Friday I returned to known haunts and went over to Little Yang Shan Island (XYS), the Magic Car Park and the Reed Beds of Nan Hui. A decent enough day photographically (plenty of cloud cover but bright enough) and temperature-wise, warming up to 19-20C (after a colder start, around 11-12C).
XYS turned out to be a rather exciting show after a slow start (it seems to me that even if I arrive early, say 06.30 - 07.00, the birds don't really begin to show well until it warms up a little around 08.30-09.00.
Anyway although there were not high numbers still one good bird after another turned up on the island ; Japanese Thrush (and Eye-Browed), Siberian Rubythroat, Japanese Robin, Common Redpoll (!! - yes, this far South, big surprise. I was too slow to get a shot but I have an iPhone shot from the camera of the Chinese tog close-by who did get on it, I'll pin it up here later), Red-Flanked Bluetail, the first Bramblings of the Autumn, a wonderful array of Buntings (YB, Little, BF and Elegant) and finally (over in the temple valley, where I was alone) to my delight a very confiding Brown Hawk Owl that allowed me to come to within 7-8m and then, when I sat down and played out a hunting tip I have learnt ... acting uninterested by slowly looking all around me .... it went to back to sleep !
Japanese Robin : the two Chinese togs next to me were on the phone to their pals over in Nanhui even before they got their shots (the bird came within 3m of me but they hadn't spotted it until they heard my shutter firing away - they later got great shots when I went looking for it and found it again, this time in the vegetable patch). Within one hour their friends, 11 more photographers, arrived en masse in 4 cars - my cue to depart !
Nan Hui Magic CP didn’t produce much but there was a Pale Thrush and a female Rubythroat.
The highlight of the Nan Hui visit though came close to dusk when I ended up on the reed bed boardwalk (now without much in the way of reed-beds in this area but after rain it is a swampy, grassy, area with one or two largish wader-depth patches of water, some irrigation canals and another patch of slightly deeper water suitable for ducks).
There I found circa 1,500 ducks. Almost all that I've been able to spot from the very heavily cropped photos (the birds were quite distant) were Spot-Billed, Mallards and Gadwall. I had joked to Dev by message that I needed a Marsh Harrier to fly over the vicinity - when a few minutes later that is exactly what happened, well a Peregrine anyway, sending the whole mass into a panic and flight, allowing me to get good video of the sky black with ducks and to get off a few poor shots in the low light that at least enabled IDing.
A little earlier an interesting meeting/discussion took place as dusk started to close in. I had parked up and was walking to the Nan Hui Boardwalk to check on the ducks when I saw a car pull up and 3 gents in suits get out. 2 walked out into the boardwalk and the driver hung back.
On arriving back at road by the boardwalk they greeted me and attempted to strike up conversation in broken English, since I speak Mandarin we started chatting and I soon realised from the questions asked (and the suits !) that these were Govt. officials. It seems they were looking at / discussing their plans for this area.
When they heard that I was a regular to this spot they became very attentive and asked me what birds I had seen here (I had my Chinese version of MacKinnon's in my pocket so was able to show them and give them the Chinese names), in what numbers and at what time of year. Really simple stuff TBH.
I also complained that the area was being over-developed and that previously excellent reed-beds and marsh had been removed, levelled, and now had goats grazing on it !
They assured me this was only temporary and that the extensive land recovery works going on at the sea-front (about 1 km away) was actually going to be a bird reserve and intended to be for waders etc. and also the area that was now being grazed by goats will be partially flooded.
All this was because of the development behind us (about 1 km further inland) was impinging on the land supposedly set aside as a bird reserve. It is really good to see, that although the Govt. are permitting large areas of these vast reed-beds to be developed, they are, at least to some degree, aware of the need to preserve areas for birds. Maybe this awareness is due to the Chinese birders' petition that has been around for some time now.
Some birds that needed ID/Confirmation have now received it :
#1 - Pallas' Leaf Warbler (Mark & Anders).
#2 - Yellow-Bellied Bush Warbler, now confirmed (Anders).
#3 - Long Tailed Rosefinch (Mark & Anders)
#4 - Naumann's - now confirmed (Anders).
#5 - Bog-standard Common Pheasant ? Mark has suggested possible juvenile LT Jacana. Anyone to 2nd it ?
50 species.
Blackbird, Chinese (1)
Bluetail, Red-Flanked (>10)
Brambling (3)
Bulbul, Light Vented (Chinese),
Bunting, Black-Faced (2)
Bunting, Elegant (20+)
Bunting, Little (2)
Bunting, Yellow-Breasted (5)
Coot (numerous)
Dove, Spotted (<10)
Dove, Oriental Turtle (5)
Drongo, Spangled (1)
Duck, Spot-Billed (ca. 1,500)
Egret, Great
Egret, Little
Falcon, Peregrine (3)
Flycatcher, Probably ABF (1)
Flycatcher, Verditer (1)
Gadwall (<20)
Goose, White Fronted (1)
Grebe, Little (1)
Heron, Black-Crowned Night (<10)
Heron, Grey
Kestrel, Eurasian (2)
Magpie, Black-Billed (1)
Mallard (<20)
Moorhen (numerous)
Myna, Crested (<6)
Owl, Brown Hawk ussuriensis (1)
Parrotbill, Vinous Throated (<20)
Pheasant (3) (ID TBC. See photo)
Prinia, Plain (2)
Redpoll, Common (1)
Redstart, Daurian (<20)
Robin, Japanese (1)
Rosefinch, Long Tailed
Rubythroat, Siberian (1)
Shrike, Long Tailed (<10)
Sparrow, Tree
Spoonbill, Eurasian (1)
Stonechat, Siberian (3)
Thrush, Dusky (<10)
Thrush, Eye-Browed (1)
Thrush, Japanese (1 x Juv. 2 x M)
Thrush, Pale (4)
Thrush, Naumann's (1)
Tit, Great (Eastern) (5-6)
Wagtail, White (<20)
Warbler, Pallas' Leaf
Warbler, Yellow-Bellied Bush
XYS turned out to be a rather exciting show after a slow start (it seems to me that even if I arrive early, say 06.30 - 07.00, the birds don't really begin to show well until it warms up a little around 08.30-09.00.
Anyway although there were not high numbers still one good bird after another turned up on the island ; Japanese Thrush (and Eye-Browed), Siberian Rubythroat, Japanese Robin, Common Redpoll (!! - yes, this far South, big surprise. I was too slow to get a shot but I have an iPhone shot from the camera of the Chinese tog close-by who did get on it, I'll pin it up here later), Red-Flanked Bluetail, the first Bramblings of the Autumn, a wonderful array of Buntings (YB, Little, BF and Elegant) and finally (over in the temple valley, where I was alone) to my delight a very confiding Brown Hawk Owl that allowed me to come to within 7-8m and then, when I sat down and played out a hunting tip I have learnt ... acting uninterested by slowly looking all around me .... it went to back to sleep !
Japanese Robin : the two Chinese togs next to me were on the phone to their pals over in Nanhui even before they got their shots (the bird came within 3m of me but they hadn't spotted it until they heard my shutter firing away - they later got great shots when I went looking for it and found it again, this time in the vegetable patch). Within one hour their friends, 11 more photographers, arrived en masse in 4 cars - my cue to depart !
Nan Hui Magic CP didn’t produce much but there was a Pale Thrush and a female Rubythroat.
The highlight of the Nan Hui visit though came close to dusk when I ended up on the reed bed boardwalk (now without much in the way of reed-beds in this area but after rain it is a swampy, grassy, area with one or two largish wader-depth patches of water, some irrigation canals and another patch of slightly deeper water suitable for ducks).
There I found circa 1,500 ducks. Almost all that I've been able to spot from the very heavily cropped photos (the birds were quite distant) were Spot-Billed, Mallards and Gadwall. I had joked to Dev by message that I needed a Marsh Harrier to fly over the vicinity - when a few minutes later that is exactly what happened, well a Peregrine anyway, sending the whole mass into a panic and flight, allowing me to get good video of the sky black with ducks and to get off a few poor shots in the low light that at least enabled IDing.
A little earlier an interesting meeting/discussion took place as dusk started to close in. I had parked up and was walking to the Nan Hui Boardwalk to check on the ducks when I saw a car pull up and 3 gents in suits get out. 2 walked out into the boardwalk and the driver hung back.
On arriving back at road by the boardwalk they greeted me and attempted to strike up conversation in broken English, since I speak Mandarin we started chatting and I soon realised from the questions asked (and the suits !) that these were Govt. officials. It seems they were looking at / discussing their plans for this area.
When they heard that I was a regular to this spot they became very attentive and asked me what birds I had seen here (I had my Chinese version of MacKinnon's in my pocket so was able to show them and give them the Chinese names), in what numbers and at what time of year. Really simple stuff TBH.
I also complained that the area was being over-developed and that previously excellent reed-beds and marsh had been removed, levelled, and now had goats grazing on it !
They assured me this was only temporary and that the extensive land recovery works going on at the sea-front (about 1 km away) was actually going to be a bird reserve and intended to be for waders etc. and also the area that was now being grazed by goats will be partially flooded.
All this was because of the development behind us (about 1 km further inland) was impinging on the land supposedly set aside as a bird reserve. It is really good to see, that although the Govt. are permitting large areas of these vast reed-beds to be developed, they are, at least to some degree, aware of the need to preserve areas for birds. Maybe this awareness is due to the Chinese birders' petition that has been around for some time now.
Some birds that needed ID/Confirmation have now received it :
#1 - Pallas' Leaf Warbler (Mark & Anders).
#2 - Yellow-Bellied Bush Warbler, now confirmed (Anders).
#3 - Long Tailed Rosefinch (Mark & Anders)
#4 - Naumann's - now confirmed (Anders).
#5 - Bog-standard Common Pheasant ? Mark has suggested possible juvenile LT Jacana. Anyone to 2nd it ?
50 species.
Blackbird, Chinese (1)
Bluetail, Red-Flanked (>10)
Brambling (3)
Bulbul, Light Vented (Chinese),
Bunting, Black-Faced (2)
Bunting, Elegant (20+)
Bunting, Little (2)
Bunting, Yellow-Breasted (5)
Coot (numerous)
Dove, Spotted (<10)
Dove, Oriental Turtle (5)
Drongo, Spangled (1)
Duck, Spot-Billed (ca. 1,500)
Egret, Great
Egret, Little
Falcon, Peregrine (3)
Flycatcher, Probably ABF (1)
Flycatcher, Verditer (1)
Gadwall (<20)
Goose, White Fronted (1)
Grebe, Little (1)
Heron, Black-Crowned Night (<10)
Heron, Grey
Kestrel, Eurasian (2)
Magpie, Black-Billed (1)
Mallard (<20)
Moorhen (numerous)
Myna, Crested (<6)
Owl, Brown Hawk ussuriensis (1)
Parrotbill, Vinous Throated (<20)
Pheasant (3) (ID TBC. See photo)
Prinia, Plain (2)
Redpoll, Common (1)
Redstart, Daurian (<20)
Robin, Japanese (1)
Rosefinch, Long Tailed
Rubythroat, Siberian (1)
Shrike, Long Tailed (<10)
Sparrow, Tree
Spoonbill, Eurasian (1)
Stonechat, Siberian (3)
Thrush, Dusky (<10)
Thrush, Eye-Browed (1)
Thrush, Japanese (1 x Juv. 2 x M)
Thrush, Pale (4)
Thrush, Naumann's (1)
Tit, Great (Eastern) (5-6)
Wagtail, White (<20)
Warbler, Pallas' Leaf
Warbler, Yellow-Bellied Bush
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