Yancheng / Rudong
Day 1 : Thursday 20th February
An aborted trip to Poyang Lake with Dev. had morphed into a 3 nights / 3 full days visit to the Winter home of China's iconic Red Crowned Cranes, with hopes of Sandhills and expectations of Common & Hooded too, and included a one night / one day stay at Rudong on the way back to Shanghai.
Not wanting to use my low floor clearance car for this trip Dev. had booked a SUV but it came as little surprise when Dev. arrived to pick it up that the car hire company claimed the SUV had 'not yet been returned by the previous hirer' and we were offered a choice of two saloons, so a Passat it was then. Very nice car though the Passat is, it us hardly an SUV ! Fingers crossed we don't need the ground clearance too much !
The supposed 5 hour drive up indeed took 5 hours, though that included a 1 hour detour thanks to my eclectic navigational skills, so 4 hours is easily possible for the 300 kms journey.
Arriving at just after midnight the tiny, sleepy town of Xinyanggang was ... fast asleep (wish the same could be said of the dogs early morning though their 05.00 serenade was not far ahead of the alarm clock.
For 120 RMB the hotel in Xinyanggang (there are only two and this is the 'new' one. I'll add the name later) provided a clean and spacious room with 2 double beds though as it was by now -1C both inside and outside of the room, or so it felt, a smaller room that took less time to heat up wouldn't have been an issue at all -
as it was I went to bed fully clothed ! There is hot water but since the electric is off throughout the day the water needs an hour to heat up when you return, as does the room !
Day 2 : 21st February. '4 Crane Day'
A restless night, in anticipation of delights to come, saw me up with the hotel dog's wolf impersonation at 05.00 though the hoped for hot shower didn't materialise with 'tepid' the best the heater could manage until I realised the water needs to 'run' for 10 mins before the hot water would make an appearance ! Well I just hoped my end of day 'masculine aroma' would disturb neither birds nor Dev. !
After rousing Dev. from his slumbers next door we were ready to hit the fields and ponds by 06.30. The pre-dawn -2C with wind chill making it -5C or so, made for a fresh welcome to the morning (it'd reach 9C by midday) though some breakfast noodles and green tea at the tiny restaurant opposite the hotel, opening daily at 05.00 in anticipation of birding clientele, made it a warmer one !
Our plan of attack was in the morning to scour the fields, lanes and dirt tracks in the neighbourhood of the official Crane Reserve then follow that up a trip to the reserve itself before a check on the fish ponds in the area.
It was a gorgeous bright, sunny and crisp Winter's morning, the early morning -2C and cold wind from the wound down car windows being fought off wimpishly with 5 layers including thermals, shirts, fleece, jacket, 2 pairs of socks and a scarf, balaclava and beanie !
As we worked our way around the fields, adding passerines to our Yancheng list, of which the enigmatic Reed Parrotbill featured prominently, we watched small flocks of cranes, geese and ducks above us, moving around the area. The vast majority of the cranes being Common and the geese, Bean.
We had spotted a few Commons scattered here and there in some of the fields but then, as we crouched beside the car and with the sun gloriously highlighting them, a flock of about a dozen Red Crowned Cranes were right above us - a simply stunning sight and I was suitably awestruck and was profuse in my verbal admiration in which words of a religious nature featured prominently !
Having seen numerous flocks in flight we then came across a field containing hundreds of Commons - a veritable feast for the eyes as I counted ca. 600 ! Dev. then let out an exclamation of delight as a solitary White Naped was isolated, however no matter how hard we tried we couldn't turn juvenile Commons into Sandhills.
A couple of fields later and, in amongst more Commons, three Hooded Cranes meant we could now tick them off.
The very pleasing aspect of Yancheng compared to say Poyang Lake is simply how close you can get to the cranes, at Poyang it is tough to get within a 1,000m but here we found 150-200m was about average and at best 100-125m.
So onto the Crane Reserve. This is actually very well done, they have Red Crowned Crane breeding program and a rescue and recuperation area where the cranes are assigned to large well designed, clean, pens with access to the lakeside and the cranes look to be in fine fettle. It also lets you appreciate how much larger than the other cranes, specifically Common and Sandhill, the Red Crowned are. Entrance fee is 45rmb.
There is a boardwalk across a lake holding more recuperating birds, this time Oriental Storks, and it leads to a 15m high viewing tower which gives superb views over the 'flat as a pancake' reserve which stretches as far as the eye can see in every direction. There is a 2nd 'viewing centre' accessed by shuttle buses (65rmb return per person) which we didn't visit.
The tower gave us bird level flight pics and made it easy to spot Great Bittern, Mandarin & Mallard Ducks and hunting Marsh Harriers. Brown Cheeked Rails were frequently heard but only rarely seen (just the once for us as it flew/ran screaming into the reeds giving a poor record shot, but good enough for a lifetime tick for me) !
Finally we started the long drive to the coast past fish pond after fish pond, some dry sone full. This helped us to a few species to pad out the day list including the Eurasian Spoonbills. Returning to the hotel tired but very happy after an excellent day's birding we had dumplings and fried rice washed down with a very decent Harbin beer at the tiny 'restaurant', opposite the hotel, to send us back to back to our rooms ready fir the next day.
Trip List - Day 2 (68 species)
Blackbird, Chinese
Bittern, Great (Day 2: 1. Day 3: 2)
Brambling
Bunting, Black-Headed
Bunting, Little
Bunting, Meadow
Bunting, Pallas'
Bunting, Reed
Bunting, Rustic
Bunting, Yellow Browed
Buzzard, Common.
Coot
Cormorant, Great
Crane, Common (Day 1: >700)(Day 2: >1,000)
Crane, Hooded (Day 1: 3)(Day 2: 8)
Crane, Red Crowned (Day 1: >80)(Day 2: >50)
Crane, White Naped (1)
Dove, Feral
Dove, Oriental Turtle
Dove, Spotted
Duck, Mandarin (Day 1: 100+)(Day 2: 400-500 inc. One flock of 150)
Duck, Spot Billed
Egret, Great
Egret, intermediate
Egret, Little
Goose, Bean (>1,000 per day)
Grebe, Great Crested (1)
Grebe, Little
Gull, Black Headed
Gull, Herring
Gull, Mongolian
Gull, Saunders' (flock)
Gull, Slaty Backed (1)
Gull, Vega
Kestrel, Common (4)
Harrier, Hen (1)
Harrier, Eastern Marsh (Day 1: 5)(Day 2: 5)
Hoopoe (numerous)
Heron, Black Crowned Night
Heron, Grey
Kingfisher, Common (1)
Lapwing, Grey Headed (1)
Magpie, Black Billed (1,000+ inc. One flock of 100 plus)
Magpie, Azure Winged (>20)
Mallard (numerous)
Merganser, Common (numerous)
Moorhen (numerous)
Parrotbill, Reed (many) !
Parrotbill, Vinous Throated
Pheasant, Common (>10)
Pipit, (sp. TBC from photo)
Pochard, Common
Prinia, Plain
Rail, Brown Cheeked (2)
Redstart, Durian (<10)
Sandpiper, Green (2)
Shrike, Chinese Grey (1)
Shrike, Long Tailed (numerous)
Scaup
Smew
Sparrow, Tree
Spoonbill, Eurasian (Day 1: 3)(Day 2: 6)
Starling, White Cheeked
Stork, Oriental (1)
Teal Common
Tern (Spp)
Tit, Great
Woodpecker, Great spotted (1)
Day 1 : Thursday 20th February
An aborted trip to Poyang Lake with Dev. had morphed into a 3 nights / 3 full days visit to the Winter home of China's iconic Red Crowned Cranes, with hopes of Sandhills and expectations of Common & Hooded too, and included a one night / one day stay at Rudong on the way back to Shanghai.
Not wanting to use my low floor clearance car for this trip Dev. had booked a SUV but it came as little surprise when Dev. arrived to pick it up that the car hire company claimed the SUV had 'not yet been returned by the previous hirer' and we were offered a choice of two saloons, so a Passat it was then. Very nice car though the Passat is, it us hardly an SUV ! Fingers crossed we don't need the ground clearance too much !
The supposed 5 hour drive up indeed took 5 hours, though that included a 1 hour detour thanks to my eclectic navigational skills, so 4 hours is easily possible for the 300 kms journey.
Arriving at just after midnight the tiny, sleepy town of Xinyanggang was ... fast asleep (wish the same could be said of the dogs early morning though their 05.00 serenade was not far ahead of the alarm clock.
For 120 RMB the hotel in Xinyanggang (there are only two and this is the 'new' one. I'll add the name later) provided a clean and spacious room with 2 double beds though as it was by now -1C both inside and outside of the room, or so it felt, a smaller room that took less time to heat up wouldn't have been an issue at all -
as it was I went to bed fully clothed ! There is hot water but since the electric is off throughout the day the water needs an hour to heat up when you return, as does the room !
Day 2 : 21st February. '4 Crane Day'
A restless night, in anticipation of delights to come, saw me up with the hotel dog's wolf impersonation at 05.00 though the hoped for hot shower didn't materialise with 'tepid' the best the heater could manage until I realised the water needs to 'run' for 10 mins before the hot water would make an appearance ! Well I just hoped my end of day 'masculine aroma' would disturb neither birds nor Dev. !
After rousing Dev. from his slumbers next door we were ready to hit the fields and ponds by 06.30. The pre-dawn -2C with wind chill making it -5C or so, made for a fresh welcome to the morning (it'd reach 9C by midday) though some breakfast noodles and green tea at the tiny restaurant opposite the hotel, opening daily at 05.00 in anticipation of birding clientele, made it a warmer one !
Our plan of attack was in the morning to scour the fields, lanes and dirt tracks in the neighbourhood of the official Crane Reserve then follow that up a trip to the reserve itself before a check on the fish ponds in the area.
It was a gorgeous bright, sunny and crisp Winter's morning, the early morning -2C and cold wind from the wound down car windows being fought off wimpishly with 5 layers including thermals, shirts, fleece, jacket, 2 pairs of socks and a scarf, balaclava and beanie !
As we worked our way around the fields, adding passerines to our Yancheng list, of which the enigmatic Reed Parrotbill featured prominently, we watched small flocks of cranes, geese and ducks above us, moving around the area. The vast majority of the cranes being Common and the geese, Bean.
We had spotted a few Commons scattered here and there in some of the fields but then, as we crouched beside the car and with the sun gloriously highlighting them, a flock of about a dozen Red Crowned Cranes were right above us - a simply stunning sight and I was suitably awestruck and was profuse in my verbal admiration in which words of a religious nature featured prominently !
Having seen numerous flocks in flight we then came across a field containing hundreds of Commons - a veritable feast for the eyes as I counted ca. 600 ! Dev. then let out an exclamation of delight as a solitary White Naped was isolated, however no matter how hard we tried we couldn't turn juvenile Commons into Sandhills.
A couple of fields later and, in amongst more Commons, three Hooded Cranes meant we could now tick them off.
The very pleasing aspect of Yancheng compared to say Poyang Lake is simply how close you can get to the cranes, at Poyang it is tough to get within a 1,000m but here we found 150-200m was about average and at best 100-125m.
So onto the Crane Reserve. This is actually very well done, they have Red Crowned Crane breeding program and a rescue and recuperation area where the cranes are assigned to large well designed, clean, pens with access to the lakeside and the cranes look to be in fine fettle. It also lets you appreciate how much larger than the other cranes, specifically Common and Sandhill, the Red Crowned are. Entrance fee is 45rmb.
There is a boardwalk across a lake holding more recuperating birds, this time Oriental Storks, and it leads to a 15m high viewing tower which gives superb views over the 'flat as a pancake' reserve which stretches as far as the eye can see in every direction. There is a 2nd 'viewing centre' accessed by shuttle buses (65rmb return per person) which we didn't visit.
The tower gave us bird level flight pics and made it easy to spot Great Bittern, Mandarin & Mallard Ducks and hunting Marsh Harriers. Brown Cheeked Rails were frequently heard but only rarely seen (just the once for us as it flew/ran screaming into the reeds giving a poor record shot, but good enough for a lifetime tick for me) !
Finally we started the long drive to the coast past fish pond after fish pond, some dry sone full. This helped us to a few species to pad out the day list including the Eurasian Spoonbills. Returning to the hotel tired but very happy after an excellent day's birding we had dumplings and fried rice washed down with a very decent Harbin beer at the tiny 'restaurant', opposite the hotel, to send us back to back to our rooms ready fir the next day.
Trip List - Day 2 (68 species)
Blackbird, Chinese
Bittern, Great (Day 2: 1. Day 3: 2)
Brambling
Bunting, Black-Headed
Bunting, Little
Bunting, Meadow
Bunting, Pallas'
Bunting, Reed
Bunting, Rustic
Bunting, Yellow Browed
Buzzard, Common.
Coot
Cormorant, Great
Crane, Common (Day 1: >700)(Day 2: >1,000)
Crane, Hooded (Day 1: 3)(Day 2: 8)
Crane, Red Crowned (Day 1: >80)(Day 2: >50)
Crane, White Naped (1)
Dove, Feral
Dove, Oriental Turtle
Dove, Spotted
Duck, Mandarin (Day 1: 100+)(Day 2: 400-500 inc. One flock of 150)
Duck, Spot Billed
Egret, Great
Egret, intermediate
Egret, Little
Goose, Bean (>1,000 per day)
Grebe, Great Crested (1)
Grebe, Little
Gull, Black Headed
Gull, Herring
Gull, Mongolian
Gull, Saunders' (flock)
Gull, Slaty Backed (1)
Gull, Vega
Kestrel, Common (4)
Harrier, Hen (1)
Harrier, Eastern Marsh (Day 1: 5)(Day 2: 5)
Hoopoe (numerous)
Heron, Black Crowned Night
Heron, Grey
Kingfisher, Common (1)
Lapwing, Grey Headed (1)
Magpie, Black Billed (1,000+ inc. One flock of 100 plus)
Magpie, Azure Winged (>20)
Mallard (numerous)
Merganser, Common (numerous)
Moorhen (numerous)
Parrotbill, Reed (many) !
Parrotbill, Vinous Throated
Pheasant, Common (>10)
Pipit, (sp. TBC from photo)
Pochard, Common
Prinia, Plain
Rail, Brown Cheeked (2)
Redstart, Durian (<10)
Sandpiper, Green (2)
Shrike, Chinese Grey (1)
Shrike, Long Tailed (numerous)
Scaup
Smew
Sparrow, Tree
Spoonbill, Eurasian (Day 1: 3)(Day 2: 6)
Starling, White Cheeked
Stork, Oriental (1)
Teal Common
Tern (Spp)
Tit, Great
Woodpecker, Great spotted (1)
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