Dec-06-2015
Temperatures have finally returned to normal here in Panjin. Today it was hovering around zero with only a very light breeze, so I decided to check out some areas that I have not visited for awhile and it payed off.
Not even bothering to eat breakfast this morning, I didn't intend to walk quite so far or to take so much time, but every time I was thinking, "Good enough, I'd better head home." It would immediately be followed with "Ooh! That's nifty!" Finally, 3 hours and 45 minutes later, with the camera battery giving out (830 pictures - - - I got a bit carried away with the concept of "film" being free
it seems) and with aching joints and realizing I was hungry, I gave it up and headed home.
Started with nice Hen Harrier right next to our apartment.
After a couple of kilometers of walking I walked into the woods along the irrigation canal and spent about an hour withing 20 meters of where I started with something new every time I turned around. A large mixed flock of Long-tailed Tit, Eastern Great Tit, and Coal Tit was enough to keep me delighted, but it also produced Treecreeper, and Winter Wren.
It just kept getting better as I found what I thought was a Sparrowhawk. A E. Kestrel was nearby and definitely much bigger. In fact this was quite small even for a Sparrowhawk as you can see by the comparison to the insulators. By the size and the relatively short tail with wider barring than the Kestrel's tail, (I think I could make out four bands, but not certain about that) and color I thought it to be a Japanese Sparrowhawk. Not on the eBird list for this time of year though, so see what you all come up with.
Also not on their list for this time of year was what sure looked like a couple of Elegant Bunting. Again, see what you think.
After the E. Kestrel made a couple of unsuccessful stoops, missing what was probably a mouse in a corn stalk shock and a small bird on the ground, a group of Rustic Buntings were mobbing the Kestrel and a few lost interest and dropped to the ground to forage. Bad idea. The Kestrel had bunting for lunch.
Rounded off with more Woodpeckers than I had seen before in one outing, a large flock of Azure-winged Magpie and a few other misc..
Panjin, Dawa County, Liaoning, CN, Liaoning, CN
Dec 6, 2015 10:15 AM - 2:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
4.0 kilometer(s)
17 species (+1 other taxa)
Northern Harrier (Circus cyaneus) 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) 4
Gray-headed Woodpecker (Picus canus) 6
Eurasian Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) 2
Azure-winged Magpie (Cyanopica cyanus) 40
Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica) 4
Coal Tit (Periparus ater) 14
Japanese Tit (Parus minor) 12
Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus) 25
Eurasian Treecreeper (Certhia familiaris) 2
Eurasian Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) 3
Light-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis) 2
Goldcrest (Regulus regulus) 1
Dusky/Naumann's Thrush (Turdus naumanni/eunomus) 4
Little Bunting (Emberiza pusilla) 8
Rustic Bunting (Emberiza rustica) 4
Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) 5
Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) X
View this checklist online at
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S26147108
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (
http://ebird.org)