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Birds of Nanchang and Poyang Hu, Jiangxi Province (1 Viewer)

280 Oriental stork at Wucheng area, Thursday 28 November

Short stops at Dahu pond and southern shore of Banghu main arm produced expected birds.

Highlight was on the southern shore of Dahu pond, from the concrete road, looking south. 2.30 pm

A flock of 280+ Oriental stork. Wow!

I am told they form flocks when they first arrive so maybe this lot were fresh in?
 
That's a colossal flock. What a lovely sight it would have been. Perhaps, the two oriental storks we had in Nanhui strayed from that 280?o:D On the positive side, we have such huge flock of Grey Herons ;)
 
Scaly-sided merganser on Le'an river

This weekend I birded the Wuyuan area. The key attraction is the well-known wintering flock of scaly-sided mergansers on the river Le'an just north of Kengkoucan. see attached maps.

Directions.
Drive south from Wuyuan on the S308 provincial road.
Do not join the parallel expressway.
You pass an obvious blue and white cement works on your left. Just after this there is a turn to the right.
Take this road, you pass under the expressway and after a few km pass under a vast, brand new high speed rail viaduct. 500m after the viaduct you come to the village of Kengkoucan. Take the narrow road to the right. This tracks the river north until you come to the new bridge across the river in the village of Shijian. Cross the river and head north on the west bank. The birds favour this stretch of the river when not disturbed. If disturbed they tend to fly north of houses at the end of the road.

Notes.

Only watch from the road on the west bank. The birds were relaxed and completely unbothered by a noisy heavily laden truck going up the road even though they were less than 300m away.

I noticed the following: A small motor was started below the houses (marked ferry on map2) even though the sound was not loud every bird became alert. A few minutes later a man appeared on a small punt, he was further away from the birds than we were but they all took flight and headed upstream.

You would think that the birds would become accustomed to punts carrying Chinese photographers closer to the birds, but it is clear that they get freaked out by boats trying to approach. I did not witness this myself but I am reliably informed that photographers, once in position, then deliberately flush the birds by throwing stones in order to get close photos in flight.
Yes you read that correctly, some of the rarest birds on the planet are being deliberately harrassed!

Walking up the track on the east bank provides good birding, I flushed Chinese bamboo partridge but is hopeless for seeing the mergs as either the bank is too overgrown to view the river or if you did try to get down to the shoreline you would scare the birds away.

World population estimates are currently around 2500 mature adults, this weekend I counted 15 birds, looked like 5 pairs and 5 immatures at a guess.

Please come and see these amazing birds before this flock relocates to another stretch of river, or worse, they become extinct.

To repeat, it is my view, as a reasonably experienced birder, that viewing from the road (quietly and discreetly) on the west shore does not disturb the birds.
Do not use a boat to approach. Do not attempt to view the river from the east shore. Do not throw stones at the birds (Duh)

Thanks
Michael Grunwell
 

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Birding the Wuyuan area

Further to my merg posting.
Whilst the highlight of the weekend was the mergs I also had some great birding in the area.

Highlights
Chinese bamboo partridge, heard in August but flushed 4 birds from thick bamboo on the east side of the merg site at Shijian
Silver Pheasant, two at a frosty dawn walk
Mandarin duck small numbers with the mergs and elsewhere
Rufous woodpecker
Scarlet minivet
Chestnut bulbul
Grey-headed parrotbill, fluked onto a small flock
Yellow-browed bunting, many near the mergs
Brown-breasted bulbul
Little bunting
Russet sparrow
Little forktail, easy at Xiaoqi village, on the river, north east of Wuyuan
White-crowned forktail, common at Xiaoqi

So 8 world ticks plus an extra 4 China ticks
but best bird has to go to black-throated tit, amazing close views of large flocks.
 
Wuyuan is certainly a great birding place, the villages are undisturbed by the growing urbanization. Can't wait to get back there not only for the mergansers but also for the most calm n peaceful villages.
On the eastern side of the river, there is a small valley, we had Grey-sided scimitar babbler, Swinhoe's minivet and most importantly the "Short-tailed Parrotbill", on the river bank, Long-billed Plover.

Your world list is great. Being in China, you wil definitely score more.:t:
 
Michael thanks for that superb info - we are thinking of coming down to Wu Yuan this coming weekend for 2-3 days so this info will be very valuable if we make it down there.

Cheers
Kevin
 
We had a day and a half in the merganser area at the start of last month. In addition to the species already mentioned we saw.....

Long-billed Plover - from the new bridge
Short-tailed Parrotbill - one flock on the east bank
Rufous-faced Warbler - a few mixed in with the above
Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babbler
Masked Laughingthrush
Huet's Fulvetta - only realised later this was split from Grey-cheeked

Elliott's Pheasant is possible in the area apparently.

Steve
 
Birding the merganser area

Further to Steve's sightings..

I did not include Huett's fulvetta as this is by far the commonest small bird of the forest. A quick collared owlet impression immediately illicits a response from the fulvetta.
I regard Masked LT as a common bird so did not mention, likewise LB plover is easily found anywhere in winter with gravel banks

We did hear a scimitar babbler, thank you for clarifying it was probably streak-breasted.

Rufous faced warbler: I did not see but plenty of rufous-capped babbler (sure you did not confuse these? they look very warbler-like)

The key miss was short-tailed parrotbill, a very difficult bird to see and after the merg the species worth spending time looking for.

Michael
 
Birding Nanjixiang area of Poyang, 7 Dec 2013

All day birding the south west corner of Poyang hu in a hired car+driver with Stephen Ang
Today we concentrated on passerines, in particular, Japanese Swamp Warbler (using Kennerley's preferred English name rather than Brazil's Marsh Grassbird)
We did not see the Swamp warbler but had many zitting cisticola (which I suspect may be responsible for some past claims by some visting birders).

We discovered a great track (A on the maps) which runs south from the approach road, opposite the main entrance to the fish ponds by the yellow guard house. Cross the river and head south to the duck ponds. The track has some good trees which held many rustic bunting in the morning and large numbers (50+) of roosting black-collared starling at dusk.
We had a male chestnut-eared bunting on wires, dropping into rice stubble here.

The road which forks south before the main bridge (B on the maps) seems to consistently hold Chinese Grosbeak. A great walk at dusk with birds in the roadside scrub with cranes flying past.

We briefly visted the main reserve centre in Nanjixiang, we learnt that JSW is difficult in winter and easiest when singing in spring. Kennerley quotes a pop of 1500 pairs for the SW Poyang area, so should be easy?

We were told that 10 Baer's pochard are at the north end of the lake by the exit to the Yangste, they have been there for two weeks.

Best birds seen
Oriental Stork 50+, well spread out
Common crane, only sp seen
Avocet 200+
Eastern buzzard, 1 on poles
Chinese penduline tit 2+
Zitting cisticola common
Plain prinia, the commonest passerine in the long grass and reeds
Brown-flanked bush warbler, many, may have glimpsed a yellow-bellied but not sure.
(CT) Dusky warbler, 1 by the centre
BC starling, record numbers, at least 50+ going to roost along track A
Buff-bellied pipit japponicus, some good views today
Water pipit, plenty of good views
OB pipit, 2 by centre
Brambling, several flocks
Chinese Grosbeak, flock at B
Black-faced bunting, common
(CT) Rustic bunting, 15+ along track A
(WT) Chestnut-eared bunting, a nice male feeding in rice stubble, flying up to wires.

A great day though still to find reed buntings and nice rails.
 

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In our three days in the Poyang area last month most of us just saw the swamp warbler once but our local guide glimpsed it a couple of times after we had seen it well. He also put us on to the call several times but in places where we could not follow it up, including alongside the roadworks past Da Hu.

The one we did see very well was alongside the main road/track at Nanji reserve, just past an obvious fishermen's building on top of a bank and across a short causeway. Very different to Zitting Cisticola which of course is very common.

I would not be able to find the spot on a map unfortunately.

Steve
 
Japanese Swamp Warbler

Steve, thanks for your info.
Of course I wasn't suggesting that experienced birders would confuse with zitting it is just that when we showed a clear picture of ZC to the reserve people they were sure it was JSW!

We did get one response to JSW tape, there is certainly plenty of possible habitat.
 
Amazing! I've seen Rufous-faced Warbler in Beidaihe, in the woods with Pallas's, couldn't quite get my head round one with Parrotbills, a sight I'd like to see!
 
Mark & I drove down to Wu Yuan last weekend (Friday thru Sunday) to find the Scaly Sided Mergansers. A thoroughly fine time was had with both the SSMs and Short-Tailed Parrotbills seen in good numbers.

Less luck with the chickens but we did find a confirmed (by Jonathan Martinez) Silver Pheasant feather and had tantalising views of what may have been something better still ... but nowhere near good enough to make any sort of call.

Since I'm busy packing for my flight to the UK/Spain tomorrow this is a necessarily shortened 'Trip Report' of sorts !

68-69 Species (averaged 46-47 per day).

Babbler, Red Capped
Blackbird, Eurasian
Brambling
Bulbul, Light-vented
Bulbul, Mountain
Bunting, Black Faced
Bunting, Elegant
Bunting, Yellow Browed
Buzzard, Common
Crake, Brown
Dove, Oriental Turtle
Dove, Spotted
Duck, Mandarin (not more than 2-3 per day)
Duck, Spot-Billed
Egret, Little
Finchbill, Collared
Forktail, White Crowned
Fulvetta, Huet's
Grebe, Little
Greenfinch, Oriental
Greenshank, Common
Grosbeak, Yellow Billed
Jay, Eurasian
Kingfisher, Common
Kingfisher, Crested
Kingfisher, Pied
Laughingthrush, Greater Necklaced (one flock of 40-50 birds on Day 1)
Laughingthrush, Masked
Magpie, Azure Winged
Magpie, Eurasian
Magpie, Red-billed Blue
Mallard
Merganser, Scaly Sided (14 on Day 1, 9 on Day 2, 5 ? on Day 3)
Minivet, Scarlet (inc. Flock 30-40)
Moorhen
Munia, Scaly Breasted
Munia, White Rumped
Myna, Crested
Parrotbill, Grey Headed ( 1 large flock of maybe 30-40 birds on Day 2)
Parrotbill, Short Tailed (3 x flocks of up to 20+)
Parrotbill, Vinous Throated
Pheasant (1xF 1xM assumed)
Pipit, Olive Backed
Pipit, Water
Prinia, Plain
Prinia, Yellow Bellied
Quail, Yellow-Legged Button (Mark saw the rear ends of 3 birds)
Red Flanked Bluetail
Redstart, Daurian
Redstart, Plumbeous
Sandpiper, Common
Scimitar-Babbler, Streak Breasted
Shrike, Long-tailed
Siskin (flock of 18 on Day 3)
Sparrow, Tree
Starling, Red Billed
Sunbird, Fork Tailed (1 male on Day 2)
Tern (spp.) (on the drive down)
Tit, Black-throated (multiple flocks, 2-5 per day)
Tit, Great (Southern)
Tit, Yellow Bellied (2 on Day 2)
Treepie, Grey (20+ flock)
Wagtail, Grey (1 on Day 3)
Wagtail, White
Warbler, Pallas' Leaf
Warbler, Claudia's Leaf (1 on Day 1)
Warbler, Rufous-faced
Warbler, Yellow Browed

Flycatcher / Robin (probalby RF Bluetail but TBC)
 
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