[Frogfish]

Originally Posted by thrush

I also have the first record of a bohemian waxwing from the island.

Mark and I had the Japanese Waxwings there exactly a week earlier (on the 17th) but I did not see them there the following week.

[thrush]

Originally Posted by MKinHK

Any pix of the undertail coverts Craig?

A Whistling Green Pigeon has just shown up in Hong Kong (first record) from the Ryukyus - very similar but narrower white edges to the undertail coverts are the best way to separate them. . . .

Hello Mike, thanks for the link to the whistling green pigeon. A good record for Hong Kong.

Regarding my bird, I was able to get only a blurry shot of the vent and undertail coverts. I therefore was unable to base my ID on that view. Instead, I used the yellowish-green plumage of the head and upper breast to identify it as Treron sieboldii. Both Brazil ("Birds of East Asia") and HBW Vol. 4 note the deeper, less contrasting green plumage of the whistling green.

Brazil, describing what he calls the "Ryukyu green pigeon" (Treron [formosae] riukiuensis): "Deep green head, upperparts and underparts." The white-bellied green pigeon, by contrast, has a "yellowish-green" head--just like the bird I photographed.

HBW4 on what it calls the "whistling green pigeon" (Treron formosae): "Closely resembles its close relatives T. sphenura and T. seiboldii, but . . . general plumage darker green . . . "

The bird that you linked to at hkbws.org.hk is a deeper, more uniform green than the bird that I photographed.

I have attached two images. One is a blurry view of the vent and undertail coverts. This image is inconclusive, in my opinion; look on Oriental Bird Images at some of the female white-bellied and whistling greens; they have similar green and creamy patterning. My other image shows the yellowish head and its contrast to the deeper green of the upperparts. This image, I think, supports an identification as a white-bellied green pigeon.

[thrush]

Originally Posted by Frogfish

Mark and I had the Japanese Waxwings there exactly a week earlier (on the 17th) but I did not see them there the following week.

And you two were the finders of the varied tit on Lesser Yangshan. If you join birdtalker.net and make a report with the date of your sightings, then you'll be credited with having the earliest report.

[thrush]

Recently, I became a reporter on China Bird Report. I am the first birder ever to report (but not necessarily witness) the following incidents:

1. A bohemian waxwing on Lesser Yangshan Island in Zhejiang
2. A white-bellied green pigeon on Lesser Yangshan
3. A Mandarin duck on Lesser Yangshan
4. A Japanese robin at Century Park in Shanghai
5. Varied tits at Zhongshan Park in Shanghai; although there's no "New!" next to my report of the varied tit, I've been unable to find any other report of varied tits at Zhongshan Park on birdtalker.net.

My name on China Bird Report is 大山(雀). I've long used China Bird Report for research. It's a vital source of information. I'm happy to be a contributor!

最近我成为中国观鸟记录中心的记录者。我是以下鸟种在某个地方的第一个报告者（请看鸟种旁边的"New!" ）
1、太平鸟在浙江小洋山
2、红翅绿鸠在小洋山
3、鸳鸯在小洋山
4、日本歌鸲在上海世纪公园
5、杂色山雀在上海中山公园
尽管在我报告的杂色山雀后面没有出现"New!"但我并没有发现除我之外别的人在中山公园报告 过。
我的中国观鸟记录中心的名字叫大山(雀)。我早就开始使用中国观鸟记录中心的相关记录，对我而言是很重要的 资料。我很高兴我也能为记录中心做了点贡献。

[thrush]

I'm deeply into my studies of birds. My work on the e-Guide continues . . . I'm more than halfway through the writing in English!

Birds are much like humans; they're tetrapods (four-limbed vertebrates), they're warm-blooded, they stand upright, and they're visually biased (they get most of their info about their surroundings through their eyes).

But birds are wholly subject to the natural law. Water runs downhill; a hummingbird "knows" that if it flies far enough over the Gulf of Mexico, it'll hit land. No one teaches the hummingbird that, just as no one commands water to run downhill.

我对于鸟类的研究有很浓厚的兴趣。鸟类与我们人类很像，它们是脊椎动物，体温是恒温，直立的站立，并且主要 靠视觉去感知（它们通过眼睛获得周围的大部分信息）。但是，鸟类完全遵循自然法则，就像水往低处流一样。一 只蜂鸟“知道”如果它要飞行足够远,远到穿越墨西哥湾，那么它就会达到陆地。没有人告诉蜂鸟要这样做，就像 没有人命令水要往低处流一样。

[thrush]

On Wednesday I spent the day on Lesser Yangshan Island. I failed to find the Eurasian bullfinch, although one apparently was present at Garbage Dump Valley. I enjoyed the brilliant sunshine and cool December air, and I reaffirmed my commitment to being a photographically oriented birder.

My day began at 04:15 at my apartment near Zhongshan Park in Shanghai. By 05:30 I was on the road, driving (as is my wont) a Chevy Lova rented from Avis. I arrived at the Garbage Dump Coastal Plain at 06:45. I pulled out my kick-ass lens, the Nikon 600 mm f/4, and attached it to my Nikon D3S, now two years old and still pumping out perfect images. It was time to rock 'n' roll . . .

My first bird was a dusky thrush, feeding on the track leading toward the dump. Eurasian tree sparrows were there, as was a fearless black-backed wagtail (Motacilla alba lugens). The black-backed is a subspecies of the white wagtail; this individual was clearly a winter lugens, for in addition to its black eye-stripe it had the grey back with black splotches.

Walking past the smelly garbage-processing center, teeming with cats, I found a male Daurian redstart. Further up, a flock of maybe six Far Eastern great tits (Parus minor) greeted me cheerfully. A pair of varied tits was associating with the great tits, and elegant (yellow-throated) buntings were keeping a low profile in the weeds. A few pale thrushes seem to have made themselves at home in the Valley; I photographed one in a former brushy area now cleared and converted into a photographic setup. An eastern buzzard was flying overhead.

A group of photographers from Hangzhou arrived. I didn't recognize any of them, but they all knew who I was. In the central "courtyard" area (two empty circular basins, two or three tall trees), we "togs" lined up near some of the props set up by earlier photographers. The tits did not disappoint, landing on the props and a hundred other places and energetically investigating everything. A varied tit explored a bicycle, even checking under the seat for bugs. I got a nice shot of it perching on the fender. A female Daurian redstart was in the branches above, and a red-flanked bluetail made an appearance. Later, I saw a Eurasian wryneck near the outhouse.

The problem with Lesser Yangshan is that Garbage Dump Valley is the best birding spot on the island, so much so that a full day could profitably be spent there. But I like to stretch my legs, so my habit is to break up my day into two long sessions (early morning, late afternoon) at the Garbage Dump, with a survey of the other locations in between. This time, my method probably denied me a view of the Eurasian bullfinch.

I withdrew from Garbage Dump Valley, the sun warm on my face. I was sleepy. After a quick look at the thrushy field along Donghai Avenue (situation normal: dozens of thrushes, almost all dusky, combing the dormant yellow grass), I doubled back to the base of the "Temple Mount," that is, Lesser Guanyin Mountain. But the bright sun meant that birds would be hard to find at that hour, and in any case, the warm rays were caressing me. I fell asleep in the driver's seat.

I awoke 30 minutes later, still groggy. There was only one solution: caffeine. I forwent the Temple and drove to the convenience store in the built-up area near the Shilong Wonder. There, I bought a can of Red Bull. I ate my lunch just outside the gate to the Garbage Dump Coastal Plain, a trio of dusky thrushes joining me. One boldly foraged just a meter away from the closed door of my Lova. I also took an interest in a female blue rock thrush. Amur wagtails (M. a. leucopsis) were foraging along the road. The Red Bull worked its magic; I was fully awake.

Along the strip of grass at the entrance to the Garbage Dump Coastal Plain, I invested 15 minutes in photographing the duskies from the Lova. I once again failed to record any of the many short duels the duskies engage in. My consolation prize, however, was a long, close look at the foraging behavior of these birds. Here indeed, the bird photographer has an advantage over the birder who hastily moves to the next species before adequately appreciating the species in front of him. Peering through my viewfinder, I watched the dusky tilt its head in typical thrush-like fashion, the better to hear the worm wriggling below. Most of its thrusts netted little or nothing, but occasionally the dusky would pull an earthworm out of nowhere. My camera recorded those lightning-fast attacks, movements too fast for the human eye to see.

The Hangzhou guys came back to their cars. They told me they'd seen the bullfinch up by the entrance to the tunnel. Eureka! My moment was here. I was itching to go, but the guys first wanted a quick group-photo session (Chinese photographers commonly request a picture with the well-known foreign photographer "大山雀"). I then hoofed across the Coastal Plain to the Valley.

Near the tunnel entrance I planted my tripod. I scoured the tight little area, finding only Chinese bulbuls, long-tailed shrikes, and pale thrushes. The great tits came to drink from the trickling spring. A northern hobby was soaring far above. Where was my bullfinch?

A red-flanked bluetail, an adult male, bounced up to me on the concrete path. The habitat along the sidewalk was perfect for him, so he hung around, once or twice flying straight at me in pursuit of a flying insect. Half an hour went by, the bluetail always near. Even though I've had similar episodes many times with bluetails and other friendly species, the experience of getting close to a wild bird never feels old, and it never fails to delight me. This little traveler was providing me the birder's equivalent to a soak in a hot spring or a freshly brewed cup of Chinese yellow-rose tea. My time with the bluetail was a moment for relaxation and appreciation.

Not only was the visit from this friendly bird emotionally satisfying, but it also provided an opportunity for close observation. During my recent work with the Japanese robins, I noted how much at home they are close to the ground. Though the robins prefer to perch on something rather than simply stand on the ground (I often saw them standing on a stick or root just a centimeter high), they very rarely were perching more than half a meter from the ground, and they almost never were perching in the open. The Daurian redstarts, by contrast, though very much willing to go to the ground, are more aerial and arboreal, spending much of their time in the lower canopy. The habits of the bluetail fall between those of the redstart and robin. The bluetail was inserting itself into tangles that a redstart would shy away from but a robin would feel at home in. But the bluetail never remained for long in the thick bushes, always emerging and perching conspicuously. These open perches were usually no higher than 2 m above the ground, and they were rarely the branches of standing trees, being instead stumps, rocks, the stalks of smaller plants, and the branches of fallen trees. There is, however, much overlap between the habitat of the Daurian redstart and that of the red-flanked bluetail, as even the birds themselves know; four times, a female Daurian swooped down and chased off the slightly smaller bluetail. Fittingly, the fleeing bluetail would head for the thickest bushes, where the redstart would not follow.

I walked through the tunnel to Hidden Pagoda Cove. I once again admired the mysterious house of worship, inside which Buddhist chants were resounding but around which there was not a living soul. The wind had picked up, making audible the crashing waves below. The water, suffused with the outflow of the Yangtze River, is muddy brown, robbing the Hidden Cove of some of its romance. A view of a bullfinch would have infused the cove with birding romance, but there was none to be seen. A female blue rock thrush was the most notable bird there.

I retraced my steps through the tunnel, down Garbage Dump Valley, and across the Garbage Dump Coastal Plain. I wistfully packed up my beloved equipment. I'd missed the bullfinch, but I'll be back, camera, as always, in hand. I drove home without incident.

[thirudevaram]

Sorry about the Bullfinch Craig but that's a kickass shot of the Dusky! Let's hope for the next migration.

[Gretchen]

Nice shot of the Dusky going after the flying worm

It is a great capture.

[thrush]

Here are the endearing little varied tits on two props. The bike, however, was not intended for photographic glory (but achieved it nonetheless). As for the perfectly placed stump, ahh, feast your eyes on the pleasing green background it created.

[thrush]

When I walk down the street, I want people to say, "There goes Craig. He makes birding fun." My minute-and-a-half video shows how I get it done. (Go to my Facebook page, then find the video titled "Dec 9, 2012 8:53am.")

[thrush]

On Saturday, Dev (thirudevaram) and I did the birding equivalent of eating one's greens. We "gulled" in downtown Shanghai, on The Bund, that famous waterfront area along the Huangpu River. No birds are tougher to identify than gulls of the herring gull complex, and no group of birds will do more to help the birder hone his skills. For most of the gulls we were seeing, the description of the Mongolian gull (Larus cachinnans mongolicus) seemed to be most fitting. Here are some first-winter gulls, which I'm calling Mongolians.

[rockfowl]

I'd go with Mongolian on this one. Its rather advanced into first winter plumage although the head would tend to be whiter, this will wear over the next month. The tail band is rather narrow, Vega's usually but not always are much broader. The eye looks rather large, in the second shot, but I guess this is enhanced by some loral shadow, Mongolians tend to look rather small, beady eyed. Nice whitish barred underwing.

[viator]

Originally Posted by thrush

There are only 28 records of the white-bellied green pigeon on China Bird Report (dating from 2004), and only a few from sites north of Shanghai. I'd say it's unlikely that the bird was migrating down the Chinese coast.

Hi Craig,

I saw the one below on 14th Mar 2005 in Century Park, Shanghai. I also have another record from Century Park on 29th Dec 2004.

Cheers
Mike

[thrush]

Originally Posted by rockfowl

I'd go with Mongolian on this one. Its rather advanced into first winter plumage although the head would tend to be whiter, this will wear over the next month. The tail band is rather narrow, Vega's usually but not always are much broader. The eye looks rather large, in the second shot, but I guess this is enhanced by some loral shadow, Mongolians tend to look rather small, beady eyed. Nice whitish barred underwing.

Thanks Mark. Mongolian is the growing consensus. My research is indicating that at this time of year the Mongolian would be the representative of the herring-gull complex most likely to be found around Shanghai.

[thirudevaram]

Originally Posted by viator

Hi Craig,

I saw the one below on 14th Mar 2005 in Century Park, Shanghai. I also have another record from Century Park on 29th Dec 2004.

Cheers
Mike

Thanks Mike for sharing your records of the White-bellied green Pigeon. There is only two record of this bird from Nanhui in 2005/2008(Sourcehina Bird Report). So it makes 4 records now and interesting part is, it's from Century park. The park is awesome eventhough it's been driven towards commercial purpose.

[thrush]

Here are some of the adults from Saturday on the Bund and the Huangpu River. Here again, ID-ing them as Mongolian gulls (Larus cachinnans mongolicus) seems most appropriate.

[MKinHK]

Viator - two Green Pigeons in Shanghai is a tremendous record!

Cheers
Mike

[thrush]

Again, this second-winter individual from the Huangpu River on Saturday leans Mongolian.

[rockfowl]

I'd agree with that Craig an you will no doubt find this excellent site of interest, if you haven't already found it - http://www23.tok2.com/home/jgull/gullidentifi_.htm

[thrush]

Originally Posted by rockfowl

I'd agree with that Craig an you will no doubt find this excellent site of interest, if you haven't already found it - http://www23.tok2.com/home/jgull/gullidentifi_.htm

Rockfowl, thanks. I know of and use this site. It's a good resource.

[gjcarey]

Based on primary moult progression, I would say your adult large gull is probably vegae. I would expect most mongolicus to have completed by early December, while primary moult scores of vegae in Japan at the end of November are, based on my records, in the range 45-49. This better fits your bird. I also think the pattern of streaking on the head better fits vegae.

[rockfowl]

Originally Posted by gjcarey

Based on primary moult progression, I would say your adult large gull is probably vegae. I would expect most mongolicus to have completed by early December, while primary moult scores of vegae in Japan at the end of November are, based on my records, in the range 45-49. This better fits your bird. I also think the pattern of streaking on the head better fits vegae.

That was my feeling too. Would you also expect to see some streaking on the breast also, which is unfortunately covered in oil, so masks what might or might not be there?

[thrush]

For my forthcoming e-Guide to the Birds of China, I'm mulling some taxonomic issues regarding the parrotbills. Please read this entry and give me your opinion.

I'm considering treating the parrotbills this way:

1. Include the parrotbills within Sylviidae.

2. Remove bearded reedling (Panurus biarmicus) from the parrotbills and place it in the unispecific family Panuridae.

The Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) places the parrotbills in a separate family, Paradoxornithidae. HBW includes the bearded reedling within Paradoxornithidae, even referring to the species as the "bearded parrotbill."

Various Wikipedia entries do away with "Paradoxornithidae," placing the parrotbills in Sylviidae. The Wikpedia articles also make a compelling case that the bearded reedling should not merely be switched from one family to another but be considered the sole member of a new family, Panuridae.

I know that Wikipedia is often not the most accurate resource, but it is also often the most up-to-date. I'm sorry, but I haven't yet consulted more solid literature on the taxonomy of the parrotbills and the bearded reedling. (But it seems that the writers of the Wikipedia articles HAVE consulted some very new and good research.)

Basically, I follow HBW for my taxonomy. The question is, "Shall Craig diverge from HBW on the question of the classification of the parrotbills and the bearded reedling?"

What do you think?

Attached: a brown parrotbill (褐鸦雀, hè yāquè, Paradoxornis unicolor) that I photographed in 2010 on Mt. Wǎwū (瓦屋山) in central Sichuan. With 12 species, central Sichuan is the world distribution center for the parrotbills.

[viator]

Hi Craig, I follow the IOC list (mostly) so yes I for would go with your proposed treatment.

[viator]

Originally Posted by MKinHK

Viator - two Green Pigeons in Shanghai is a tremendous record!

Cheers
Mike

Thanks Mike. I knew they were rare at the time but it wasn't until reading Craig's post I realized just how significant the two sightings were.

For what it's worth I spent close to 5 years in Shanghai and due to working just outside the park (i.e. could walk in at lunch time) for quite some time and then after still living close by I must have entered the park 100 times or more they are uncommon sightings and the 3 months between the two sightings the bird was very definitely not present the whole time but could well have been the same bird migrating in either direction,

Cheers
Mike