Dec-9, 2017
The weather being a bit warmer at just above freezing, I took an hour and a half to do some birding. Mostly nothing, but did find six
Hoopoe which is an unusually large number even in the summer. Additionally found four
Japanese Waxwing which were unusually animated today, chasing each other about. The more interesting was a little
Merlin who took shelter from a
Kestrel that was objecting to sharing the hunting. I don't usually see a Merlin this late in the season, so that was noteworthy.
Additionally I did have a meeting with a small group of locals who are interested in educating people to the importance of wildlife and the environment. One retired biology professor, a couple of teachers and a government official, so a good group of well educated people. I suggested reaching out to garner interest using WeChat social media and expressed a willingness to help if I can. I did stress that it would be important to have local people at the front of the effort. Hopefully something comes of it. I was glad to see people from the generation that are actually running things showing interest.
The professor, who studied overseas, has very good English and has just recently bought a camera and taken up birding as part of his retirement activities. He had been able to find out from locals that there have been a couple of Snowy Owls wintering near the mouth of the Shuangtaizi River for several years now. He knew where they had been last month but said that since the fires in the reeds no one had seen them.
Panjin, Dawa County, Liaoning, CN, Liaoning, CN
Dec 9, 2017 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
3.0 kilometer(s)
5 species
Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops) 6
Eurasian Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) 1
Merlin (Falco columbarius) 1
Japanese Waxwing (Bombycilla japonica) 4
Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) 5
View this checklist online at
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S40983269