China Birding Notes (1 Viewer)

At first sight and with no books this looks like a scruffy feme Long-tailed Rosefinch to me. I suspect the black goatee is feeding residue ( resin, pollen or similar)

Cheers
Mike

100% female Long-tailed rosefinch

Thank you for Long-tailed Rosefinch.

Lesser Yangshan & Nanhui, 2015-04-09

Yesterday Elaine and I noted 69 species on Lesser Yangshan Island and at Nánhuì. We found 1 male Siberian Blue Robin on Lesser Yangshan and 24 Black-faced Spoonbill, 1 Tufted Duck, 2 Mandarin Duck, and 3 Brown-headed Thrush at Nánhuì. We noted 8 Emberiza species: Black-faced Bunting at both sites, Rustic Bunting at Nánhuì, and Meadow Bunting, Chestnut-eared Bunting, Tristram's Bunting, Little Bunting, Yellow-browed Bunting, and Yellow-throated Bunting on Yangshan.

Weather: 5°-15°C, mostly cloudy with excellent visibility on Lesser Yangshan, sky growing smoggy and overcast as day progressed

We noted 40 species on Lesser Yangshan Island. Garbage Dump Gully was busy. The tall tree in the courtyard held several species, among them our first Asian Brown Flycatcher of the season. The air was filled with the songs of Pallas's Leaf Warbler and Brown-flanked Bush Warbler.

Site 1. Lesser Yangshan Island, including Garbage Dump Gully (30.641565, 122.062836), Garbage Dump Coastal Plain (30.638860, 122.060089), Xiǎoyánglíng Cove (30.642243, 122.066940), & Temple Mount (30.639945, 122.048277); 07:20-13:00

Japanese Quail Coturnix japonica 2
Eastern Buzzard Buteo japonicus 1
Spotted Dove Streptopelia chinensis 1
Bull-headed Shrike Lanius bucephalus 1
Eurasian Magpie Pica pica 4
Large-billed Crow Corvus macrorhynchos 2
Japanese Tit Parus minor 12
Light-vented Bulbul Pycnonotus sinensis 9
Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica 1
Pallas's Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus proregulus 15
Yellow-browed Warbler Phylloscopus inornatus 7
Eastern Crowned Warbler Phylloscopus coronatus 6
Zitting Cisticola Cisticola juncidis 4
Japanese White-eye Zosterops japonicus 32
Goldcrest Regulus regulus 3
Red-billed Starling Sturnus sericeus 5
White-cheeked Starling Sturnus cineraceus 1
White's Thrush Zoothera aurea 1
Grey-backed Thrush Turdus hortulorum 4
Japanese Thrush Turdus cardis 1
Pale Thrush Turdus pallidus 40
Dusky Thrush Turdus eunomus 7
Asian Brown Flycatcher Muscicapa latirostris 3
Siberian Blue Robin Larvivora cyane 1
Red-flanked Bluetail Tarsiger cyanurus 14 (8 adult males)
Daurian Redstart Phoenicurus auroreus 4
Blue Rock Thrush Monticola solitarius 1
Stejneger's Stonechat Saxicola stejnegeri 3
Eurasian Tree Sparrow Passer montanus 35
White Wagtail Motacilla alba leucopsis 2
Olive-backed Pipit Anthus hodgsoni 6
Meadow Bunting Emberiza cioides 5
Chestnut-eared Bunting Emberiza fucata 1
Tristram's Bunting Emberiza tristrami 21
Little Bunting Emberiza pusilla 5
Yellow-browed Bunting Emberiza chrysophrys 1
Yellow-throated Bunting Emberiza elegans 1
Black-faced Bunting Emberiza spodocephala 24 all nominate
Japanese/Manchurian Bush Warbler Horornis diphone canturians/H. borealis borealis 9
Brown-flanked Bush Warbler Horornis fortipes 7 (6 heard only)

We noted 41 species at Nánhuì.

Site 2. Pudong Nanhui Dongtan Wetland (Pǔdōng Nánhuì Dōngtān Shīdì [浦东南汇东滩湿地]): Nánhuì, Pǔdōng (浦东), Shanghai, China (30.920507, 121.973159 [corner of Shìjìtáng Lù (世纪塘路) & main access road leading inland]); 14:00-17:20

Mandarin Duck Aix galericulata 2 (pair)
Eurasian Wigeon Anas penelope 15
Eastern Spot-billed Duck Anas zonorhyncha 80
Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata 12
Garganey Anas querquedula 8
Eurasian Teal Anas crecca 46
Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula 1
Common Pheasant Phasianus colchicus 1 heard
Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis 16
Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo 1
Grey Heron Ardea cinerea 3
Great Egret Ardea alba 6
Little Egret Egretta garzetta 14
Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax 11
Eurasian Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia 1
Black-faced Spoonbill Platalea minor 24
Eurasian Moorhen Gallinula chloropus 23
Eurasian Coot Fulica atra 32
Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus 1
Common Greenshank Tringa nebularia 16
White-winged Tern Chlidonias leucopterus 1
Spotted Dove Streptopelia chinensis 1
Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis 1
Long-tailed Shrike Lanius schach 3
Eurasian Magpie Pica pica 2
Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica 32
Light-vented Bulbul Pycnonotus sinensis 3
Reed Parrotbill Paradoxornis heudei 20 (heard 2 flocks)
Vinous-throated Parrotbill Sinosuthora webbiana 120 (6 flocks, each ca. 20 members)
Crested Myna Acridotheres cristatellus 4
Grey-backed Thrush Turdus hortulorum 4
Pale Thrush Turdus pallidus 29
Brown-headed Thrush Turdus chrysolaus 3
Dusky Thrush Turdus eunomus 20
Red-flanked Bluetail Tarsiger cyanurus 6
Daurian Redstart Phoenicurus auroreus 5
White Wagtail Motacilla alba 10 (6 leucopsis, 3 ocularis, 1 lugens)
Olive-backed Pipit Anthus hodgsoni 1
Buff-bellied Pipit Anthus rubescens japonicus 1
Rustic Bunting Emberiza rustica 2
Black-faced Bunting Emberiza spodocephala 6

Splendid Birds, Squalid Habitat at Yangkou

Last Saturday 11 April, Elaine and I birded Yángkǒu for the first time this year. Despite the continued degradation of the environment around the fishing town, we still managed to note 71 species. On the mudflats I missed Spoon-billed Sandpiper (still not seen at Yángkǒu this spring) but found 1 Red Knot and 3 Great Knot. A 1st-summer male Japanese Thrush was singing and patrolling territory.

A Reed Parrotbill was seen in highly degraded habitat, the busy bulldozers nearby foreshadowing the future of that place. Indeed, the backdrop of our day was the continued unchecked destruction of habitat around Yángkǒu. On the inland side of the sea wall, Elaine and I struggled to find the shallow pools and soggy ground so vital to shorebirds. Where once there was shallow water providing a resting place for hundreds of roosting shorebirds, now there is a deepwater canal holding a single Little Grebe and adjacent drained land with Plain Prinia and Eurasian Tree Sparrow. When a spring tide hits the sea wall (a regular occurrence), the waders have fewer and fewer large, quiet wetlands inside the sea wall where they can wait out the high water.

Of the many new factories smack against the sea wall is one operated by BASF Crop Protection (Jiangsu). Someone should ask BASF why the company felt it necessary to build their chemical plant at the epicenter of a stopover site critical to Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Nordmann's Greenshank. In Germany or the United States, would BASF get away with setting a plant in the middle of habitat crucial to two critically endangered species?

I know that because of Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Nordmann's Greenshank, Yángkǒu will remain a place much-visited by birders. But if one isn't in the market for those endangered species and simply wants to enjoy the coastal spring migration, perhaps one can find better places to bird in the Shanghai region.

Weather: Sunny, hazy. 7°-16°C

Site 1. Yángkǒu (洋口), a fishing town in Rudong County (Rúdōng Xiàn [如东县]), Jiangsu, China (32.537730, 121.017746). Among areas visited: Hǎiyìn Temple (hǎiyìn sì [海印寺], 32.558756, 121.044740), Little Temple (32.595616, 120.971194), & the unpaved road N of Hǎiyìn Temple (32.570807, 121.015638); 06:55-18:20

Common Pheasant Phasianus colchicus 9 (6 heard only)
Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis 12
Grey Heron Ardea cinerea 6
Little Egret Egretta garzetta 15
Common Moorhen Gallinula chloropus 11
Eurasian Coot Fulica atra 4
Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus 7
Grey Plover Pluvialis squatarola 48
Grey-headed Lapwing Vanellus cinereus 2
Greater Sand Plover Charadrius leschenaultii 2
Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus 16
Terek Sandpiper Xenus cinereus 7
Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos 1
Spotted Redshank Tringa erythropus 3
Common Greenshank Tringa nebularia 10
Marsh Sandpiper Tringa stagnatilis 8
Common Redshank Tringa totanus 2
Far Eastern Curlew Numenius madagascariensis 3
Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata 3
Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica 1
Ruddy Turnstone Arenaria interpres 1
Great Knot Calidris tenuirostris 3
Red Knot Calidris canutus 1
Red-necked Stint Calidris ruficollis 37
Dunlin Calidris alpina 2100
Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago 1
Eurasian Woodcock Scolopax rusticola 1
Saunders's Gull Saundersilarus saundersi 444 (incl. roost with ca. 400 birds)
Vega Gull Larus vegae vegae or L. v. mongolicus 39
Common Tern Sterna hirundo 8
Spotted Dove Streptopelia chinensis 15
Eurasian Hoopoe Upupa epops 19
Great Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos major 3
Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus 1
Bull-headed Shrike Lanius bucephalus 1
Long-tailed Shrike Lanius schach 6
Azure-winged Magpie Cyanopica cyanus 1
Eurasian Magpie Pica pica 11
Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica 38
Japanese Tit Parus minor 5
Chinese Penduline Tit Remiz consobrinus 55
Silver-throated Bushtit Aegithalos glaucogularis 3
Light-vented Bulbul Pycnonotus sinensis 30
Japanese/Manchurian Bush Warbler Horornis diphone canturians/H. borealis borealis 4
Brown-flanked Bush Warbler Horornis fortipes 1
Pallas's Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus proregulus 2
Plain Prinia Prinia inornata 7
Reed Parrotbill Paradoxornis heudei 7 (4 heard only)
Vinous-throated Parrotbill Sinosuthora webbiana 50
Crested Myna Acridotheres cristatellus 4
Black-collared Starling Gracupica nigricollis 3
Red-billed Starling Sturnus sericeus 54
White-cheeked Starling Sturnus cineraceus 34
White's Thrush Zoothera aurea 2
Grey-backed Thrush Turdus hortulorum 1
Japanese Thrush Turdus cardis 1
Eurasian Blackbird Turdus merula mandarinus 16
Pale Thrush Turdus pallidus 14
Dusky Thrush Turdus eunomus 5
Brambling Fringilla montifringilla 14
Chinese Grosbeak Eophona migratoria 8
Eurasian Tree Sparrow Passer montanus 70
Eastern Yellow Wagtail Motacilla tschutschensis tschutschensis 3
Grey Wagtail Motacilla cinerea 1
White Wagtail Motacilla alba 9 (6 leucopsis, 1 ocularis, 2 lugens)
Olive-backed Pipit Anthus hodgsoni 3
Buff-bellied Pipit Anthus rubescens japonicus 2
Meadow Bunting Emberiza cioides 3
Rustic Bunting Emberiza rustica 1
Yellow-throated Bunting Emberiza elegans 1
Black-faced Bunting Emberiza spodocephala 17

Craig, you know as well as I do why BASF is building their plant where they're building it. The Chinese government gives them money to invest there.

And do you really think anyone in Germany is going to care about environmental damage in China if the Chinese themselves don't?

Silver-throated bushtit

Craig,
intrigued by your
Silver-throated Bushtit Aegithalos glaucogularis 3

Just checked this out, this is the glaucogularis form of long-tailed tit, are all the LT tits in eastern China this form? A good split, I need to see this.

Jeff hopkins said:

Craig, you know as well as I do why BASF is building their plant where they're building it. The Chinese government gives them money to invest there.

And do you really think anyone in Germany is going to care about environmental damage in China if the Chinese themselves don't?

Click to expand...

Thanks for giving this matter some thought, Jeff.

Regarding your second paragraph, yes, I do think that investors in Germany SHOULD care about environmental damage in China, even if the Chinese themselves don't. And I think that someone should hold Western companies to account when they fail to care about environmental damage in China--again, even if the Chinese themselves don't.

This isn't directly related to what you were saying, Jeff, but I think that here is a good place to say it: (1) I didn't come to China to engage in activism but to celebrate and study China's fascinating avifauna; (2) I believe in development and understand that some environmental damage is bound to occur when a country develops; (3) I understand that eastern China is extremely densely populated and that therefore some clash with nature is inevitable; and (4) I don't begrudge anyone lawfully and ethically trying to make a buck.

That being said, the situation at Yangkou is so appalling that I simply had to raise my voice.

Yangkou is not a normal piece of the Chinese coast. It's the major stopover site for Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Spoon-billed Sandpiper is a species to which even the person uninitiated to birding can relate, because of the distinctive bill. That bill is the "hook" that can fix Spoon-billed Sandpiper in the public's mind, just as the black-and-white fur and distinctive bamboo-eating habit of Giant Panda fixed that species in the public's mind. From the distinctiveness of Spoon-billed Sandpiper could come awareness of mudflats and the importance of Yangkou--just as, again, from the "hook" provided by the cute and unusual Giant Panda comes awareness of the bamboo habitat in Sichuan and Shaanxi and the need to protect it.

Yangkou should be the crown jewel of a system of wetland protection up and down the Chinese coast. Chinese should be proud of Yangkou, proud to be the protectors of Spoon-billed Sandpiper, proud to own the second-most important piece of land for this critically endangered species (only Anadyr, Russia, the breeding grounds, outranks Yangkou in importance to Spoon-billed Sandpiper).

With their abundance of manpower, the Chinese could deploy small armies of workers to rehabilitate, manage, and protect Yangkou and their other precious coastal wetlands. Because China is no longer a poor country, and because the coastal provinces are the most developed economically, the Chinese could deploy these environmental armies and simply write off the cost as an investment in good will, international cooperation, and conservation.

Tragically, the Chinese government is instead deploying armies to control what people read on the Internet.

mjgrunwell said:

Craig,
intrigued by your
Silver-throated Bushtit Aegithalos glaucogularis 3

Just checked this out, this is the glaucogularis form of long-tailed tit, are all the LT tits in eastern China this form? A good split, I need to see this.

Click to expand...

Hi Michael, thanks for the question, and looking forward to your move to Shanghai later this year.

I use the IOC World Bird List as my first reference. IOC reports the ssp. vinaceus and glaucogularis no longer belonging to Long-tailed Tit but to Silver-throated Bushtit, Aegithalos glaucogularis. Here's the link to the Bushtits page: http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/bushtits/.

A. g. glaucogularis and A. g. vinaceous occur in central and eastern China and parts of northeastern China. Aegithalos caudatus caudatus, the Long-tailed Tit known in much of Europe, occurs in far NE China--in January 2015, I noted A. c. caudatus several times in Hulunbei'er (Inner Mongolia) and near Elaine's parents' home in eastern Heilongjiang. Off the top of my head, I'd imagine that A. c. caudatus is probably in parts of Xinjiang, too.

Craig,

I read your reply and thought of two things my old therapist used to say to me:

1) "Should" only leads to depression.
2) Scratch a cynic, and underneath you'll find a former idealist.

I wish things could be different in China. I really like China and the Chinese people. That's the idealist.

But I've been working for a large US corporation that's been doing business with China for over 25 years. I've seen how the Chinese government uses business and development first-hand as a means to control the masses and stay in power. So if the Chinese people themselves won't (or can't) speak for themselves, and lord knows, the Chinese government does their best to prevent the people from doing just that, it's hard to put forward the effort to speak for them. There's the cynic.

On top of that, many Chinese would resent intervention from the west, even if it was "for their own good." Unfortunately, the interpretation of that is subject to individual frame of reference, and certainly that frame of reference is easily manipulated by the government.

Lastly, there's really only so much effort to go around here in the west. After all, we've got our own corrupt developers and greedy politicians to fight, even right here in Allentown.

BLACK REDSTART, Hengsha, Shanghai

Last Saturday 18 April 2015, on Hengsha Is., Shanghai, Elaine and I noted 70 species. Bird of the day was 1 Black Redstart. Other highlights were 26 Black-faced Spoonbill, 6 booming Eurasian Bittern, Great Knot, Green Sandpiper, our first Cuculus cuckoo of the season, and Chinese Grey Shrike. 5 Pacific Golden Plover were a lifer for Elaine. I'd never seen a Citrine Wagtail in Shanghai.

Black Redstart ranges from Western Europe to central China (I've seen it frequently in Qinghai) and is a rare visitor to the Chinese coast. We found our bird, a male, along the sea wall on the NE side of the reclaimed area. The wall and rocks placed as breakers on the beach mimic the rocky habitat preferred by Phoenicurus ochruros. The redstart had chosen its habitat well, was feeding vigorously, and appeared in excellent condition.

Fog limited our birding for the first three hours of our marathon day but provided a chance to study the 5 Common Snipe and 6 "Swintail" Snipe. Under the cloak of the fog, the snipe were feeding in the open. Whereas it's next to impossible to separate Swinhoe's Snipe and Pin-tailed Snipe in the field, separation of "Swintail" from Common is doable. I experimented with a "Swintail" feeding on the cattle trail at the inner base of the sea wall. I flushed this bird six times. Each time except the sixth, the bird flew a short distance, landing a hundred or so meters down the trail. It was silent. Photos were impossible in the fog. My eye could detect no obvious white trailing edge to the wing, a hallmark of Common. I assigned this snipe to "Swintail."

Other birds inadvertently flushed showed clear characteristics of Common. One was flushed by our merely stopping the car on the road above, "sneezing" as it flew in a more zig-zagging and towering fashion than the "Swintail" had done. In some cases, not only were we able to note the flight pattern and hear the snort, but we were also able to view the white trailing edge to the wing. Birds meeting at least two of the three criteria (towering and zig-zagging flight pattern, "sneezes" when flushed, trailing edge to wing) were assigned to Common.

We noted Eurasian Skylark throughout the day at those parts of the reclaimed area that more resemble grassland than wetland. All photos and observations revealed a white trailing edge to the wing and white outer tail feathers, key separators of Eurasian Skylark from Oriental Skylark.

We were unable to verify the presence of Common Reed Bunting among our ca. 90 Pallas's Reed Bunting. The pale (not grey) rump of Pallas's was commonly noted, and the birds we observed always appeared smaller (size of Little Bunting) than Common. A dead Pallas's, struck by a speeding car, revealed the smaller size and finer bill characteristic of Pallas's. Our dead specimen even showed a pink lower mandible, another sign of Pallas's.

The Cuculus cuckoo was a welcome surprise. It was seen in the line of trees running along the fence that marks the W border of the reclaimed area. We saw the cuckoo clearly, noting what seemed to be thick barring on its underparts. We stopped the car, hoping to hear a call that would allow us to isolate it from among the four or five Cuculus species that can occur in the region. The cuckoo, however, was silent.

The reclaimed area of E Hengsha Island provides the most open space of any place in the city-province of Shanghai, home to 26 million people. The reclaimed area juts 25 km into the sea from the island proper, providing ample habitat for dozens of species. On this artificial peninsula, Reed Parrotbill and Chinese Penduline Tit are present in robust numbers, and Black-faced Spoonbill find a critical refuge. The booms and breathy inhalations of Eurasian Bittern add to the impression of being in a "real" wetland. The area is slated to be converted into a container port and within a few years will probably cease to be a de facto wildlife refuge.

Site 1. Hengsha Island (Héngshā Dǎo [横沙岛]), a small alluvial island at mouth of Yangtze River in Shanghai, China. S gate to birding area at 31.297333, 121.859434. 06:00-18:05.

Gadwall Anas strepera 4
Eastern Spot-billed Duck Anas zonorhyncha 11
Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata 14
Garganey Anas querquedula 25
Eurasian Teal Anas crecca 5
Common Pheasant Phasianus colchicus 1
Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis 35
Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus 6
Eurasian Bittern Botaurus stellaris 6 heard
Grey Heron Ardea cinerea 17
Great Egret Ardea alba 22
Intermediate Egret Mesophoyx intermedia 16
Little Egret Egretta garzetta 57
Eastern Cattle Egret Bubulcus coromandus 23
Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax 3
Eurasian Spoonbill Platalea leucorodia 12
Black-faced Spoonbill Platalea minor 26
Northern Harrier Circus cyaneus 3
White-breasted Waterhen Amaurornis phoenicurus 1
Common Moorhen Gallinula chloropus 60
Eurasian Coot Fulica atra ca. 300
Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus 2
Grey Plover Pluvialis squatarola 2
Pacific Golden Plover Pluvialis fulva 5
Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus 15
Green Sandpiper Tringa ochropus 1
Spotted Redshank Tringa erythropus 3
Common Greenshank Tringa nebularia 48
Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola 13
Great Knot Calidris tenuirostris 1
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper Calidris acuminata 2
Red-necked Stint Calidris ruficollis 1
Dunlin Calidris alpina ca. 100
Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago 5
Pin-tailed/Swinhoe's Snipe Gallinago stenura/G. megala 6
Vega Gull Larus vegae vegae or L. v. mongolicus 2
Feral Pigeon (Rock Dove) Columba livia 1
Spotted Dove Streptopelia chinensis 3
Cuculus cuckoo 1
Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis 3
Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus 1
Long-tailed Shrike Lanius schach 3
Chinese Grey Shrike Lanius sphenocercus 1
Chinese Penduline Tit Remiz consobrinus ca. 180
Eurasian Skylark Alauda gulgula ca. 150
Light-vented Bulbul Pycnonotus sinensis 6
Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica 28
Asian House Martin Delichon dasypus 8
Yellow-browed Warbler Phylloscopus inornatus 1
Japanese/Manchurian Bush Warbler Horornis diphone canturians/H. borealis borealis 7
Oriental Reed Warbler Acrocephalus orientalis 1
Zitting Cisticola Cisticola juncidis 60
Plain Prinia Prinia inornata 24
Reed Parrotbill Paradoxornis heudei ca. 80 (heard 4 flocks)
Japanese White-eye Zosterops japonicus 2
Crested Myna Acridotheres cristatellus 27
Pale Thrush Turdus pallidus 3
Black Redstart Phoenicurus ochruros 1
Daurian Redstart Phoenicurus auroreus 4
Stejneger's Stonechat Saxicola stejnegeri 2
Eurasian Tree Sparrow Passer montanus 25
Eastern Yellow Wagtail Motacilla tschutschensis 45 (10 tschutschensis, 10 taivana, 25 unassigned)
Citrine Wagtail Motacilla citreola 1
Grey Wagtail Motacilla cinerea 2
White Wagtail Motacilla alba 21 (6 lugens, 3 ocularis, 12 leucopsis)
Olive-backed Pipit Anthus hodgsoni 6
Buff-bellied Pipit Anthus rubescens japonicus 5
Little Bunting Emberiza pusilla 6
Black-faced Bunting Emberiza spodocephala 27
Pallas's Reed Bunting Emberiza pallasi ca. 90

Congratulations on your cracking Black Redstart Craig!

Cheers
Mike

MKinHK said:

Congratulations on your cracking Black Redstart Craig!

Cheers
Mike

Click to expand...

Thanks, Mike!

Emeifeng, Fujian, 20150430

What a first day Elaine and I had at Éméifēng yesterday! Elaine and I noted 50 species. We heard White-necklaced Partridge, saw Silver Pheasant, photographed Buff-throated Warbler and Collared Owlet, and missed Cabot's Tragopan and Elliot's Pheasant--but no matter, our plate was full enough. We got close views and good sound-recordings of White-spectacled Warbler, and we found a pair of Small Niltava.

After arriving by train here in Tàiníng Wed. night, Elaine and I drove up the mountain Thursday morning with our easygoing driver, Mr. Dèng (Dèng Shīfu [邓师傅], +86 138-6059-6327; no English). The 30 km trip from Tàiníng to Éméifēng started at our lodging, Huada Hotel (Huádà Jiǔdiàn [华大酒店], +86 598-7817777, standard room RMB198, fast Internet). In the lower country we found Dollarbird. We saw the single male Silver Pheasant at 1150 m. Just below the end of the road at 1450 m, a bird wave included 2 stunning Yellow-cheeked Tit, the Small Niltava pair, and the Collared Owlet.

At the top we met Steven An, who was leading a bird tour that included Tony Sawbridge. Tony is a member of the Oriental Bird Club committee. He was on a birding vacation with his wife and a birder named Ian. After those birders left, we had the lodge area to ourselves. Large Hawk-Cuckoo were uttering their mad cry of "Brain Fever!" 2 Black Eagle were soaring elegantly above. A Besra appeared briefly.

The morning fog had long since burned off, revealing a brilliant blue sky. As the forenoon wore on, the birds retired. Elaine and I walked down a wide trail, seeing no one, reveling in the solitude, peacefulness, and unspoiled beauty of Éméifēng. We found 2 Mugimaki Flycatcher and the White-spectacled Warbler. A comparison of our recordings with those of Frank Lambert helped us ID our White-spectacled Warbler.

In the late afternoon, we found Buff-throated Warbler in a big tree near the boardwalk leading to the temple. 2 Grey Bush Chat were also using the tree.

White-necklaced Partridge were heard at various places throughout the day.

I'm writing a book about the birds of China, but I've never once claimed that I'm an expert on birds. I'm a birder who saw his first Eurasian Hoopoe in 2008; unlike many European birders, I came to China without the "Palearctic Head Start." And yet I believe I've come quite a ways.

I've quoted Benjamin Disraeli, who said that if you want to become an expert at something, then write a book about it. I bow to several of the more seasoned China birders, but I yield to no one in my love of birds and commitment to learning about them.

A movie uploaded Thursday to my Facebook page explains how Elaine and I learn birds, "one species at a time." I think you'll like it!

Weather: 18°-32°, morning fog burning off to reveal partly cloudy skies.

Site 1. Éméifēng (峨嵋峰), mountain NW Fujian, China near Jiangxi border. Elev.: 1528 m (peak). List includes observations from road between Tàiníng (泰宁), elev. ca. 400 m, and Éméifēng. 27.0258, 117.0827 (Éméifēng), 26.896163, 117.181893 (Tàiníng); 05:15-19:00

White-necklaced Partridge Arborophila gingica 8 heard
Chinese Bamboo Partridge Bambusicola thoracicus 7
Silver Pheasant Lophura nycthemera 1
Chinese Pond Heron Ardeola bacchus 1
Black Eagle Ictinaetus malaiensis 2 soaring near summit
Chinese Sparrowhawk Accipiter soloensis 9
Besra Accipiter virgatus 1
Spotted Dove Streptopelia chinensis 1
Large Hawk-Cuckoo Hierococcyx sparverioides 4 heard
Asian Koel Eudynamys scolopaceus 18 heard
Collared Owlet Glaucidium brodiei 3 (2 heard only)
House Swift Apus nipalensis 5
Dollarbird Eurystomus orientalis 1
Great Barbet Psilopogon virens 3 (2 heard only)
Bay Woodpecker Blythipicus pyrrhotis 3 heard
Grey-chinned Minivet Pericrocotus solaris 2
White-bellied Erpornis Erpornis zantholeuca 2
Eurasian Jay Garrulus glandarius 2
Red-billed Blue Magpie Urocissa erythrorhyncha 12
Grey Treepie Dendrocitta formosae 3 heard
Japanese Tit Parus minor 10
Yellow-cheeked Tit Parus spilonotus 3
Black-throated Bushtit Aegithalos concinnus 2
Collared Finchbill Spizixos semitorques 18
Light-vented Bulbul Pycnonotus sinensis 1
Black Bulbul Hypsipetes leucocephalus 8
Chestnut Bulbul Hemixos castanonotus 30 (29 heard only)
Mountain Bulbul Ixos mcclellandii 17
Pygmy Wren-babbler Pnoepyga pusilla 1 heard
Rufous-faced Warbler Abroscopus albogularis 38 (28 heard only)
Buff-throated Warbler Phylloscopus subaffinis 2
Yellow-browed Warbler Phylloscopus inornatus 3
Two-barred Warbler Phylloscopus plumbeitarsus 1
White-spectacled Warbler Seicercus affinis 8 (7 heard only)
Indochinese Yuhina Yuhina torqueola 36
Black-chinned Yuhina Yuhina nigrimenta 4
Rufous-capped Babbler Cyanoderma ruficeps 18 heard
Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler Pomatorhinus ruficollis 2
Huet's Fulvetta Alcippe hueti 24
Red-billed Leiothrix Leiothrix lutea 2
Oriental Magpie-Robin Copsychus saularis 1
Small Niltava Niltava macgrigoriae 2 (pair)
White-crowned Forktail Enicurus leschenaulti 5 (4 heard only)
Spotted Forktail Enicurus maculatus 3 (2 heard only)
Mugimaki Flycatcher Ficedula mugimaki 2 (adult male & female foraging together)
Plumbeous Water Redstart Phoenicurus fuliginosus 2
Grey Bushchat Saxicola ferreus 2
Eurasian Tree Sparrow Passer montanus 30
Crested Myna Acridotheres cristatellus 4
White Wagtail Motacilla alba leucopsis 2

Hi Craig
Finally made it back to the UK! Good to meet you in Éméifēng, sounds like you had a good time, judging from the photos on OBI. I think we must have seen the same Buff-throated Warbler & Grey Bush Chat, we certainly saw them in the same place.
Tony