September 11 & 12
Thunderstorms rolled through from the west across the bay in the early predawn hours of the 11th. The skies cleared to crystal blue with tremendous seeing for the next couple of days and while nothing amazing, it did lead to one new life list tic.
The storms had apparently pushed migrating birds with it concentrating
Red-rumped Swallow over us for one day on the 11th which were immediately sighted on starting out flying at an altitude overhead that made them barely visible overhead, but low enough to be easily identifiable in the binoculars. I reported a count of 50 but that was just what I could make out at one moment directly overhead as they swirled about in a big ball mobbing a falcon. (More on that later)
The city park area next to us yielded some interesting arrivals. Immediately upon entering the park I saw a medium sized owl soar silently through the trees, but so briefly as to not allow any ID. It seemed too large for one of the Little Owls that have been in the area this summer. A pair of
Yellow-browed Warbler absorbed me for a little while as they displayed much more distinct wing bars than normal, for here at least.
Moving on, there were numbers of flycatchers working the garden and as well as a nice
Dark-sided Flycatcher. I was only able to view through the bins at distance, but did observe what I believe may have been a couple of
Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, which would be a new tic, but just not close enough to get a positive ID. That did draw attention to another larger pair also hawking insects. Their flycatcher like behavior, very shy making it impossible to get close, constant movement and their forked tails, made me puzzle over an ID. The blurred photos from them being in deep shade and distant didn't help a lot. The ID forum help led to deciding they were just
Chinese Bulbul juveniles apparently having a teenage identity crisis and thinking they were flycatchers. Makes sense as there was a nearby group of C. Bulbul juveniles nearby behaving more normally.
On the way out the previously mentioned falcon swooped lower with Red-rumped Swallow streaming behind. I got a good quick look through the bins and even managed a quick parting pic of what I feel confident proved to be my new tic as a
Lesser Kestrel. I was able to observe a grey hood with no mustache, the black tips to the outer underside wing tips and the somewhat pointed rather than square tail. It also appeared slighter than the Eurasian Kestrel that I usually see and exhibited a more erratic flight with more turns and swoops than the E. Kestrel normally show. I theorize that the storm the night before also swept it east of the bay from where it would be more common.
The 12th produced nothing new, but for a return of the
Spotted Dove that had disappeared this summer.
Panjin, Dawa County, Liaoning, CN, Liaoning, CN
Sep 11, 2017 12:15 PM - 1:45 PM
Protocol: Traveling
1.5 kilometer(s)
8 species
Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops) 2
Azure-winged Magpie (Cyanopica cyanus) 12
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 10
Red-rumped Swallow (Cecropis daurica) 50 large numbers migrating through area at altitude - positive id with binoculars
Light-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis) 6
Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus) 2
Dark-sided Flycatcher (Muscicapa sibirica) 4
Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) 5
View this checklist online at
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S39122868
Panjin, Dawa County, Liaoning, CN, Liaoning, CN
Sep 12, 2017 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM
Protocol: Traveling
4.5 kilometer(s)
7 species
Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis) 6
Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops) 4
Gray-headed Woodpecker (Picus canus) 1
Azure-winged Magpie (Cyanopica cyanus) 16
Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica) 5
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 10
Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) 55
View this checklist online at
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S39139380