Some of the birds and a few shots from yesterday.
Firstly, as Mark is away in Finland, I decided to try to find a new area to bird and drove to what on the map is indicated as a National Park right on the sea but which comprises of 9 forested hills and some small lakes, near Pinghu. AVOID !
There seemed to be some promise passing the fields of crops close to the coast but it quickly descended into a heavily populated, and dirty, little area. The 'Tourist attraction' area comprises of a Hilton hotel and the 9 Dragons golf course. Further along and a military base intervened between me and the little road that leads to the sea ..... no way through there I was sternly told. Having given up on that area it was another hour+ to the usual birding haunts across the Donghai Bridge to Yang Shan.
The Rubbish Tip site now had TWENTY cars and God only knows how many togs there. I stopped by for 15 mins to see what was happening. It was both hilarious and tragic at the same time.
There were maybe 15 togs stood together with the cameras on tripods all pointed at a contrived perch on a patch they had cleared of vegetation, just 5m from where they stood. Maybe another 10+ togs were in other spots around the patch. I just shook my head and walked on up the hill.
I walked through the 100 yd long, pitch black, tunnel to the other side of the hill (I had been watching vampire films and playing horror XBox games the night before and ignored the strange sounds in my head following me through the tunnel)
At more isolated and solitary spots (the Magic Valley had some work going on at the temple and the workers were carting wheelbarrows full of sand up the single pathway so the Chinese togs had abandoned the site for the day - much to my delight since this meant that some parts of the area were quiet and I was able to flush a large owl and then after 30 mins find it again (with help from the Bul Buls who were angrily making their displeasure known), it's tufts giving away it's otherwise amazing camouflage. Shots to come later for help on IDing it !
Whilst there were noticeably fewer Bluetails, and no sign of all the Japanese named birds ; Yellow Bunting, Robins (which we had seen in two locations last week), Waxwings or Thrushes, there were still plenty of Dusky and Pale Thrushes, Elegant & Rustic Buntings and the crows and buzzards (x3).
Red Flanked Bluetails (M&F)
Dusky Thrushes (M&F numerous)
Pale Thrushes (M&F numerous)
Elegant Buntings (M&F numerous)
Rustic Buntings
Varied Tits (I saw 3 or 4 in two different locations)
Daurian Redstarts (M&F numerous)
Long Tailed Shrikes (a few)
Chinese Bul Buls (numerous, a flock of about 20 in one location)
Black Faced Buntings
Common Buzzard (x3)
Blue Rock Thrushes (x3)
Grey Wagtails
White Wagtail (Leucopsis)
Eurasian Siskins (M&F numerous)
Owl (no ID yet - to me it looked larger than a Scops, in flight maybe Kestrel sized, and it's tufts are located more to the centre above the eyes than to the sides, photos to come later).
Eurasian Kestrels (x2)
Large Billed Crows (x2)
Daurian Redstarts (M&F)
Brown Shrike (x2)
Great Tit (x3 Eastern)
Mugimaki (F)
White Cheeked Starlings
Grey Heron
Tree Sparrows (M&F numerous)
.... and on the way there a Pheasant attempted and failed to commit Seppuku in front of my car !