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Birds of Nanchang and Poyang Hu, Jiangxi Province (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter mjgrunwell
- Start date
mjgrunwell
Well-known member
Birding in summer
The worst time for birding around Nanchang is mid summer, hot and very humid. You would see all the common resident birds with a walk at Qianhu and Aixi hu. A trip out to Nanjishan would involve a boat trip and plenty of waterbirds. Get to Wuyuan for the BC LT before they disperse in mid July.
So Stephen, Meadow Bunting? Wow! My biggest bogey bird!
Have a good summer
The worst time for birding around Nanchang is mid summer, hot and very humid. You would see all the common resident birds with a walk at Qianhu and Aixi hu. A trip out to Nanjishan would involve a boat trip and plenty of waterbirds. Get to Wuyuan for the BC LT before they disperse in mid July.
So Stephen, Meadow Bunting? Wow! My biggest bogey bird!
Have a good summer
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Hey, I wonder if anyone who has seen The Birds of Hong Kong and South China, (by Clive Viney, Karen Phillipps and Lam Chiu Ying) can comment on how much of south China this is good for - would it help in Nanchang? I am developing an interest in Nanchang - moving that way in the fall :king:
mjgrunwell
Well-known member
Moved to Shanghai
I am now living in Shanghai and will be logging my sightings at a new thread
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=310710
Please continue to post to this thread sightings around Nanchang and Poyang Hu
I am now living in Shanghai and will be logging my sightings at a new thread
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=310710
Please continue to post to this thread sightings around Nanchang and Poyang Hu
Michael, thanks for the encouragement. I was just thinking I'd put my observations up here, but it won't be the same quality as what you've done. Of course there should be others visiting and putting up what they see. I'll be doing more on the Nanchang side, and less on the Poyang/Wuhuan type birding, but at least there's a record of an "ordinary" location.
I've been quite impressed on the quantity of birds as we've moved down from the dongbei (northeast - farther up than "Dongbei" by a good bit
). The birds on campus are much better, and there are just generally lots of birds here, and I'm guessing we haven't got lots of migration yet. Of course, since I haven't really done lots of reading up, I'm still figuring out what's typical and what's unusual.
For example, I had no idea that long-tailed shrike would be almost more common than tree sparrows - well, not exactly by number, but there's a lot of shrikes and fewer sparrows than I'm used to. The l-t shrikes are noisy and prominent too! And I never imagined that I could go several weeks and not see a single magpie! I actually like magpies, but the next one I see will get close appreciation.
I've already seen some fun birds on campus - hoopoe, masked laughingthrush, and black-naped starling. I'm going to try to both use ebird and post here more regularly. Here's what I saw yesterday:
Chinese Pond-Heron 2
Spotted Dove 3
Indian Cuckoo 1
Common Kingfisher 1
Brown Shrike 1
Long-tailed Shrike 6
Amur [Asian] Paradise-Flycatcher 1
Light-vented [Chinese] Bulbul 4
Arctic Warbler 6
Eurasian Blackbird 9
Red-billed Starling 23
[leucopsis] White Wagtail 3
Eurasian Tree Sparrow 2
Now, I admit I'm pretty unsure about the Arctics. I was rather guessing. Here's my description: longish leaf warbler, brownish tones, small white marks on wings (partial wing bars), long white supercillium, yellow on (longish) bill; they moved quickly and with agility among the leaves of tree; a few made a steep U swoop to just above the ground which ended back in the tree. I did not feel it was a Palla's or Hume's on overall shape. I see some have mentioned Yellow-browed coming through recently, but my impression was that the bill was longer than that. I considered Pale-legged also, but honestly, there are quite a few which I suppose match the only features I noted. Does anyone want to comment on what's more likely? The swoop to the ground was unique to me - not sure I've ever seen other leaf warblers do that.
Please point out anything that looks unlikely. For example, I'm not sure about the cuckoo either, I see so few that I'm not good at distinguishing them. The blackbirds are giving me fits - they don't really look like the pictures or illustrations, but I can't figure out what else they would be, must just be lots of juveniles that are very spotted. Similarly, the starlings were tough to match to something in the book. In particular, some looked like they had yellow heads (like red-billed starling photo here, middle of page)- perhaps a lighting effect?
Well, happy autumn all!
I've been quite impressed on the quantity of birds as we've moved down from the dongbei (northeast - farther up than "Dongbei" by a good bit
). The birds on campus are much better, and there are just generally lots of birds here, and I'm guessing we haven't got lots of migration yet. Of course, since I haven't really done lots of reading up, I'm still figuring out what's typical and what's unusual. For example, I had no idea that long-tailed shrike would be almost more common than tree sparrows - well, not exactly by number, but there's a lot of shrikes and fewer sparrows than I'm used to. The l-t shrikes are noisy and prominent too! And I never imagined that I could go several weeks and not see a single magpie! I actually like magpies, but the next one I see will get close appreciation.
I've already seen some fun birds on campus - hoopoe, masked laughingthrush, and black-naped starling. I'm going to try to both use ebird and post here more regularly. Here's what I saw yesterday:
Chinese Pond-Heron 2
Spotted Dove 3
Indian Cuckoo 1
Common Kingfisher 1
Brown Shrike 1
Long-tailed Shrike 6
Amur [Asian] Paradise-Flycatcher 1
Light-vented [Chinese] Bulbul 4
Arctic Warbler 6
Eurasian Blackbird 9
Red-billed Starling 23
[leucopsis] White Wagtail 3
Eurasian Tree Sparrow 2
Now, I admit I'm pretty unsure about the Arctics. I was rather guessing. Here's my description: longish leaf warbler, brownish tones, small white marks on wings (partial wing bars), long white supercillium, yellow on (longish) bill; they moved quickly and with agility among the leaves of tree; a few made a steep U swoop to just above the ground which ended back in the tree. I did not feel it was a Palla's or Hume's on overall shape. I see some have mentioned Yellow-browed coming through recently, but my impression was that the bill was longer than that. I considered Pale-legged also, but honestly, there are quite a few which I suppose match the only features I noted. Does anyone want to comment on what's more likely? The swoop to the ground was unique to me - not sure I've ever seen other leaf warblers do that.
Please point out anything that looks unlikely. For example, I'm not sure about the cuckoo either, I see so few that I'm not good at distinguishing them. The blackbirds are giving me fits - they don't really look like the pictures or illustrations, but I can't figure out what else they would be, must just be lots of juveniles that are very spotted. Similarly, the starlings were tough to match to something in the book. In particular, some looked like they had yellow heads (like red-billed starling photo here, middle of page)- perhaps a lighting effect?
Well, happy autumn all!
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MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
Welcome to Nanfang birding Gretchen!
Arctic sounds right for your warbler, although they do have a dark spot at the tip of the bill it is indeed yellow that you mostly see.
I think you're right about the blackbird and the starlings, but its hard to comment on the cuckoo. Indian has a broad dark tip to the tail.
Cheers
Mike
Arctic sounds right for your warbler, although they do have a dark spot at the tip of the bill it is indeed yellow that you mostly see.
I think you're right about the blackbird and the starlings, but its hard to comment on the cuckoo. Indian has a broad dark tip to the tail.
Cheers
Mike
Owen Krout
Well-known member
Glad to hear from you, Gretchen and that you have started observing. Like you, I report from a more ordinary location and perspective and sometimes feel somewhat intimidated by Tom's extensive lists from Dahlian. Supporting eBird's database helps greatly with Cornell and others doing research, especially when coming from a part of the world that is very light on reports.
Thanks for the comments Mike and Owen. Southern birding has been very encouraging so far - it's nice to see a good deal more birds without as much of an effort as I needed up in Changchun. I hope that better listing will lead to better id efforts and more confidence in identifying.
Today I had a spare 45 minutes, and largely sat and watched the goings on in a downtown park, but with bins! I was impressed with the fact that I saw a number of birds, despite the 1000+ people in this small, but very scenic park in the center of town.
Bayi Park, Nanchang, Jiangxi, Jiangxi, CN
Sun Sep 13, 2015 8:00 AM
Protocol:Incidental
Comments: Sunny, pleasant morning, not hot
Species
9 Little Grebe: 4 juveniles, 1 pair of adults doing simple pair display
3 Black-crowned Night-Heron: one adult and two juveniles
1 Light-vented Bulbul
2 Masked Laughingthrush (several more in the trees, heard but not sighted)
1 Oriental Magpie-Robin: 1st year bird with some brown feathers on head and parts of wings all brown
In addition there was an unidentified phyllos, and a heron that confused me.
I was pleased to watch the one little grebe pair do some calling and parallel swimming - I've hardly watched this in spring! I also watched a bit of the younger grebes catching fish for themselves.
The oriental magpie robin looked like a youngster not only because of his brown feathers, but he also handled a dry leaf oddly (considering it food? or perhaps vaguely looking for an insect within?). He/she also slowly fanned and wagged his tail - a very intentional looking movement. Also seemed like it should be display perhaps, but I'm not sure if a juvie of this age would do that.
The laughingthrushes were calling so loudly that they managed to be heard over dueling speakers playing dance/exercise music! Very helpful for urban living.
It was encouraging to see these birds (as well as others I just glimpsed) breeding or as least stopping through this crowded part of town.
Today I had a spare 45 minutes, and largely sat and watched the goings on in a downtown park, but with bins! I was impressed with the fact that I saw a number of birds, despite the 1000+ people in this small, but very scenic park in the center of town.
Bayi Park, Nanchang, Jiangxi, Jiangxi, CN
Sun Sep 13, 2015 8:00 AM
Protocol:Incidental
Comments: Sunny, pleasant morning, not hot
Species
9 Little Grebe: 4 juveniles, 1 pair of adults doing simple pair display
3 Black-crowned Night-Heron: one adult and two juveniles
1 Light-vented Bulbul
2 Masked Laughingthrush (several more in the trees, heard but not sighted)
1 Oriental Magpie-Robin: 1st year bird with some brown feathers on head and parts of wings all brown
In addition there was an unidentified phyllos, and a heron that confused me.
I was pleased to watch the one little grebe pair do some calling and parallel swimming - I've hardly watched this in spring! I also watched a bit of the younger grebes catching fish for themselves.
The oriental magpie robin looked like a youngster not only because of his brown feathers, but he also handled a dry leaf oddly (considering it food? or perhaps vaguely looking for an insect within?). He/she also slowly fanned and wagged his tail - a very intentional looking movement. Also seemed like it should be display perhaps, but I'm not sure if a juvie of this age would do that.
The laughingthrushes were calling so loudly that they managed to be heard over dueling speakers playing dance/exercise music! Very helpful for urban living.
It was encouraging to see these birds (as well as others I just glimpsed) breeding or as least stopping through this crowded part of town.
thirudevaram
Trapped in mist ***s
Welcome to the East, Gretchen. Glad to know that you are liking the Shrikes. You can check the comments by Jonathan in the earlier posts of this thread for the call variation in Eurasian/Oriental Cuckoo's. Indian Cuckoo's call is unique though but i guess they won't be callin now.
Jonathan also mentioned about an article in BirdingAsia regarding the coloration in Starlings (http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=292575&page=2). I have the June edition, i couldn't find the article though. It has to be the previous edition(Number 22).
Jonathan also mentioned about an article in BirdingAsia regarding the coloration in Starlings (http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=292575&page=2). I have the June edition, i couldn't find the article though. It has to be the previous edition(Number 22).
Thanks Dev for the reference! I haven't read this whole thread yet myself - it seemed so far away from where I was birding last year, little did I know :-O - that will teach me not to pay attention to other corners! Anyway, I really appreciate people with better memories helping out.
An indirect investigation into the Stanton & Leven article (yes, issue 22) hints that they are referring to dyed birds. I guess it could be - the heads certainly seemed yellow.
An indirect investigation into the Stanton & Leven article (yes, issue 22) hints that they are referring to dyed birds. I guess it could be - the heads certainly seemed yellow.
David Stanton helpfully provided a copy of the article on starlings, which included useful descriptions and photos of dyed birds, as well as discussing other possible reasons for color change. The Red-billed Starling is a commonly dyed bird in Asia, but David commented, and I agree that if it was just coloring on the head, the birds were probably not dyed. Since the coloring appeared in more than one bird and was fairly uniform, I guess the color was not due to pollen. I believe it is a particular plumage (David suggested "fresh") which has a warmer color (which could be seen on a bird on the Korean Birds page I linked above). It may be that this color catches sunlight and appears more yellow - I'll pay attention more to the lighting when I see them again.
This morning's walk on campus brought a few new birds for the campus, and was a good chance to improve my confidence in id-ing the common birds....
7:30 AM
Duration: 1 hour(s), 15 minute(s)
Comments: overcast, but sunny at times, more than 75 degrees and muggy
Species
11 species total
Little Grebe 1
Spotted Dove 2
Long-tailed Shrike 3
Ashy Drongo 1
Oriental Magpie-Robin 1
Chinese Blackbird 12
Black-collared Starling 4
Red-billed Starling 25
Crested Myna 4
White Wagtail 1
The Ashy Drongo and Oriental Magpie Robin were all new for the campus. In addition, I had my first flycatcher of the season, which I eventually got fairly good views of, but can't really figure out. It was a dull brown color, with a well defined white chin area (and head-on it looked to have notable black malars, making it look a little fierce). The beak seemed a bit petite and all black. The eye ring was quite large and a little wider (or more noticeable) at the back of the eye, and the eye seemed large too. The chest was not streaked, but greyish - definitely not white. I forgot to look at the tail very much, except the primary projection seemed not very large. The bird was flying about among willow trees, stopping at points, but not returning to the same lookout while I was watching. I've been looking at pictures and have a few ideas, but wonder if anyone has any thoughts.... Thanks!
7:30 AM
Duration: 1 hour(s), 15 minute(s)
Comments: overcast, but sunny at times, more than 75 degrees and muggy
Species
11 species total
Little Grebe 1
Spotted Dove 2
Long-tailed Shrike 3
Ashy Drongo 1
(This was a very light grey bird, fairly evenly colored, but with black feathers around the dark beak; the white area around the eye was not well defined but noticeable - likely leucogenis ssp)
Oriental Magpie-Robin 1
Chinese Blackbird 12
Black-collared Starling 4
Red-billed Starling 25
Crested Myna 4
White Wagtail 1
The Ashy Drongo and Oriental Magpie Robin were all new for the campus. In addition, I had my first flycatcher of the season, which I eventually got fairly good views of, but can't really figure out. It was a dull brown color, with a well defined white chin area (and head-on it looked to have notable black malars, making it look a little fierce). The beak seemed a bit petite and all black. The eye ring was quite large and a little wider (or more noticeable) at the back of the eye, and the eye seemed large too. The chest was not streaked, but greyish - definitely not white. I forgot to look at the tail very much, except the primary projection seemed not very large. The bird was flying about among willow trees, stopping at points, but not returning to the same lookout while I was watching. I've been looking at pictures and have a few ideas, but wonder if anyone has any thoughts.... Thanks!
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I've been trying to record a bit more on eBird, and haven't been as good at posting in two places :-C
Yesterday's walk around campus was a high of 18 species, so a good outing. There's obviously lots of birds to see here, I'm just getting the easy ones.
Thrushes and flycatchers were fun to see, and it was my first munia here too. The oddest sighting was the munia - what would it be carrying (great long) grasses around for except next building? But why would it be doing that at this time of year?
My husband was out with me yesterday, and since he had been watching and taking pictures of the redtails, he was pretty confident that that's what he saw several of early this morning, on the lines for drying laundry!
My best sighting from last week was the bird-watching club! Just 5 students, but fun to see. Hopefully I'll get out watching with them some time soon. The leader said that this is the first year he saw yellow-bellied tits on campus.
Yesterday's walk around campus was a high of 18 species, so a good outing. There's obviously lots of birds to see here, I'm just getting the easy ones.
- Spotted Dove 1
- Long-tailed Shrike 2
- Yellow-bellied Tit 3
- Great Tit 2
- Light-vented Bulbul 24
- Pallas's Leaf Warbler 1 (looked for others, but seemed to be lone individual)
- Yellow-browed Warbler 8 (a small flock seen together in willow trees; - wingbar and long white supercillium seen clearly)
- White-browed Laughingthrush 8
- Oriental Magpie-Robin 3 (all males, two seemed to be disputing)
- Taiga Flycatcher 2
- Daurian Redstart 2 1 male, 1 female (not together)
- Gray-backed Thrush 4 (seen together, on the ground and lower tree branches)
- Chinese Blackbird 9 mostly seen as individuals
- Black-collared Starling 1
- Red-billed Starling 40
- Crested Myna 8
- White Wagtail 4 one pair (male and female)
- House Sparrow 4
- Scaly-breasted Munia 1 (bird was collecting grasses to put in a pine tree!)
Thrushes and flycatchers were fun to see, and it was my first munia here too. The oddest sighting was the munia - what would it be carrying (great long) grasses around for except next building? But why would it be doing that at this time of year?
My husband was out with me yesterday, and since he had been watching and taking pictures of the redtails, he was pretty confident that that's what he saw several of early this morning, on the lines for drying laundry!
My best sighting from last week was the bird-watching club! Just 5 students, but fun to see. Hopefully I'll get out watching with them some time soon. The leader said that this is the first year he saw yellow-bellied tits on campus.
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thirudevaram
Trapped in mist ***s
5 ain't a small no. We need to start somewhere and to top that a pure gem of an endemic.
jonathmartinez
Well-known member
Gretchen, I also saw SB Munia collecting nest material on Sunday in Guangdong and another in september in Guangxi... I guess many still breeding that late because of more food available for them at this time of the year and less rain...
Owen Krout
Well-known member
Gretchen, I had much the same problem until I noticed that on the eBird page that comes up to verify your posting there is a side bar were you can click to email your sighting to yourself. With that in hand it is simple to cut and paste it into your report here. Hence you only have to type all of that in once. :t:
Yes! hopefully language will not be a barrier...
Thanks so much for this comment! Very interesting. Yes, I see that it is a better time of year for many things (like flowers blooming), so that makes sense.
Thanks, have just been figuring that out.
Quick note of a new bird: Brown-breasted Bulbul - a small group (4 or so) - easily identified by their black heads and orange vents. They were a surprise since Brazil says 800 m and above, and we are clearly very lowland... Don't know if they've been here all along, and I didn't identify them or if they are new on campus.
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