Birding around Nanchang, week to 26 April
I was able to make quick evening visits to Qianhu on Monday and Thursday evening, little new except for a peak count of 4 hair-crested drongo on Thursday.
On Saturday I got over to the bus station for the 8am 159 bus to Nanjishan. Unfortunately the bus never appeared, after a series of buses I managed to take the 137 bus to the end of the line, this is about one third of the way out to Nanji. I then had a difficult morning trying to get out further, eventually I got a black van, but baled out after the driver demanded way too much money. I found myself at the 24km marker (marked, I guess, back from Nanjishan), I walked past freshly planted, damp rice paddies which held large numbers of pacific golden plover, wood sandpiper and a few swintail snipe. After several hours walking I got as far as km20 and got a lift with day-trippers out to the look-out tower and then onto my target: Ji Island. In my view, Ji Island is the number one migrant hotspot in the whole of Jiangxi province. In spring it is not a proper island, like High Island in Texas it is merely the only decent habitat for miles. Peak spring time is second week of May so it is still early but I did see my first canturians bush warbler, a few Tristram’s bunting and an early brown flycatcher. On the drive past the JSW area, even at high speed, the unmistakeable sight and sound of displaying JSW were everywhere. I was luckier in getting a series of lifts back in the evening, a long tiring day in the field and got badly sunburnt.
On Sunday I had a few hours working the Qianhu area, not much new but the wooded area proved way more productive than the manicured parkland that I worked in winter.
Complete list for past week’s birding around Nanchang, QH = Qianhu, JI = Ji Island, NW = Nanji wetlands, km references are to the road out to NW, the bridge is around km12, the good wader pools the previous August are at km 13, the bunting track at km15.5, I walked km24 to km20 on Saturday 25 Apr
Common pheasant, few at QH and NW
Spotbill, 10+ at QH, 20+ at NW
No geese
Dabchick, common
GC grebe, few distant at NW
BC Night Heron, flock of 20 over QH
Chinese Pond Heron, common and widely scattered from km24-20
Little egret, few at NW
No raptors
Moorhen, few
No cranes
GH Lapwing: 6 birds together at QH, I suspect that after hatching families join up to form protected crèches.
Pacific Golden Plover, common though widely scattered, 150+ between km24 and 20, really nice in their summer plumage. Some really good close views.
LRP a few
Swintail snipe, 20+ from km24-20. I got the impression (possibly false; see earlier posts) that most birds were pin-tailed, of the few birds that called, all were Pin-tailed snipe. My hunch is that Swinhoe’s pass at the end of March/early April and Pin-tailed later on.
Spotted redshank, common along the road
Marsh sandpiper, 2 at km23
Wood sandpiper, 200+ along the road
Common sand, few at QH
No gulls
Whiskered tern, many distantly around JI
Oriental turtle dove, QH remains a reliable site
Spotted dove, common
Pied kingfisher, 4 at QH, few at JI
Common kingfisher, few at QH and NW
Brown shrike, 2 lucionensis at QH on 26 April were my first for the year
LT shrike, common
Black drongo, my first of the year at JI on 25 Apr
Hair-crested drongo, 4 at QH on 23 Apr
Eurasian jay, fairly common at QH
Eastern great tit, common at QH
Barn swallow, fairly common everywhere
Zitting cisticola, few, mostly heard, at NW
Yellow-bellied prinia, one of the commonest songs at QH and NW
Plain prinia, few heard at NW
Collared finchbill, few on QI and at QH
Chinese bulbul, common
Himalayan black bulbul, 6+ of the white-headed form on JI
Locustella pryeri (JSW), If you visit Nanji wetlands between mid March and early May, unless it is pouring with rain you are guaranteed to see and hear this species though whether you will get a good view of a bird on the deck is down to luck. My first impression was that they were everywhere, more so than last year.
(WT) Japanese bush warbler (Manchurian on BUBO IOC), A huge male canturians on Ji Island, another recorded (see earlier post) at km 13.
Pallas’s warbler, one or two singing at QH, past peak passage
Yellow-browed warbler; heard everywhere, passage peaks around now
Arctic warbler, 1 at QH
Radde’s warbler 1 singing and briefly seen at QH on 26 Apr
Eastern crowned warbler, 1 at NW, at the singing canturians site on 25 Apr
Masked LT common at QH
WB LT common at QH
VT Parrotbill, a few breeding at QH
Japanese white-eye 20+ on JI
Crested Myna, widespread
BC starling, pairs at most suitable sites
Silky starling, few
Blackbird, many around QH, no other thrushes
Swinhoe’s robin, 5 birds singing in one area of dense brush along the canal at km 22, at least 5 birds singing on JI, 3+ still singing at QH. Clearly a common bird on spring passage, though I never saw a single bird.
Oriental magpie-robin, not common but widespread, singing at JI and QH
Stejneger’s stonechat, 3 at QH, few at NW
Asian brown flycatcher, the first of the spring at JI, just one
Blue and white flycatcher, a female at km 23
Tree sparrow, few
White wagtail, a few leucopsis
Grey wagtail, 2 at QH
OB pipit, few along the road, not as common as a week ago
Chinese grosbeak, few at QH
Tristram’s bunting, 3 on JI
Black-faced bunting, 4 at NW
Photos
1. Paddies by the road at around km23, many pacific golden plover, wood sandpiper, spotted redshank and a few swintail snipe.
2. The top platform at the Nanji wetlands lookout tower
3. The view south from the lookout, note the new large carpark and Ji Island in the distance.
4. The photogenic pool and model pagoda on Ji Island
5. The bridge onto Ji Island, from the island side. A new, much taller bridge is under construction.
