• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

China 2010 (1 Viewer)

Shi Jin

Well-known member
The challenge is for me to photograph 365 bird species during 2010. For shots to be included, they must pass the entirely subjective litmus test of being "not that bad".

Easier said than done I'm sure (as you can see from Day 1's collection, I'm already struggling to meet my own low standards)

I spent the first day of the year on top of Emei Shan in Sichuan province....

1st January; Emei Shan, Sichuan

"... I watched the sun rise above the clouds in the valley below, heralding the new day, new year, and new decade.
After two days of snow and fog, at last I could see clear, blue sky.
I continued walking upwards; in two hours I would reach the jinding, or "golden summit" at 3077 metres.
In that time, I saw only a couple of flocks of birds - or perhaps even the same roving flock. The summit was bird-less; but I was not downhearted. The majestic vista was compensation enough.
It had taken me three days to walk up the entire mountain - on the longer, south-eastern route. I had walked up a vertical 2.5 KM. The cold and miserable weather of the past few days and my aching joints somehow made the achivement of getting to the top even more satisfying.
At that moment, I could understand why mountaineers do what they do. I had only walked up steps mind; and I'm more than happy to leave the serious mountains to the people who know what they are doing.
The blue sky and brilliant sunshine would last until 4pm, when the bus I had taken from the Greeting Gate back down the mountain descended into the veil of clouds and fog that had sat at around 2,400 metres for the last few days."
.................................................................
Grey-hooded Fulvetta (photo) c20
Slaty Bunting 2
Beavan's Bullfinch (photo of m & f) 7
Chestnut Thrush 2
Elliot's Laughingthrush few
Putative Hodgson’s Treecreeper (photo) 1
Grey-crested Tit (photo) 5
“Crested” Coal Tit few
Plain Mountain-Finch (photo) 1
Rufous-vented Tit (photo) few
................................................................
The photos of the 6 species can be seen on my website at:

http://www.chinesecurrents.com/2010birds1.html

2010 = 6 species/1 day
 
Last edited:
12th January; Botanical Gardens, Beijing,

"Cold. Very cold. Several degrees below zero. Windchill factor minus a silly number. And I'm talking about today's high, not lows.
But brilliant sunshine from sunrise to sunset. It was the latter that persuaded me to venture out today needless to say. And I'm pleased I did.
There were lots of birds around. In easy-to-spot, hard-to-scare flocks. The desire to find food outweighed the fear of people. For someone with a camera, this is good news.
Most of the bird activity was in the young conifers on the track to Wofo temple. Even better news, most of those trees' canopies are between 4 and 6 yards off the ground.
So, it was just a matter of waiting for the bird to sit out, and turn towards the sun with a glint in its eye.
Easier said than done of course. Posing in this part of the world can be dangerous, and every Chinese-born bird has had any propensity to do so stamped out of its gene-line many centuries ago.
Today was a day of firsts:
The first time I've seen any parrotbill feeding on pine cones (let alone a flock of 30). The first time I've seen Chinese Hill Warbler feeding in conifer trees. The first time I've seen any warbler (Chinese Hill) eating snow. And the first time I've seen a spider (or at least something with lots of legs) in winter in Beijing.
Here's the list of species (not many you may think, but in this part of China at this time of year, I'm more than happy)."
......
Brambling c10
Tree Sparrow Lots
Yellow-bellied Tit (photo) c15
Chinese Nuthatch (photo) sev
Eastern Great Tit few
Vinous-throated Parrotbill (photo) c30
Marsh Tit 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker (photo) few
Grey-headed Woodpecker 1
Long-tailed Tit (photo) c15
Chinese Hill Warbler (photo) 3
(1 near Wofo; 2 in Cherry Valley)
Azure-winged Magpie (photo) c30
Magpie c10

................................................................
"Not that bad" photos today of 7 species (all new for 2010)
can be seen at:

http://www.chinesecurrents.com/2010birds2.html

2010 = 13 species photographed /12 days
 
Last edited:
20th January 2010, Beijing Botanical Gardens

Today was the first day this week that was not too misty to venture out. I toyed with the idea of dashing over to Wild Duck Lake (in the far north-west of Beijing municipality), where there have been amazing numbers of some very special birds recently:
More than 300 Pallas's Sandgrouse, 200 Mongolian Larks, and 300 Pine Buntings have presumably been pushed down from the north-west of China, where there has been a significant amount of snow lately. But with a high of minus three and a windchill factor perhaps 10 degrees colder than that, the thought of Wild Duck Lake was not an enticing one. Decided to stay much closer to home.
The Botanical Gardens held plenty of birds despite the cold. Highlights of the day were three Pere David's Laughingthrushes. As I was crawling on the snowy ground to get closer to one, I heard a "there's one here with a yellow eye-brow." "Ssshhhhh, I'm trying to get a shot of the laugher," I pleaded. It's only when I checked my photos that I found that I had inadvertently also got a shot of the "yellow-browed" bird as it fed on the ground among a flock of Brambling. It was a Siberian Accentor! I hadn't even noticed it at the time (shame, I would have tried for a better shot). Serves me right for ignoring the call.
Other highlights were 2 Chinese Hill Warblers, 4 Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpeckers, 2 Chinese Nuthatches, and a flock of 5 Collared Finchbills. Despite being several hundred kilometres further north than they supposedly should be, the Finchbills seem to be surviving one of the coldest winters in Beijing for many years (if they were introuduced here, as some suspect, then their resiliance is particularly remarkable).
.
...................................................................................
.
Pere David's Laughingthrush (photo) 2
Collared Finchbill (photo) 5
Brambling (photo) Two flocks (10+5)
Spotted Dove 1
Tree Sparrow (photo) c50
Yellow-bellied Tit c10
Chinese Nuthatch (photo) 2
Eastern Great Tit c30
Marsh Tit 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker few
Grey-headed Woodpecker 1
Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker 4
Long-tailed Tit c10
Chinese Hill Warbler (photo) 2
Azure-winged Magpie c50
Magpie c10
Red-billed Blue Magpie (photo) 4
Siberian Accentor (Armchair!) 1

..................................................
Photos published today of 7 species (5 not photographed before in 2010)

... Can be seen at: http://www.chinesecurrents.com/2010birds3.html

2010 = 18 species photographed /20 days
 
Last edited:
Looking forward to this Shi Jin!

Not an easy challenge I feel, but should be some corkers and a few rarely photographed species judging by your China travels so far!
 
Agreed. Good luck - I look forward to following this thread.
Your temperatures put the UK to shame given the chaos over a drop of snow here this winter!
 
Thanks for the encouragement!

Wenyu River, Chaoyang/Shunyi, Beijing

Thursday, 21st January 2010, 9am to 12.45pm



"Coldest winter for 40 years," I had read.
It may be cold, in fact very cold, but at least today was sunny. The blue sky and brilliant sunshine made me think that the pain would be worth enduring, and so I headed out for a five mile walk hoping to find something that would vindicate my decision to go where no one in his right mind had gone before - at least today: The Wenyu river and the fields and trees that skirt it.

When you have low expectations, you are not often disappointed! But, even if it had been a mild winter's day, I don't think I would have enjoyed myself as much.

Today was full of surprises: I saw far more birds than I had thought possible (20 species in all). Not only that, I managed to get okay shots of 8 species that I had not photographed before this year: a wintering Green Sandpiper (hey, do yourself a favour, fly south before it's too late); an eastern race Water Pipit (Anthus spinoletta blakistoni); a Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker (3 birds); a Siberian Meadow Bunting (ssp weigoldi); a pair of Mallards (don't mock, they actually look quite good in flight against the snow); Oriental Greenfinch (2 birds), a Marsh Tit (ssp hellmayri?), and even a wren (which stretches my "not bad" photo-acceptance criterion to the limit... but it was 50 yards away, and it's the first time I've photographed that species in China).

There's talk of going to see some Pallas's Sandgrouse at the weekend. Now that would certainly warm me up. Watch this space.

...................................................................................

Green Sandpiper (photo) 1
Water Pipit (photo) 1
Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker (photo) 3
Siberian Meadow Bunting (photo) 2
Long-billed Crow c20
Eastern Buzzard 1
Magpie c30
Azure-winged magpie c30
Marsh Tit (photo) 1
Mallard (photo) c800
Gadwall 2 (a pair)
Teal c20
Great Spotted Woodpecker 2
Grey-headed Woodpecker 1
Rufous Turtle Dove 2
Spotted Dove 4
Collared Dove 1
Tree Sparrow c200
Oriental Greenfinch (photo) 2
Wren (photo) 1
..................................................

Photos published today of 8 species (all not photographed before in 2010) at:

http://www.chinesecurrents.com/2010birds4.html

2010 = 26 species photographed /21 days


BTW My favourite 100 photos of Chinese birds that I shot in 2009 appear on my website at:

http://www.chinesecurrents.com/wild_water.html
 
Machang Cun, Jingliang Qiao, Beijing

Saturday, 23rd January 2010, 9.30am to 3.30pm


Strange weather in Beijing today. I heard from a friend who was birding at Wild Duck Lake today that he had to throw in the towel by 11am because it was too windy. Some 30 miles south of there, in the south-west of Beijing, there was no wind whatsoever. Not only that, it was brilliantly sunny all day and, at long last, a couple of degrees above freezing point. Ideal conditions, but would the Pallas's Sandgrouse and Mongolian Larks - birds that had been pushed here by the hard weather - have sniffed the air and flown north?

We fanned out across the open, rough ground - which a few years ago was the basin of the Yong Ding river (Beijing's only "river", which has been dry for years).

Within 50 minutes we had connected with the first of our targets - a flock of 50 Mongolian Larks flew high overhead, but continued northwards (towards Mongolia?).
Two hours later, there was still no sign of the sandgrouse, although I had seen a Saker (a scarce winter visitor and passage migrant in these parts).

A phone call from a group of Beijing birders, one mile to the north, delivered the hoped-for news. A flock of sandgrouse had been found. Alas, my dash to join them was in vain, because they had flown off "northwards" shortly before I arrived. As luck would have it, they thought better of the idea of a northward move, and the flock of 6 sandgrouse flew back to exactly the same place - literally over my head. The photos show exactly how close they were!

Then the sky was full of larks. A flock of about 600 - mostly Asian Short-toed; but with many "giant" Mongolians among them - whirrled and twisted in the clear blue sky. Seeing Mongolian Larks is one thing, but getting any kind of shot of the 100 or so birds around me was far more challenging. The attached photos are the best I could muster.

My favourite shot of the day was saved to last, when a Chinese Grey Shrike decided to pose in the brilliant, low sunlight that was streaming in from behind me. I've photographed this species several times before, but the birds have been too distant, or against the light, or too distant and against the light.

As I was waiting for a taxi, a female Eurasian Sparrowhawk flew low over the road. My policy of always having my camera ready paid dividends as I was able to get my best ever shot of this usually difficult to photograph species. A great end to a wonderful day in Beijing.
...................................................................................
.
Mongolian Lark (2 photos) c150
Asian Short-toed Lark (photo) c500
Pallas's Sandgrouse (3 photos) 6
Eurasian Skylark c30
Pallas's Reed Bunting (photo) c80
Siberian Meadow Bunting 2
Little Bunting (photo) c50
Large-billed Crow c20
"Oriental" Crow (photo) c30
Daurian Jackdaw c200
Eurasian Sparrowhawk (photo) 1
Upland Buzzard (2 photos) 2
Saker (photo) 2
Magpie c30
Azure-winged Magpie c20
Tree Sparrow c100
Chinese Grey Shrike (photo) 1
Hen Harrier (2 photos) 1
..................................................

15 photos published today of 11 species (all not photographed before in 2010) at:

http://www.chinesecurrents.com/2010birds5.html

2010 = 37 species photographed /23 days


My favourite 100 photos of Chinese birds from my 2009 trips appear on my website at:

http://www.chinesecurrents.com/wild_water.html
 
Last edited:
Some real quality there - There are even birders from HK twitching this lot - although the birder in question does drive aeroplanes for a living!

Some great pix too - love the sandgrouse!

Cheers
Mike
 
Can only agree with Mike, some quality there!

I only ever see single Mongolian larks, can only imagine how good a flock looks. The Shrike image is a corker, not too many of those about, and thoroughly gripped by the Sandgrouse.
 
Great thread Shi Jin! I wish you the best of luck with your challenge and can relate as I need to finish some bird photography projects sometime this year.
 
The challenge is for me to photograph 365 bird species during 2010. For shots to be included, they must pass the entirely subjective litmus test of being "not that bad".

Easier said than done I'm sure (as you can see from Day 1's collection, I'm already struggling to meet my own low standards)

I spent the first day of the year on top of Emei Shan in Sichuan province....

1st January; Emei Shan, Sichuan

"... I watched the sun rise above the clouds in the valley below, heralding the new day, new year, and new decade.
After two days of snow and fog, at last I could see clear, blue sky.
I continued walking upwards; in two hours I would reach the jinding, or "golden summit" at 3077 metres.
In that time, I saw only a couple of flocks of birds - or perhaps even the same roving flock. The summit was bird-less; but I was not downhearted. The majestic vista was compensation enough.
It had taken me three days to walk up the entire mountain - on the longer, south-eastern route. I had walked up a vertical 2.5 KM. The cold and miserable weather of the past few days and my aching joints somehow made the achivement of getting to the top even more satisfying.
At that moment, I could understand why mountaineers do what they do. I had only walked up steps mind; and I'm more than happy to leave the serious mountains to the people who know what they are doing.
The blue sky and brilliant sunshine would last until 4pm, when the bus I had taken from the Greeting Gate back down the mountain descended into the veil of clouds and fog that had sat at around 2,400 metres for the last few days."
.................................................................
Grey-hooded Fulvetta (photo) c20
Slaty Bunting 2
Beavan's Bullfinch (photo of m & f) 7
Chestnut Thrush 2
Elliot's Laughingthrush few
Putative Hodgson’s Treecreeper (photo) 1
Grey-crested Tit (photo) 5
“Crested” Coal Tit few
Plain Mountain-Finch (photo) 1
Rufous-vented Tit (photo) few
................................................................
The photos of the 6 species can be seen on my website at:

http://www.chinesecurrents.com/2010birds1.html

2010 = 6 species/1 day

dont forget domestic birds chickens duck geese budgies caneries turkey hope this helps Graham
 
Thanks everyone for the encouragement.

Just back from four days on Hainan, in search (again) for the near-mythical Hainan Peacock-Pheasant.

Details shortly...
 
Jianfengling, Hainan

Wednesday, 27th January 2010, 7.10am to 6pm


I woke up on Monday thinking that it would be good to fly south to escape the worst winter in Beijing for many a year. And just to prove that China is a land of possibilities as well as of extremes, the following day (yesterday) I arrived in a place 2763km from and 30 degrees warmer than the capital. Sanya, in the far south of the island province of Hainan, is popular with those who love sandy beaches, warm sea, and the night life that goes with those attractions. It's also popular with those who really do like to get away from it all:

From Sanya's airport, it's a mere two hour drive to Jianfengling, one of the best rain forest areas in China, and home to the much sought-after Hainan Peacock-Pheasant as well as an impressive supporting cast of mid-altitude southern China species, many of which are represented by sub-species that are endemic to the island.

This is my fifth visit to Hainan and my second visit to Jianfengling. Last year, I saw some very special birds, but didn't get close to seeing the Peacock-Pheasant. Would I have better luck this year I wondered as the car left the warmth and blue skies of the coastal lowlands and headed up the fog-shrouded mountain. I arrived at 3pm, with three hours of exploring left in the day. Alas, the thick fog got even thicker and, remarkably, I only managed to actually see two species of birds - Grey Wagtail and the ubiquitous Puff-throated Bulbul.

"It will be fine tomorrow," said an old man I passed on one of the tracks. In these parts perhaps it's a case of "Thick fog at night, sheperd's delight" I mused.
Sure enough, the fog had completely gone by first light and I was able to enjoy an excellent day's birding:

The Ratchet-tailed Treepie was an early-morning treat. Interestingly, I saw the same species last year in what could have been exactly the same flock - Greater Racket-tailed Drongo (2) and Lesser Yellownape (1). This time, though, I was able to get some kind of shot of it as it flitted about in the canopy of a 1500 year-old tree.

Then, at 10am, I heard a rustle in the leaf litter about 30 yards to my right. It wasn't a "rustle, rustle, rustle" (which is usually indicative of a feeding flock of laughingthrushes), but more of a "rustle" (long silence), "rustle" (long silence), "rustle" (long silence). Then I saw something move. I picked up my binoculars and immediately locked on to the amazing sight of the near-mythical Hainan Peacock-Pheasant.

Just as I was thinking that photography was out of the question, as very little light was reaching the forest floor, the bird started to move towards a small chink of light that had somehow broken through. I looked through my camera, but couldn't see the bird at all, although I could see that I would be shooting hand-held at 1/20th of a second at a ridiculously high ISO (let's call it the "rain forest setting"). Nevertheless, I gave it a go, before getting back to the serious business of watching the bird (and finding another one in an even thicker tangle of undergrowth nearby).

After checking my camera later, I was amazed that I had actually got any image of the bird. On the basis that any shot of a Hainan Peacock-Pheasant can't be that bad a shot, I've included it in the day's photo highlights.
...................................................................................

Ratchet-tailed Treepie (photo), 1
Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, endemic ssp johni, 2
Lesser Yellownape (photo), endemic ssp longipennis, 1
Hainan Peacock-Pheasant (photo), endemic species, 2
Green-billed Malkoha, endemic ssp hainanus, 1
Sultan Tit (photo), sev
Crested Serpent Eagle (2 photos), endemic ssp rutherfordi, 3
White-browed Fantail, 1
Grey-cheeked Fulvetta, endemic ssp rufescentor, c30
White-bellied Yuhina, 2
Hainan Leaf Warbler, endemic species, 1
Grey Wagtail, 1
White Wagtail, few
Spot-necked Babbler, endemic ssp swinhoei, sev
Puff-throated Bulbul (photo), endemic nominate ssp pallidus, c30
Mountain Bulbul (photo), 1
Scarlet Minivet (photo), endemic ssp fraterculus, 1
Black-throated Laughingthrush (photo), endemic ssp monachus, few
Little Grebe, 2
Black Drongo, 1
Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler, endemic ssp nigrostellatus, few
..................................................

10 photos published today of 9 species (all not photographed before in 2010) can be seen here:

http://www.chinesecurrents.com/2010birds6.html

2010 = 46 species photographed
 
Last edited:
My pleasure Mike

I have no idea when the island was formed, but I do know that many so-called sub-species there are markedly different from their mainland cousins (no DNA test required ;-)
 
Warning! This thread is more than 10 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top