A few hours to spare on Saturday p.m. saw me driving the 10kms from my home to the Sheshan hills. I've been here once before for birding, walking up the main hill to the observatory, but was really disappointed, too many people and the bamboo forests seem to contain relatively little birdlife. So this time I went to a different hill and found far fewer people and a lot more in the way of bird variety. There were a couple of bird calls that were unusual (to me !) and that I could not ID - I didn't see the birds. I tried to use the video on the DSLR to record them but that didn't work out too well due to the overpowering chorus from the Bul Buls !
Anyway apart from the usual suspects my first interesting spot was a Common Kingfisher (this location is about 1 km from a large lake and there are some streams in the area - I wondered if it were nesting on the hill because the ground is soft and there are some very quiet and undisturbed locations). I flushed a pair of 'somethings' from the undergrowth - never to be seen again - and from the very brief encounter I noticed light brown backs and tails with scimitar (?) shaped wings and the the underside was light with black and white under the wings. These were maybe twice the size of a blackbird.
I also spotted a couple of solitary birds at different times, that I thought were Chinese Grosbeaks. However in the Birds of East Asia plate I don't see any of the yellow on the wings and under the tail of these birds (see photos). Can someone confirm the ID and explain why these have some yellow markings (breeding plumage perhaps) ? Sorry these are very heavy crops taken at distance (the first from over 100m away) - photos #1 & #2.
Flitting from tree to tree, bush to bush, were a couple of birds which I need help IDing (photos #3 & 4), I was able to get a couple of shots off when they paused momentarily. Can someone help with the ID ? Thanks !
Next up I got a few shots of a Yellow Browed Bunting (and a few of these turned up again later on with a group of Vinous Throated Parrotbills) !
There was the odd Cinerous Tit around and other unrecognisable (by me) brown blobs flying past in the canopy. I found I had then wandered into a graveyard of sorts. My wife didn't think graves were permitted there although there were only a few.
Having eventually climbed to the top of the hill (there is some sort of flat building, toilets and a small Chinese pavilion there) I decided to switch lenses to take a few environmental/landscape shots ... and of course that was the time that a Japanese White-eye decided to come and check me out .. landing no more than 1.5m away. Needless to say it was off the moment I tried to slowly swivel around to my left ! There were also 2 or 3 Grey Backed Thrushes around.
For me the highlight was the last bird I was able to ID in the disappearing light, by then I had a flash attached and used the beamer to direct it the 20m to a Red Billed Leiothrix (Leiothrix Lutea) and get a few (distinctly average and heavily cropped) shots - what a lovely little bird ! Reading up later it seems these often fly in small flocks but this one seemed to be alone.
Anyway back down the hill .... only to find I've been locked in. A few minutes later the groundsman allowed me my freedom !
Anyway apart from the usual suspects my first interesting spot was a Common Kingfisher (this location is about 1 km from a large lake and there are some streams in the area - I wondered if it were nesting on the hill because the ground is soft and there are some very quiet and undisturbed locations). I flushed a pair of 'somethings' from the undergrowth - never to be seen again - and from the very brief encounter I noticed light brown backs and tails with scimitar (?) shaped wings and the the underside was light with black and white under the wings. These were maybe twice the size of a blackbird.
I also spotted a couple of solitary birds at different times, that I thought were Chinese Grosbeaks. However in the Birds of East Asia plate I don't see any of the yellow on the wings and under the tail of these birds (see photos). Can someone confirm the ID and explain why these have some yellow markings (breeding plumage perhaps) ? Sorry these are very heavy crops taken at distance (the first from over 100m away) - photos #1 & #2.
Flitting from tree to tree, bush to bush, were a couple of birds which I need help IDing (photos #3 & 4), I was able to get a couple of shots off when they paused momentarily. Can someone help with the ID ? Thanks !
Next up I got a few shots of a Yellow Browed Bunting (and a few of these turned up again later on with a group of Vinous Throated Parrotbills) !
There was the odd Cinerous Tit around and other unrecognisable (by me) brown blobs flying past in the canopy. I found I had then wandered into a graveyard of sorts. My wife didn't think graves were permitted there although there were only a few.
Having eventually climbed to the top of the hill (there is some sort of flat building, toilets and a small Chinese pavilion there) I decided to switch lenses to take a few environmental/landscape shots ... and of course that was the time that a Japanese White-eye decided to come and check me out .. landing no more than 1.5m away. Needless to say it was off the moment I tried to slowly swivel around to my left ! There were also 2 or 3 Grey Backed Thrushes around.
For me the highlight was the last bird I was able to ID in the disappearing light, by then I had a flash attached and used the beamer to direct it the 20m to a Red Billed Leiothrix (Leiothrix Lutea) and get a few (distinctly average and heavily cropped) shots - what a lovely little bird ! Reading up later it seems these often fly in small flocks but this one seemed to be alone.
Anyway back down the hill .... only to find I've been locked in. A few minutes later the groundsman allowed me my freedom !
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