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Dalian Birding (1 Viewer)

dbeek

Well-known member
It was suggested that I share a few local sightings from Dalian, China here.

Today I was out and about for some birding and noted that the egrets have returned to the area. Chinese Egret is fairly common here (at least it was last year). I saw my first one of the season today and you can see a picture of it here:

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Also nearby were Reed Bunting, Black-faced Bunting, Garganey, Mallard, Pintail, Common Teal, Spot-billed Duck, Both Godwits, Grey Plover, Eurasian and Eastern Curlew, Grey Heron, Great Egret, Little Egret, Little Ringed Plover, Black-winged Stilt, Common Greenshank, Common Sandpiper, Common Kingfisher, Black-tailed, Vega, Black-headed Gulls, Common Hoopoe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Olive-backed Pipit, Oriental Greenfinch, Brambling, Dusky+Naumann's Thrush, and the odd Eurasian Kestrel.

Dave Beeke
Jinshitan, China
 
Glad you're starting a thread - will look forward to following your finds. Nice picture of the Chinese egret. I've not actually identified many of them so glad to see yours, rather I see huge numbers of little egrets here, and some great egrets. Today I was just noticing quite a few egrets flying by - guess they're headed your way.
 
Many thanks for starting this up Dave.

Really interested to hear that you have Swinhoe's Egrets already as they only start passing through HK in mid April and continue through May and into June.

What sort of numbers do you get?
What are your earliest and latest dates each year?

Looking forward to hearing how you get on in Beidaihe too

Cheers
Mike

Cheers
Mike
 
Hi Mike. I can't really give trends for the egrets as I haven't lived here for a year yet! It is all discover as you go right now :).

I jumped across the road from the school where I teach for a 45 minute tromp in the wooded area and there was plenty to see:

100+ Oriental Greenfinch
1 Brambling (kind of late?)
4 Great Tit
4 Oriental Turtle Dove
8 Dusky Thrush
2 Grey-backed Thrush
25+ Red-flanked Bluetail (where did they all of sudden come from?)
Many Pacific Swift (didn't count)
A few Barn Swallow
A few Red-rumped Swallow
1 Yellow-rumped Flycatcher (male)
20+ Black-faced Bunting
15 Warblers, not sure which kind, need to get better at those. The one picture I have is inconclusive, in my mind. Maybe Pale-legged Leaf Warblers. It would help if they would sit still!

How do you attach pictures? I would add some but not sure how.

Dave
 
Hi Dave

A nice haul for 45 minutes.

Your Brambling is not that late - one was photographed in HK earlier this week.

YR Flycatcher is a fantastic bird - it is bizarre that we only get them on autumn passage in HK.

Phylloscs are difficult, but do become easier if you have the patience to persevere.
Pale-legged usually has no wingbars, pale legs, and pumps its tail up and down like a wagtail.

Happy to have a go at identifying any pix you post. The link from your photobucket to the Chinese Egret worked fine. I'd be interest in occurrence dates even for this year.

Cheers
Mike
 
I was hoping someone had a secret for making those little warblers sit still - it is amazing that people get decent pictures of them - my last attempt almost 2/3 of the pictures were of empty branches :eek!:

If you want to attach files, just scroll down the page to Additional options and you should see the part "attach files". Though they say something about size limits, I haven't had trouble. I do like attached pictures better than links myself ;) but there's advantages both ways.

Gretchen
 
Pic

Testing picture attachment -Red-flanked Bluetail

I was hoping someone had a secret for making those little warblers sit still - it is amazing that people get decent pictures of them - my last attempt almost 2/3 of the pictures were of empty branches :eek!:

If you want to attach files, just scroll down the page to Additional options and you should see the part "attach files". Though they say something about size limits, I haven't had trouble. I do like attached pictures better than links myself ;) but there's advantages both ways.

Gretchen
 

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Thanks for the pointers Mike. I can't say I remember them acting like a wagtail. They had just a faint "half" a wingbar.

I will be sure to take more photos of what I see now, and post any 'unsure' identifications. Here are some more of the latest birds I have taken the time to photograph (I only have a point+shot camera, so do not spend the time I would with an expensive SLR).

Black-winged Stilt - FOS was last week
Great Spotted Woodpecker - Common all over all year
Grey-backed Thrush - lifebird yesterday!
Vega Gull - or is it Mongolian? - who can tell? I assume they are all Vega, but how can someone ever see their life Mongolian Gull and know for sure?

Happy Birding. Trip to Beidaihe in only 4 days!
Dave
 

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East Asian Warblers

So here are some pics of 2 warblers. The first is the only good picture I have of the little, highly active warblers in the woods yesterday. Sorry that I does not show wingbars but it has about a 'half' wingbar.

The other picture is of a chunkier, much browner, no clear wingbar warbler that was much less active and seemed to prefer being only a few feet off the ground.

Any help on an ID for both would be appreciated!

As for other birds, a quick check today showed a much quieter day and no Bluetails!:

4 Great Tit
1 Un-IDed 'Brownish' Warbler
30+ Oriental Greenfinch
20+ Dusky Thrush
1 Naumann's Thrush
8 Black-tailed Gulls
2 Vega Gulls
4 Spot-billed Ducks
3 Little Grebes
2 Mallards
10+ Siberian Stonechats
1 White Wagtail
3 Pacific Swift
15+ Barn Swallow
4 Red-rumped Swallow
2 Chinese Bulbul
1 Common Kingfisher


Thanks for any help with the ID's

Dave
 

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I was just looking through MacK to see what likely suspects for the bird in photos 2 and 3 was, and came up with Asian stubtail or Manchurian bush warbler - or at least that page ;) Now I see there is a similar bird up on the ID thread http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=139801 Maybe that bird has a longer tail than yours? (angle is hard to say on your photo, but you may recall)

Am I right in guessing that the "blue-tail" is also called orange flanked bush robin?

Gretchen
 
Great pix - and congratulations on the Grey-backed Thrush!

The second warbler is Dusky. Care is needed to separate from Radde's, but this one is an obvious Dusky.

The first one is I think a Greenish Warbler. I am making this guess based on the fact that I think the lower mandible is all pale (which rules out Yellow-browed and Arctic) and that it doesn't feel like Eastern Crowned - can't say why.

Toeliminate the other green phylloscs - Pale-legged is almost always close to the deck, and its not Pallas' Leaf (which is much shorter-billed and generally stubbier).

Not a great deal of help I'm afraid - if you want more expert input them create a link from the bird identifiation page.

Cheers
Mike

PS Yes Gretchen, Bluetail and OFBR are the same thing. But I hate that new name so never use it!
 
Thanks for all the advice. It certainly was acting like a Dusky Warbler (at least like the ones I have seen before). Too bad it was silent. I had selected Dusky rather than Radde's because of the colouring of the supercilium and the drawings in the Mark Brazil guide. Would this colouring (White - then orangeish rather than Orange-then whitish) be a safe distinguisher?

Off to Beidaihe tomorrow. Stay tuned :)

Dave
 
Hi Dave
Cheers for Chinese Egret!
I visited my hometown Shandong Peninsular for potensial breeding sites of Chinese Crested Tern.And the islets between Dalian and North Korea is another potensial area we'll search.
At the east end of Shandong,I did a land-based seawatch although maybe a little early for terns and late for skuas.I just saw breeding Black-tailed and Mongolian Gull.But I did see some little birds flying low over the water,in which I could only id Brambling.Osprey and Buzzard also flew low over the water,which made me thinking of skuas from far away:)
And many passerines in the woodlands.I added a lifer to my list-Brown-headed Thrush.

The next day I visited Hailv Island which is the breeding site for 2000 Black-tailed Gull and a few Chinese Egret.The egret hadnt arrived.The local people said they arrived on 12 May last year.
And again many passerines and about 20 Buzzard and 10 Sparrowhawk.

I got another lifer-Japanese Cormorant.
Zhuanghe Islands near Dalian is a good place for seawatch,at least in winter.There u can also meet Japanese Cormorant,and Pelagic Cormorant,Long-tailed Duck,Black-throated Loon,Red-breasted Merganser,Brent Goose etc.
And I guess there're some Yellow-billed Loon wintering there,as what I found in the sea near Lianyungang(see my report http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=135532).
 
Well, a few nights in Beidaihe produced just over 100 species including a chunk of time spent at the zoo, the Great Wall, and other touristy activities. Here is the list from the trip,

Common Pheasant - several in all habitats
15+ Spot-billed Duck – most common duck species
10 Mallard
6 Common Teal
4 Eurasian Wryneck – Da pu He, Jin Shan Hotel
5 Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker – 4 Summer Palace, 1 Reservoir
1 Rufous-bellied Woodpecker – Lotus Hill
15+ Great-Spotted Woodpecker
4 Grey-headed Woodpecker – 1 Temple of Heaven, 2 Lotus Hill, 1 Jin Shan Hotel
6 Common Kingfisher
Hoopoe – many
Common Swift – common in Beijing and Beidaihe
1 Oriental Scops Owl – Jin Shan Hotel
Rock Pigeon
Oriental Turtle Dove
Spotted Dove
2 Japanese Quail – 1 Da Pu He, 1 Jin Shan Field
Baillon’s Crake – 1 Reservoir
6 Common Moorhen – Reservoir
1 Common Coot – Reservoir
1 Northern Lapwing – Beidaihe Sandflats
4 Pintail Snipe – Sandflats
6 Common Snipe – 4 Da Pu He, 2 Yanghe
50+ Black-tailed Godwits – Da Pu He, Qihile
2 Bar-tailed Godwits – Qihile
1 Little Curlew – Sandflats
10+ Whimbrel – Sandflats, others
100+ Eurasian Curlew – Qihile
25+ Far Eastern Curlew – Qihile
10 Common Redshank – Sandflats, Da Pu He
20+ Marsh Sandpiper – Sandflats, Da Pu He
25+ Common Greenshank
3 Green Sandpiper – Da Pu He
8 Wood Sandpiper – Reservoir
4 Common Sandpiper – Reservoir
1 Great Knot – Qilihe
1 Broad-billed Sandpiper – Sandflats
50+ Red-necked Stints – Sandflats
10 Grey Plover – Sandflats, Qilihe
25+ Little Ringed Plover
10 Kentish Plover
4 Black-tailed Gull
2 Heuglin’s Gull
1000 Black-headed Gull
2 Little Tern – Qihile
1 Common Kestrel – Da Pu He
3 Amur Falcon – Reservoir
50 Little Grebe
50+Little Egret
3 Great Egret
8 Chinese Pond Heron - Reservoir
10 Black-crowned Night Heron – Reservoir, Summer Palace
1Bull-headed Shrike- Da Pu He
3 Brown Shike
50+ Red-billed Blue Magpie – Jin Shan Hotel, Friendship Hotel
100 Azure-winged Magpie
Black-billed Magpie
3 Large-billed Crow – Temple of Heaven
6 Ashy Minivet – Da Pu He
4 Long-tailed Minivet – Temple of Heaven
1 White’s Thrush – Jin Shan Hotel
3 Grey-backed Thrush – Jin Shan Hotel, Friendship Hotel
1 Eurasian Blackbird – Summer Palace
1 Eyebrowed Thrush – Friendship Hotel
1 Pale Thrush – Friendship Hotel
15 Dusky Thrush – Jin Shan Hotel, Da Pu He
1 Naumann’s Thrush – Da Pu He
1 Chinese Thrush – Lotus Hil
4 Red-flanked Bluetail
3 Siberian Rubythroat - Reservoir
1 Bluethroat - Reservoir
6 Daurian Redstart
2 Taiga Flycatcher
25 Common Stonechat
2 White-cheeked Starling
4 Crested Myna
6 Yellow-bellied Tit
15 Great Tit
100 Chinese Penduline Tit
Chestnut-flanked Whiteeye
Barn Swallow
Red-rumped Swallow
Chinese Bulbul
2 Zitting Cisticola
Dusky Warbler
2 Asian Stubtail Warbler
1 Black-browed Reed Warbler
Pallas’s Leaf Warbler
Yellow-browed Warbler
Arctic Warbler
Two-barred Greenish Warbler
Pale-legged Leaf Warbler
Radde’s Warbler
Vinous-throated Parrotbill
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
White Wagtail
15 Yellow Wagtail
1 Grey Wagtail
Olive-backed Pipit
4 Brambling
3 Common Rosefinch
3 Chinese Grosbeak
50 Tristram’s Bunting
4 Little Bunting
75 Yellow-browed Bunting
2 Elegant Bunting
50 Black-faced Bunting
2 Chestnut-eared Bunting
30 Pallas’s Reed Bunting
10 Common Reed Bunting
3 Japanese Reed Bunting
 

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A decent list with some good migrants and a couple of nice pix - especially the Little Curlew and the Chinese Thrush.

Cheers
Mike
 
Shorebirding in Jinshitan (Dalian)

I went out to the mudflats a short distance from our house after work today. Walking in the muck gave me good views of some migrating shorebirds, but I am not sure on all of the ID's. I THINK I saw the following:

10 Black-winged Stilts
12 Common Greenshank
4 Long-toed Stints
1 Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
2 Red-necked Stints
1 ''I really Don't know'' - I now hear it is another Long-toed Stint
30+ Wood Sandpipers
3 Whimbrel
2 Little Ringed Plover
1 Common Sandpiper

If the Sharp-tailed is a Sharp-tailed, that would be a lifebird for me. By size, I don't know what else it would be..

Comments are welcome :)

Dave Beeke
Jinshitan, China
 

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Mudflats in Jinshitan

I went for a walk in the mud again today here in Jinshitan and saw different birds (it is migration time after all!)


2 Spot-billed Ducks
1 Chinese Egret
1 Grey Heron
8 Black-tailed Godwits
100+ Whimbrel
15 Common Greenshank
1 Wood Sandpiper
3 Terek Sandpiper
1 Ruddy Turnstone
8 Red-necked Stint
4 Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
6 Little Ringed Plover
18 Pacific Golden Plover

Pacific Golden Plovers and Ruddy Turnstones were new China species for me, having seen both in North America before and the Pacific Goldens also in Thailand this past winter.

Some pics from the day...
 

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Nice picture of the godwits, and I'm glad to see the Chinese egret - seems I haven't seen one here (not that I'm out looking daily ;) unfortunately).

I thought I should try your last picture as a quiz - but wasn't doing very well. 1) the two black-tailed godwits are central
2) the smaller in the foreground (left) is the sharp-tailed?
3) the second from the right I thought at first might be common sand, but perhaps red- necked stint?
4) no idea on the larger bird farthest in the back (3rd from right)
5) is the second bird from the left a turnstone?

Would be glad to get answers.

Gretchen
 
Nice picture of the godwits, and I'm glad to see the Chinese egret - seems I haven't seen one here (not that I'm out looking daily ;) unfortunately).

I thought I should try your last picture as a quiz - but wasn't doing very well. 1) the two black-tailed godwits are central
2) the smaller in the foreground (left) is the sharp-tailed?
3) the second from the right I thought at first might be common sand, but perhaps red- necked stint?
4) no idea on the larger bird farthest in the back (3rd from right)
5) is the second bird from the left a turnstone?

Would be glad to get answers.

Gretchen

Hi Gretchen,

There are 5 species in the picture. Your #1,2,3 and 5 are correct. In the pictures are 2 Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, 2 Black-tailed Godwits, 2 Red-necked Stints, 1 Ruddy Turnstone, and 1 Pacific Golden Plover.

Dave
 
Shorebirding today in the rain

Birds by the ocean today in the rain:

2 Common Pheasant
3 Mallards
20 Spot-billed Ducks
2 Northern Shoveler
4 Little Grebe
1 Grey Heron
1 Intermediate Egret - not 100% sure, all black legs/feet, yellow bill with a black tip to the bill.
5 Chinese Egret
1 Eurasian Kestrel
6 Eurasian Oystercatcher
30 Grey Plover
12 Little Ringed Plover
16 Kentish Plover
1 Snipe sp.
45 Whimbrel
30+ Common Greenshank
1 Wood Sandpiper
1 Common Sandpiper
3 Great Knot
6 Red-necked Stint
2 Long-toed Stint
30+ Black-tailed Gull
15 Tern sp. Possibly Whiskered
Barn Swallos
1 Chinese Bulbul
30+ Yellow Wagtail
3 White Wagtail
1 Red-throated Pipit
 

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