China Sojourn (1 Viewer)

thirudevaram · Jul 24, 2013

McMadd said:
NEED A BIGGER COPYRIGHT SYMBOL:t:

Will start painting my photos from now on.:t:

Jeff hopkins said:
Hi Dev,

I've begun to realize that if something in China is designated a "special tourist area" or National Park or some such you're going to be shoulder-to-shoulder with tour groups and their horrid loudspeakers. And if they put in a cable car it's going to be hellish. Now, if you can figure out a way to get off the tourist trail, you might find some birds, but based on Jiuzhaigou, everything in China is geared to force you onto that trail, i.e. past the souvenir stands, the expensive restaurants, etc. because that's where the merchants have paid the authorities to make you go.

And regarding your questions about the robins, I had a fleeting view of rufous-headed robin, but with a group of 10 other birders, a skulker like that was not going to give us good looks. And I missed Indian Blue Robin entirely. But I did have a great view of firethroat.

Shoulder-to-shoulder, well said Jeff. Rain was pouring on that morning. Hiking path was slippery. That ain't stop the daytrippers. Actually, i was a daytripper too on that day.:-O
Glad, you enjoyed the trip minus the comfy roads8-P. I visited Emei Shan in 2011, had a great view of India Robin near the summit. That was my first Indian robin, never had a chance to see it in India.

Gretchen said:
From my experiences, the accommodation prices you've mentioned earlier aren't outlandish, especially in a "touristy" spot (unless they are extremely simple), but those kind of food prices just make me crazy. (Where is that money going??? Cost of ingredients? cost of labor? I don't think so.)

Hi Gretchen, I always compare the tourist places with Shanghai. Food and accommodation are way cheap even in the big city. I guess, i'm complaining too much

Probably i should not consider Shanghai as the benchmark

thirudevaram · Jan 9, 2014

Flying with Cranes at Yancheng (Day 1)

Eventhough, Yancheng is commonly known for the Red-crowned Cranes, the precise place is Xinyang village which is 42kms north west of Yancheng. Xinyang port is about 350kms from Shanghai, which is about 4 hours’ drive. The drive was quiet in the early morning when I started at 4 AM on January 1st. The highlight of the road trip was the no. of Hoopoe’s on the highway. From Nantong till Xinyang, I counted 32 Hoopoe’s. It was 8.30 am when I checked in at the hotel at Xinyang. I immediately met with Xie Kai and Roger Theo Timmermann (German birder based in Shanghai). We quickly dumped few dumplings to our belly and headed to the forest farm south of the village in search of the wintering Long-eared Owl. No signs of the owl, we tried another woodland patch east of the forest farm, no signs of the owl here too, Eurasian Siskins were in good no’s in this woodland. We decided to visit the Nature reserve. The reserve is huge with very promising habitat. The entry fee is 45rmb. The entrance of the park was very much like rest of the tourist places in China(A tourist centre, pond with captive Ducks, Goose, Stork, Swans & Cranes too). The first lifer of the day was a total surprise, it was the “Milu aka Pere David’s Deer”. A gigantic young deer, totally camouflaged among the reeds.

Moving on from the Milu, the first lifer (this time it’s a bird) is an “Brown-cheeked Rail”, spotted again by Roger. The shy bird disappeared into the reeds within seconds but there were so many of them around shallow water and reeds. We moved towards the watch tower and spent some time enjoying the elevated view. Cranes, Goose, Ducks, Oriental Stork were all over the sky. We left the watch tower and moved toward the northern side of the park. This is were the Cranes flew from North, literally covering the sky, wah, spectacular sight. Common Cranes were in majority, each flock had atleast 100’s of them and the flocks keep coming.

thirudevaram · Jan 9, 2014

Soon, I had the first sighting of the “Red-crowned Crane”, 3 of them were feeding in a grassy mudflat and took off when a car passed by. Among the ducks, Mallards were in majority followed by Chinese Spot-billed ducks, Northern Pintail, Common Teal, “Common Shelduck”.

thirudevaram · Jan 9, 2014

The reserve has few captive birds near the visitor centre and most of the tourist crowd ends there. Occasionally people take the battery operated vehicle(comes with additional cost) and go around the reserve. We had some close views of Oriental Stork. Before a month I would have been stumbled to see the stork but I had spotted 3 birds in Shanghai in late November. Nevertheless, 3 gulls and an Oriental Stork put up good show as the Gulls tried to steal the fish from the Stork, chased the Stork for miles before disappearing in the horizon.

thirudevaram · Jan 9, 2014

The crane flock never stopped, they just keep flying overhead and soon I spotted few Hooded Cranes among the Common Crane. 3 Crane day is fantastic so far.We then took a detour among the reeds, nothing special other than Chinese Blackbird, Dusky Thrush, Spotted Dove, White-Cheeked Starling, Vinous-throated Parrotbills, Yellow-throated and Rustic Buntings. We left the reserve after bursting shutters to one of the enchanting species found in China, the “Reed Parrotbill”. Two years of constant try at Nanhui and Chongming, I finally settled with few good shots. If a day comes when China has a national bird and the provinces have their provincial bird, my vote is for “Reed Parrotbill” for Shanghai.We tried one more attempt in the dark in search of the Long-eared Owl, the forest farm was eerily silent. Off to the bunk to an early rise tomorrow and get some China birdnet (鸟网) shots.

MKinHK · Jan 9, 2014

Some terrific shots Dev!

The pics of the gulls harrying the stork are tremendous.

Cheers
Mike

Jeff Hopkins · Jan 14, 2014

Sounds like the usual Chinese fun, Dev.

And I agree with you on the parrotbill. I love those little suckers.

Frogfish · Jan 17, 2014

Some gorgeous shots there Dev. ! Wonderful light for my perennial favourite the Reed Parrotbill - I still don't have anything to even come close to that shot !

Also love the Stork with fish and the Rail. Stoked for tomorrow's outing now

thirudevaram · Jan 29, 2014

MKinHK said:
Some terrific shots Dev!

The pics of the gulls harrying the stork are tremendous.

Cheers
Mike

That's a poor Stork Mike, it tried it's best to avoid the Gulls but the Gulls never gave up. On the other note, the Stork's were seen in the ponds where the gulls are majority.

Jeff hopkins said:
Sounds like the usual Chinese fun, Dev.

And I agree with you on the parrotbill. I love those little suckers.

As usual Jeff, just taking the advantage of warm winter, Parrotbills are bonus.

Frogfish said:
Some gorgeous shots there Dev. ! Wonderful light for my perennial favourite the Reed Parrotbill - I still don't have anything to even come close to that shot !

Also love the Stork with fish and the Rail. Stoked for tomorrow's outing now

Hope, i showed our secret reed valley enough! :t:

thirudevaram · Jan 29, 2014

Dancing with Cranes(Day 2)

I always wondered where do these birdnet photographers get those drooling, jaw-dropping pictures. Time to solve the mystery. 5AM, I met Roger infront of my hotel and we went north of Xinyang village with a local businessman. This is the same guy who owns a souvenir shop (Which also boasts of selling Wild Duck, Goose, Chicken eggs in front of the reserve entrance) has setup several hides in a paddy field and feeds corn cobs to lure the cranes. The Red-crowned Cranes arrive in good no’s (about 65-80 birds). They come as close as 30m to the hide, feeding, fighting, calling, short flights.

thirudevaram · Jan 29, 2014

Feeding

There is nothing more to write on day 2 as there are several thousand frames only on the most fascinating Crane of East Asia.

thirudevaram · Jan 29, 2014

Trumpet time

Cranes continued...

thirudevaram · Jan 29, 2014

Yeehaa..adaa...Crane Fist

Crane fist Kungfu.I grew up watching plenty of those chinese movies dubbed in english perhaps that's why destiny pulled me to China to know why it's called "Crane Fist".

After a few hours of photoshoot we decided to leave the models to rest of the photo togs and explore the places further on our own. Quite good no of Common Cranes and Red-crowned Cranes were found outside the feeding area. We explored further north of the feeding station. There were about 25+ gulls in a frozen fish pond other than that north of Xinyang was a watery desert. Roger was feeling bit down under the weather,So I dropped him @ his hotel and went to the south of Xinyang. The habitat is intact in the south with very few fishponds and lot of fresh water pools and reeds. Even lot of fish ponds had the perfect water level for dabbling ducks as so the every fish pond has its own variety. Plenty of waterfowls in south Xinyang, some key birds are Smew, Black-necked Grebe, Goosander, Bean Goose, Northern Shoveler, Common Pochard, Common Shelduck. Light was dropping quickly and I decided to explore few more ponds before heading back to the village. The adjacent fish ponds were frozen and mostly gulls were dominating.

MKinHK · Jan 29, 2014

Wonderful shots of the cranes Dev!

Cheers
Mike

Jeff Hopkins · Jan 29, 2014

Totally gripped, Dev. That's one of the cranes I still need (and the only Asian one).

Frogfish · Jan 30, 2014

Gorgeous shots of the Cranes Dev. !

Gretchen · Feb 1, 2014

Frogfish said:
Gorgeous shots of the Cranes Dev. !

That's what I was thinking too - but forgot to write it. Thanks for posting them.

thirudevaram · Feb 2, 2014

MKinHK said:
Wonderful shots of the cranes Dev!

Cheers
Mike

Jeff hopkins said:
Totally gripped, Dev. That's one of the cranes I still need (and the only Asian one).

Gretchen said:
That's what I was thinking too - but forgot to write it. Thanks for posting them.

Frogfish said:
Gorgeous shots of the Cranes Dev. !

Appreciate the constant encouragement folks. And Jeff, this is only my third crane species, i have a great wall to climb.

wengchun · Mar 5, 2014

what a nice trip! good shots of the black-throated tit!

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