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Panjin Birding by the Old Fat Man (2 Viewers)

Let's see how I did with these.

First up is what looks to be clearly a Eurasian Curlew to me. 2nd is a flight that I see as the same. Triangle of white on the rump was clearly visible. Then we go to what I saw as a Eurasian Curlew. Much darker brown markings especially on the underwing. Did seem to have a small white mark on the rump, but there were several that I did not see it on also. Finally, a couple of contrasting individuals. Eurasian & Far Eastern?

The last photo stumped me. Only a couple of these in evidence on the mudflat.
 

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Hi Owen, from left to right:
Eurasian Curlew (very pale underneath and much longer bill than Whimbrel), Whimbrels in flight, Whimbrel in flight, Whimbrels on the ground, Common Greenshank.

Sorry, in a rush here,

Tom
 
April 28, 2016

Thanks, Tom. Didn't really expect to hear from you given how hectic things must be on your end.

Need to focus more on that bill. Just to help with anyone else new to these two, I dug through my photos again and found the two together. Since they are almost always at a distance, it can be hard to judge the size unless you can see them like this.

All of this was from a scouting trip out to the Shuangtaizi River estuary. There is a large, privately run, sanctuary which is the major tourist attraction for the area, the Red Beach. The brighter colors occur in the autumn, hence that is the time for the big rush. Right now only a half dozen other people seen. Too expensive for normal bird spotting as it cost 70 RMB for a vehicle pass for one hour. Might be more worth it during the time when the cranes and storks come through. There is a per person fee also during peak times which I think was another 30 RMB. Not being assessed at this time though. Basically that is what has to be done to make it a paying proposition and to limit the numbers of people.

Excellent road along an earthen sea-wall with mud flats from the tide being out on the west side of the road. About four kilometers in there was a jetty of close to a kilometer out into the mudflats almost to the water.

HongHaiTan (Red Beach), Liaoning, CN
Apr 28, 2016 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Protocol: Traveling
5.0 kilometer(s)
9 species

Eurasian Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) 3
Kentish Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus) 3
Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia) 2
Common Redshank (Tringa totanus) 20
Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) 50
Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata) 25
Saunders's Gull (Saundersilarus saundersi) 4
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) 15
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 10

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S29274862

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
 

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April 30, 2016

Beautiful weather with no wind today, so took a short outing to the Qingshui River. Little Grebe have been a little slow returning, but were back in force today. Also picked up another tick, a White's Thrush. Everything seems to be in reduced numbers from last year. Last year I knew exactly where to go to get Bluetails everytime. This year there are hardly any.

Panjin, Dawa County, Liaoning, CN, Liaoning, CN
Apr 30, 2016 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 kilometer(s)
10 species

Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) 24
Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra) 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) 2
Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica) 1
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 4
Light-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis) 7
White's Thrush (Zoothera aurea) 2
Olive-backed Pipit (Anthus hodgsoni) 8
Black-faced Bunting (Emberiza spodocephala) 3
Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) 20

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S29295157

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
 

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Picked up another tick while walking the dog this morning. Luckily I had taken the binoculars, but unfortunately I had left the camera behind. On barely making out over the traffic noise the quiet calls of three Grosbeak, I had the bins up determining whether they were Chinese or Japanese. (They were Chinese) Suddenly a large bright yellow flashed through the field of view! Very shy, but there it was a Black-Napped Oriole!

I hustled the dog back home to grab my camera, but by the time I returned all had disappeared. I searched out for a couple of hundred meters in all directions, but never picked them up again. Confident of the ID, but only counts as a half to my mind since I don't have a good photo yet.
 
We had the heaviest winds I have seen here two days ago, Force 10 according to the local TV. The evidence supports that and I would say approaching 11. A lot of trees broken off or up-rooted and very many surviving poplars in the city park across the street now have a permanent lean of five to ten degrees. Our daughter and her husband had to take a trip to JinZhou and said there were trees down everywhere. Their express company had two truck blown over.

Since then there has been little bird life to report. Even the sparrows are very few in number. Today I took the bus over to the ZhongGen Canal south of here to check out an area with very few people walking through. Worked out really well as although overall numbers were quite low, I managed to snag at least three new ticks. Three hours worth, broken down into hourly segments which I am still sorting through the 484 photos. :eek!: However thought I would pick your brains.

The first one I initially thought was a Flycatcher, but doesn't seem to match anything. Taiga female? I did have a male nearby.

The second one I initially though was an Oriental Cuckoo, but the breast shows speckling instead of barring.

The third I still feel was a Flycatcher but the yellow breast has me stumped as does the black tipped bill.

Number four - Common Sandpiper?
 

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Some that I have identified.
 

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Hi Owen,

Asian Brown Flycatcher for picture 1 and 3.
Picture number 2 is a Wryneck
Yes, common Sandpiper for #4

Sounds like a great place with plenty of migrants.
 
Thanks, Tom. I still think the first was a Taiga Flycatcher. Lighting was terrible, dark shadow into sunlight background, but I dug through the photos and processed one that shows better what I was seeing visually. The bill is different color without the black tip that #3 had and I did detect a bright orange or red throat patch that did not extend to the chest. Black or at least very dark tail and white basal markings. Shows up a little bit better in the full size https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B085Uzl7Vdwbwj

I had considered Asian Brown Flycatcher for #3 but just wasn't confident on that.

Wryneck is good. Still a new tick. The Brazil's illustration doesn't look that dark to me is my excuse. Vocalization was odd. Almost sounded like someone quietly talking to their self. The wife went swimming yesterday and said that there were two "Just the same" that had gotten inside the pool area and the staff were trying to shoo them out.
 

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May 6, 2016

Sorted out now and although this was an area that I had thought looked promising, even I was surprised with five new ticks to my life list. Asian Brown Flycatcher, Taiga Flycatcher, Common Sandpiper, Brown Shrike and Eurasian Wryneck.

There is a bricked pathway running along the top of the dike on each side of the ZhongGen Canal. The canal extends on south to well past Dawa city but work for the fairly new ring road had disrupted the bricked path and somewhat isolated a piece of land. I finally had a day exploring on my own and walked on down the western side, which has reverted to being overgrown and rarely used for about a kilometer. Had to be on my own as the wife declared it too dangerous in the past and refused to proceed past the pavement. Made to order in my estimation.

The birds were still not abundant, but were much less afraid of any human presence even along the first two kilometers which were still paved walkway on each side. The variety is what made it excellent. For the entire three kilometers I only encountered three people on the path. Very few people even working the adjacent rice fields and fish ponds.

The first kilometer was just past the point to which I had explored up until now. I had decided to take my time and spent considerable time just waiting to see what would appear. Pretty consistently averaged about 1km/hr.
Panjin, Dawa County, Liaoning, CN, Liaoning, CN
May 6, 2016 11:45 AM - 1:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 kilometer(s)
7 species (+1 other taxa)

Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) 1
Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica) 1
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 1
Pallas's Leaf Warbler (Phylloscopus proregulus) 10
Asian Brown Flycatcher (Muscicapa latirostris) 8
Taiga Flycatcher (Ficedula albicilla) 2
Dusky/Naumann's Thrush (Turdus naumanni/eunomus) 1
Olive-backed Pipit (Anthus hodgsoni) 7

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S29448551

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

The second hour was mostly past fish farming ponds with one that was recently drained and attracting both Black-Headed Gull and Saunder's Gull as well as a few Common Sandpiper as well as a pair of Common Kingfisher that were apparently nesting near-by as they let me know they did not appreciate my presence.
Panjin, Dawa County, Liaoning, CN, Liaoning, CN
May 6, 2016 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 kilometer(s)
9 species

Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) 2
Saunders's Gull (Saundersilarus saundersi) 6
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) 12
Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) 2
Brown Shrike (Lanius cristatus) 1
Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica) 5
Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus) 4
Olive-backed Pipit (Anthus hodgsoni) 4
Little Bunting (Emberiza pusilla) 2

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S29448891

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

The last section required me to go under the entrance ramp overpasses and yielded little of interest but the Eurasian Wryneck. A big section was taken up by a sludge pond for drilling mud from the adjacent oil field and a large five story structure being erected hard up against the dike on the edge of a village. The Black-Crowned Night Heron was spotted as it was being chased off a drained fish pond by the BH Gull.
Panjin, Dawa County, Liaoning, CN, Liaoning, CN
May 6, 2016 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
1.0 kilometer(s)
7 species

Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) 1
Eurasian Wryneck (Jynx torquilla) 1
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 3
Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus) 8
Olive-backed Pipit (Anthus hodgsoni) 4
Yellow-throated Bunting (Emberiza elegans) 2
Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) 20

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S29449031

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)

The path was blocked on my side of the canal by fencing around flood gates and by that time I decided my arthritis was not up to scrambling down the dike and back up past the fence. Even at that I had to hike a kilometer back to where a bridge crossed over so I could catch the bus home. Definitely will be back to there soon.

I am anticipating making it back to the Heron/Egret sanctuary in about a week.
 
Nice report Owen! I've seen very few wrynecks so am glad you got to see one. I'm interested to hear more about the kingfishers - were they vocal or did they fly near you? Do you know they nest in banks? I wonder if you saw a nesting hole....
 
Hi Gretchen,

No, I didn't realize that the Kingfishers nested in banks. That probably explains the excited behavior. I was standing on the dike, probably right above their nest! They were flying back and forth along the face of the dike and calling an excited titititi. At intervals one or both would land in a near-by tree and scold me.
 
Going through and deleting photos from May 6th, it turns out there was one more new tick. Two Wood Sandpiper. That makes for 24 new species so far this year!
 

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May 9, 2016

Decided to try going north along the ZhonGen Canal instead of south like I did last time. Didn't work out too well as things were really sparse. Even the Azure-winged Magpie only numbered 9 individuals in an area where there are normally 20 or more. So sparse that I didn't manage any usable photos, which was also due to very hazy conditions and the increasing foliage to hide in. An example is the attached which was an attempt to catch what I believe was a Chestnut-Flanked White-Eye.

I would note that since the storm last week everything has been low in numbers with the Light-vented Bulbul and Hoopoe especially notable in their absence.

Panjin, Dawa County, Liaoning, CN, Liaoning, CN
May 9, 2016 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
3.0 kilometer(s)
4 species

Azure-winged Magpie (Cyanopica cyanus) 9
Light-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis) 1
Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus) 10
Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) 10

View this checklist online at http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S29508872

This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (http://ebird.org)
 

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I was doing some housekeeping and discarding some photos that I had taken and saved for one odd reason or another and found this one I had forgotten about. I noticed what seemed like a band on a leg of a lone Rock Dove/Domestic Pigeon and took this shot. They are usually ignored as in the last year a minor local industry has developed in raising flocks for sale to restaurants and it is now common to see flocks of 10-20 wheeling overhead.

Turns out it has blue bands on each leg. i couldn't make out the lettering though. Do they normally band domestic birds?
 

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May 14, 2016

Trying to get in some observations for World Big Day in between rain showers. Only thing of note are numerous washed out Yellow-Browed Warbler passing through the area. A few apparently deciding to stay as they have been regularly available in our condo public garden area. One pair in particular are frequenting the trees on the edge of our patio. Man, are they difficult to photo! Tending to stay under cover and always on the move.

The rain day before yesterday brought out the White Wagtail again to take advantage of the natural shower bath and sing away while standing on top the building across the street. This time it had it's mate with it, although the mate looked less happy about the whole thing.

Recently, every evening, just at dusk, three Black-Crowned Night Heron pass right over our patio on their way to their feeding ground. Saw one this morning about 0700 on it's way back to roost.
 

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Hi Owen,

The feral pigeons are banded by the farms to ID their own. They are not banded by the banding/ringing stations. Attached a similar one from Shanghai.
Also, good work on the Yellow-browed Warblers, i see that now you are getting a hang of these Phylloscs.
 

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