Jinshitan farewell circuit and final birding report post June 28, 2016
Last week I had a couple hours and did the rounds of several sites to see what was there and to say goodbye. After 12 years (birding for roughly 10 of them) living in Jinshitan it is time to go. This area is rich in bird life and there is still so much to be discovered and studied. Thanks for the kind words above. I believe I also have to post some thanks to all who have helped make this thread a place where things can be discussed. Thanks to everyone for contributing and posting above!
Special thanks goes to two people who I have known for the last 5 years or so -- Terry Townshend and Paul Holt. For those of you familiar with hockey, I call them Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky respectively! Both of them have been so instrumental in teaching me how to bird and report sightings. Both are fine gentlemen who, though extremely knowledgeable, are able to bird with anyone (including me), no matter the skill level. Both have taught me so much from flight calls to where birds in the area breed and their status.
Paul is the best birder in China and an amazing source of information about the birds from all over Asia. He also has amazing ears, being able to recognize every specie in China as far as I know. Birding with Paul, one simply absorbs his genius. Perhaps the best memory I have from birding with Paul was from the large bridge over the Biliuhe on the coastal highway near Pikou. He quietly picked out a Pallas's Gull at around 0.5 kms away resting behind another large gull. The head shape was visible from time to time as it shifted position! Another incident was on a similar looking bridge over the Zhuanghe estuary/mudflats. We were counting Black-faced Spoonbill when suddenly he shouted Blyth's Pipit! This is an exceptionally rare bird in Liaoning and Paul had it on its flight call far overhead.
Terry is also an amazing birder who somehow gets involved with what seems to be most projects happening in China concerning birds. If he's not meeting with top officials in Beijing about the environment, addressing the Mexican parliament, or counting Jankowski's Buntings in Mongolia he's out in the field helping to put gps transmitters on Beijing's swifts or cuckoos. Thanks to Terry for many many emails answered concerning identification as well as sharing his rich contacts of birding related people all over China. Terry is a pillar of bird conservation and studies in China.
I am leaving in 48 hours. After this I will still be happy to help anyone coming to the area in terms of where to go, checklists, etc... Please email me at
[email protected] for any information that I can help with. If you would like a copy of the book described above in previous posts, please email me as well.
Here is the last checklist for the area from late last week. Of note was the Common Goldeneye in late June resting by itself on a piece of mudflat. The two Tiger Shrikes were seen at different places and both were feeding young so there were at least 3 different nests in the Jinshitan area this year that I have seen.
Random sightings in Jinshitan, Liaoning, CN
24-Jun-2016 13:00 - 16:00
Protocol: Traveling
20.0 kilometer(s)
32 species
Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) 1
Common Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) 1
Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) 5
Japanese Cormorant (Phalacrocorax capillatus) 1
Pelagic Cormorant (Phalacrocorax pelagicus) 1
Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) 1
Chinese Egret (Egretta eulophotes) 11
Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) 1
Striated Heron (Butorides striata) 2
Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius) 4
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) 2
Black-tailed Gull (Larus crassirostris) 40
Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) 1
Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis) 3
Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) 1
Pacific Swift (Apus pacificus) 10
Dollarbird (Eurystomus orientalis) 1
Tiger Shrike (Lanius tigrinus) 2
Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis) 3
Common Magpie (Pica pica) 10
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 10
Red-rumped Swallow (Cecropis daurica) 5
Japanese Tit (Parus minor) 6
Light-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis) 4
Vinous-throated Parrotbill (Sinosuthora webbiana) 2
Blue Rock-Thrush (Monticola solitarius) 4
Crested Myna (Acridotheres cristatellus) 2
Forest Wagtail (Dendronanthus indicus) 1
White/Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba) 5 all juveniles
Meadow Bunting (Emberiza cioides) 1
Oriental Greenfinch (Chloris sinica) 5
Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) 10