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Jiangsu birding (1 Viewer)

ryckfour

Well-known member
I'm hoping to visit my son who is working in Changzhou at the moment. Looks as though the trip will be at the end of February/beginning of March. Does anyone have any suggestions of sites to visit at that time of year and which species to look out for?
 
http://www.shanghaibirdingtour.org/hotspot.html
This website shows a few locations that are in the vicinity of Changzhou. I hope someone with more direct knowledge of the area replies, but I would recommend you try the larger parks within the city like Hongmei Park and Qingfeng Park, and any areas along the local waterways that are vegetated.

Some out-of-town Jiangsu locations are discussed here:
http://www.alpinebirding.com/index.php?m=content&c=index&a=show&catid=87&id=28

Some possible contacts here:
http://fatbirder.com/links_geo/asia/china_jiangsu.html

Almost forgot to include this link from Craig Brelsford:
http://blog.craigbrelsford.com/#home

Craig is an avid birder and guide who has generously posted many of his detailed trip reports. His Nanjing report may be of interest:
http://blog.craigbrelsford.com/#post331
 
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I've only been to Changzhou once, but what I saw didn't make me think of wide open green spaces. In fact, I don't remember seeing any, although to be fair we stayed in the new town. As to water-ways, much of the area along the Grand Canal east of the city is highly industrialized (That's where our plant is), so I'm not sure what's available there. They are planning on reclaiming it for "tourism" but that's a couple years away.

I'd suggest you hop on the HSR to Nanjing and go to Purple Mountain. That's probably the closest and most accessible large park.

Getting to the coastal sites around Shanghai will take a bit of travel time from Changzhou (2+ hours each way between HSR and metro or taxi). It's tough to do in a day trip on public transport. That might be worth a weekend though or do it on your way in or out of China.
 
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If u take some time out of Changzhou city,u can try Baer's Pochard in Tai Lake,or further north to Yancheng for Red-crowned Crane etc.

Cranes can be readily seen till early Mar(most of them leave in late Feb).Waterfowls leave later.
 
Lianyungang is also good for wintering seabirds incl. Yellow-billed and Black-throated Loons,Ancient and Long-billed Murrelets...if we happen to organise a pelagic trip which u may be able to join in.

and the coastal area of Lianyungang and Rudong are good for Saunders's Gull,Relict Gull and Far Eastern Oystercatcher.
 
Are the red crowned cranes in Yancheng by ~20 Nov? Is birding possible for a non mandarin speaking person or is it bett to get a guide?
 
Gulls at Tai Lake

If u take some time out of Changzhou city,u can try Baer's Pochard in Tai Lake,or further north to Yancheng for Red-crowned Crane etc.

Cranes can be readily seen till early Mar(most of them leave in late Feb).Waterfowls leave later.

Got out to Tai Lake as you suggested but missed out on Bauer's Pochard. I was pleased to see Baikal Teal, though.

In among the Black-headed Gulls at the Lake were a few 'Herring Gull-type' large gulls which (without a telescope) I assume to be Vega Gulls. Within this group of larger gulls was one individual with a noticeably darker mantle (perhaps as dark as a Lesser Black-backed Gull in the UK). Is this usual for Vega Gull or have I misidentified a second species?
 
Purple Mountain

I've only been to Changzhou once, but what I saw didn't make me think of wide open green spaces. In fact, I don't remember seeing any, although to be fair we stayed in the new town. As to water-ways, much of the area along the Grand Canal east of the city is highly industrialized (That's where our plant is), so I'm not sure what's available there. They are planning on reclaiming it for "tourism" but that's a couple years away.

I'd suggest you hop on the HSR to Nanjing and go to Purple Mountain. That's probably the closest and most accessible large park.

Getting to the coastal sites around Shanghai will take a bit of travel time from Changzhou (2+ hours each way between HSR and metro or taxi). It's tough to do in a day trip on public transport. That might be worth a weekend though or do it on your way in or out of China.

Thanks for the steer about Purple Mountain, we visited the area twice and had some great birds including a few surprises when compared to the winter distributions shown in field guides: Yellow-browed Warbler 'out of season' and both Chestnut Bulbul and White-backed Woodpecker 'out of range'. Spent a long time trying to work out Silver-throated Tit which seems to be largely absent from guides and web resources.
 
Waterways

http://www.shanghaibirdingtour.org/hotspot.html
This website shows a few locations that are in the vicinity of Changzhou. I hope someone with more direct knowledge of the area replies, but I would recommend you try the larger parks within the city like Hongmei Park and Qingfeng Park, and any areas along the local waterways that are vegetated.

Some out-of-town Jiangsu locations are discussed here:
http://www.alpinebirding.com/index.php?m=content&c=index&a=show&catid=87&id=28

Some possible contacts here:
http://fatbirder.com/links_geo/asia/china_jiangsu.html

Almost forgot to include this link from Craig Brelsford:
http://blog.craigbrelsford.com/#home

Craig is an avid birder and guide who has generously posted many of his detailed trip reports. His Nanjing report may be of interest:
http://blog.craigbrelsford.com/#post331

Thanks for suggesting looking at the waterways through Changzhou. We saw our only Naumann's Thrushes in a small greenspace by the old bridge on the main canal along with Oriental Greenfinch and Olive-backed Pipit which, again, we saw nowhere else on the trip. We had Dusky Thrush in a couple of greenspaces in the city.
 
Thanks for the steer about Purple Mountain, we visited the area twice and had some great birds including a few surprises when compared to the winter distributions shown in field guides: Yellow-browed Warbler 'out of season' and both Chestnut Bulbul and White-backed Woodpecker 'out of range'. Spent a long time trying to work out Silver-throated Tit which seems to be largely absent from guides and web resources.

Chestnut bulbul probably isn't that far out of range. I had them in December in Hangzhou a few years back and I believe I've had them in Anhui as well. Also bear in mind that the range maps in MacKinnon are pretty weak.

Silver-throated tit is a recent split. The field guides wouldn't show them as that. Rather they'd be under a subspecies of long-tailed tit.
 
Hello,

Be sure to check if your gulls are Mongolian or Vega, they are distinguishable in winter by Mongolian having faint streaking on the back of the neck sometime referred to as a shawl. Vega are very streaked but they could be losing this already in early March. I'm not sure which one would be more common where you are.

The dark mantled herring type gull could be a taimyrensis Heuglin's Gull? Again, I'm not sure if they occur where you are but they might be worth looking up. Do Slaty-backed make it that far south in winter?

Range maps and winter/summer ranges in books are interesting in China. You have to feel for people making the books as they really don't have much to go on....this is changing though.
 
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Chestnut bulbul probably isn't that far out of range. I had them in December in Hangzhou a few years back and I believe I've had them in Anhui as well. Also bear in mind that the range maps in MacKinnon are pretty weak.

Silver-throated tit is a recent split. The field guides wouldn't show them as that. Rather they'd be under a subspecies of long-tailed tit.

Thanks Jeff. I'd pretty much ignored the MacKinnon maps and was working from Brazil Birds of East Asia which has Chestnut Bulbul in Fujian only. Silver-throated Tit was a great little bird but caused me some brain ache since it is mentioned in the text in Brazil but not illustrated. It was quite fun trying to pull together field notes and random poor internet images to confirm it for myself.
 
Hello,

Be sure to check if your gulls are Mongolian or Vega, they are distinguishable in winter by Mongolian having faint streaking on the back of the neck sometime referred to as a shawl. Vega are very streaked but they could be losing this already in early March. I'm not sure which one would be more common where you are.

The dark mantled herring type gull could be a taimyrensis Heuglin's Gull? Again, I'm not sure if they occur where you are but they might be worth looking up. Do Slaty-backed make it that far south in winter?

Range maps and winter/summer ranges in books are interesting in China. You have to feel for people making the books as they really don't have much to go on....this is changing though.

Thank you for your reply. Taimyrensis Heuglin's Gull certainly matches my notes on size and colour. Hard to tell whether their winter range would be that far south (and whether they would be that far inland).

Slaty-backed may be too dark (I had considered this species at the time).
 
Thanks Jeff. I'd pretty much ignored the MacKinnon maps and was working from Brazil Birds of East Asia which has Chestnut Bulbul in Fujian only. ...

By the way, I saw my first Chestnut Bulbuls last weekend, here in Nanchang - a good deal west of Fujian! There's so little recording of birds' presence that range maps are tough...
 
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