Shanghai Perambulations (2 Viewers)

Gretchen said:

By the way, though there are about a dozen of these pale plain warblers that I find quite difficult to tell apart (well, ok, for me, almost impossible), there are no differences between males and females I believe, so you don't have to consider differences between the sexes (or from the other viewpoint - you won't be able to know the sex ) I think that's good news!

And yes, very nice Mugimaki!

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Thanks Gretchen. I too really like that Mugimaki - that is the type of bird I like to shoot.

I had to open an ID thread here because the warblers are so difficult to tell apart (I use Brazils' BoEA) and as you say there is very very little difference between some of them. Witness post #34 & post #40 above !

We are in the throes of the peak of our high season at work - which means virtually no time for excursions (back garden excepted) Last Thursday however, I had put aside for some 'relaxation'

My first excursion down to the Nanhui coast (for birding) and I took in the Dishui Hu, a little bit of the coast by the hotel and then onto Binhai Forest Park, arrived at 06.00 (maybe a touch too late now with sunrise around 04.30 !) and left around 16.00 in the afternoon, home by 17.00 !

I'll make a few separate posts because there are numerous birds I don't recognise, can't confirm via Brazil's or would like help with confirmation of my identification. I'll also cross-post those in the ID forum.

At this unusual time (for me - I'm often not asleep, with my clients all being in the USA or Europe, before 04.00 !) I needed a triple espresso to go, from the kitchen, but the initially empty roads (not for long !) and rising sun made it worth while. Until I hit the S2 and suddenly there were more container carrying trucks than it's possible to count and it was a case of weaving in and out as they took up all 4 lanes ! The toll booth just before the Donghai bridge being the worst (the hard-shoulder took care of that)

So where to go at my first stop at Dishui Hu ? It is a lot larger than it looks - I thought I might be able to park up and then walk around the whole lake but it's not like that at all and at a rough guess it's 10kms in circumference. So I crossed the bridge into the Crowne Plaza hotel grounds and parked. There looked to be a promising strip of land between the lake and some backwaters and indeed it fulfilled it's promise. Warblers, Little Grebes, Coots, Flycatchers, Egrets, Shrikes, Snakes (both swimming and deceased), Venous Throated Parrotbills, Tree Sparrows and a variety of fly overs and some damselflies for good measure. Not bad for a short 400m loop that I spent over an hour at !

Anyway attached here are some of the birds I can't ID, and the snakes I saw, any assistance gratefully accepted !

1. Arctic warbler (from the shape of it's brow) ?
2. Manchurian Reed Warbler (thanks Dev !).
3. Manchurian Reed Warbler
4. ID Unknown (very strong backlighting but if you open it there is some detail - this is the best recovery I could manage unless you prefer a silhouette) !
5. Another Arctic ?

These were the snakes I saw there (3 swimming and 2 deceased on the bank, within 10 m of each other).

Also a GIF - very rare for me (Grebe in Flight) ! Awful shot but 'I was there'

4&5 are another individual who has obviously just woken up and not had time to preen yet. Plain Prinia (thanks again Dev !).

I drove/walked further around the lake but after an another hour of Shrikes and the usual park passerines and of wading through head high reeds (not great for photography) I decided to move onto my next stop rather earlier than planned and leave the rest of Dishui Hu (and probably the best spots !) for my next trip there.

On the way to the Holiday Inn on the coast I went down a rough track that obviously saw very little traffic and this 1-2km long road was one of the highlights of the day.

Firstly I believe these are Red Backed Shrikes ? The bill being much smaller in proportion to the head, the almost total lack of white on the breast and the squatter shape leads me to believe they are not Long Tailed Shrike (photos 1&2) ?

Some Little Egrets and what I believe is a Great White Egret were on the adjacent lake.

Whilst sitting in the car (great hide - birds just seem to ignore it even when moving !) I saw some movement to the side of the road .... way way down there (200-300m away) ... and a minute later a pheasant popped out and ran across the road. I tried shooting through the windscreen but this played havoc with the IQ. Huge crop below.

1. & 2. Red Backed Shrike ?
3. Is a Great White Egret ?
4. Pheasant - darker head & nape and vent & tail ? Common Pheasant ? There are lots in this area, I often used to see them whilst playing golf at Shanghai Links back towards Shanghai (close to the airport).

Still on this side road :

1. & 2. Purple Heron. Heavy crops of fly over !
3 & 4. Another flyby at distance so heavy crops. Unknown bird.
5. This bird had a very loud and unique call, it landed on the wires right above my car but I couldn't get the camera on it for a shot ! I tried everything I could think of, distorting my body and crawling around inside the tight cabin space of a sports car ! Eventually it flew off 100m down the road and this is the heavy crop. The bird really swelled it's upper body each time before launching into song - hence the distorted look. I'd love to know what my tormentor is if anyone can hazard a guess !

I apologise for the extremely poor quality of some of these very heavily cropped shots - I do hope they are enough to help people ID the birds.

A few more from the side road before I arrived at the hotel.

1. Unknown Flyby
2 & 3. Unknown M of F in #4 ?
4. Unknown F of M in 2&3 ?

I wasn't sure where to go when I arrived here (looking for the Bitterns) and I'm sure I messed up !

5. Unknown - these had black faces.

I saw very little activity here (by the hotel) so drove along the coast road where the fields seemed to be filled to capacity with the birds in #2 & 3 - at least judging by the amount of calls being emitted !

1. Common Sandpiper ?
2. & 3. Unknown. ID please ?

Leaving the coast I drove to Binhai Forest Park and on the way spotted 4 & 5. My biggest disappointment from DiShui Hu and the coast being no sightings of some of my favourite birds ; kingfishers and bitterns. Next time perhaps !

4. Oriental Greenfinch (M)
5. Oriental Greenfinch (F)

Binhai Forest Park to come when I've got my breath back

If you have come straight to the last post then please also take a look at new posts #42 to #46 above too. Thanks !

Frogfish said:

1. Arctic warbler (from the shape of it's brow) ?
2. Manchurian Reed Warbler (thanks Dev !).
3. Manchurian Reed Warbler
4. ID Unknown (very strong backlighting but if you open it there is some detail - this is the best recovery I could manage unless you prefer a silhouette) !
5. Another Arctic ?

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Hi Kevin

Lunch time quick views so subject to confirmation from someone with more time on their hands than me this week!

1 Arctic Warbler
2 Black-browed Reed Warbler
3 Black-browed reed Warbler
4 Oriental Reed Warbler
5 Arctic Warbler

cheers
Mark

Frogfish said:

1. & 2. Red Backed Shrike ?
3. Is a Great White Egret ?
4. Pheasant - darker head & nape and vent & tail ? Common Pheasant ? There are lots in this area, I often used to see them whilst playing golf at Shanghai Links back towards Shanghai (close to the airport).

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1 Long-tailed Shrike
2 Long-tailed Shrike
3 Great Egret
4 Common Pheasant

Frogfish said:

Still on this side road :

1. & 2. Purple Heron. Heavy crops of fly over !
3 & 4. Another flyby at distance so heavy crops. Unknown bird.
5. This bird had a very loud and unique call, it landed on the wires right above my car but I couldn't get the camera on it for a shot ! I tried everything I could think of, distorting my body and crawling around inside the tight cabin space of a sports car ! Eventually it flew off 100m down the road and this is the heavy crop. The bird really swelled it's upper body each time before launching into song - hence the distorted look. I'd love to know what my tormentor is if anyone can hazard a guess !

I apologise for the extremely poor quality of some of these very heavily cropped shots - I do hope they are enough to help people ID the birds.

Click to expand...

1/2 Purple Herons
3/4 Not sure
5 Weird! Almost looks like 2 pics together! Not sure

Frogfish said:

A few more from the side road before I arrived at the hotel.

1. Unknown Flyby
2 & 3. Unknown M of F in #4 ?
4. Unknown F of M in 2&3 ?

I wasn't sure where to go when I arrived here (looking for the Bitterns) and I'm sure I messed up !

5. Unknown - these had black faces.

Click to expand...

1 Red Turtle Dove?
2+4 Oriental Reed Warbler
5 Curlew spp?

Frogfish said:

I saw very little activity here (by the hotel) so drove along the coast road where the fields seemed to be filled to capacity with the birds in #2 & 3 - at least judging by the amount of calls being emitted !

1. Common Sandpiper ?
2. & 3. Unknown. ID please ?

Leaving the coast I drove to Binhai Forest Park and on the way spotted 4 & 5. My biggest disappointment from DiShui Hu and the coast being no sightings of some of my favourite birds ; kingfishers and bitterns. Next time perhaps !

4. Oriental Greenfinch (M)
5. Oriental Greenfinch (F)

Binhai Forest Park to come when I've got my breath back

If you have come straight to the last post then please also take a look at new posts #42 to #46 above too. Thanks !

Click to expand...

2&3 Plain Prinia

Mike - thank you for the IDs over the last few posts ! Sorry I couldn't answer before now, horrendously busy at work the last week or so.

the mystery fly-away of post 45 is I think a White-cheeked Starling.

Cheers
Mike

Judging on bill length the fly-away waders in post 46 are Whimbrels

Cheers
Mike

Mike - thanks again for the IDs (sorry for the long delay - extremely busy at work has meant not much time on here, getting better now though) !

Maybe this will entertain some :

http://birdingblogs.com/2012/Gunnar/shit-birders-say

Here are three shots of one of the birds I was after on a recent short trip to Hainan (anyone up for a 12 hour flight to Sanya ? That's what it took us) !

Olive Backed Sunbird (hummingbird sized little darlings). Sorry about the size of the last one - the forum software keep replacing one shot with another when I try to upload (similar names) so I have to load these at different three sizes to get it to accept them all !

Those are crackers Kevin!

Yes, nice! I like the pink reflection on the underside in the second pic, and a very interesting pose in the third!