June 25, 2016
The weather was beautiful with clear, deep blue skies and not too hot yesterday so I decided to take advantage as it was supposed to warm up quite a bit starting today. I had planned about walk of about 5 km which would cover two areas that I bird. Panjin is all on the flat so that is about my normal limit before the arthritis kicks in too badly.
The first section yielded nothing of particular note until just at the end, while tracking down some
Oriental Reed Warbler that I heard calling. In the process of determining a count at the edge of a former wetland area that was ditched and mostly drained this spring that I spotted an area that had been converted to rice paddy with obvious avian activity about 500 meters out. I could make out some Heron but I was unable to be sure of ID on some and could make out many other unidentifiable waders. Unfortunately the wide and deep drainage ditch blocked my access from the east side. The only way in would be via a raised pathway coming in from the west side. That would mean walking all the way around and coming in from that side. Walking 2 km to reach the rice paddy that was 500 meters away. I decided to go ahead and cover the second planned area which was another wetland and then make the detour.
Panjin, Dawa County, Liaoning, CN, Liaoning, CN
Jun 25, 2016 3:00 PM - 3:15 PM
Protocol: Traveling
0.5 kilometer(s)
6 species
Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) 1
Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) 2
Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops) 2
Brown Shrike (Lanius cristatus) 6
Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica) 1
Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) 5
View this checklist online at
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S30379812
The second planned area went about as usual but I did find a
Little Grebe and a couple of
Common Moorhen. The Little Grebe in particular were common last year, but have proven rather scarce this year. I have also noted that last year the area commonly had small numbers of Black-Headed Gull and an occasional Saunders Gull while this year has been only
Whiskered Tern and Black-Crowned Night Heron. Just as I was leaving the area and wondering why the
Oriental Reed Warbler were being so quiet, a
Eurasian Kestrel made a dive into some near-by reeds and came up with a
Common Magpie fledgling in its' talons. Managed a quick shot which is nothing to brag of, but which shows the fledgling.
Jun 25, 2016 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 kilometer(s)
11 species
Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) 5
Eurasian Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) 2
Whiskered Tern (Chlidonias hybrida) 6
Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) 7
Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops) 1
Eurasian Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) 1
Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica) 1
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 40
Oriental Reed-Warbler (Acrocephalus orientalis) 6
Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) 10
View this checklist online at
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S30379644
I then cut through the middle of the village to the west for about a kilometer and then back north half a km to where I found the raised pathway. Workers at a near-by oil rig were watching me closely, but there were no signs and no fence, so I just boldly walked out to the east along the pathway for about 500 meters to the rice paddies. Someone has made a feeble attempt at planting corn on much of the drained wetland but it is a rather pitiful affair. The rice paddies where at least managing well from what I could see.
Just as I arrived at the rice paddies a pair of
Grey-Headed Lapwing rose up out of the reeds regrowing along the edges of the rice and started loudly trying to scare me off. I got one shot at 640mm completely filling the frame as it came head on at me. At the time I was thinking, "Man, that looks close in the telephoto!". As I lowered the camera the Lapwing buzzed just over me, barely missing my head!
The Heron proved to be
Black-Crowned Night Heron with several females staying close to the tall reeds along the edges of the pond and one fledgling visible just on the edge of the reeds. They all simply, calmly stepped back into the reeds and disappeared! It was surprising how well they managed the trick as they literally seemed to vanish. I have only seen them nesting in trees before, but there were not trees within 500 meters and no nests in those and the fledgling looked to be about three-quarters the size of the females and still covered in downy feathers, so probably could not fly yet, so they must have been nesting in the reeds.
I did catch a quick look at a very distant
Cattle Egret as it flew through my field of view in the binoculars. I got some rather poor very long range photos, but good enough to identify the distinct plumage.
Also evident were
Black-Winged Stilt and a single
Spotted Redshank which even eBird confirmed as a rare bird sighting. All together making it worth the extra 3 km of walking.
Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) 1
Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) 10
Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) 8
Gray-headed Lapwing (Vanellus cinereus) 10
Spotted Redshank (Tringa erythropus) 1 Single individual in a rice paddy mixed with Black-Winged Stilt
Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) 2
Brown Shrike (Lanius cristatus) 3
Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica) 4
View this checklist online at
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S30379789
I did some rather lackadaisical birding as I headed home, but soon gave it up do to an approaching thunderhead and aching joints. About 7.5 km of hiking which is beyond my normal limits, but the next few days are supposed to be too warm and humid to be out, so I can recover.
Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) 1
Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) 2
Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops) 2
Brown Shrike (Lanius cristatus) 6
Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica) 1
Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) 5
View this checklist online at
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S30379812