thrush
Craig Brelsford (大山雀)
Very interesting . . . thanks for the report. I'm going to run this by a few people and see what they say.
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China Birding Notes (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter thrush
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Very interesting . . . thanks for the report. I'm going to run this by a few people and see what they say.
thrush
Craig Brelsford (大山雀)
When you're photographing Phylloscopus warblers, it pays to keep on shooting and to shoot at a high speed, because in the heat of the moment it's hard to know what species you're looking at, and often a flick of the wing or the tail can reveal an important feature. This is a buff-barred warbler (橙斑翅柳莺, chéngbānchì liǔyīng, Phylloscopus pulcher). The orangeish wingbar and white in the tail back up my ID. Had I not continued shooting, and had I not been shooting at about as high a speed as was feasible, then I might not have captured the white in the tail. I was at Wolong in Sichuan in May. Nikon D3S, 600 mm, F/5.6, 1/1600, ISO 6400, hand-held, 10 m.
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thrush
Craig Brelsford (大山雀)
My investigations into Phylloscopus continue. Here once again the virtue of high-speed photography is evident. (By "high speed," I mean both high shutter speed and high frames per second.) Because I blanketed this leaf warbler with dozens of shots, I was able to achieve one frame that may clinch the ID: that in which the rectrices are exposed, revealing the white on the inner web of the outermost tail feather. The rectrix pattern may be common to other leaf warblers, but it, in combination with other factors such as elevation (it's breeding at 1500 m), size, and coloring, lead me to believe that I have indeed photographed an Emei leaf warbler (峨眉柳莺, éméi liǔyīng, Phylloscopus emeiensis).
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thrush
Craig Brelsford (大山雀)
Look, I'm gonna go ahead 'n' call this a mandellii Hume's leaf warbler (淡眉柳莺, dànméi liǔyīng, Phylloscopus humei mandellii). But I'm none too comfortable with the ID, and I will welcome your correction. I'm led toward Hume's by the combination of faint or no median crown stripe, the presence of a wingbar, and especially the nearly all-black bill. Yes, a recording of its voice might have clinched an ID, but these guys aren't necessarily singing all the time, even in spring. Again, if I'm off here, then please enrich my understanding. I was at Wolong in Sichuan in late May with Jon Hornbuckle, Dave Woodford, and Phil Heath. Nikon D3S, 600 mm, F/4, 1/3200, ISO 2000, hand-held, 8.4 m.
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rockfowl
Mark Andrews
Craig, I'd suggest that its actually a rather worn Buff-barred Warbler.
Overall it looks rather bright for a Hume's. The breast has a greyish wash across the upperbreast, olive/lemon in the breast sides and flanks. No hint of a dark base to the secondaries (though not always obvious on Hume's), the shape of the white spot on the outer web of the tertials, rather dark greater cover centres all suggest to me BBW without very buff bars - http://orientalbirdimages.org/birdi...es&Bird_ID=1832&Bird_Family_ID=162&pagesize=1
Do you have further shots, the tail looks rather white in the outer tail base, and the the bill looks quite long and thin, both supporting BBW.
The Emei looks good to me.
Overall it looks rather bright for a Hume's. The breast has a greyish wash across the upperbreast, olive/lemon in the breast sides and flanks. No hint of a dark base to the secondaries (though not always obvious on Hume's), the shape of the white spot on the outer web of the tertials, rather dark greater cover centres all suggest to me BBW without very buff bars - http://orientalbirdimages.org/birdi...es&Bird_ID=1832&Bird_Family_ID=162&pagesize=1
Do you have further shots, the tail looks rather white in the outer tail base, and the the bill looks quite long and thin, both supporting BBW.
The Emei looks good to me.
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thrush
Craig Brelsford (大山雀)
Just returned from the three-week Qinghai Expedition. Collected hundreds of useful photos for my photographic field guide to the birds of China and built itineraries for future guiding trips. Perhaps no photo sums up the hardships and triumphs of the Qinghai Expedition better than this one of Tibetan snowcocks (藏雪鸡, zàng xuějī, Tetraogallus tibetanus). My partner Jon Gallagher and I climbed from Èlā Pass, elev. 4499 m, to the top of Èlā Mountain, elev. app. 4800 m. From the ridge line on Èlā Mountain, Jon and I saw a pair of snowcocks crossing the valley below. I moved down, staying in communication with Jon through walkie-talkie. The snowcocks blended in well with the rocks and were difficult to see. Just as I was about to reach the spot where we'd seen the snowcocks, it started snowing. I told Jon, who is 60 years old and was having an allergic reaction that caused his tongue to swell, to return to our car at the pass. I was now alone. The snow was stinging my face. Finally, I made out the snowcocks and managed this photograph. I slowly made my way across the loose scree slopes down to the car. Jon and Mrs. Huang (our Chinese partner) were waiting for me. Jon and I were exhausted but elated to have seen and photographed the Tibetan snowcock. Nikon D3S, 600 mm, F/4, 1/8000, ISO 3200, hand-held, 63.1 m.
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thrush
Craig Brelsford (大山雀)
This is a female white-winged redstart (红腹红尾鸲, hóngfù hóngwěiqú, Phoenicurus erythrogastrus). During my recent Qinghai Expedition, I was climbing the mountain near Bāyánkālā Shānkǒu (巴颜喀拉山口) or Bayan Har Pass when this individual flew right up to me. She probably was curious; she probably sees few large two-legged animals on her mountain. I met this bird at the dizzying height of 4870 m or 15,980 ft. The white-winged redstart is also known as the Güldenstädt's redstart. Nikon D3S, 600 mm, F/5.6, 1/4000, ISO 1000, hand-held, 6 m.
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thrush
Craig Brelsford (大山雀)
Thanks, viator.
thrush
Craig Brelsford (大山雀)
The Tibetan Plateau is a world within a world. To its south (Indian Subcontinent) and east (Han China) live 35 percent of the human race. The Plateau, however, forbids big human populations; there, species must adapt to survive. One of the many species endemic to its lofty heights is the Tibetan bunting (藏鹀, zàng wū, Emberiza koslowi). One of the most sought-after emberizids in the world, the Tibetan bunting occurs exclusively on the eastern Tibetan Plateau around the border of Tibet and Qinghai. On my recent Qinghai Expedition, my team found this beautiful male. Nikon D3S, 600 mm, F/11, 1/3200, ISO 2500, hand-held, 7.5 m.
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thrush
Craig Brelsford (大山雀)
This is a smoky warbler (烟柳莺, yān liǔyīng, Phylloscopus fuligiventer). A combination of geographical location, plumage (non-barred, "brown" Phylloscopus), and especially voice compels this ID. Using my neat new Olympus DM-650, I recorded this individual's powerful song; later, I compared my recording to recordings downloaded from xeno-canto.org. Judging by the similarity of the songs, the bird is certainly of the dusky warbler complex and is almost certainly what is now regarded as a smoky warbler, ssp. most likely weigoldi. Both photos are of the same individual. I photographed him in the Rubber Mountains near Qinghai Lake on 22 July 2013. What's your take?
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thrush
Craig Brelsford (大山雀)
There's always a way to be creative. During my recent Qinghai Expedition, black redstarts (赭红尾鸲, zhě hóngwěiqú, Phoenicurus ochruros) were a dime a dozen; this versatile and successful species was popping up in various types of habitats and at various elevations. Was I going to ignore them, then? No. During lulls, that is, when our team's big target birds weren't showing up, I'd turn my attention to these second-tier birds. But how to record this common species creatively? Rather than take yet another bird-on-a-stick shot, I'd wait for an opportunity to show something remarkable. When a female perched just 15 m away, I set up for a takeoff shot. After I'd gotten my images, I realized that I had captured not only action but also something of ornithological interest: the open tail. The black on the rectrices, confined in the black redstart to the center (and not extending to the tips of all the tail feathers, as in the blue-fronted redstart), clearly separate this individual from a female blue-fronted. At home, in my "studio," I found yet another way to be creative by superimposing the second shot onto the original. Enjoy this twofer! Nikon D3S, 600 mm, F/4, 1/8000, ISO 1250, 15 m.
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thrush
Craig Brelsford (大山雀)
Each species has its distinctive characteristics. Man, for example, is "a political animal" (Aristotle) and a "compulsive communicator" (David Attenborough). White-winged redstarts (红腹红尾鸲, hóngfù hóngwěiqú, Phoenicurus erythrogastrus), like all members of Phoenicurus, are lovers of perches and vertical surfaces. Amusingly, they make little distinction between man-made and natural surfaces. On my recent Qinghai Expedition, I spent an enjoyable several minutes watching a family of white-winged redstarts hang around a bulldozer. Finally, the female, displaying the cheekiness which is another characteristic of redstarts, for no apparent reason approached to within 6 m of me.
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thrush
Craig Brelsford (大山雀)
As soon as we arrived at Èlā Shānkǒu (鄂拉山口), we saw them: dozens and dozens of Henri's snowfinches (藏雪雀, zàng xuěquè, Montifringilla henrici). On the tundra, so numerous were the fledglings that we feared stepping on them. The Henri's snowfinch was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the white-winged snowfinch (Montifringilla nivalis). It has more white on the wing and more black on the chin than the similar Tibetan snowfinch (Montifringilla adamsi). A Chinese endemic, the Henri's inhabits the eastern Tibetan Plateau from Qinghai Lake to central and eastern Tibet and western Sichuan. I recently led a three-week birding expedition to Qinghai.
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thrush
Craig Brelsford (大山雀)
Here are more images of a buff-barred warbler (橙斑翅柳莺, chéngbānchì liǔyīng, Phylloscopus pulcher). In Pane #202, I posted my anchor shots, that is, the photos that were most important in determining that this warbler is a buff-barred. The photos here are secondary photos (though I could have used the flight shot presented here as the basis of the ID as a buff-barred). The point here is that, although in the non-flight images presented here it may not be readily apparent that the bird is a buff-barred, I can assure you that it is indeed the case, as the images shown here and the images in Pane #202 are of the same individual. The secondary shots are useful because they allow us to consider the bird without all of its most distinctive characteristics visible. I was at Wolong in Sichuan in May.
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thrush
Craig Brelsford (大山雀)
I'm at my friend's apartment in Beijing, getting ready for my big trip next week to Lǎotiěshān (老铁山). I'm working on the text for my field guide this week.
Just outside my friend's window, a bird was calling. Here's how my brain worked:
1. I know that call. I've heard it before, not a recording, but the actual bird.
2. Oh yes, it's a flycatcher . . . a Ficedula, I think. But which one?
3. On my MacBook, I play calls of yellow-rumped flycatcher and Narcissus flycatcher. No, that's not it. That's not the sound I was just hearing.
4. Wait, try taiga flycatcher. . . . Yes, taiga flycatcher. Remember that day, three years ago this month, in Inner Mongolia, in that park near the hotel you were staying; that's where you heard that sound.
5. I play recordings of the taiga flycatcher's call. Bam, that's it. The sound perfectly matches the sound I'd been hearing in the big tree outside my friend's window.
6. I open the windows and play the call. Sure enough, in a few minutes I hear a response, and then, attracted by my recording, the taiga flycatcher appears.
It gives a person a feeling of power to know what's going on around him. Birds are moving south, and some of them are moving through even the biggest cities, such as Beijing. Just wait by a big tree like the one outside my friend's window, and sure enough, sooner or later you'll see something good.
Just outside my friend's window, a bird was calling. Here's how my brain worked:
1. I know that call. I've heard it before, not a recording, but the actual bird.
2. Oh yes, it's a flycatcher . . . a Ficedula, I think. But which one?
3. On my MacBook, I play calls of yellow-rumped flycatcher and Narcissus flycatcher. No, that's not it. That's not the sound I was just hearing.
4. Wait, try taiga flycatcher. . . . Yes, taiga flycatcher. Remember that day, three years ago this month, in Inner Mongolia, in that park near the hotel you were staying; that's where you heard that sound.
5. I play recordings of the taiga flycatcher's call. Bam, that's it. The sound perfectly matches the sound I'd been hearing in the big tree outside my friend's window.
6. I open the windows and play the call. Sure enough, in a few minutes I hear a response, and then, attracted by my recording, the taiga flycatcher appears.
It gives a person a feeling of power to know what's going on around him. Birds are moving south, and some of them are moving through even the biggest cities, such as Beijing. Just wait by a big tree like the one outside my friend's window, and sure enough, sooner or later you'll see something good.
thrush
Craig Brelsford (大山雀)
This past spring, users of this forum, notably rockfowl, helped me identify the bird pictured here as a Radde's warbler (巨嘴柳莺, jùzuǐ liǔyīng, Phylloscopus schwarzi). Recently, I've been writing about the leaf warblers for my work in progress, tentatively titled A Photographic Field Guide to the Birds of China. Phylloscopus is a tough genus, but the more one drills into it, the clearer each species becomes. The photo here shows many of the salient characters of the Radde's. In China, the Radde's warbler breeds in the Greater and Lesser Khingan ranges in Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang. It passes through eastern China on its way to and from its wintering grounds, which includes Guangdong. Next week, I'm heading to Lǎotiěshān in Liaoning, followed by Yángkǒu in Jiangsu. I hope to see many more Radde's and its congeners there.
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That is fun, and such an encouragement to think you never know what you'll see - even in (central?) Beijing.
You've also got a good memory!
