Shanghai Perambulations (3 Viewers)

Thanks Dev! I had a little trouble ruling out Common, so I posted it up here. Little seems to be slightly uncommon in Shanghai, so I wasn't too sure..

Nanhui guide for a newbie?

Hi All, I'm an expat based in Hangzhou and a very keen bird photographer (and birder!) who plans to visit Shanghai this coming weekend. Based on the comments in this forum and this thread in particular, it looks like Nanhui is the place to be and I have some questions that I hope someone familiar with the location can help me with:
- assuming I base myself at the Holiday Inn Express, are the best locations reachable by foot? looking at Google maps, it looks like the 'magic parking lot' (which i assume is in the vicinity of the statue) should be no problem but what are the other worthy locations in the area? there is some mention of a 'magic dumpster' or some such, anyone care to elaborate on it's location / potential?
- is this a good time of the year to visit? if i was to postpone my trip until the middle of October, would i be better off?
- are mornings or afternoons better? any tips regarding best locations morning vs. afternoon?
Finally, and this is a really long shot, any locals planning a visit to Nanhui this coming Friday or Saturday? (I need to be back in Hangzhou by Saturday night)

Regards,

Caesar

Hi Caesar

Magic Holiday Inn and surrounding area is all good...the parking lot is right next door.

Rest of the birding is up and down the sea wall so wheels are really needed or you will spend a lot of the day walking...no bad thing but the main habitat is widely separated patches of trees and bushes...

No idea what the current large reclamation works have done to the site - need one of the local boys to chip in for that I'm afraid...

cheers
M

Hi Caesar,

Hangzhou is a great place. I visited the Botanical gardens 3 years in a row during late winter. Lovely place, not just a literal meaning for city of love but certainly a lovely place for birding.
Now answer to your questions.
1. The surrounding of the holiday inn used to be good atleast an year before but now the statue got a face lift and you can expect atleast 100 cars parked all around. Thankfully, no cars in the car park except for photographers/birders. The outside of the car park has a fenced basketball court now. The livestock farm south of the Holiday Inn had a good trail which held several Pechora Pipits n Citrine Wagtails last spring is also secured with a gate. So Wheels are really necessary.
2. Magic dumpster is in XiaoYangshan, again wheels are necessary.
3. Passerines are just started coming in. See the latest post in China Observations thread for Jocko's last update. October would be the peak season if you want more birds on your list.
4. Magic car park will be active all the time.
5. I don't have my own wheels so i don't have the liberty to go out every weekend.

McMadd said:

Hi Caesar

No idea what the current large reclamation works have done to the site - need one of the local boys to chip in for that I'm afraid...

cheers
M

Click to expand...

Guess what?

5km wide reeds were cleared near the university road entrance for new roads and several other small patches are being reclaimed. Didn't see a single Reed Parrotbill for the first time in several trips to Nanhui.

New shrimp ponds north of the Holiday Inn.

Sorry McM, you wil not recognize this place on your next visit.

Thanks thirudevaram!

Given what's going on in Nanhui, and my lack of wheels, would you recommend alternative locations for a couple early mornings and a late afternoon in Shanghai? I've heard mentions of Century Park, Binjiang Park, Botanical Gardens. They're all certainly much easier logistically.

Regards,

Caesar

After returning from a really fun trip to Huangshan & Wu Yuan in July, with Roger and Dev, I entered into a state of total birding lethargy, I didn't make any effort to go anywhere whatsoever for birding, concentrating on my regular photography instead. Of course it didn't help that August and September were very hot and very humid in Shanghai. Does this happen to anyone else ?

Anyway happily I have started to get back into the swing and a decent enough list appears below from my trip with Dev to XYS and Nanhui (where the annihilation of the reed-beds continues unabated by the Shanghai Govt.).

On that same note there was no sign nor peep from our wonderful resident Reed Parrotbills, has the huge disturbance to their habitat along the kilometres of reed-beds parallel to the sea-wall seen the end of these birds nesting in this area ?

It was a lovely day, weather sunny with dotted clouds, more but still clear later, temperatures from 18C at 06.00 to a high of around 27C by mid-afternoon. Winds ca. 25kph NNE.

Ducks, Geese and Swans (Anatidae)
Eastern Spot-billed Duck Anas zonorhyncha

Pheasants and allies (Phasianidae)
Common Pheasant Phasianus colchicus

Grebes (Podicipedidae)
Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis

Herons, Bitterns (Ardeidae)
Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax
Chinese Pond Heron Ardeola bacchus
Grey Heron Ardea cinerea
Great Egret Ardea alba
Intermediate Egret Egretta intermedia
Little Egret Egretta garzetta

Kites, Hawks and Eagles (Accipitridae)
Eastern Marsh Harrier Circus spilonotus
Common Buzzard Buteo buteo

Rails, Crakes and Coots (Rallidae)
Common Moorhen Gallinula chloropus
Eurasian Coot Fulica atra

Plovers (Charadriidae)
Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus

Sandpipers, Snipes (Scolopacidae)
Eurasian Woodcock Scolopax rusticola
Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago
Common Redshank Tringa totanus
Marsh Sandpiper Tringa stagnatilis
Common Greenshank Tringa nebularia
Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola
Common Sandpiper Actitis hypoleucos
Sanderling Calidris alba
Red-necked Stint Calidris ruficollis
Temminck's Stint Calidris temminckii
Long-toed Stint Calidris subminuta
Dunlin Calidris alpina

Gulls, Terns and Skimmers (Laridae)
Little Tern Sternula albifrons
Whiskered Tern Chlidonias hybrida
White-winged Tern Chlidonias leucopterus

Pigeons, Doves (Columbidae)
Spotted Dove Spilopelia chinensis

Cuckoos (Cuculidae)
Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus

Owls (Strigidae)
Oriental Scops Owl Otus sunia
Brown Hawk Owl (assumed)

Kingfishers (Alcedinidae)
Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis

Caracaras, Falcons (Falconidae)
Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus
Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus

Shrikes (Laniidae)
Bull-headed Shrike Lanius bucephalus
Brown Shrike Lanius cristatus
Long-tailed Shrike Lanius schach

Drongos (Dicruridae)
Ashy Drongo Dicrurus leucophaeus

Crows, Jays (Corvidae)
Eurasian Magpie Pica pica

Tits, Chickadees (Paridae)
Great Tit Parus major

Bulbuls (Pycnonotidae)
Light-vented Bulbul Pycnonotus sinensis

Swallows, Martins (Hirundinidae)
Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica

Cettia Bush Warblers and allies (Cettiidae)
Manchurian Bush Warbler Horornis borealis

Leaf Warblers and allies (Phylloscopidae)
Yellow-browed Warbler Phylloscopus inornatus
Arctic Warbler Phylloscopus borealis
Pale-legged Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus tenellipes

Sylviid Babblers (Sylviidae)
Vinous-throated Parrotbill Sinosuthora webbiana

Starlings, Rhabdornis (Sturnidae)
Crested Myna Acridotheres cristatellus

Thrushes (Turdidae)
Siberian Thrush Geokichla sibirica

Chats, Old World Flycatchers (Muscicapidae)
Grey-streaked Flycatcher Muscicapa griseisticta
Asian Brown Flycatcher Muscicapa latirostris
Blue-and-white Flycatcher Cyanoptila cyanomelana
Mugimaki Flycatcher Ficedula mugimaki
Blue Rock Thrush Monticola solitarius
Siberian Stonechat Saxicola maurus
Taiga Flycatcher

Old World Sparrows, Snowfinches (Passeridae)
Eurasian Tree Sparrow Passer montanus

Wagtails, Pipits (Motacillidae)
Western Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava
Grey Wagtail Motacilla cinerea
White Wagtail Motacilla alba
Richard's Pipit Anthus richardi

Finches (Fringillidae)
Chinese Grosbeak Eophona migratoria

Buntings, New World Sparrows and allies (Emberizidae)
Meadow Bunting Emberiza cioides
Black-faced Bunting Emberiza spodocephala

Species: 66
IOC World Bird List 4.2 (April 2014)

Photos to follow !

Hi Kevin,

Brown Wood Owl? or maybe Brown Hawk Owl?

All the best,

Jonathan

jonathmartinez said:

Hi Kevin,

Brown Wood Owl? or maybe Brown Hawk Owl?

All the best,

Jonathan

Click to expand...

Thanks Jonathan. I forgot to add (since these are auto-generated and you can't add notes until afterwards) that the BHO is just an educated guess as we didn't get goods views.

Likewise I fotgot to add Taiga Flycatcher, now done !

Even the remote places of Yangshan isle has traffic jam on National Holidays!

The highlights of the day being

1. Chased by a Chinese family(with an infant!!!) through the ravines n steep slopes and bamboo thicket
2. One more Bull-headed Shrike in the temple valley (might be the same individual from two weeks before)
3. 2 Rufous morph Oriental Scops Owls
4. After seeing several thousands of Long-tailed Shrike over the years, finally a very tame dark morph individual in the temple area.
5. The uncanny Locustella warbler still around but being the master of skulking even two pair of eyes was not able to locate the bird.
6. Probable Swintail snipe in Nanhui.

That was a SIX member family who thought it great fun to follow the Waiguoren ! We had to abandon the Rubbish Tip valley and go off to another site until it was safe to return :eek!:

Here is the Snipe if anyone can confirm ?

Just another common snipe, Kevin. No obvious tail feather that i could see. Thick loral line, long bill, tail feathers pointing to Common. An excellent article from Dave Blakewell was very much helpful. The overall dark plumage might have confused me when we saw it.

I took a quick afternoon walk in Century Park after arriving in Shanghai today. Nothing really out of the ordinary, although the sheer number of white wagtails of all ages and sexes near the football pitch was pretty astounding. From what I could tell, they were all ssp. leucopsis.

The full list:

Little Egret - 2
Black-crowned Night-heron - 27
Spotted Dove
White-breasted Waterhen - 1
Common Moorhen - 2
Common Kingfisher - 1
Azure-winged Magpie - 8 (some were tail-less. Immatures or moulting?)
Asian Brown Flycatcher - 1
Japanese Tit - 2
White-vented Bulbul
Chinese Blackbird (everywhere)
White Wagtail - 20 (at least)
Tree Sparrow

I've got a meeting in Hangzhou tomorrow and decided to spend the rest of the weekend there birding, since I hear the botanical garden could be good. Any other recommendations? How are west lake and the wetland area just north of the botanical garden? Best spots in the garden?
Thanks!

West Lake will be shoulder-to-shoulder people, especially on the NW and NE sides. I had some luck 1st thing in the morning in the SW corner, but once past about 10:00 it'll be too crowded.

The botanic garden can be quite nice. Head for the hillside on the far side from the entrance.

I also had some decent luck on the grounds of the large pagoda on the souith side of the lake (I forget the name).

Great, thanks! Will get up with the sun Is there a single entrance to the botanical garden, or possible to enter from any direction?

There are a couple of entrances. The ones I'm aware of are on the east side of the garden and the hillside is on the west side. I don't know if there are any entrances on the far side of the hill.

Yesterday I met up with Jeff Hopkins and Dev and we checked out both Xiao Yang Shan and Nanhui. The weather was mild, ca. 23C topping out at 27C and dry with some blue sky. The wind however was a very strong NNE (ca. 48kph) and it seems most migrants were taking advantage of the conditions to fly South. Passerines in particular being in very short supply, in both very low numbers and species count.

Top birds of the day (if we exclude my Long Billed Fairy Pitta, aka Common Kingfisher), probably being the 5 Black-faced Spoonbills we saw in Nanhui and on XYS the immature Verditer Flycatcher and Dev's male Japanese Thrush. We did see a flock of close to 200 Grey Herons and over a 1,000 egrets in total too (surely there must have been a Chinese in amongst them !).

There was also a possible sighting of a Short Eared Owl, after first flying into some small trees & bush, flying low to the ground (5-7m) and around us in a semi-circle, in the perfect habitat of scrub, bushes and chest high grasses, but although the 3 of us searched the area it came down in we couldn't find it again to confirm the ID. We also had a flock of 8 Bramblings feeding on berries, 3-4 Peregrines and 5-6 Kestrels so certainly the day wasn't a total waste !

In Nanhui the habitat destruction is now an all-out attack with very wide new roads being built and one can only assume industrial developments will follow in due course on the plots between the new roads. Tragic loss of what were some of the largest reed-beds most people would have ever seen.


Ducks, Geese and Swans (Anatidae)
Mallard Anas platyrhynchos
Eastern Spot-billed Duck Anas zonorhyncha
Garganey Anas querquedula

Pheasants and allies (Phasianidae)
Japanese Quail Coturnix japonica

Grebes (Podicipedidae)
Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis

Ibises, Spoonbills (Threskiornithidae)
Black-faced Spoonbill Platalea minor

Herons, Bitterns (Ardeidae)
Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax
Striated Heron Butorides striata
Chinese Pond Heron Ardeola bacchus
Grey Heron Ardea cinerea
Great Egret Ardea alba
Intermediate Egret Egretta intermedia
Little Egret Egretta garzetta

Rails, Crakes and Coots (Rallidae)
Common Moorhen Gallinula chloropus
Eurasian Coot Fulica atra

Stilts, Avocets (Recurvirostridae)
Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus

Plovers (Charadriidae)
Kentish Plover Charadrius alexandrinus

Sandpipers, Snipes (Scolopacidae)
Eurasian Woodcock Scolopax rusticola
Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago
Far Eastern Curlew Numenius madagascariensis
Common Redshank Tringa totanus
Marsh Sandpiper Tringa stagnatilis
Common Greenshank Tringa nebularia
Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola
Terek Sandpiper Xenus cinereus
Sanderling Calidris alba
Dunlin Calidris alpina

Gulls, Terns and Skimmers (Laridae)
Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus
White-winged Tern Chlidonias leucopterus

Pigeons, Doves (Columbidae)
Oriental Turtle Dove Streptopelia orientalis
Spotted Dove Spilopelia chinensis

Kingfishers (Alcedinidae)
Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis

Caracaras, Falcons (Falconidae)
Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus
Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus

Shrikes (Laniidae)
Bull-headed Shrike Lanius bucephalus
Long-tailed Shrike Lanius schach

Crows, Jays (Corvidae)
Eurasian Magpie Pica pica

Tits, Chickadees (Paridae)
Japanese Tit Parus minor

Larks (Alaudidae)
Oriental Skylark Alauda gulgula

Bulbuls (Pycnonotidae)
Light-vented Bulbul Pycnonotus sinensis

Swallows, Martins (Hirundinidae)
Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica

Leaf Warblers and allies (Phylloscopidae)
Pallas's Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus proregulus
Arctic Warbler Phylloscopus borealis

Sylviid Babblers (Sylviidae)
Vinous-throated Parrotbill Sinosuthora webbiana

Starlings, Rhabdornis (Sturnidae)
Crested Myna Acridotheres cristatellus
White-cheeked Starling Spodiopsar cineraceus

Thrushes (Turdidae)
Japanese Thrush Turdus cardis
Common Blackbird Turdus merula
Pale Thrush Turdus pallidus

Chats, Old World Flycatchers (Muscicapidae)
Dark-sided Flycatcher Muscicapa sibirica
Asian Brown Flycatcher Muscicapa latirostris
Verditer Flycatcher Eumyias thalassinus
Blue Rock Thrush Monticola solitarius

Old World Sparrows, Snowfinches (Passeridae)
Eurasian Tree Sparrow Passer montanus

Wagtails, Pipits (Motacillidae)
Western Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava
White Wagtail Motacilla alba

Finches (Fringillidae)
Brambling Fringilla montifringilla
Grey-capped Greenfinch Chloris sinica

Buntings, New World Sparrows and allies (Emberizidae)
Rustic Bunting Emberiza rustica
Black-faced Bunting Emberiza spodocephala

Species: 60

So yesterday I spent birding in Hangzhou. Had a really long walk, starting at the southern tip of the lake, along the west side of the lake to the cable car that brought me up to whatever the name was of that temple sitting on the top of the hill. From there I hiked along the ridge for a few kilometres, descended through the woods, walked to the botanical garden, only spent 1,5 hour there and caught a taxi just in time to miss my train :/

Not a whole lot of birds (guess the season isn't right), but a few nice ones, both lifers and new chinese species for me.
Red-billed blue magpies and black-throated tits definitely the favorites. Mountain and black bulbul and colared finchbill. Japanese whiteeyes, yellow-bellied tits, lots of magpie-robins. A cormorant.

Distant swift sp. and falcon sp. went unidentified against the bright sky.

What really stood out though was the diversity of butterflies! Wish I had a butterflies of China-guide with me.

DKihlberg said:

So yesterday I spent birding in Hangzhou. Had a really long walk, starting at the southern tip of the lake, along the west side of the lake to the cable car that brought me up to whatever the name was of that temple sitting on the top of the hill. From there I hiked along the ridge for a few kilometres, descended through the woods, walked to the botanical garden, only spent 1,5 hour there and caught a taxi just in time to miss my train :/

Not a whole lot of birds (guess the season isn't right), but a few nice ones, both lifers and new chinese species for me.
Red-billed blue magpies and black-throated tits definitely the favorites. Mountain and black bulbul and colared finchbill. Japanese whiteeyes, yellow-bellied tits, lots of magpie-robins. A cormorant.

Distant swift sp. and falcon sp. went unidentified against the bright sky.

What really stood out though was the diversity of butterflies! Wish I had a butterflies of China-guide with me.

Click to expand...

Never been there during the migration season. Looks like you have bagged most of the residents of the Botanical Garden. Few more hours could have given you the Chestnut Bulbul, Brownish-flanked Bush Warbler, Grey-headed Parrotbill, Huet's Fulvetta. If you still have a free day, i would recommend Botanical Garden for one full day, afterall Hangzhou is jus an hour from Shanghai may be another 30-45 mins from the new railway station.