Birds of Nanchang and Poyang Hu, Jiangxi Province (1 Viewer)

Japanese waxwing at Wuyuan, Sunday 16 Feb 2014

Following a report of the rare, elusive and enigmatic Japanese waxwing, Dave Woodford, Stephen An and I headed off to Wuyuan on Saturday night.
Dawn broke damp and overcast at the blue-crowned LT island near Wuyuan, see attached maps(EDIT maps removed at request). We checked the trees and saw several orange-bellied leafbird and 2 asian barred owlet but no waxwing. Stephen then found the small flock but they flew before we could reach them. After another half hour I retreated to higher ground to get an overview of the area and scoped a flock in trees at the very northern tip of the banana-shaped island. I phoned Dave to tell him his much sought-after species was less than 100m from him. Smiles and much relief all round.
I was struck by how much smaller they are than Bohemian, unfortunately other than the red at tail tip and the darker reddish brown the poor light meant I could not fully savour the other ID points.
After breakfast the rain started and continued all day. We visited the scaly-sided site (see earlier post on this thread) and quickly found 3 pairs and a redhead on the usual stretch, 16 had been reported previously.
We then spent many hours walking the trail that leads north on the eastern shore, it turns to the east and climbs a wooded valley with much bamboo. This is the site where short-tailed parrotbill is reasonably easy to find, however the persistent rain meant most birds were lurking in the forest and reluctant to show. Dave and I may well have glimpsed our target species but we just could not get the views.
Our last stop was a walk up the valley some distance west which holds Silver and possibly Elliot’s pheasant (still have not worked out where exactly this is), very little seen bar a pair of WC forktail and mountain bulbul.

Best birds seen around Wuyuan, Sunday 16 Feb
Scaly sided merganser 7
Crested goshawk 1 presumed male perched up.
Asian barred owlet (WT) 2
Grey-capped pygmy woodpecker, this and GS are common and easy to see on the island
Eurasian jay 3+ on island
Red-billed blue magpie, 6+
Japanese waxwing (WT) 8+ seen, 20 reported 2 days prior
Mountain bulbul (WT) 2 seen well
Huet’s fulvetta commonest bird in woodland
White-crowned forktail 2
Olive-backed pipit, several flocks along field edges
Chinese grosbeak 1
Yellow-browed bunting fairly common
Orange-bellied leafbird (WT), at least two males in full song on the island with several females, rather incongruous to see such an exotic species in a damp bare woodland.
We would have had a much better day if it had stayed dry.

Short-tailed parrotbill

Dear Alan

Thank you for your kind words, I am pleased if people enjoy reading of my day's out.

It is likely that short-tailed parrotbill is commoner and more widespread than previously thought. The valley east of the scaly-sided merg site is a reliable site, if it had not rained I feel I would have seen them yesterday.

I shall try again for STPs when I make another visit to Wuyuan in May for blue-crowned LT (they generally arrive from 20 April)

I always thought the laugher site was known but not publicised freely...?

BC LT site

I have removed the maps of the island at request.

I am unhappy about this, I have been birding nearly 40 years and have never suppressed or refused to give information to anyone, ever. I was a founding member of the Anti-Suppression League in the 1980's

Arguments in favour of publication:

Anyone who wants these birds knows where to go. The island was crawling with photographers last May. I cannot believe that publication on an English language forum would affect the behaviour of Chinese with little interest in birds.

Litter is a cultural issue not a birding issue.

I want everyone to be able to visit sites and see good birds, in China they are so few real birders we need to give encouragement, what about the 16 year-old kid who lives locally and is getting into birds, who is going to tell him about the island? Clearly not us "superior" western birders.

The more who visit the higher the profile, the more valuable the resource comes to the local community, is not the trend nowadays to give ownership of valuable resources to the local community? Or is China different from Tanzania?

Arguments against publication.

There is a tiny, vulnerable, relict population on the island, a few dozen more photographers sitting around with big lenses could disturb the breeding success?

A few more bored non-birders dropping litter is the last thing it needs.
errrrr.... that's it.

Anyway on this occasion I will defer, against all my gut feelings.

Hello Michael...bit more time to write this evening...

Sadly it seems the Chinese photographers (and their best pals...) monitor sites like this (Hello boys!) for news of species...while many know this site for the laughers, no need to give any easy info to the ever-growing band is my thought...

When Kevin (Frogfish) and I found the first Varied Tit of the east coast mini-influx in autumn 2012 and I foolishly put it on my thread they descended in record time and completely trashed the site...thinking nothing of breaking branches to secure the perfect angle or dropping litter all over the place without a backwards glance...they're not birders but rich people with a camera in too many cases...if I were Chairman Mao for a day it'd be a bullet in the back of the neck for any casual littering by so-called elite classes ("everyone's equal here...but we're more equal than everybody else...") but I digress...

Of course there are good guys too and some excellent Chinese birders we all know and love but the less info the idiot brigade get easily is probably the better...problem is rife throughout Asia of course but the average Chinese has little enough empathy with nature as it is! Sadly the normal rules don't always apply out there...

Keep the reports coming though...it's good to read everyone's tales of off piste birding in the big red land!

ATB
McM

PS - somewhere I've got a shot from our "Magic Carpark" in Shanghai of a group of these idiots catching and pinning butterflies to a 'strategic' branch to entice a male Asian Paradise Flycatcher to perch where they wanted it...nature lovers indeed...

This is not a straightforward issue.

A more serious threat than photographers is the wild bird trade. Collectors will pay large sums for such rare birds and that creates the incentive for catching them. It would not be difficult. For this reason alone thank you for taking down the map.

I share your views about suppression in relation to birders/photographers, but agree that in this case the cat is well and truly out of the bag and therefore you can hardly be accused of suppression.

I'm no fan of littering, bad fieldcraft and branch-breaking, but given the threat of birds being caught I believe the presence of the photogs probably serves as something of a deterrent to would be trappers. Its also fair to say that these birds are also not especially susceptible to human disturbance, living as they do close and even in the villages!

Cheers
Mike

BC LT island

Thank you for your comments.

I must admit that I was completely ignorant of the trapping risk, I was making the naive assumption that nobody would dream of trapping such a rare species.

Because of this trapping aspect it would clearly be in the bird's best interest not to publish the map but as you say dozens of photographers, plus wardens and researchers should be a good deterrent.

I shall bear in mind the trapping risk in future postings, this may be particularly relevant for species like pheasants.

Michael, I just wanted to apologize publically if my PM to you about the maps was a bit brusque. I was actually on the way out the door from work when I sent it. My concerns were the same as Mike and Mark have expressed, although they've done it a bit more eloquently (or at least more thoroughly) than I.

But I think we all agree that the welfare of the birds comes first, and the desires of the humans come second.

Thanks for you patience and understanding,

Jeff

Dear Jeff
Thanks for your kind words. Given my long background as an anti-suppressor I think you did indeed push the wrong buttons.
However, all is now sweetness and light.

In future I will always consider the trapping risk, for example I just heard about a site for white-necklaced partridge in Fujian, but the first person to an isolated but easily accessible site could be a man in a van with nets and not an amiable birder.

If I feel the risk of direct persecution is low than I will always err on the side of publication.

A short stroll out in the sunshine today gave me a possible first early spring migrant in the shape of a cracking male Stejeneger's Stonechat.

This not split by CBR though, anyone know the proper pronunciation?

A document I found on cetaceans pronounces the Latin name of a species named for him as "STI/ne/jer" with a long I and a soft G, but given that he was of Norwegian-American descent, I would expect it would be pronounced with a hard G.

Weekend around Nanchang city

A quiet weekend around Nanchang city, weather mild with hazy sunshine
Friday pm a visit to Diezi lake/Polygolf (PG)
Saturday a lovely walk up a scenic hill at Wanli (W) The clear highlight here was white-crowned forktail in a drainage culvert in a built-up area.
Sunday a stroll around the northern end of Elephant lake (EL) then a brief visit to dredger park (DP) in the evening.
A nice weekend list of over fifty species all seen by utilizing Nanchang’s municipal buses.

Full list for 21-23 Feb 2014
Common pheasant 1 ring-necked at PG
Common teal c20 at PG
Chinese spotbill 25+ at EL
Dabchick few
Little egret 5 + PG
Brown crake 2 PG
Moorhen few
Grey-headed lapwing 2 at PG
Northern Lapwing 3 at PG
BW stilt 20 + PG
Common snipe few
Spot red 20+
Greenshank 5
Wood sand 1
Green sand 4+
Common sand 1
BH gull few at EL
Spotted dove common
Oriental turtle dove 2 at PG
Pied kingfisher 1 at DP
LT shrike many
Common magpie 5+
Cinereous tit common
Yellow-bellied tit small flocks at W
Black-throated tit common at Wanli
Plain prinia few at PG
Collared finchbill common at W
Chinese bulbul common
Chestnut bulbul 2 near the top of the hill at Wanli, new species (for me) for Nanchang city
Brown flanked bush warbler, 1 seen well at EL
YB warbler 2 at DP
Rufous-capped babbler small flock at W
Masked LT usual flock at DP
WB LT flocks at DP, PG
Hwamei 1 of dubious provenance at EL
Huet’s fulvetta, few at W
Vinous-throated parrotbill, flock at DP
Crested Myna, common at EL
Black-collared starling, widespread
Silky starling, few at W, EL
Grey-backed thrush 3 at EL
Blackbird few at EL, DP, PG
Bluetail, 1 at EL
Oriental magpie robin, few at Wanli
Daurian redstart, common and widespread
White-crowned forktail. One at Wanli, sharing a drainage tunnel with an oriental magpie robin. My first record of a forktail in Nanchang.
Stonechat, a nice male stejnegeri at PG
Tree sparrow, flocks at W
Scaly-breasted munia 10+ at EL
White wagtail, few Amur,leucopsis and some presumed ocularis at DP
Olive-backed pipit, fairly common
Oriental greenfinch few
Chinese grosbeak, few at Wanli
Black-faced bunting, common at DP

The forktail is a good urban bird - actually a good bird anywhere!

Cheers
Mike

Gotta love those Yellow-bellied and Black-throated tits - so photogenic !

Crested Goshawk(resident) and Black Baza(summer breeder) were noticed at Nanjing and Dongzhai NR in Henan in the early 2000's and became quite common.
In Jiangsu north of the Yangtse River I dont know any more spreading northward yet as it mainly lacks hills until u reach the northernmost part-Lianyungang.Let's wait to see when they'll get to Lianyungang.

Brown Crake in southern Jiangsu is as common as in Nanchang.From Nanchang if u travel along the Yangtse all the way to Anhui and Jiangsu,it's just common.

I had been birding in Yangshan Island for years with peace till Mark's finding of Varied Tit and suddenly a lot of Photographers!!! Now I almost have abandened it for birding,as u can always find another good site and keep it as a secret to them and bird traders.For example there're several breeding sites of BCLaugher and wintering sites not published and not known by Photographers yet so I agree with the idea to keep the photographers where it's already crowded.

mcaribou said:

I had been birding in Yangshan Island for years with peace till Mark's finding of Varied Tit and suddenly a lot of Photographers!!! Now I almost have abandened it for birding,as u can always find another good site and keep it as a secret to them and bird traders.For example there're several breeding sites of BCLaugher and wintering sites not published and not known by Photographers yet so I agree with the idea to keep the photographers where it's already crowded.

Click to expand...

We learnt that lesson the hard way didn't we?! Hope you are well ZL...

Cheers
Mark

Birding Taining, 1/2 March 2014

Whilst technically Taining in is Fujian province it is only just south of Jiangxi and is easiest accessed by high speed train from Nanchang, so best placed in this thread.

Taining is a small town in the far north of Fujian province. It is now on the brand new high speed train line from Nanchangxi (the brand new Nanchang West railway station) to the Fujian coastal cities. What used to be a 4 hour car journey is a now a 90 minute train journey.
Stephen An and I left on the 7.20 train arriving at 8:50 last Saturday morning. Stephen had arranged a car and driver for the weekend. We headed off to Emei Fan, the main peak to the north of Taining. The road up to the peak has km markers, the very top has a monastery and basic places to stay and is after the 15km marker.
As a general guide.
Above 14 km Silver Pheasant can be common, we saw many.
12-14 km is the main habitat for Cabot’s tragopan, we only saw 1 female the whole weekend.
8-11 km is the supposed best area for Elliot’s pheasant, we glimpsed one nice male by the roadside.
We had many Koklass pheasant in the 9-12 range
We discovered that the best chance of seeing chickens from the road is when raining. We saw no pheasants on the dry Sunday morning but stacks of koklass and silver in the rainy pm.
We also explored the road north of the village of Xinqiaoxiang (basic accommodation can be found here). There are mature bamboo plantations along the east of the road, north of Shuibu reservoir. It was here that we followed up on a reliable site for Elliot’s. The site may be a roosting site and is close to the road so I will not divulge the exact location to protect from disturbance. We saw a male and at least 7 females here. The bamboo plantations here are easy to walk with many trails and may well hold a strong population.
To the north of the good bamboo is another small village and just to the north of here the road does a sharp turn at a bridge (marked bridge on the map) and heads uphill. Along this stretch for the next 2km there is plenty of long grassy clumps which may be the favoured habitat for white-necklaced partridge, we may have glimpsed one by the roadside just after the road does a hairpin and passes into thicker forest.
We had three male Chinese bamboo partridge right out in the open at the roadside along this stretch. From the bridge the road is high quality recently-laid concrete all the way to the provincial border at the top of the hill. When the road gets to the border there is a road sign indicating the S214 4th grade route and declaring a 40km/h limit. However the road instantly deteriorates to a track suitable for 4x4s only. This used to be the old route north into Jiangxi province, clearly it is no longer used but quite why the road up the hill on the Fujian side has been recently upgraded is a mystery. The result is that we have a completely deserted high grade road climbing through excellent habitat, this road is clearly worthy of exploration as is the S214 track north into Jiangxi, (by foot unless you have a high clearance vehicle)
Overall an excellent weekend, without the rain we would probably not have seen Koklass pheasant. The emphasis was on chickens but we did get one nice bird-flock at the start of the mountain road and found grey-sided scimitar babbler to the east of the river as well as black eagle and black-winged kite.

Full bird list for Taining area, 1st-2nd March 2014
Chinese Bamboo partridge. Probably fairly common in suitable habitat, heard at several places. Three males by the road side up the deserted road.
(WT) Cabot’s tragopan, DIFFICULT. You may have to put a lot of time in to see this bird by the road, we were lucky in seeing a female walk across the road. Late March to mid April may be better as they are more active then.
(WT) Koklass Pheasant. Without rain you may not see. In the rain we saw a total of at least 5 different males and 5 different females. Some views down to 5m at the roadside. We were both really impressed by this species. The broad chestnut stripe down the front of the male is very striking as is his wonderful ear tufts which he erects to produce “bunny ears”. The bird of the trip for both of us.
Silver Pheasant. Clearly common around the top of Emei Fan, but difficult to see unless wet. We had flocks on the road in the rain. What a superb bird.
(WT) Elliot’s Pheasant. A male at the roadside, skulking away, about 9km up. A group (male plus 7 female) seen twice at a site in mature bamboo plantation, east of the road, north of Shuibu reservoir.
Mandarin duck. Two at dusk flying around the river.
Little egret few
(CT) Black-winged kite One in the lowlands. Brazil prefers black-shouldered but this is used by IOC for the Australasian species.
Eastern buzzard One
(CT) (Indian) Black Eagle One overhead
Spotted dove few
Oriental turtle dove two
Asian barred owlet. Common up the valley, at least 6 birds seen.
Grey-capped pygmy woodpecker. One in our only decent bird flock
(WT) Bay woodpecker One along the river lower down
LT Shrike. Few, one was a 75pct dusky, just a tinge of orange on the belly.
Red-billed blue magpie Few small flocks
Cinereous tit, few seen. One looked more like an Eastern.
(WT) Yellow-cheeked tit. A few in the bird flock
Collared finchbill. Several large gatherings.
Mountain bulbul, few
(WT) Grey-sided scimitar babbler. One calling, seen briefly from good habitat on the east side of the valley.
Hwamei, one seen
Huet’s fulvetta. Commonest small bird by far.
Crested Myna. Some large gatherings
Scaly thrush, at least one
Little forktail Few seen
WC forktail, fairly common and widespread
White-rumped munia Flock feeding on spilled grain on road
White wag some very smart leucopsis males
OBP Common
Scarlet minivet One
Black-faced bunting fairly common

Fantastic trip Michael. Lot of praises for this site recently. Thanks for adding more details.

Jonathan Martinez of birdforum has recorded the display of the Male Cabot's from the same site.

http://www.tragopan-asie.com/en/2013/04/28/tragopan-de-cabot-tragopan-caboti-ssp-caboti-2/

Kai Tse from BF has also seen White-necklaced Partridges in this area.

Yes I confirm, this is a top site, holding some hight quality birds, including Sultan Tit ( not seen by me), Spotted Wren Babbler, Pale-headed Woodpecker.
Cabot's Tragopan were easy by end of march with birds seen regurarly displaying on the road... Elliot's Pheasant was also relatively easy, especially by end of march as the bambou plantation understorey has been cleared out to collect bambou growth. Foggy and rainy day are definitly better to see the pheasant that can all been seen from the road. There is a very nice and cheap little hotel at the small village near Emeifeng.
We've made the journey from Jiangxi to Fujian using the road you've mentionned, we've got Berthemy's Laughingthrush and Crested Bunting on the Jiangxi side lower in farmland. A very good destination for week end. Emeifeng is a provincial nature reserve and seems to be opened to the public, but we were encourage to signale our coming at the reserve office at the entrance of the road goign to the summit...

JSWarbler was making song flight on 2 Mar in Poyang Lake.

Great to read about your birding experiences around Nanchang Michael.

I visited the area last November with Zhang Lin and had an excellent time.

With the water levels being so low we caught up with all the cranes / geese / swans with little problem as they all seemed to be clustered in one area. Japanese Swamp Warbler took more effort but I eventually stumbled upon a couple at Nanjii whilst attempting to find Swinhoe's Rail in the grass by a lake (SR is near impossible according to ZL)

We also visited Wuyuan and unbelievably found a flock of 17 BC Laughingthrush - ZL said this may be only the second ever winter record and the other was of a single bird. Having read the earlier posts about harassment of birds by photographers (and witnessed it at the SSM site - using the boats etc.) I think its proabably best not to say where - everyone knows where to see them in Spring . ZL knows an ornithologist who has been studying these birds for many years and there was great excitement when we sent him the pics as the wintering grounds has been an open question for some time.

We went to the SSM site of course - we searched in vain for the Short-Tailed Parrotbill but did find a decent sized group of Buffy Laughingthrush (a pretty unusual sighting here apparently).

Emei Feng was awesome for the pheasants as described by others on this thread. My first afternoon we heard White-Necklaced Partridge calling , got reasonable views of a male Tragopan before proceeding to see Koklass & Elliot's pheasants at point blank range beside the road lower down - this was all within about an hour and a half so I was ecstatic of course.

I never did actually see WN Partridge unfortunately - we heard them again at Fuzhou Forest Park and I believe a dutch crew who I bumped into did actually see them there. We found Pale-headed Woodpecker there and Hartert's Warbler (again something I thought I would need to visit in Spring to see).

Alex