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Dalian (Jinshitan) Birding Reports (2 Viewers)

Depressing Day Jan. 2, 2011

Spent with the day three Chinese birders. Leighton, a Beijing birder who now works in Dalian, and his two friends from Beijing. Together we covered Jinzhou Bay, Dalian Bay, Daheishan, and Jinshitan.

We began at Jinzhou Bay, a great winter gull location near a large garbage dump, and found the place devoid of gulls. I think we saw around 50 total and there should have been at least a thousand or more. Also, no winter sea eagles there for the first time ever. Disappointed, we left for Dalian Bay (only a 20 minute drive)

At Dalian Bay there was about 400 Mongolian Gulls and one Vega that I could make out. There was a decent cast of ducks there and this was probably the best of the locations today.

Daheishan yielded life Brown-eared Bulbuls for Leighton which was a highlight but not much else.

Jinshitan was dead. We had to really work for anything.

List from Jinzhou Bay:

Ruddy Shelduck approx. - 150
Mallard
Spot-billed Duck
Mongolian Gull - 50
Grey Heron - 5
Eurasian Skylark - 2


Dalian Bay:
Common Shelduck - 1
Ruddy Shelduck - a few
Falcated Duck - 30
Mallard
Spot-billed Duck
Common Goldeneye - 50
Common Merganser - 10
Red-breasted Merganser - 20
Little Grebe - 3
Great-crested Grebe - 50
Peregrine Falcon - 2
Mongolian Gull - 400
Vega Gull - 1

Daiheishan (Big Black Mountain)
Common Pheasant - 3
Spot-billed Duck
Brown-eared Bulbul - 4 (I guess this is the winter for them)
Chinese Bulbulb - 1
Naumann's Thrush - 15
Dusky Thrush - 2
Red-throated Thrush - 1
Daurian Redstart - 1
Yellow-throated Bunting

Jinshitan: mainly at the Jinshi Golf Club
Common Pheasant - 2
Common Shelduck - 50
Falcated Duck - 15
Red-breasted Merganser - 8
Eurasian Kestrel - 1
Mongolian Gull - a few
Great Tit - 4
Chinese Bulbul - 6
Brown-eared Bulbul - 4
Naumann's Thrush - 2
Daurian Redstart - 1
Brambling - 3
Meadow Bunting - 3
Yellow-throated Bunting - 1!
 

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Jinsh Golf Club Jan. 13, 2012

A quick walk through. Temperatures above zero and I birded with no gloves. This warm trend will stay for a few days according to the weather reports. No complaints here!

Common Pheasant - abundant
Mallard
Spot-billed Duck
Common Merganser - 4
Red-breasted Merganser - 24
Pelagic Cormorant - 98 flew past the point in a 30 minute watch. By far the highest number I've seen here before.
Eurasian Kestrel - 1
Eurasian Sparrowhawk - 1
Mongolian Gull
Black-tailed Gull
Great-spotted Woodpecker
Great Tit - many flocks but nothing else mixed in.
Chinese Hill Warbler - 1
Chinese Bulbul - 8
Brown-eared Bulbul - 4
Vinous-throated Parrotbill - 40
Dusky Thrush - 3
Daurian Redstart - 3
Siberian Accentor - 2
Oriental Greenfinch - 1 group
Yellow-throated Bunting - abundant
 

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Almost cried when I saw the 2nd December post from Jinshitan - my birthday - and the present was a Great Bustard. One day!
 
Jinshitan Dec. 15, 2012

Drove around the area today in a friend's car. This is the first day of my 5 week holiday. Paul Holt is coming for birding on Jan. 17 and Terry Townshend arrives on the 25th. We're all going to Dandong and Feng Huan Shan on Jan. 25+26 as well as other day trips.

Today, my daughter and I surveyed the farming areas around Jinshitan from the car to see whatever was there in the afternoon. We came back along the coast. Surprise bird of the day was a Japanese Sparrowhawk.

List:

Common Pheasant
Ruddy Shelduck - 68
Mallard - 189
Spot-billed Duck - 1
Common Goldeneye - 4
Red-breasted Merganser - 4
Little Grebe - 1
Grey Heron - 1
Eurasian Kestrel - 3
Japanese Sparrowhawk -- bizarre record in January. My daughter looked on as we waited for it to fly. When it did, it went after a group of tree sparrows and I believe it was successful. Unfortunately they dissappeared behind a building and never reappeared.
Eastern Buzzard - 2
Upland Buzzard - 1
Black-tailed Gull - 4
Mongolian Gull - 12
Chinese Grey Shrike - but have a look at it if you have experience with Great Grey Shrike
Vinous-throated Parrotbill - 1 group
Naumann's Thrush - 1
Daurian Redstart - 1
Oriental Greenfinch - 6
Yellow-throated Bunting - some along the road.
 

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Jan. 17 Dalian and Jinzhou Bay

Paul Holt arrived at the airport at 11:00 am and together we went to Dalian and Jinzhou Bays. Dalian Bay = Yellow Sea and Jinzhou Bay = Bo Hai Bay. Two separate oceans separated by only 10kms of land. We counted our blessings with the temperature right around 0 degrees and no wind. Unusually warm for this time of year.

List: Dalian Bay = DB Jinzhou Bay = JB

Common Shelduck - 10
Ruddy Shelduck - approx. 150 JB
Falcated Duck - approx 50 DB
Mallard - over 500 JB
Spot-billed - over 500 JB
Northern Pintail - 1 JB
Eurasian Teal - 28 JB
Common Goldeneye - 50 DB
Smew - 6 DB
Common Merganser - approx 150 DB
Red-breasted Merganser - approx 40 DB
Little Grebe - 4 DB
Great-crested Grebe - 50 DB
Grey Heron - 6 JB
Peregrine Falcon - 2 JB
White-tailed Sea Eagle - 4 JB
Black-tailed Gull - a few DB
Common Gull - 50 DB a few in JB
Glaucous Gull - 1 DB 1 JB
Vega Gull - 50 JB
Mongolian Gull - approx 3000 JB 75 DB
Slaty-backed Gull - 1 JB
Heughlin's Gull - 1 DB
Pallas's Gull - 1 first winter JB
Black-headed Gull - a few in each Bay
Saunder's Gull - 8 DB 7 JB
White Wagtail - 1 JB (my first Dalian winter record)
Pallas's Reed Bunting
 

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Hey Tom.
Good stuff. That's a good number of Mongolian Gulls. Did you see any with wing-tags? Slaty-backed is a good Chinese record and the White Wagtail must be unusual. Looking forward to coming over next week!
T
 
Wafangdian Jan. 18, 2012

Terry, Paul found one wing-tagged Mongolian but it was too far away to read. It's the wierdest thing, all I had to do was remind him that you found some here last winter and he had one in a few minutes! :t:

Wafangdian today did not disappoint. I checked off Asian Short-toed Lark with the help of Paul's excellent ability to recognize calls as we flushed some. I've probably seen them before, but without the ability to recognize calls, it's hard. I've got it now, thanks Paul!

List:

Common Pheasant
Japanese Quail - 1
Been Goose - 7
Ruddy Shelduck - 80
Gadwall - 1
Mallard
Spot-billed Duck
Common Merganser
Little Grebe
Oriental Stork - 2
Eurasian Kestrel
Merlin - 1
White-tailed Sea Eagle - 7
Common Crane - 170
Hooded Crane - 1
Little Owl - 1
Hoopoe - 2 (first winter record I can remember)
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1
Chinese Grey Shrike - 3
Great Tit
Chinese Penduline Tit - 7 (Also an interesting winter record)
Asian Short-toed Lark - 9
Eurasian Skylark - 150
Red-throated Thrush - 1
Naumann's Thrush - 4
Pine Bunting - 130 (one of the biggest surprises for me)
Rustic Bunting
Yellow-throated Bunting
Pallas's Reed Bunting - many
Japanese Reed Bunting - 58 (spent much of the afternoon counting these in one small area where they seemed more dense. We both agreed that in the whole area they would be in triple digits)
Common Reed Bunting - 1
 

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Great list of gulls! Nice to see Slaty-backed on the list. Unusually high numbers of Saunder's Gull as well?

If I remember correctly, we had a Hoopoe in the dead of winter in Jinshitan in 2008 down by the ocean. I don't remember which month, but I do remember being surprised.

Dave Beeke
Chilliwack, British Columbia
 
I'm also interested in Saunders' Gulls wintering so far north - we've had a good (for recent times) number - 63 the peak count I think - at Mai Po.

How many do you see up there in a typical winter

Cheers
Mike
 
Dave and Mike,

There are usually Saunder's Gulls around in a typical winter at a few locations. I am the only one looking, except when visitors come to town, so I can't be sure on exact numbers. There are so many areas where they could be that I would also be interested in a full count of the Dalian area. When I see them, there are usually 5-10 in a group. There could be areas with many more.......just not enough eyes in the area.

Paul Holt was in the Jinshi Golf Club today (by himself, big mistake on my part) and photographed a Red-breasted Flycatcher!!! Ridiculous record for the area, not mentioning it being January!

I joined him in the afternoon but we couldn't relocate it. We did see one Black-faced Bunting and he saw a Common Rosefinch earlier. Strange winter indeed. Very few Siberian Accentors and no Long-tailed and Pallas's Rosefinches yet. Also no Varied Tit but we are leaving for a few days in the Dandong and Feng Huang Shan area when Terry Townshend comes next Wed.

Paul and I also recorded 14 flyby Pelagic Cormorants on a 30 minute sea watch this afternoon at the golf club. The 4 Brown-eared Bulbul remain as well. We then drove to the other end of Jinshitan Bay and counted 194 Falcated Ducks, around 60 Common Shelduck, and a few Wigeon.

Paul is off the Zhuanghe tomorrow and sadly I won't be joining him.

Tom
 
Red-breasted Flycatcher pics

Pics from Paul Holt yesterday in Jinshitan.
 

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Wow, good pics of a good looking bird - doesn't look out of place (ill, underfed etc). Interesting to have so many unusual winter birds on the peninsula. I wish I was managing to get out more to see if we have unusual hanger-oners here, but...

Do you know your previous latest date for a red-breasted?
 
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Gretchen, the Red-breasted Flycatcher is probably the first Liaoning record.

I got a call from Paul again today near Zhuanghe and soon I was in the car making the 1.5 hour drive for 1740 Relict Gulls! No photos as they were very far out. With two kids and a lovely wife, I can't do every day with him but I sure appreciate getting the call. He's at Jinzhou Bay again tomorrow. He also had a Saker Falcon earlier this morning.

Forgot to mention I saw an Azure-winged Magpie at the Jinshitan Golf Club on the way to look for the red-breasted Flycatcher yesterday. Surprisingly a decent Dalian area record.
 
Exciting times - a top Relict Gull count. RBFly is a rare winter visitor now in Hong Kong but its very interesting to hear of a bird so far north and east.

We need a blizzard to bring some of your quality birds down this way - even the stuff in shanghai would do - still no RF Bluetail so far!

Cheers
Mike
 
Gretchen, the Red-breasted Flycatcher is probably the first Liaoning record....

Forgot to mention I saw an Azure-winged Magpie at the Jinshitan Golf Club on the way to look for the red-breasted Flycatcher yesterday. Surprisingly a decent Dalian area record.

Interesting, Red-throated flycatcher (same, parva, right?) is marked as a common bird here, so I assumed you had them there too.

Seems to me that the Azure-winged are becoming more common here. We have a big flock (gang) of them on campus this winter... very group oriented compared to the other two magpies.

Mike, we're finally getting highs below zero now, so maybe there's enough cold to move things>>>
 
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Heughlin's Gulls Jinshitan January 21, 2012

Took a brief ride with the kids to a fishing village in Jinshitan and found a good group of gulls on the frozen ocean. In the group were three Heughlin's Gulls.
 

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Jan. 22+23, 2012

Been out for some drives in Jinshitan yesterday and today. I also went and saw Paul Holt at Jinzhou Bay later this afternoon. He has now seen 3 wing-tagged Mongolian Gulls, two Slaty-backed Gulls today, a few Common Reed Buntings among other things.

I saw a coot in salt water yesterday here in Jinshitan which made me look twice! I guess there's no other options now. I also took my first ever photo of a Merlin. Horrible photo, but a very scarce bird here locally.

Also a shot of my son at Jinzhou Bay today, poor guy, he doesn't stand a chance.
 

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Eastern Liaoning January 26-28, 2012

Joined Terry Townhend, Paul Holt, and Bai Qingquan for a 3 day trip from Dalian to Dandong and the Dandong area including Feng Huang Shan. We also took the ferry from Zhuanghe Port to two of the islands in the Yellow Sea and back. Paul is doing a complete report which I will link to this thread in the future. Here is the complete trip species list and some of the photos. Counting credits go to Paul.

Hazel Grouse - 2
Common Pheasant - 4
Common Sehelduck - 193
Mallard - 355
Spot-billed Duck - 104
Eurasian Teal - 49
Long-tailed Duck - 64
Common Goldeneye - 692
Smew - 10
Common Merganser - 29
Red-breasted Merganser - 236
Litte Grebe - 23
Pelagic Cormorant - 70
White-tailed Sea Eagle - 3
Cinereous (Black) Vulture - 3 (life bird)
Eastern Marsh Harrier - 1
Hen Harrier - 4
Eurasian Sparrowhawk - 2
Eastern Buzzard - 2
Upland Buzzard - 8
Rough-legged Buzzard - 1 (not many around this winter)
Eurasian Kestrel - 29
Merlin - 1
Long-billed Plover - 1
Eurasian Curlew - 300
Relict Gull - 2
Black-tailed Gull - 110
Common Gull - 345
Glaucous Gull - 1
Vega Gull - 31
Mongolian Gull - 222
Slaty-backed Gull - 3
Oriental Turtle Dove - 15
Little Owl - 1
Japanese Pgymy Woodpecker - 6
White-backed Woodpecker - 5 (life bird)
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 2
Grey-headed Woodpecker - 3
Chinese Grey Shrike - 5
Eurasian Jay - 5
Large-billed Crow - 1
Marsh Tit - 18
Varied Tit - 10
Coal Tit - 5
Great Tit - 10
Chinese Penduline Tit - 1
Long-tailed Tit - 5
Eurasian Skylark - 26
Brown-eared Bulbul - 15
Chinese Hill Warbler - 1
Goldcrest - 4
Winter Wren - 1
Eurasian Nuthatch - 12
Naumann's Thrush - 2
Dusky x Naumann's Thrush - 1
Daurian Redstart - 2
Alpine Accentor - 5
Siberian Accentor - 6
Brambling - 1
Oriental Greenfinch - 4
Meadow Bunting - 6
Yellow-throated Bunting - 32
Pallas's Reed Bunting - 96
Common Reed Bunting - 3
 

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