[Terry Townshend]

Fantastic Lancey and Pallas's Gropper images... I guess Middendorff's, Pleske's and Gray's are all, theoretically at least, possible at this site.. :)

[Shi Jin]

Originally Posted by Terry Townshend

Fantastic Lancey and Pallas's Gropper images... I guess Middendorff's, Pleske's and Gray's are all, theoretically at least, possible at this site.. :)

Thanks Terry

Yes indeed... All in all, quite an amazing couple of hours in "central" Beijing.

Congratulations on the Yellow-legged Buttonquail you saw there a couple of hours after I left.

Gripping stuff.

Alas, today's locustella count was down to 2 (both Pallas's Grasshopper).

Other birds of note: 7 Spotted Redshanks; 1 Baillon's Crake, and a party of 3 Grey-headed Lapwings (late birds to say the least).

As per my earlier SMS, sighting of the day was not a bird, but a Siberian Weasel (photo attached).

Have fun there tomorrow.

Cheers.


Shi Jin

PS In the excitement, neglected to mention that I saw 5 Whiskered Terns there on Monday.

[Gretchen]

Your local patch is really turning up impressive stuff! (love the spotted redshanks) Nice weasel!!! They are usually pretty fast (though not compared to some warblers I guess), so good shot on it. Is it from the Wenyu patch too? (I forget if they are Huanglang?)

[Shi Jin]

Thanks Gretchen

Yes, it was seen on my local Wenyu patch (Chaoyang side of the river).

The Chinese name for Siberian Weasel (Mustela sibirica) is huang shu lang (黄鼠狼).

They survive in Beijing despite:

1) Their fur is said to make the finest brush for use in Chinese calligraphy.

2) They love eating chicken (not at KFC).

3) In Chinese folklore, if one enters the property it's regarded as a portent of doom (they not only steal chickens, they are said to also steal souls).

Given the above, it's not surprising that they are very scarce and very wary.

This is only the third time I've seen one here (and the photograph I posted is by far the best I've managed of one).

Cheers.

Shi Jin

[Gretchen]

Ah yes Yellow Mouse-Wolves (or at least that's the fun way to remember them!)

[Shi Jin]

Thursday, 31st May, 2012; Wenyu River, Chaoyang district, Beijing

The sound of yapping dogs had woken me up at 4.30am The idea of cycling down to the paddies in time for first light crossed my mind; but was trumped by the idea of getting more sleep.

My next decision - some hours later - was a tougher one. Should I maintain my "no-twitching in China" rule [it's a long story]; or break it for a chance to see one of my most-wanted birds, which was on MY local patch?

I looked again at the "MEGA-ALERT" message on my phone.

25 years of China birding and not a single twitch... even refusing to go after a pair of spoon-billed sandpipers on Happy Island even when I was actually on the island when I heard the news. Because? Because one day I wanted to find my own...

So, surely, my resolve could hold for this!

After a few seconds thought, I texted back the message:

"On my way".... "...be there in 10 mins."

I grabbed my bins, camera, and car keys. And was off.

The drive there was like going back in time.

Funny to be thinking again about the London to Cley twitch 19 years and one day ago (in time to see the Pacific Swift before and after a walk to Blakeney Point to see a Desert Warbler).

Even funnier to have Bruce Springteen's Born to Run playing in my head as I overtook a bendy-bus and a cement-mixer truck.

"Sprung from cages out on Highway 9
Chrome wheeled, fuel injected
And steppin' out over the line,
Baby this town rips the bones from your back
It's a death trap, it's a suicide rap
We gotta get out while we're young
'Cause tramps like us, baby we were born to run..."

I was there in 9 minutes.

I didn't see the bird, but that's not the point.

The point is, I remembered why I used to love twitching.

Seeing the bird was always the icing on the cake.

[Shi Jin]

What's more, thanks to Terry, I was able to see and photograph my first Little Owl in Beijing:

404 Little Owl Wenyu River, Chaoyang district, Beijing

[Shi Jin]

Wenyu River paddies, Chaoyang district, Beijing.

May round-up of birds seen on my local patch, that extends about 1 mile along the Wenyu River by about 2 to 3 hundred yards.

12 visits there in the month (carbon-neutral on 11 visits... ie cycled there). Most visits were for 2 hours, and a few up to 4 hours. Estimated time there is 30 hours.

Visited on May 3, 6, 7, 8, 14, 21, 23, 24, 26, 28, 29, and 31.

1 Pheasant
2 Ruddy Shelduck
3 Mandarin Duck
4 Mallard
5 Eastern Spot-billed Duck
6 Eurasian Teal
7 Little Grebe
8 Yellow Bittern
9 Von Schrenck's Bittern
10 Night Heron
11 Eastern Cattle Egret
12 Chinese Pond Heron
13 Grey Heron
14 Purple Heron
15 Great White Egret
16 Little Egret
17 Kestrel
18 Amur Falcon
19 Eurasian Sparrowhawk
20 Eastern Buzzard
21 White-breasted Waterhen
22 Baillon's Crake
23 Moorhen
24 Coot
25 Black-winged Stilt
26 Grey-headed Lapwing
27 Pacific Golden Plover
28 not-so-Common Ringed Plover
29 Little Ringed Plover
30 Kentish Plover
31 "Wenyu Snipe" (snipe sp. showing characteristics of Latham's)
32 Pintail Snipe
33 Common Snipe
34 Spotted Redshank
35 Common Redshank
36 Common Greenshank
37 Green Sandpiper
38 Common Sandpiper
39 Temminck's Stint
40 Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
41 Dunlin
42 Whiskered Tern
43 Rock Dove
44 Oriental Turtle Dove
45 Spotted Dove
46 Indian Cuckoo
47 Eurasian Cuckoo
48 Little Owl (just beyond the "paddies patch")
49 Beijing Swift (The BBBC spilts A. pekinensis from A. apus)
50 Hoopoe
51 Great Spotted Woodpecker
52 Grey-headed Woodpecker
53 Brown Shrike
54 Black-naped Oriole
55 Black Drongo
56 Azure-winged Magpie
57 Oriental Magpie (The BBBC spilts P. sericea from P. pica)
58 Daurian Jackdaw
59 Oriental Crow (The BBBC spilts C. orientalis from C. corone)
60 Large-billed Crow
61 Eastern Great Tit
62 Swallow (no barns in Beijing)
63 Red-rumped Swallow
64 Fan-tailed Warbler (The BBBC prefers not to use Squeeky-wheel Cisticola and other silly names)
65 Chinese Bulbul
66 Pere David's Bush Warbler (possibly showing characteristics of Locustella davidi suschkini aka "Peter Suschkin's Bush Warbler")
67 Lanceolated Warbler
68 Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler
?? "Wenyu Grasshopper Warbler" (locustella sp. with characteristics of Middendorff's)
69 Oriental Reed Warbler
70 Black-browed Reed Warbler
71 Dusky Warbler
72 Radde's Warbler
73 Yellow-browed Warbler
74 Chestnut-flanked White-eye
75 Crested Myna
76 White-cheeked Starling
77 Chinese Song Thrush (singing)
78 Bluethroat
79 Red-flanked Bluetail
80 Daurian Redstart
81 Siberian Stonechat
82 Brown Flycatcher
83 Taiga Flycatcher
84 Tree Sparrow
85 Forest Wagtail
86 Grey Wagtail
87 Manchurian Wagtail
88 Green-backed Wagtail
89 Western Yellow Wagtail
90 Citrine Wagtail
91 White Wagtail
92 Richard's Pipit
93 Blyth's Pipit
94 Olive-backed Pipit
95 Red-throated Pipit
96 Buff-bellied Pipit
97 Oriental Greenfinch
98 Chinese Grosbeak
99 Tristram's Bunting
100 Chestnut-eared Bunting
101 Little Bunting
102 Rustic Bunting
103 Chestnut Bunting
104 Black-faced Bunting
105 Pallas's Reed Bunting

[MKinHK]

Bummer Steve . . . the anthem of all failed twitchers: U2's I still haven't found what I'm looking for.

Cheers
Mike

[Shi Jin]

Nice one Mike.

On the subject of U2 song-names and failed twitches, here are a few more:

"Another Day"
"Another Time, Another Place"
"Disappearing Act"
"Gone"
"Numb"
"Shadows and Tall Trees"
"So Cruel"
"Some Days Are Better Than Others"
"Wave of Sorrow (Birdland)"
"Where Did It All Go Wrong"

And U2 songs to play after a successfull twitch:

"First Time, The" !"The First Time"
"Instant Karma!"
"Miracle Drug"
"Moment of Surrender"
"Original of the Species"
"Rejoice"
"Rise Up"
"Smile"
"Surrender"
"Sweetest Thing"

U2 songs to be played/sung/hummed on the way to a twitch:

"Are You Gonna Wait Forever?"
"All I Want Is You";
"Desire"
"Fast Cars"
"Hallelujah (Here She Comes)"
"Heaven and Hell"
"In a Little While"
"One Minute Warning"
"One Step Closer"
"Out of Control" (EP version"
"Please"
"Race Against Time"
"She's a Mystery to Me"
"Stay (Faraway, So Close!)"

U2 song after a successful twitch and then hearing it's an escape:

"Zoo Station"

Cheers


Shi Jin

[MKinHK]

I bow to the master and apologize for derailing the thread . . .

Cheers
Mike

[Spike Millington]

Nice list, Shi Jin, the birds not the songs. Wood sandpiper is a deliberate omission to see if people are really paying attention?

The list for the Wenyu paddies must be up to 200 by now. As far as I know, Schrenk's, Chinese Thrush and of course Ringed Plover are all new. And you need to boot that Little Owl a bit further down the track :)

I'm missing the old patch, great to see it getting good coverage !

[Shi Jin]

Great to hear from you Spike

Yes it's certainly a great place. Long may it continue to escape the attention of Beijing's city planners.

I intoduced Terry Townshend to the place last week and as a "thank you" he immediately gripped me off with Yellow-legged Buttonquail (by the riding stables).

He was also the inspiration for my first twitch in China. His website has the details: http://birdingbeijing.com/2012/06/01/aaaarrrggghhhhhh/ (btw he tips his hat in your and Brian's direction for putting the place on the birding map).

Thanks for spotting that I didn't include Wood Sandpiper. The c350 there on 6th May are one of my all-time Wenyu highlights. I also missed Pallas's Warbler. Throw in the mystery crake I recorded (still trying to work out what species the call belongs to), and the list gets up to 108 - a significant number in that my namesake was one of the 108 characters in Outlaws of the Marsh (aka The Water Margin), a Chinese classic.

Talking of outlaws of the marsh, here's a link to a patch-related story that you may find interesting http://www.birdforum.net/showthread....161061&page=14

Cheers Spike


Shi Jin

btw

Here are a few other species I've seen there over the past three years that may be of interest to you:

Long-tailed Minivet (15th October 2009)
Falcated Duck
Bewick's Swan (on the river)
Swan Goose (5 flying south on 15th October 2009)
White's Thrush
Water Pipit
Red-crested Pochard
Smew
Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker
Wren
Red-throated Thrush
Dusky Thrush
Naumann's Thrush
Siberian Meadow Bunting
Rook
Pintail
Pochard
Gadwall


I remembered that I took snaps of the two 15th October 2009 highlights:

405 Long-tailed Minivet 15th October 2009 Wenyu River, Beijing
406 Swan Goose 15th October 2009 Wenyu River, Beijing

[Richard Klim]

Originally Posted by Shi Jin

The question that crossed my mind was, what's the difference between the nominate davidi (which breeds in China) and the suschkini sub-species, which breeds arosss a wide area of Russia, to the north and north-east of Mongolia.

Here's Kennerley & Pearson 2010 (Reed and Bush Warblers)...

B. d. suschkini (Siberia from Russian Altai to region of Lake Baikal) Supercilium is marginally paler and distinctly greyer than in nominate davidi, also slightly longer and more conspicuous, particularly behind the eye. Ear-coverts are tinged greyer and this sometimes extends as a diffuse greyish collar across the nape. The forehead and crown are warm chestnut-brown with faint narrow darker tips producing a scaly effect. Upperparts, including the fringes to the wing-coverts and edges to the primaries and secondaries, are warm olive-brown, slightly paler and less rich than in the nominate form. The breast and belly are slightly greyer than in the nominate form and the dull buffy-grey flanks less bright. Spotting is variable, but tends to form a diffuse charcoal-grey gorget across the upper breast.
In winter, the upperparts are slightly more drab, dull earth-brown and quite different from the dull reddish brown which nominate davidi retains. In addition, greater differences in the underpart colour and patterning become apparent. The lower throat and breast usually develop a paler greyish brown wash, and spotting becomes light and indistinct.

[Richard Klim]

Originally Posted by Shi Jin

What's more, thanks to Terry, I was able to see and photograph my first Little Owl in Beijing.

Athene [noctua] plumipes Northern Little Owl / Swinhoe's Owlet - split by Wink 2011 (p22).

[Shi Jin]

Thanks for those Richard

I must get a copy of the reed and bush warbler book the next time I'm in Norfolk.

And Swinhoe's Owlet! What a great name for a smashing bird.

Do you know if orientalis (nw China), ludlowi (Himalayas), and impasta (wc China) are retained under Little Owl? Or is it more complicated than that?

Cheers.


Shi Jin

[Richard Klim]

Originally Posted by Shi Jin

I must get a copy of the reed and bush warbler book the next time I'm in Norfolk.

It's a great book - you won't regret it, except for the extra 2kg that it'll add to your baggage...

Originally Posted by Shi Jin

Do you know if orientalis (nw China), ludlowi (Himalayas), and impasta (wc China) are retained under Little Owl? Or is it more complicated than that?

Athene plumipes would be monotypic. It was noted as a possible split in König & Weick 2008 (Owls of the World): "Toes more densely covered with plumes rather than bristles. ...Perhaps specifically distinct."

I was pleased to see one at Xianghai, Jilin last year - but I admit that I didn't get great views of the toe feathering.

[Shi Jin]

Thanks Richard

I also saw my first in Xianghai, Jilin (June 2003).

I am attaching a snap of it that seems to show the feature you refer to.

Take a bow, Swinhoe's Owlet

Which means, of course, I need to go west in China to see a Little Owl.

Cheers.


Shi Jin

[Richard Klim]

Originally Posted by Shi Jin

Which means, of course, I need to go west in China to see a Little Owl.

...common on roadside posts along the south shore of Qinghai Hu, I recall.

[Richard Klim]

Originally Posted by Shi Jin

394 "Western" Yellow Wagtail

Shi Jin, you might yet need to reconsider Western Yellow Wag. See: plexa.

...but you could take a quick trip to Xinjiang for feldegg ('melanogrisea') or leucocephala.

[Shi Jin]

Thanks Richard

I've been following this meme with interest.

So much so that a member of The BBBC will fly to Norfolk next week, with a view to discussing the taxonomy of thunbergi with the author of the recent paper on the subject of western/eastern wagtails.

Watch this space.

Or, if you're up that way and fancy a a pint of Norfolk's finest, let me know ;-)

Best regards.


Shi Jin

[Richard Klim]

Originally Posted by Shi Jin

Or, if you're up that way and fancy a a pint of Norfolk's finest, let me know ;-)

That sounds very tempting indeed, Shi Jin.

But with each passing year, and my increasing laziness, Norfolk seems ever further from Somerset...

[Shi Jin]

What a lovely summer in Norfolk.

Now back this side of The Wall so to speak.

First proper trip out was to the Wenyu river yesterday.

Went out with TT and PA. As well as great company, another benefit of being out with them is that they found lots of good birds... Alas, I didn't connect with the Garganey (PA) or Wryneck (TT).

Here are the highlights (of what I managed to see):

c50 Great White and Little Egrets (majority Great)
c15 Great Cormorants (Most I've see at the Wenyu)
2 high flocks of Oriental Honey Buzzards (several in each flock)
1 sparrowhawk sp
3 Grey-headed Lapwing
c20 Green Sandpiper
few Wood Sandpiper
few Spotted Redshank
sev Greenshank
1 Marsh Sandpiper
1 Common Sandpiper
1 Black-headed Gull (first for the patch this year)
1 Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker
2 Brown Shrike
few Black-naped Oriole
1 Black Drongo
sev Siberian Stonechat
1 Richard's Pipit
1 Taiga Flycatcher (saw 15 two days before on a 60km cycle-ride by the river; and also 1 White's Thrush)
1 Olive-backed Pipit
a few grey/brown warblers diving into cover

And....

Wait for it....

A possible first for Beijing (research thus far has yielded no record).

It was found on the Shunyi side of the river by PA.

Then, much to my delight, I watched it fly over to the Chaoyang side, where TT and I photographed it.

I've posted a couple of my shots on to my website http://www.chinesecurrents.com/wild_water_china.html

It's good to be back.

Shi Jin

Talking of great finds, TT's superb website is well worth a visit if you are interested in the birds of China.

http://birdingbeijing.com/

[Larry Wheatland]

Nice shot of that diagnostic nasal groove on that goodie there Shi Jin!

[Shi Jin]

Thanks Larry

It was certainly good to see (I've only ever seen them in Beidaihe, Hebei; and Burghead, Highland before ;-)