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Brilliant, Tom. And just reward for working a 'patch'. Jinshitan is superbly located on the flyway along the peninsula to Laotieshan, so almost everything will come to you given enough time... still banking on you finding a Streaked Reed Warbler..
Went for a quick hour after work today with my dad. As soon as we got there we saw Honey Buzzards screaming south right where I hike to the ridge during fall migration. We didn't hike up to the ridge due to time but spent an hour staring straight up counting raptors. We had a big cold front pass yesterday and the temperature dropped 10 degrees with a strong north wind. This has got everything moving. We were wondering how many we would have seen if we were there the whole day! Below is what passed over in an hour (very late afternoon just before dark). Didn't bother checking much of the other areas there.
On the way out we had a group of 40 Egrets fly overhead and I counted at least 12 Intermediate Egrets in the group. Don't have time for photos at the moment. Raptor migration through southern Liaoning in full swing!
Taking advantage of the recent cold front I headed out to the ponds again and went straight to the wetlands this time instead of checking for raptor migration. I covered a slightly different area as well.
Common Pheasant – 4
Japanese Quail – 4
Mandarin Duck – 1
Gadwall – 6
Falcated Duck – 1
Mallard – 50
Spot-billed Duck – 35
Garganey – 1
Eurasian Teal - 12
Little Grebe – 15
Striated Heron – 1
Grey Heron – 6
Great Egret – 10
Intermediate Egret – 12
Little Egret – 2
Eurasian Kestrel – 3
Eurasian Sparrowhawk – 1
Northern Hobby – 1
Pied Harrier – 4 (2 male, 2 female in one group migrating overhead near dusk)
Common Moorhen – 20
Common Coot – 14
Green Sandpiper – 2
Black-headed Gull – 5
Vega/Mongolian Gull – 4
Whiskered tern – 1
Oriental turtle Dove – 6
Common Kingfisher – 1
Ashy Minivet – heard in the woods on the way
Chinese Grey Shrike – 2
Great Tit – 2
Barn Swallow – 1000 or more (huge numbers right at dusk)
Lanceolated Warbler – 1
Lanceolated or Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler – 3
Oriental Reed Warbler – 4
Dusky Warbler – 8
Radde’s Warbler – 1
Yellow-browed Warbler – 1
White-eye Sp. – 50
Winter Wren – 1
White-cheeked Starling – 50
Common Stonechat – 4
White Wagtail – 20
Richard’s Pipit – 3
Yellow-breasted Bunting – 3
Black-faced Bunting - 15
Spent from 5-9 at the ridge this past Saturday morning. Highlights include another Eurasian Eagle Owl. I need to hike through a patch of forest to get up to the ridge and I arrived about 20 minutes before any kind of daylight and so was waiting for a bit of light before starting. While I waited, the owl landed within 15 meters of me. I saw it coming and land and there's no mistaking that size of a beast! I tried a few pictures but couldn't figure out how to get any type of silhouette shot in that kind of light. After about 30 seconds it lifted and dropped into the trees not far away. Unbelievable how silent they are despite their size!
The next highlight was what I believe to be a Northern House Martin. I checked with a few others and received a "if I was to put money on it, it would be" reply and a "but not that much money!" addition. Does anyone have experience separating Asian House Martin and Northern House Martin in September when juvenile birds are around? I have more photos than the ones attached. It would be a life bird for me so I want to be careful.
The Praying Mantist shared my rock on the top of the ridge with me for most of the morning.
Here is the list from that morning in no particular order:
White-eye Sp. - 75
Black-faced Bunting - 3
Eurasian Eagle Owl - 1
Northern Hobby - 4
Common Rosefinch - 7
Great Egret - 6
Intermediate Egret - 2
Mallard - 45
Olive-backed Pipit - 15
Barn Swallow - 169
Pipit Sp. -15
Mongolian/Vega Gull - 8
Brambling - 10
Hill Pigeon - 1
Ashy Minivet - 95
Great Tit - 2
Grey Heron - 4
Common Kingfisher - 1
White Wagtail - 1
Japanese Sparrowhawk - 2
Oriental Turtle Dove - 11
Amur Falcon - 2
Peregrine Falcon - 4
Chinese Grosbeak - 1
Chinese Grey Shrike - 1
Chestnut-eared bunting - 3
Spot-billed Duck - 12
Garganey - 4
Little Egret - 1
Oriental Honey Buzzard - 6
Red-rumped Swallow - 44
Eurasian Kestrel - 1
Green Sandpiper - 1
Eurasian Siskin - 1
Yellow-bellied Tit - 2
Northern House Martin - 4
Black-headed Gull - 25
Eurasian Sparrowhawk - 1
Red-throated Pipit - 1
Northern Goshawk - 1
I just returned from two days at the Laotieshan banding station with my two children. The kids both thoroughly enjoyed themselves and are talking about returning soon. I have many many precious photos. We met up with Terry Townshend who is birding Laotieshan for about a week. I have no species list from the two days but saw A LOT of things in the area.
Check out the Honey Buzzard below. Have no idea what happened but I doubt it can make it across the ocean....
I spent a few hours with Terry at the lighthouse today while my kids played in the petting zoo conveniently located quite near! These photos show what can be seen in the area in a few hours on a random day in late Sept or early Oct. We spent the whole afternoon at the banding station (notice the ring on the turtle dove) with 17 members of the Beijing Bird Watching society and quite a few students.