Today in the Forbidden City: Tons of Tree Sparrows (behaving just like House Sparrows used to do long ago at home), unperturbed by city pollution or people. Feral Pigeons, obviously. Goodly numbers of Azure-Winged Magpies and Magpies, wherever there were trees, especially around the Calligraphy Museum. Aptly-named Large-Billed Crows, although they could just as easily be called high-browed crows. A few Mallard. Lots of Swifts. Three thrushes that I took to be Dusky Thrushes, but I have to check the song on a website. A few doves that I reckon were Spotted (Turtle?) Doves, but I could well be mistaken. A Crested Mynah. A Hoopoe (the kids loved that). A Woodpecker that looked more or less like a juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker, except that it seemed bigger and the cap wasn't red, it was kind of greyish-beige, so I'm not sure. Also the two white patches on the back seemed to merge into one, but that may be because of they way it was holding its wings. I can't vouch for the provenance of any of these birds, but it was great fun and a distraction from the endless palaces and the heat.
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Beijing birds today (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Sancho
- Start date
Wow, I've never visited the Forbidden City with a serious eye for birds - quite impressive! Especially considering (you didn't mention) how many thousands of people milling about.
Several thrush choices, and intergrades, but it will be interesting to see what your song listening turns up. I guess, if it seemed the right general size that it was a Great Spot. I like the idea of High-browed Crows!
Hope you're having a good visit!
Several thrush choices, and intergrades, but it will be interesting to see what your song listening turns up. I guess, if it seemed the right general size that it was a Great Spot. I like the idea of High-browed Crows!
Hope you're having a good visit!
Glad to hear you and the kids are having a good time Sancho. Try and bottle some of that heat and bring it home with you because its feckin freezin with a good dose of flooding from the torrential rain for good measure back home.
Ger:t:
Ah, an Irish June then. Oh no. I think I'll stay!!!
Today on a stroll in the Summer Palace park, NW Beijing, I saw three Black-Crowned (?) Night Herons, four Oriental Reed Warblers, another rusty-crowned warbler that I couldn't identify, and a beautiful summer-plumage Chinese Pond Heron. Also heard a distant unusual cuckoo of some type.
Nice, summer palace is a good place for some herons - black-crowned night herons would be most likely I think, and pond herons are great to watch. I love how they are so obvious when flying and then completely melt into their surroundings after landing!
Wonder if you had black-browed reed warblers - their black brows might give a more capped appearance. (Not sure if any buntings are around still or not... they might appear capped.) I wonder if you've seen Chinese (or light-vented) bulbul yet. I haven't seen so many in Beijing, but they are flourishing locally, so I guess you might see them there - smart looking bird.
Don't know if you had as much rain the last 24 hours as we did! It's cleared off now and looks like excellent weather post storm.
Wonder if you had black-browed reed warblers - their black brows might give a more capped appearance. (Not sure if any buntings are around still or not... they might appear capped.) I wonder if you've seen Chinese (or light-vented) bulbul yet. I haven't seen so many in Beijing, but they are flourishing locally, so I guess you might see them there - smart looking bird.
Don't know if you had as much rain the last 24 hours as we did! It's cleared off now and looks like excellent weather post storm.
Thanks Gretchen! Yes, we were up on the Wall at Badaling when the storm broke day before yesterday. That in itself was an adventure! Cleared the air wonderfully though, it's been positively balmy since. Tomorrow we're off on a slow train to Changsha...23 hours, I'll be at the window with my binoculars at the ready!
So whatever day it was, we got the slow overnight train to Changsha, and I'm pretty sure I saw Great, Cattle and Little Egrets, plus a Sacred Ibis (or whatever the version here is called) from the train south of Wuhan.
Today in Changsha, simply strolling (or rather stumbling) around in the heat haze, I saw Chinese Bulbul, Common Myna, Long-Tailed Shrike, Chinese Great Tit, Masked Laughingthrush, Vinous Throated Parrotbill, Grey-capped Greenfinch, Chinese Blackbird (sounds totally different), Oriental Magpie Robin, and a host of other things flitting about in the treetops that I couldn't get a good look at. One may have been a Golden Parrotbill, although if I understand correctly these are probably escapes. This is all in the grounds of a Forestry-Technology University where my in-laws live, so there are lots of trees about. Also spent a long time trying to locate something that sounded very like a Pied Wagtail. Turns out it was a Pied Wagtail.
Today in Changsha, simply strolling (or rather stumbling) around in the heat haze, I saw Chinese Bulbul, Common Myna, Long-Tailed Shrike, Chinese Great Tit, Masked Laughingthrush, Vinous Throated Parrotbill, Grey-capped Greenfinch, Chinese Blackbird (sounds totally different), Oriental Magpie Robin, and a host of other things flitting about in the treetops that I couldn't get a good look at. One may have been a Golden Parrotbill, although if I understand correctly these are probably escapes. This is all in the grounds of a Forestry-Technology University where my in-laws live, so there are lots of trees about. Also spent a long time trying to locate something that sounded very like a Pied Wagtail. Turns out it was a Pied Wagtail
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Thanks! It is intense. Amazing birds, to be seen by simply walking about. Yesterday I saw two Oriental Paradise Flycatcher chasing each other about in the trees while I was walking to the shops.
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Firethroat
Member
Thrushes in Beijing's Forbidden City
Sounds like you had a fabulous trip around China, Sancho - saw many of the sites and PLENTY of birds.
You've possibly sorted it now but in case you haven't - Dusky/Naumann's Thrushes are both passage migrants in Beijing. A few birds, particularly naumanni, usually remain around the Chinese capital throughout the winter but most have left by the end of April with only a handful of stragglers lingering until mid-May. They're both then absent until early October. The only thrush likely to be heard singing in the city in mid-June is (Chinese) Blackbird Turdus merula mandarinus and perhaps this is what you heard in the Forbidden City. Hope this helps.
Sounds like you had a fabulous trip around China, Sancho - saw many of the sites and PLENTY of birds.
You've possibly sorted it now but in case you haven't - Dusky/Naumann's Thrushes are both passage migrants in Beijing. A few birds, particularly naumanni, usually remain around the Chinese capital throughout the winter but most have left by the end of April with only a handful of stragglers lingering until mid-May. They're both then absent until early October. The only thrush likely to be heard singing in the city in mid-June is (Chinese) Blackbird Turdus merula mandarinus and perhaps this is what you heard in the Forbidden City. Hope this helps.
Thanks Firethroat! I didn't get used to hearing Chinese Blackbird until I got down to Changsha, where they were ubiquitous. I'm sure you're right about the Beijing bird.
From my field notes, and help from BF member Jinxin, I also figured out that two other birds I saw on my trip were Forest Wagtail and Collared Crow, the former in a small wooded park in the Forestry University in Changsha, and the latter in trees, from the train, in Anhui Province. I can't wait for my next trip back!
From my field notes, and help from BF member Jinxin, I also figured out that two other birds I saw on my trip were Forest Wagtail and Collared Crow, the former in a small wooded park in the Forestry University in Changsha, and the latter in trees, from the train, in Anhui Province. I can't wait for my next trip back!
