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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

China observations (1 Viewer)

Mystery bird

Heard and saw a little of a bird on campus this morning (after the cold front came through). It was small and warbler like, high in the pine tree and moving about pretty quickly. I only saw the pale underside (and barely that). The call was unusual: it was fairly high (but not so much as a goldcrest) and carried well, but also just a little buzzy (reminded me of a little of a veery of in quality). It was most often a double note twee-twee, but also gave triple and occasionally long single notes.

I thought it might be a white-eye, but the Xeno-canto of chestnut sided, and Japanese calls didn't sound familiar. Other ideas of what I should try?
 
Doomed Fish

Spend some time at the Beidaihe sandflats in the afternoon, despite the extremely low tide - it was the clearest skies we'd had in ages and I couldn't resist. I found out from a birder there that I had missed a group of 5 spoonbills by an hour or two - too bad, I've not yet seen one!

There was an interesting interaction between birds going on for 15 minutes or so. There was a group of six Common Mergansers pretty far up the channel (away from the sea) and they must have found a large school of fish (maybe concentrated because of the low tide). They were diving very shallowly and seemed to be catching quite a bit. They would sort of go from one side of the channel to the other, pursuing the school back and forth I suppose.

At the same time, there was a small flock of Little Egrets (about 8), which were standing on the shore and trying for the same fish, though the fish weren't coming to the shallow areas so much. Nevertheless, as the mergansers changes sides of the channel, the egrets would all fly across en masse and start trying from the other shore. I don't think they got as much to eat as the mergansers, but those fish were certainly trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea, as the saying goes!

I saw the mergansers and egrets interact a little more directly, but no real damage done. The egrets seemed to be puzzling how to position themselves to get some of the bounty, but I didn't see any particularly successful. There were a couple of Little Grebes involved in the feeding party briefly as well.
 
Baer's Pochards and Japanese Waxwings!

Yesterday (Monday 29 October) I visited Wild Duck Lake, Beijing. As well as 4 BAER'S POCHARDS still on site, a party of 12 JAPANESE WAXWINGS flew overhead. Photo below of part of the flock. I think these are the first of the winter in Beijing. Two years ago there was a large influx. Hopefully these birds are the first of a new irruption. Keep an eye open for them!
 

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waiting for them in Rudong:)
the two Varied Tits are still living in the same temple in Rudong.
Also saw a Brown Hawk Owl,a very late migrant.
 
31 Oct in Rudong
after the cold front,a lot of visible migrants incl. 350 Dusky Thrush,5 Eurasian Bullfinch(pink belly).....................
 
As far as I know, there are two Snow Bunting records from Beidaihe.

The one that Mark mentions, on 17th February 1913

And one at the Sand Flats on 15th February 2002, seen by Jesper and me.
 
As far as I know, there are two Snow Bunting records from Beidaihe.

The one that Mark mentions, on 17th February 1913

And one at the Sand Flats on 15th February 2002, seen by Jesper and me.

Two then ;) I also hoped I'd see one during November stints as there were always a few Lapland Buntings on passage but I guess it wasn't cold enough!

Great record :t:
 
Snow Bunting is also in Shanghai Bird List.I guess it's long ago.
Today in Yancheng,3 Eurasian Bullfinch.The male has a little pink in cheek and belly,as the one still in Rudong.Still confused what race they are.
Meanwhile,tried to find any Snow Bunting in many Lapland in Yancheng but they just flew around and around .............in the sun.
 
Snow Bunting! What a cracking record - both this one, Shi Jin's from 2002, and the 1913 record - I'd not heard of these previously.

Definitely a year for the northern birds - eyes open for Black Lark, Snowy Owl and European Robin!

Cheers
Mike
 
Hi Mike
Siberian Accentor and Eurasian Bullfinch have been both recorded in Rudong since 2008.Lapland Bunting is also recorded in Shanghai in recent winters.I've also seen Pallas's Rosefinch in Rudong together with my first EBullfinch.
So as to this autumn/winter it's still hard to say if it's a big year for northern birds just based on Snow Bunting.More observations needed.

Similar example is the 20+ Varied Tit in Rudong which gives more supports to the guess of its irruption year.

What we need is more,more, .................and more birders in China
 
2 EBullfinch were recorded in Yangshan Island,and a few Japanese Robin were in migration.
Again,it attracted hundreds of photographers who use this way
 

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