in Beijing I would recommend :

Tian Tan (Temple of Heaven) with a subway station on line 5 at the east gate. As an example, a longitudinal survey recorded 140+ species of bird here over 5 years or so.

Yuan Ming Yuan (old summer palace) take subway to Wu Dao Kou on line 13 from where it is a short bus or taxi ride (or about half an hour on foot if that is the way you find easiest to navigate). Several buses go by, will try to dig out numbers. Don't expect a taxi driver to understand you want to go here unless you really impress on them specifically Yuan Ming Yuan - if you try English, they will take you to the new summer palace 'cos that is where "all" tourists want to go.

Yi He Yuan (new / Ci Xi's summer palace) again go to Wu Dao Kou from where it is a slightly longer bus or taxi ride.

And perhaps the best for birds to say nothing of plants :
Beijing zhu wu yuan (Botanic garden- Hope I have the pinyin correct) again via Wu Dao Kou from where it is a lengthy bus ride. Take the bus for Xiang Shan (Fragrant Hills) - this is on the bus stop showing the number of the bus and this route can be used for getting to both summer palaces too.

Subway map : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_Subway#Lines

Mike.

P.S. The subway and many of the buses have semi automated English announcements. subway costs 2 yuan and a bus ticket usually 1 yuan except as noted. These have recently been reduced and simplified !

For the three sites from Wu Dao Kou :

For Beijing Botanic Gardens take bus 331 which terminates at Xiang Shan. The Gardens have a sign at the gate to watch out for. This ticket costs 1.5 yuan because of length of journey.

690 terminates at Yi He Yuan; 331 passes.

331, 656, 690 and 743 all pass Yuan Ming Yuan. This is a short ride consisting of a long street west; right angle turn north at traffic lights, short run north; right angle turn left at traffic lights with the south gate to Yuan Ming Yuan immediately after on the right (north).

Incidentally, at that last set of traffic lights there is a gate on the right (east) which goes into Qinghua Da Xue - Qinghua University campus. This is reckoned to be quite good for birds and in July may be very quiet. I have never had the nerve to mosey round universities unescorted. I have often visited other universities and they are generally green oases with plenty to watch. This one has the advantage of being right next to Yuan Ming Yuan, so the green area, and hence draw, is greatly enhanced.

Xiao Ming (below) refers to the NW ponds in Yuan Ming Yuan. The place is so vast* with so much to see, that I have never got that far with time to spend ! They're on our plans for next time. We thought the best views might be from within the "European" palace ruins which cost a little extra.

*I often get lost - in a minor way

 

[xiaoming]

Hi Mike and Paul:

Mike: your pinyin is right and your introduction is very detailed.

Paul:

GREAT WALL is very long. I don't know which part you will go. As I know, Huang ha cheng shui chang cheng(Yellow flower city water Great Wall, a part of Great Wall is under the lake) in Beijing is good for birding. But many visitors usually go to Mu Tian Yu or Ba Da Ling Great Wall which are more beautiful and easy to get.
In Great wall you may see: Red billed Blue Magpie, Crow , Red-billed Chough, Daurian Redstart Eurasian Jay and so on.

FORBIDDEN CITY: not many birds in it. But It’s worth to visit if you are interested in Chinese history.

SUMMER PALACE: Northwest lakes are very good: Chinese Pond Heron,Black-crowed Night Heron, Indian and Eurasian Cuckoo, Oriental Reed Warbler, Yellow Bittern, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Mallard, Common Kingfisher, little Grebe, Moorhen, Spotted Dove and sometimes Crested Kingfisher
Old Summer Palace: same with Summer palace and some more: Mandarin Duck, sometimes: Black-naped Oriole and Black Drongo.
In summer, Beijing is not a good place for birding, many birds go to north China or Siberia to breed. Only in some mountains you can see some good birds.
Maybe the most famous bird in Beijing is Ibisbill but the site they live is far from downtown.

I never went to Shanghai and Suzhou, so I don’t know where to bird there.


Xiao Ming

PS: It’s very hot in Beijing and Shanghai in July. You should prepare for it.

 

[MKinHK]

Hi Paul

One key site in Shanghai (but needs at least half a day) is Dongtan - you can see Chinese Parrotbill and possibly Japanese Marsh Warbler here (a resident species which I saw in May), but you need to get a ferry from the north of the city. July will be less birdy and hard work, but nothing venture . . .

The hils west of the West Lake at Hangzhou looked good when I drove through in May, but I did not have time for any birding there. However it should hold many of the species seen by Xiaoming on his trip to Hubei.

Cheers
Mike (in Hong Kong, not Scotland)

Reed Parrotbills at Dongtan NNR, Chongming, Shanghai

Taking advantage of the fact that we travelled to Hangzhou via Shanghai, John Holmes and I made a lightning twitch to Dongtan for Reed Parrotbill Paradoxornis heudi, found only in reedbed habitats in Eastern China, Mongolia and Ussuriland in eastern Russia. It has been recorded from Liaoning, Hebei, Tianjin, Shandong, Jiangsu, Shanghai. There are also recent records from up the Yangzi at Nanjing, and south to Hangzhou Bay in Zhejiang. Dongtan is probably the most reliable and accessible place to see this species.

The inland records from Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang and Ussuriland (Siberia) and Mongolia and refer to the subspecies poliovanus, which may well be a full species, and possibly a seriously threatened one, owing to the several years of drought that have had such an impact on the wetlands of Manchuria.

Logistically our twitch worked very well:

• Through train: Hong Kong-Shanghai ($1039/psn in 2 bed cabin) arr: 1530 (25hrs)
• Taxi to Bao Yang Pier from underground taxi rank (1 hour, CNY 83)
• Ferry to Chongming Island (80 minutes, 30 minute boats also available)
• Taxi 40 mins to Dongtan town Inn (CNY65) arriving after dark.
• Dongtan Inn is basic (shared washing facilities), but clean: (CNY70 per night)
• Local minibus taxi – CNY20 each way from the reserve entrance
• A permit is required to walk into the reedbeds beyond the bund (not obtained, and no need to do so to see the parrotbills)

We were greatly helped in these arrangements by Professor Ma, Ms Gan Xiaojing and Jimmy Choi of Fudan University, which has a research station in Dongtan. On the morning of our visit we were met at 6am by Ms Gan with local van driver, Mr Yin, and arrived at the reserve about ten minutes later.

There was lots of noise coming from the reeds and we immediately heard several Reed Parrotbills singing, but it was 30-40 minutes before we found one singing from the top of a reed stem about 50m away. It looks superficially similar to Grey-headed Parrotbill – grey head, strong black supercilium, large dark eye, but with a bigger, stronger-looking yellow bill. This individual showed rufous flanks, meeting on the lower belly, while the rest of the underparts, from chin to undertail, was a light buffy-white. The back and wings were a rich chestnut brown, contrasting strongly with the grey head. The tail was also longer, slimmer and darker than Grey-headed Parrotbill.

Later we saw a group of scruffy, straggle-tailed juveniles staggering clumsily about a nearby stand of reeds, taking short, unconvincing flights on desperately whirring wings. John also saw another individual land on top of a reed, and immediately slide down it as if it were a fireman’s pole.

Other birds of interest in the reeds included a showy male Siberian Rubythroat, Oriental Reed Warbler, several flatulent-sounding Water Rails, several Long-tailed and a single Brown Shrike and a couple of Dusky Warblers. A flock of about 200 Barn Swallows and a Sand Martin went south, while other obvious migrants included a Wryneck, 20 Black-winged Stilts and a group of unidentified marsh terns. As we had to be in Hangzhou by the end of the day we were finished by 0830 and caught the 0915 ferry back to Shanghai.

 

[xiaoming]

birding in DongZhai

June 8th (night)–11th

Sorry for update so late.

I stay in Dongzhai for 3 days. The birds in dongzhai are much similar with what in Sanyang.
The first night in dongzhai, I live in a villager’s family hotel. I get up early in the morning, but it rains. I couldn’t go out, only watching birds from the window. A Black-capped Kingfisher is eating frog. In room I see a lifer.
After breakfast, the rain stops. In front of our hotel, there is a river. Some local people wash their clothes there. Two baby Mandarin Duck swim against the stream. They don’t fear people. Young Daurian Redstart stands on a stone singing. His parents are busy to find food for him. I love this scene: People and birds live harmoniously.

Where we live is Lingshan Mountain, which is famous with the temple. Ling shan Mountain is also a part of Dongzhan national nature reserve for birds. But too many visitors there, so we just stay there half day.
（Other birds seen in LingShan: Cattle Egret, Large Egret, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Indian Cuckoo, Chinese Sparrowhawk, Black Baza, Grey-faced Buzzard Eagle , Eurasian Jay, Brown Dipper, Black-throated Tit）
In the afternoon, we got at BaiYunZhan(A，see the map).As soon as we put our baggage in hotel, we go to DongQiao(E).
Our aim Blue-throated Bee-eaters like to stand on the wire near a river. We see three couples, very beautiful birds. Then we go back to Wangdawan(D), the best birding site in Dongzhai (I think). I see at least a couple Orange-headed Thrushs and Japanese Thrushs there and some young Japanese Thrushs. Another birder there told me he saw an Asian Paradise-Flycatcher’s nest. But it’s too late and too dark to find nest. When we have supper, I see a Blue Whistling-Thrush.

June 10
The most famous birds in Dongzhai are White-crowed Long-Tailed Phea, which has the longest tail in China (>1.5m what about in the world?) and Fairy Pitta. So this morning we decide to go to A3 and A2 to find the two birds. What a pity, we even haven’t heard them.
In the afternoon, we go back to Wangdawan and find the nest of Paradise-Flycatcher. WanDaWan village is a good place for finding nests. I also see Forest Wagtails, Grey-capped Greenfinchs and Yellow Rumped Flycatchers’ nests. In a bush, near the river, Hwamei is singing, sometimes you can see it when it jumps on the top.
Chestnut winged Cuckoo and Lesser Cuckoo is a surprised pleasure for me. Chestnut winged Cuckoo just stands on the top of the tree over my head. Too many leaves, just a small “Sky light”, so at first I only see the head, then it moves. I see other parts of this bird.

June 11

A photographer form ShenZhen drives a Land Rover coming here to shoot birds. He gives me a lift to other parts in DongZhai. After a morning’s driving, we find nothing special. At last we go back to DongQiao.
He shoots Bee-eaters and I go along the river to find other birds. White-crowed Forktail, Little Ringed Plover, Crested Kingfisher are all new for this trip.
Before Supper, I go to A3 again and get a Speckled Piculet. I also see a Brownish-flanked Bush-War, but it in the bush not very clear.

 

[xiaoming]

some photoes of birds in Dongzhai by my friends

Their group was very big, more than 20 people.They don't go to SanYan, when I got to Dongzhai they came back to BeiJing

guanniao观鸟 in Chinese means watching birds.

http://www.birdnet.cn/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=24304&highlight=%B6%AD%D5%AF
http://www.birdnet.cn/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=24173&highlight=%B6%AD%D5%AF
http://www.guanniao.com/bbs/dispbbs.asp?BoardID=6&replyID=69511&id=10030&skin=0
http://www.guanniao.com/bbs/dispbbs.asp?BoardID=6&replyID=69509&id=10037&skin=0