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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Shanghai Perambulations (1 Viewer)

An unknown ? Seemed too small for a thrush, more robin size and skulking in the undergrowth. And that bill .....

One here : http://frogfish.smugmug.com/Category/Bird-shots-for-ID/i-9L7bbw3/0/L/Unknown Robin #-L.jpg

and one attached.

Despite the apparent size, it looks like a thrush to me, and gut reaction is a first year male Japanese Thrush.

The dorsal view shows blue grey uppertail coverts, the underpart pattern and strength also. Seems to have a hefty bill, and relatively dark too, but I can't think what else it is.

M

Oh, cracking images Kevin!
 
Agree with Mark about the Japanese Thrush.

No chat or robin is that spotty (at least not with black spots) and that bill is indeed big -especially in the second shot.

The pix of Japanese Robin are doing my head in - they're incredibly skulking in the winter down here. I've never seen one that wasn't under the canopy, and they're usually deep in the undergrowth.

Nonetheless yet another great bird from a cracking autumn you guys are having!

Cheers
Mike
 
A magic day (for all but the last 10 mins) with Mark today. First shot I've processed.

All great shots Kevin. I had been meaning to ask about this one - are these berries the waxwing is gulping hanging in mid-air? I was trying to understand what exactly was happening in this picture.... I know they have some interesting behaviors, but what is he doing?
 
Thank you Mark and Mike for the kind words and bird ID ! It's been a wonderful Autumn so far - we'll see if there is anything left in the barrel tomorrow.
 
All great shots Kevin. I had been meaning to ask about this one - are these berries the waxwing is gulping hanging in mid-air? I was trying to understand what exactly was happening in this picture.... I know they have some interesting behaviors, but what is he doing?

Actually they would frequently throw the berries up in the air and catch them again - which is what has happened in that shot. I don't know why they do that though.
 
Actually they would frequently throw the berries up in the air and catch them again - which is what has happened in that shot. I don't know why they do that though.

I was trying to remember if I'd heard about them doing that - really interesting! I've seen photos of them passing berries, but tossing and catching them is quite interesting. (Perhaps that little bit of add velocity helps the berries go down easier?) Hope I manage to see some waxies this year!
 
Some of the birds and a few shots from yesterday.

Firstly, as Mark is away in Finland, I decided to try to find a new area to bird and drove to what on the map is indicated as a National Park right on the sea but which comprises of 9 forested hills and some small lakes, near Pinghu. AVOID !
There seemed to be some promise passing the fields of crops close to the coast but it quickly descended into a heavily populated, and dirty, little area. The 'Tourist attraction' area comprises of a Hilton hotel and the 9 Dragons golf course. Further along and a military base intervened between me and the little road that leads to the sea ..... no way through there I was sternly told. Having given up on that area it was another hour+ to the usual birding haunts across the Donghai Bridge to Yang Shan.

The Rubbish Tip site now had TWENTY cars and God only knows how many togs there. I stopped by for 15 mins to see what was happening. It was both hilarious and tragic at the same time.
There were maybe 15 togs stood together with the cameras on tripods all pointed at a contrived perch on a patch they had cleared of vegetation, just 5m from where they stood. Maybe another 10+ togs were in other spots around the patch. I just shook my head and walked on up the hill.

I walked through the 100 yd long, pitch black, tunnel to the other side of the hill (I had been watching vampire films and playing horror XBox games the night before and ignored the strange sounds in my head following me through the tunnel) ;)

At more isolated and solitary spots (the Magic Valley had some work going on at the temple and the workers were carting wheelbarrows full of sand up the single pathway so the Chinese togs had abandoned the site for the day - much to my delight since this meant that some parts of the area were quiet and I was able to flush a large owl and then after 30 mins find it again (with help from the Bul Buls who were angrily making their displeasure known), it's tufts giving away it's otherwise amazing camouflage. Shots to come later for help on IDing it !

Whilst there were noticeably fewer Bluetails, and no sign of all the Japanese named birds ; Yellow Bunting, Robins (which we had seen in two locations last week), Waxwings or Thrushes, there were still plenty of Dusky and Pale Thrushes, Elegant & Rustic Buntings and the crows and buzzards (x3).

Red Flanked Bluetails (M&F)
Dusky Thrushes (M&F numerous)
Pale Thrushes (M&F numerous)
Elegant Buntings (M&F numerous)
Rustic Buntings
Varied Tits (I saw 3 or 4 in two different locations)
Daurian Redstarts (M&F numerous)
Long Tailed Shrikes (a few)
Chinese Bul Buls (numerous, a flock of about 20 in one location)
Black Faced Buntings
Common Buzzard (x3)
Blue Rock Thrushes (x3)
Grey Wagtails
White Wagtail (Leucopsis)
Eurasian Siskins (M&F numerous)
Owl (no ID yet - to me it looked larger than a Scops, in flight maybe Kestrel sized, and it's tufts are located more to the centre above the eyes than to the sides, photos to come later).
Eurasian Kestrels (x2)
Large Billed Crows (x2)
Daurian Redstarts (M&F)
Brown Shrike (x2)
Great Tit (x3 Eastern)
Mugimaki (F)
White Cheeked Starlings
Grey Heron
Tree Sparrows (M&F numerous)

.... and on the way there a Pheasant attempted and failed to commit Seppuku in front of my car !
 

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Here are the owl shots mentioned above - my first thought was Scops but after a while the large size of the bird and the tufts have me doubting but neither Brazil's nor MacKinnon's are offering up a viable alternative.
 

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That Dusky Thrush is as dark as any I've seen (live or pix) and I like the cropping on the Blue Rock Thrush. Chuck in the owl and it sounds like a pretty good weekend.

Cheers
Mike
 
That Dusky Thrush is as dark as any I've seen (live or pix) and I like the cropping on the Blue Rock Thrush. Chuck in the owl and it sounds like a pretty good weekend.

Cheers
Mike
 
That Dusky Thrush is as dark as any I've seen (live or pix) and I like the cropping on the Blue Rock Thrush. Chuck in the owl and it sounds like a pretty good weekend.

Cheers
Mike

Thanks Mike - it was. Amazing how fast a slow day can turn around.
 
A few more shots have been processed from last week or two.

1. Siberian Stonechat (F)
2. Siberian Stonechat (F)
3. Eastern Great Tit
4. Daurian Redstart (F)
5. Siskin (M)
 

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A little too busy this week at work to have got out but the birds were not letting me forget them !
A screech and a call from my wife meant something of interest, that she hasn't noticed before, had alighted in our garden. Rushing to the window I saw it was a lovely male Mugimaki Flycatcher and later today there was also a Red-flanked Bluetail. The Bluetail is new to my garden, though I had a male Mugimaki last Spring.
 
Thanks Dev !

7th Dec '12
Just a quick run-through of last week's trip to Xiao Yang Shan and Nan Hui since I've been rather busy with other matters and another weekend is almost upon us. My run down there was on a Friday to avoid the bedlam of the weekends (should quieten done now the migration is past) !

As I said much quieter now migration is over but it was a fine day for raptors nevertheless (more of those later in their own thread) ! Weather was excellent, temperature topping out at around 15C, sunny but cold and a little windy.

Numerous sightings, in 3 locations on the island over 4 hours, of raptors that included Eastern Buzzards, Kestrel and one more yet to be identified. They seemed to be flying lower than in previous weeks too. Maybe it was the relative lack of human activity below, maybe the weather conditions or maybe food is scarcer.

Anyway other activity on the ground below them was scarce but these are what I can remember (must buy a dictaphone, or bring a secretary with me) ;)

No Varied Tits
Eastern Great Tits
Pale thrushes seemed to be more populous in the wooded areas
Duskies seemed to prefer the scrub
Red Flanked Bluetails (x2)
Bunting (small flock)
Daurian Redstarts (>10)
Long Tailed Shrikes (numerous)
Plain Prinia (x3)
Olive Backed Pipit (x1)

After driving back over the 32kms long Donghai Bridge I wanted to check out the area in the vicinity of the slip road (and include a loo stop !) on the way to the seafront by the Holiday Inn.
Stopping I found an orchard that was right next to the S2 and strung up in the orchard were 4 nets (each 10m long x 2m high).
Either because they had just been erected, or emptied or because of the lack of birds due to the end of migration, 'luckily' (if that word can be used at all in this context) there were not as many birds caught as I would have expected. Possibly a dozen small dead birds with a Dusky Thrush and a Pale Thrush still alive.

I destroyed the nets, cut the 2 live birds from the nets (they were in such a mess I had to cut around them and put them into a bag to go and find a pair of nail scissors) and threw the bamboo poles into the nearby pond.

I managed to find a group of students hardily BBQing next to Di Shui Hu and with the scissors and their kind assistance we managed to cut all the netting away from their entangled necks, wings and feet and free them in nearby scrub/reeds.

If anyone wants to use the attached photos to publicise this act of cruelty then please feel free to do so.

On to Nan Hui and met and chatted with 4 UK birders just finishing a tour of China (inc. Poyang Lake and Wu Yuan). One of them, a teacher for the RSPB in East Anglia, had found the 3 crane species he required to complete a global sweep of cranes !

They had nothing but praise for Syd in Szechuan but weren't so keen on their current tour company.

I had lost a couple of hours on the nets and thrushes so with not more than an hour of light left checked out the Magic Car park (quiet - mainly thrushes) and then off along the front. The 4 birders had had an Asian Dowitcher and Reed Buntings but I was not lucky enough to get onto them. I did however find a European Marsh Harrier (ID courtesy of the 4 birders who I chatted with once more at the end of the day) ! A first for me.

Aside from the European Marsh Harrier there were the usual Grey Herons, Egrets, Vinous Throated Parrotbills and Little Grebes and to cap it all off a golden sunset !
 

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The Golden sunset .. and in total contrast shots from the Bird Nets
 

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Cutting free the Dusky and Pale Thrushes ...
 

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