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

Congratulations on your Siberian Blue Robin Michael!

I'll leave horornis taxonomy to other HK birders - way too complex and uncertain for me.

Cheers
Mike

Three evenings at Qianhu

Highlights
Wed 29 April,
Grey-streaked flycatcher, 2+, my! What long wings you have!

Thurs 30 April
Sibe Blue Robin, glimpsed, presumed same bird as two days before in exactly same place
Chinese sparrowhawk, a male charging around
Arctic warbler, 1
Swinhoe’s Robin, 1 singing

Friday 1 May
Bit of a clear-out, no warblers seen
Hair-crested drongo, 1 calling bird
Large hawk-cuckoo, calling most days for the last week, never had a glimpse
Photos
1. Scrubby open area at Qianhu, good site for VT parrotbills
2. 5 metres into these trees is the sibe blue robin site
3. GH Lapwing site to south of bridge
4. Approaching the main woodland

Playing with new toy

Today I bought a Nikon Coolpix P610s as a record-shot birding camera which I can carry all the time. Really poor light today but I took this range of shots, without moving, all hand held to test the zoom.
The first is at max wide angle, the second last is at the 60x max optical and the last at 120x digital.
Impressive given hand-held in poor light

Michael congrats on that Siberian Blue Robin! It is a truly stunning bird and one that I know meant a lot to you. I also appreciate your discussion of Japanese/Manchurian Bush Warbler.

Another visit to Emei Feng, Fujian

I spent last weekend birding at Emei Feng with Craig and Elaine. This was my fifth visit to this superb site and we were fairly successful in getting our targets. Craig has very comprehensive details and lists on his site.

Best birds, Emei Feng and road to Jiangxi border, Sat/Sun 2/3 May 2015

Cabot’s tragopan, got my first views of a male, briefly from the car on the drive down from the Jiangxi border.
(WT) White-necklaced partridge, we all piled out of the car after a Cabot’s was seen, I did not see the bird but I did get a glimpse of another bird walking across the forest floor: WNP! A very lucky find.
Chinese bamboo partridge, a common bird in the lowlands
Mandarin duck, 20+ on flooded areas, guess they must be breeding in the woods
Chinese sparrowhawk, clearly passage occurring, fairly common
Black eagle, 2
(HO) Collared owlet, several heard, now becoming a bogey bird
Great barbet, fairly common and often heard
Grey-chinned minivet, some excellent views
Yellow-cheeked tit, several good views of the superb rex males
Chestnut bulbul, common
Black bulbul, few white-headed and all-black forms
(WT) Buff-throated warbler, fairly common in the alpine scrub around the summit with the TV mast
(WT) Hartert’s warbler, 1 singing bird gave excellent views, about 300m up the summit road.
(WT) Sulphur breasted warbler, about 5 singing birds along the road between 11.5 and 12km
White-spectacled warbler, a common songster, one gave excellent views
Rufous-faced warbler, a common bird, heard much more than seen
Grey-sided scimitar-babbler, One bird gave an excellent view
(HO) Pygmy wren-babbler 1 calling bird close to the road
Blyth’s shrike-babbler, 4+
Dusky fulvetta, 1 calling at dusk gave good views
Indochinese yuhina, a common bird
Black-chinned yuhina, a few flocks
White-bellied erpornis, few
Grey-headed parrotbill, 2
Slaty-backed forktail, 2
WC forktail, the commonest of the three species here
Spotted forktail, 1 excellent view
Blue rock thrush, a few philippensis
Chestnut-bellied rock thrush, a pair
Fork-tailed sunbird, 2

Craig and Elaine had heard Spotted Elachura before I visited, they also saw sultan tit and small niltava.
I hope to return at the end of May, my target list is now…
Spotted Elachura
Small niltava
Sultan tit
Short-billed minivet
Other siecercus warblers such as Bianchi’s and Alstrom’s

Pictures
1. Indochinese yuhina
2. The temple
3. Great barbet (a very distant x120 shot)
4. A male rex yellow-cheeked tit
5. The TV mast at the summit

Strange stuff on trees

At Emei Fang we saw trees covered in what appeared to be a white foam.
Any ideas
See photos

Buff-throated warbler

This phylloscopus warbler seems to be fairly common in suitable habitat which at Emei Feng is around the TV tower at Emei Feng. We had one pair as low as the wooden boardwalk, but the alpine habitat they prefer is only just starting at the temple level.

2 photos of the bird plus 2 of the alpine habitat

White-spectacled warbler

Some nice photos of this common songster at Emei Feng

Three visits to Qianhu

I was able to make quick visits to Qianhu on the evening of Wed/Thur 6/7 May and a few hours on Sat 9 May.
Generally quiet with very few warblers, today, Saturday, I had hints of passage such as dollarbird and a close oriental cuckoo calling.

Best birds, Qianhu, 6-9 May 2015

Striated heron, back now, breed in small numbers here
GH Lapwing, 8 adults, assumed 4 pairs, simultaneously mobbing by the bridge, assume they creching-up their young.
Common sand, 4+ around the lake
Pied Kingfisher, at least 2 pairs in the area
Brown shrike, 2
Dollarbird, 1 briefly today, 9 May
HC drongo, one on 7 May, one on 9 May
Ashy drongo, one on 7 May
Red-billed blue magpie, one of unknown provenance on 9 May
Black-throated tit, breed here, at least 6 birds together on 7 May
YB Prinia, few heard around the lake
Oriental Cuckoo, one was in the treetops on 9 May, it suddenly started calling, got a decent recording, bird never seen
http://www.xeno-canto.org/240570

Indian cuckoo, calling distantly on all 3 visits
Large hawk-cuckoo, always around and calling, not yet seen
Arctic warbler, only warbler seen on 9 May, singing, got a nice recording (except for the noisy Large hawk-cuckoo
http://www.xeno-canto.org/240568

Horornis fortipes; heard on every visit
Grey-streaked flycatcher, 1 on 9 May
White wagtail, young leucopsis now around, confusingy pale and long-tailed they give a passing resemblance to citrine wag.

the Oriental Cuckoo sounds more like a Common Cuckoo with a hairy caterpillar blocked in its throat

Spring passage now at peak

Dear Jonathon

Thank you for your comments, it does seem that Oriental Cuckoo has a wide variety of tonal qualities, unlike canorus, it also has a much faster paced and quicker note. I am certain this is oriental.

Sunday was a very warm and humid day with heavy clouds. I started with a walk round my usual woodland at Qianhu then took a cab over to Elephant lake. I hardly recognized the place, huge amounts of earth moving and planting of trees has occurred to produce a very photogenic water parkland.
The main pool has a few tiny patches of reed which held the first black-browed reed warbler of the spring. A few migrants around, but nothing stunning. On Sunday night it poured, finally clearing up on Monday afternoon, I got down to Qianhu for a glorious clear and sunny evening’s birding, the most obvious migrant being lots of brown shrike.
Best birds Qianhu and Elephant Lake on Sunday 10 May and QH on Monday 11 May
Yellow bittern, 1 at EL on 10 May, first of the year
Black bittern, a pair flew over EL on 10 May, first spring record in the city
Striated heron, few at QH
BC Night Heron, 20+ around QH at dusk
Common sandpiper, 5+ at QH
LRP, 1 at QH
Indian cuckoo, calling at QH both days
Large hawk cuckoo, calling at QH
Brown shrike, 10+ at QH on 11 May, most pale grey-headed lucionensis, but the one I photoed looks very brown headed, is this cristatus?
LT Shrike, common, a young bird at EL
Black-winged cuckoo shrike, 1 calling male at EL on 10 May
Black drongo, 2 at EL on 11 May
Black-browed reed warbler, 1 in a tiny reedbed at EL on 10 May
Vinous-throated parrotbill, fairly common at QH, recorded a three-note whistle
http://www.xeno-canto.org/241076

Grey-streaked flycatcher, 1 at EL,
Asian brown flycatcher, 1 at QH
Dark-sided flycatcher, 1 at QH 11 May

Photos
1 and 2 A very brown brown shrike at QH this evening, is this a cristatatus?
3. Dark-sided fly at QH this evening
4. A poor shot of grey-streaked yesterday, note the long wings
5. After the rain an unusually clear view of the city from Qianhu

sorry to insist, but this is a Common Cuckoo to me. This sounds nothing at all like an Oriental Cuckoo which should be much lower in frequency...

mjgrunwell said:

I spent last weekend birding at Emei Feng with Craig and Elaine. ...

Click to expand...

Thanks, Michael, for your help in making Emeifeng a tight, productive little trip. We covered enough to make us reasonably satisfied but left enough on the table to entice us to go back--which we look forward to doing later this month.

The last of spring passage

Firstly my thanks to Jonathan for pointing out my mistake re calling common cuckoo.
A very quiet couple of weeks, spring passage appears to have fizzled out. I was out birding for half a day today, Sunday 24 May and I did not see a single bird that could be called a passage migrant, bar singing bb reed warbler
Highlights around Nanchang, Qianhu and Elephant lake, 12 May to 24 May 2015
Spotbill duck, always a few pairs around
Chinese Pond heron, Elephant lake holds a few, not common
Striated heron, probably 10+ nesting near Qianhu
BC Night heron, a common bird around QH
Brown shrike, a few lucionensis around, presumed to be the summering breeders
Common magpie, 8 birds at QH, 24 May
Black-throated tit, several pairs successfully bred at QH
YB prinia, still singing strongly
Oriental reed warbler, two birds at EL on 17 May, a scarce bird through Nanchang
Black-browed reed warbler, 2 singing at EL, 2 singing at QH, 2 still present singing today, they are not supposed to breed south of the Yangtze so I guess they will move on
Thick-billed warbler, they seem to move through en masse in mid May, one bird at EL on 17 May
Arctic warbler, the last of the spring seen on 17 May
Brown flycatcher, a few but none in the last few days
Hair-crested drongo, the last of the Spring seen at QH on 20 May

Hope to return to Emei Feng this weekend.

no problem Mike. Oriental Cuckoo is a rare bird in SOuth China that is only encounter during its migration and Cuckoo are usually silent during migration. They are probably overlooked given the difficulties to separate them from other silent Himalayan and/or Lesser Cuckoo.
I've been given to hear twice Oriental Cuckoo, as Himalayan it recall Hoopooe song but deeper, and the key to separate it from Himalayan is that it lack the introduction note that Himalayan is having...this was as far as I remember one of the most reason why these two species has been split...

My sixth visit to Emei Feng

Yesterday I took another train day-trip out to Taining to meet up with Craig and Elaine
Craig has all the detail on his website. The morning was very wet, we spent the time working the area around the Shuibu reservoir (SR), there is a small colony of blue-throated bee eater here, guess they use the tall sandy cliffs for nesting. See the attached map. We had no luck looking for Crested kingfisher (3 of which Craig had seen the day before) This was the big miss as crested fish-dog (their name in Chinese) is a bit of a bogey for me.
It started to clear so at midday we drove all the way to the TV station at the summit and walked down. The very heavy rain of the morning had caused the channels at the roadside to block and overflow across the road. At one point the road resembled a rocky river bed. After some time clearing a path we had had the whole summit area to ourselves for the day. We found that brown-bush warbler responded readily to tape and that they were common in the alpine scrub. They are great skulkers but when singing sometimes come out and show themselves. I even got a few record shots.
The cloud then closed down again and the birding was a little thin. We had a superb male Cabot’s by the roadside and I flushed a covey of Elliot’s at last light at the roadside at the NW corner of SR (see map)

Highlights, Saturday, 30 May 2015, Emei Feng and surrounds, Fujian

Cabot’s Tragopan, a superb male at the roadside then two females a little later at the same spot. The road from 12 to 14 km is reliable for this species. I have seen them on 4/8 days spent here, through the year. I rate your chance of seeing this species at greater than 50pct if you concentrate on this stretch.

Elliot’s pheasant, they can be seen on the road, generally around 8-10 km, however the bamboo plantations around the north and west shore of SR do seem your best bet. I flushed an immature male then 5 presumed females out of one spot in thick grass just by the roadside. The behavior of sticking very close together, perhaps at roosting time, I had noted at a previously-reliable spot less than a km north (this site is now scraped clean and useless for roosting pheasant). See my attached map. Very much hit or miss, I put your chance of seeing Elliot’s if you do not seriously try at less than 10 percent, if you concentrate on the areas highlighted on my map then you probably have a 50 percent chance per day of success.

Mandarin duck 15+ on ponds to the west of SR
(CT) Blue-throated bee-eater, 15+ on wires along the eastern shore of SR (see map)
Grey-chinned minivet, a few, never had the chance to confirm the presence of short-billed here in summer.
Streak-breasted scimitar babbler, quite common today, several excellent views
Buff-throated warbler, 4+ around the temple boarwalk
This was the only Phylloscopus seen today, no sign of the Hartert’s or Sulphur-breasted we had 4 weeks earlier.
White-spectacled warbler, common above 1400m, the only Seicercus we could find
Buffy LT, Craig had seen loads around the temple area prior to my visit but I only had distant calls.
Grey treepie, 2, my first decent view
(WT) Brown bush warbler, the outstanding species of the day. Responded instantly to tape at the very summit. We had at least 6 singing birds, all seen. A really good bird and another reason to visit Emei Feng. I guess they are only up here for the summer?
Chestnut-bellied rock thrush, a noisy pair.

This was probably my last visit to Emei Feng as I am moving to Shanghai this summer, I hope you find the info useful.

Attached images
1. Map of Shuibu reservoir
2. Distant shot in the rain of a blue-throated bee-eater on a wire
3. An oriental barred owlet
4 and 5 Poor shots of brown bush warbler

Hi Michael.
My wife and I are birders from Florida, US. We will be in Nanchang in June-July. Any recommendations on birding books to get in China? (we both read Chinese)

Hal Nicholas

Books

Dear Hal
Not much choice,McKinnons's Birds of China, Oxford, covers all the species but can be unreliable about range and is outdated taxonomically. Mark Brazil's Birds of East Asia is a better field guide and whilst excellent with the birds of Japan is at its weakest when dealing with SE China. I am not aware of a stunning field guide only available in Chinese.
Best of luck

A very wet spring

Humid and unusually wet this spring. I had planned to finally go to Wuyuan to tick off BC LT this weekend but flooding in the area is making access difficult, a walk down the hill above Wanli last weekend produced little except speckled piculet. My last full week in Nanchang.

birds in Nanchang

Thanks for the book info Michael. Kinda figured (remember checking reviews on Amazon a long time ago). Any general tips for birding in Nanchang and environs during June-July?