China observations (1 Viewer)

Finally got out today and am still trying to figure out winter birding... apparently there really are birds out there, but I'm not seeing much! My strategy at the reservoir area was to look for open water, which there was astonishingly little of! The ice in the deepest pond looked easily 6 inches thick :eek!: It has been awfully cold here for a while, but this was the end of a three day warming trend (highs above freezing at least two days). Well, my only reward was seeing one Grey-headed Woodpecker down drinking in a small open area - my strategy had a little success |=)| but not as much as hoped.

I also kept my eye on the leaf litter (what wasn't covered in snow) for buntings, but no sign. There were still tree sparrows around (and magpies galore, of course), so there was obviously something available for birds to live on there! I confess at the end I heard a few cheeps which I didn't pursue due to both me and hubby being a bit too frozen.

I think I saw a few pheasants fly in the distance, which was a bit exciting because when I saw the first I thought "must be a magpie, right, but?" Thankfully there was a second which gave me a better chance to note that it really was the wrong color and a different flight pattern (and slightly different shape) from a magpie. Ah, slowly, slowly....

The snow is great for footprints. Though I haven't really worked seriously on them for a long time, I could see rabbit tracks -nice but not surprising. However, it also seemed like maybe there were squirrel prints - that would be something, as I find squirrels extremely rare in this country, and have never seen one in QHD before.

Well, not too exciting, but guess there is still some unfrozen wildlife out there

Hi all
Bohai Bay incl. Dalian and Qinhuangdao is under heavy icing.I think Relict Gull moves southward a little maybe.
Days ago saw thousands of them in Jiaozhou Bay,Qingdao,to the south of Shandong Peninsular.
Also Yellow-billed and Black-throated Loon,Ancient and Long-billed Murrilet etc in a pelagic trip to Cheniushan Is(this time from Rizhao but not Lianyungang).

Sounds Terrific

Any pix of the divers or the Murrelets? Not many records of Long-billed recently

Cheers
Mike

MKinHK said:

Sounds Terrific

Any pix of the divers or the Murrelets? Not many records of Long-billed recently

Cheers
Mike

Click to expand...

Yellow-billed Loon near the island,and Long-billed Murrelet in the sea,photo by Li,the local photographer.

Fantastic - Thank you.

Mike

Great shots of the sea birds. Thanks.

Just back from four days on Hainan.

Some very special birds.

Details soon.

Hi all
I posted my report of the pelagic trip here

http://birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=1723395#post1723395

Thanks very much indeed for posting the link to the post - I hadn't seen seen it.

What a fantastic day! Congratulations.

If there's room on board on your next trip, I would love to come along.

I'm off to Beidaihe tomorrow for a couple of days. Does anyone know if there's anything special around? Waxwings? Owls? Harlequins??

Sorry, I'm just back after a few weeks away - maybe someone else knows...

No problem Gretchen, thanks anyhow.

Actually, I wasn't optimistic, because it was cold (much colder than Beijing), snowing and quite foggy when I arrived (at 11am).

I resisted the temptation to go and sit in front of the fire and, instead, took a taxi from the station to the Yang He bridge. The river was frozen except for a small area of open water on the east side (c10 Little Grebe and 2 Goldeneye).

20 minutes drive to the west, I noticed a large raptor sitting at the top of a tree - an Upland Buzzard no less.

I went as far as the Da Pu bridge, but that river was also frozen. It's the first time I've been there and never seen a single bird (I've been there every winter for the past 12 years).

On the way back I stopped at the Dai He bridge and noticed that there was a stretch of open water with 4 ducks on it (1 pair large, one small). I picked up my bins and was surprised to see a male and female Smew (and a pair of spot-bills). Smew is quite an uncommon winter visitor here.

The fog was closing in, it was snowing more heavily, and it was getting darker; but just past the south side of the smaller Dai River bridge I heard something that brightened up the day. I had no idea what was singing, but I did know that it was bound to be interesting.

I immediately located the bird and was delighted to discover that it was a Siberian Accentor (I guess if you are from Siberia, today must seem quite spring-like)!

I managed to get some reasonable photos of this stunning bird(there were actually two birds in the same area). And then, just as I the two accentors flew further away, a Great Spotted Woodpecker landed within 10 yards of me, followed closely by an eye-level Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker.

I was delighted, as well as surprised I'd actually found anything at all on such a seemingly miserable day, but things actually got better...

I stopped off at the stone park, which is always worth a look in winter, particularly the berry bushes that are on the side of the stream that runs down to the (completely frozen) sea.

No sooner had I got there, I saw something that stopped me in my tracks: A Brown-eared Bulbul no less (an at-best scarce and probably rare visitor to Beidaihe). So scarce, in fact, it's a "new" bird for my Beidaihe list - not that I take this seriously, but I did know it was my 280th!

The battery in my camera was on the way out, but held on for me to get some okay shots (there were actually a pair of them there). They were in the same berry bush as 4 Chinese Bulbuls (showing just how large Brown-eared really is). And, playing the part of the icing on the cake, a Naumann's Thrush popped into the same frame.

At 3pm I tried to get into the south side of the Lotus Hills, but they've locked the gate for the winter it seems, and I didn't fancy trekking down from the north gate; and so, with the weather worsening, I decided to quit while I was ahead.

I'll post some photos later today.

Gretchen, I sense that the Brown-eared Bulbuls have been there for a while (they twice flew across the road to the trees near the beach, and back again, suggesting they have a well-established feeding routine). So, if you fancy a twitch, I think that you have a very good chance of seeing them.

As promised here is the link to the Beidaihe photos... hot off the press ;-)

http://www.chinesecurrents.com/2010birds10.html

Hi Shi jin,

Thanks for the great report - so nice to see what was and wasn't around when you were here. As always, your photos help me see what birds really look like (apart from illustrations). I'm interested in the brown-eared bulbul - had seen somewhere that they might be found here (perhaps Doc Martin?), but had not heard anyone mention them recently. I'll try to get over as soon as I can get away from my desk (hopefully they may stay another week or so!).

Interesting news on Lianfengshan's gate - wonder if the other was truly open or if the whole thing has closed up for the holidays...

Hi Gretchen

Just back from the Stone Garden.

The b-e-b is still there (at least one). Ranging around the garden.

Also c20 yellow-bellied tits and 3 Chinese Grosbeaks...c 30 yards west of the little pagoda.

Must dash... train to Beijing departs in 25 mins.

Brown-eared Bulbuls are common just north of Dandong near the great wall and Fung Huang Shan but never heard of them that far west. Great record. They're usually quite noisy so not to hard to locate if they are in the area. Maybe they're too cold to make noise? I've headed out here in Dalian a few times after getting back from Malaysia and Thailand to find almost everything frozen solid including the sea in some places. A guy from Beijing is coming for a birding visit and so hopefully we will get out for a few trips. Must be a lot of ducks somewhere other than their usual places. Here's to the arrival of spring migration!

Hi Dong Bei (great name!).

Yes, it was very noisy indeed...

my report from that day (and photos) is here:

http://www.chinesecurrents.com/2010birds12.html

From the previous day is here:

http://www.chinesecurrents.com/2010birds11.html

I'm off to the Gaoligongshan and the Burma border for 10 days... so may not post for a while.

Fingers crossed for a few dream birds... ;-)

Sorry. meant to say, the next time anyone goes to the Lotus Hills, take a passport-size photo of yourself with you, you'll then be able to buy (at the north gate) a year's pass for 30RMB.

Reasonable value when you consider that the day ticket is 20RMB.

Cheers.

Hey Shi Jin,

Thanks so much for the details on the birds on the mudflats as well as the stone park. The news on the park is great too! Wow better than two days entry fee!

Hope your travels go well!

Finally out and about

Shi Jin said:

Gretchen, I sense that the Brown-eared Bulbuls have been there for a while (they twice flew across the road to the trees near the beach, and back again, suggesting they have a well-established feeding routine). So, if you fancy a twitch, I think that you have a very good chance of seeing them.

Click to expand...

I've been thinking on this since Shi Jin wrote it, but really had an important project to finish - finally felt free enough today to go. Got to the park by public transport one route, and once there figured out that there was a better way back - just a 1/2 hour trip - yeah! Looks more doable for another time.

I saw the Chinese Grosbeaks and a brambling in a tree together just outside the park. It was confusing for a minute because the color schemes are a bit similar. Lost sight of the brambling but watched the grosbeaks a bit more. I think they were eating something a bit like maple seeds, but I'm not sure. Later I saw them on the ground, and could clearly tell it was a pair, male (dark hood) and female. I also got better views of (perhaps the same) brambling. A female, with a lighter colored head. She very patiently ate berries off a bush for quite a while so I could get pretty good views of her, but could also appreciate how cryptic her coloring was in the midst of winter colored branches.

In the park (and across the small street where there are berry bushes) I saw a Naumann's thrush - a really beautiful male - so orange! I didn't have a camera, and can't find pictures that look exactly like what I saw. The underside was extremely orange speckled (like this one but brighter), but the wings seemed to me to have a good deal of the same color, with black edging (I never saw the back, but the wings reminded me of this bird a bit more than Shi Jin's photo). The head seemed fairly dark, and I didn't really see a light brow at all, but a dark area behind the eye (again, like previous BF gallery photo). I was thankful for a lot of time to watch it - though most of the time it was up a bit high and in the shade, it came down on the ground briefly too. (Reminded me of an Am. robin!) Very happy sighting!

(I don't know very much about the variations in Naumann's Thrush, and don't know how likely it is that I would have seen the same one as Shi Jin saw, but it seemed to me to be different than your pic, Shi Jin.)

I also got to see a couple of Great Tits, which is nice because actually I've hardly seen one in ages. But I couldn't manage any of the other interesting tits Shi Jin saw. Heard a woodpecker drumming, but didn't chase it down as I was involved with other birds at that moment.

Had the usual suspects as well: Common and Red-billed Blue Magpies, and Chinese Bulbuls. I watched one of the Red-billed, as it had gotten some human food - a chunk of one of those crunchy-fried-noodle-glued-together-with-sugar things - taken it up and set it on a wide branch. He attacked it in several ways and managed to get off a small cherry sized piece to each. I worried for what it might do to his insides, but I guess they eat carrion.... He carried it off to another branch to keep working on it, but I don't know if he thought it was a big prize himself.

Early on when I got to the park I thought maybe I was hearing the noise of the brown-eared bulbuls, but they flew and a lot of other birds appeared at the same time. I wandered around an hour or so and wondered if they'd reappear or if I had imagined them. Finally just as I was getting ready to leave I heard an odd squeaking which I thought I should check out. Chinese bulbuls and Red-billed Blues both surprise me with some of their sounds, so I wasn't very optimistic. However, when I finally figured out the source of the sound (way up high) - it was a Brown-eared Bulbul! There may have been another which flew before I caught on to it, but the one stayed up working on the tree for quite a long while. (These were the trees outside the park in the lot next door, which unfortunately looks to be under construction :-C - quite a few birds were up in those trees.) It wasn't a super close view, but I did get to see it quite a bit, and with a Chinese Bulbul or two passing by for comparison. I didn't see aggressive behaviour - except towards berries

A very nice holiday treat. Additionally, it was fairly quiet except for occasional fireworks (though car traffic got noisy whenever I tried to record calls :-O ). I've forgotten how nice it is to be out when everyone else is enjoying the indoors (campus stays quiet another week - I should take advantage!). I'll see if any sound recordings of the bulbuls or thrush came up interesting, and post if they did.

Shi Jin - thanks so much for writing up your trip - it was a great help for me.

Cheers!
Gretchen