Dalian (Jinshitan) Birding Reports (5 Viewers)

Love the pic of the gulls Tom, and you Dollarbird pic has awakened my migration radar . . .

Cheers
Mike

That Amur is such a lovely bird. You do seem to have a lot of raptors up there.

Amazing fact re. rabbits in China. Would make a decent pub quiz question !

+1 for the two gulls shot ... excellent timing.

Sea-farming Ponds August 29, 2012

I spent one hour covering the main channel near where it meets the ocean. I stayed in one place and mostly saw things flying past. Seeing three Saunders's Gulls is good for this particular place.

List:

Common Pheasant
Spot-billed Duck - 2
Little Grebe - 1
Great Egret - 2
Chinese Egret - 6
Eurasian Kestrel - 1
Little-ringed Plover - 1
Kentish Plover - 8
Whimbrel - 22
Eurasian Curlew - 3
Common Sandpiper - 1
Wood Sandpiper - 1
Red-necked Stint - 4
Black-tailed Gull - many
Vega/Mongolian Gull - many
Black-headed Gull - 15
Saunders's Gull - 3
Whiskered Tern - 1
Eurasian Cuckoo - 1
Common Kingfisher - 2
Barn Swallow - many
Red-rumped Swallow - 10
White Wagtail - 10
Richard's Pipit - 25 minimum

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rest

Jinshitan Area Sept. 2, 2012

I did a 3 hour tour of the area here this afternoon. I mainly went north around Jinshitan and Dali Jia and concentrated on wetland areas. Some migrants in the area. If I had a few more hours I would have went further north to the main shorebird areas which I'm sure are full at the moment.

Mallard - 5
Spot-billed Duck - 10
Little Grebe - abundant
Grey Heron - 3
Purple Heron - 1
Cattle Egret - 10
Great Egret - abundant
Intermediate Egret - 10
Little Egret - abundant
Chinese Egret - 4
Eurasian Kestrel - 2
Amur Falcon - 1
Northern Hobby - 1
Eastern Marsh Harrier - 2
Common Moorhen - abundant
Common Coot - abundant
Eurasian Oystercatcher - 1
Kentish Plover - 10
Lesser Sand Plover - 1
Common Snipe - 1
Whimbrel - 5
Eurasian Curlew - 25
Green Sandpiper - 3
Wood Sandpiper - 15
Common Sandpiper - 2
Black-tailed Gull - 50
Vega/Mongolian Gull - 25
Black-headed Gull - 150
Saunders's Gull - 2
Oriental Turtle Dove - 3
Cuckoo Sp - 2
Pacific Swift - 15
Common Kingfisher - 2
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 2
Tiger Shrike - 1 juv.
Brown Shrike - 15
Black-naped Oriole - 2
Sand Martin - 2
Barn Swallow - abundant
Red-rumped Swallow - 25
Zitting Cisticola - 2
Chinese Bulbul - 1
Reed Warbler Sp. - 1
Vinous-throated Parrotbill - 2 groups
Siberian Stonechat - 1
Asian Brown Flycatcher - 8
Dark-sided Flycatcher - 1 juv.
Yellow Wagtail - 30 mostly juv.
White Wagtail - 20
Grey Wagtail - 5
Meadow Bunting - 1

Tolai Hare - 1

Tiger Keelback - 1

Country Club Sept. 4, 2012

Quick hour after work before the sun set. We had a dragonfly explosion yesterday. Made driving a motorcyle with no helmet difficult. They hurt off the face!

Common Pheasant -- a few teenagers, see the photo
Yellow Bittern - 1
Japanese Sparrowhawk - 1
Common Sandpiper - 2
Oriental Turtle Dove - 2
Spotted Dove - 3
Grey Nightjar - accidentally flushed from the ground
Black-capped Kingfisher - 1
Common Kingfisher - 3
Brown Shrike - 8
Black-naped Oriole - 5-10 juv.
Great Tit - 2
Barn Swallow - many
Red-rumped Swallow - a few
Dusky Warbler - 1
Yellow-browed Warbler - 6
Dark-sided Flycatcher - 2
Asian Brown Flycatcher - at least 30
Yellow-rumped Flycatcher - 2
Red-throated Flycatcher - 1

these wouldn't upload earlier

from Sept. 4

Dragon shot is a corker ;D

Jinshitan Sept. 6, 2012

I took a gamble on a small rather unexplored part of Jinshitan for my one hour after work today. The snake picture is some kind of rat snake? It was a tiny young one that was undoubtedly hit by a car.

Common Pheasant - 2
Mallard - 11
Grey Heron - 2
Intermediate Egret - 1
Little Egret - 3
Eurasian Kestrel - 1
Black-tailed Gull - 25
Oriental Turtle Dove - 1
Hoopoe - 1
Woodpecker sp. - 1 (possibly Grey-headed)
Brown Shrike - 10
Black-naped Oriole - 1 juv.
Great Tit - 1 flock of 8-10
Barn Swallow - many
Red-rumped Swallow - max of 5
Chinese Hill Warbler - 1
Dusky Warbler - 1
Arctic Warbler - a group of at least 6-8 mixed with the Great Tits.
Asian Brown Flycatcher - 3
Dark-sided Flycatcher - 1
Eastern Yellow Wagtail - 10
White Wagtail - 3
Richard's Pipit - around 25 constantly moving and calling.
Yellow-breasted Bunting - 1
Black-faced Bunting - 1

Tom/Dong Bei, you're making me itch to get out along the coast again.

Country Club Sept. 8, 2012

1.5 hours with my son. We didn't come close to covering the entire area. My son is four, that should give you an idea why not! He had fun handling the many many caterpillars that covered the ground and trees. So did the cuckoo......

Common Pheasant
Amur Falcon - 1 heading due north....
Oriental Turtle Dove - 2
Eurasian Cuckoo - 1
Common Kingfisher - 1
Brown Shrike - 10
Black-naped Oriole - 6
Great Tit - 2
Barn Swallow - a few
Yellow-browed Warbler - 8
Arctic Warbler - 2
Starling Sp - 2 unidentified flyovers
Asian Brown Flycatcher - 10
White Wagtail - 1

After further research, I believe the snake in a few posts back to be a Dione Rat Snake. A google search and this website would confirm this I believe. http://www.ratsnakes.com/Edione.html

Jinshitan Sea-farming Ponds Sept. 11, 2012

Spent an hour along a sea wall in a tidal area after work. Not much happening and very overcast.

Common Pheasant - 2
Mallard - 28
Chinese Egret - 3
Amur Falcon - 1
Northern Hobby - 1
Bar-tailed Godwit - 2
Whimbrel - 12
Eurasian Curlew - 1
Common Sandpiper - 1
Great Knot - 6
Dunlin - 2
Black-tailed Gull - 20
Black-headed Gull - 1
Barn Swallow - 25
Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler - 1
Dusky Warbler - 1
Yellow-browed Warbler - 2
Common Stonechat - 1
Yellow Wagtail - 20 flyovers
White Wagtail - 10
Richard's Pipit - 18

Quiet, but you definitely saw a number of species. I was trying to decide on your photo of the Curlew if I thought it was a whimbrel or curlew, thought there might be some supercilium, but the bird seemed really large too. By the way, is that bird showing its tongue or are the top and bottom parts of the beak different lengths?

Country Club Sept. 14, 2012

Excellent hour and a bit and plenty of grounded migrants. Yellow-browed Warblers everywhere. The darker picture of a Yellow-browed below lacks the dark border to the larger wing bar. Does this point to something else or is this just a poorly marked bird?

Common Pheasant - 6
Striated Heron - 1
Eurasian Kestrel - 2
Eurasian Sparrowhawk - 1 overhead at work today
Northern Goshawk - 1 juv. overhead at work today
Swin-tailed Snipe - 2
Common Sandpiper - 1
Oriental Turtle Dove - 1
Eurasian Cuckoo - 2
Common Kingfisher - 2
Rufous-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1
Brown Shrike - 1
Black-naped Oriole - 8
Great Tit - a few
House Martin Sp. - 1 overhead at work today
Chinese Bulbul - 2
Lanceolated Warbler - 2
Dusky Warbler - 1
Pallas's Leaf Warbler - 15
Yellow-browed Warbler - at least 50
Arctic Warbler - 5
Eastern-crowned Warbler - 1
Asian Brown Flycatcher - 5
Yellow-rumped Flycatcher - 1 female
Mugimaki Flycatcher - 2
Red-throated Flycatcher - 12
Grey Wagtail - 6
White Wagtail - 1 leucopsis

Very nice Rufous-bellied woodpecker. I had to check back to see if you had reported any earlier, and saw you had one in May. I definitely haven't caught up with one yet....

Laotieshan Sept. 16, 2012

Spent a full day with Paul Holt and Stephen Cairns, a colleague of mine, at Laotieshan. We had an excellent day despite the main push or raptors still starting approx. a week away. Paul had been there for more than a week and plans to stay for a bit yet.

Japanese Quail - 1
Common Pheasant - 4 heard
Streaked Shearwater - 10
Yellow Bittern - 1
Grey Heron - 4
Oriental Honey-buzzard - 305
Black Kite - 1
Pied Harrier - 4
Japanese Sparrowhawk - 27
Eurasian Sparrowhawk - 17
Northern Goshawk - 1
Accipiter sp. - 21
Common Kestrel - 3
Amur Falcon - 13
Eurasian Hobby - 10
Amur Falcon or Eurasian Hobby - 11
Peregrine Falcon - 4
Green Sandpiper -1
Black-tailed Gull - 200
'Herring Gull Assemblage' - 300
Mongolian Gull - 100
Oriental Turtle Dove - 33
Spotted Dove - 4
Cuckoo sp. - 1
White-throated Needletail - 1
Dollarbird - 1
Common Kingfisher - 2
Eurasian Hoopoe - 1
Rufous-bellied Woodpecker - 1
Ashy Minivet - 1950
Brown Shrike - 25
Black-naped Oriole - 3
Black Drongo - 2
Common Magpie - 70
Japanese Tit - 4
Light-vented Bulbul - 2
Barn Swallow - 2000
Red-rumped Swallow - 30
Dusky Warbler - 5
Radde's Warbler - 1
Yellow-browed Warbler - 15
Arctic Warbler - 2 were heard
Two-barred Warbler - 1 was heard
Black-browed Reed Warbler - 1
Thick-billed Warbler - 6
Lanceolated Warbler - 1 was heard
Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler - 1 dead, 1 alive
Zitting Cisticola - 4
Vinous-throated Parrotbill - 2
Chinese Hill Babbler - 3 were heard
White-eye sp. - 150
Crested Myna - 30
White-cheeked Starling - 16
Daurian Starling - 2
White’s Thrush - 1
Siberian Blue Robin - 5
Common Stonechat - 10
Dark-sided Flycatcher - 1
Asian Brown Flycatcher - 4
Mugimaki Flycatcher - 1
Taiga Flycatcher - 2
Eurasian Tree Sparrow - 25
Forest Wagtail - 15
Eastern Yellow Wagtail - 15
Grey Wagtail - 30
White Wagtail - 28
Richard's Pipit - 25
Olive-backed Pipit -126
Pechora Pipit - 1
Red-throated Pipit -10
Grey-capped Greenfinch - 1
Common Rosefinch - 80
Chinese Grosbeak - 57
Tristram's Bunting - 1
Yellow-browed Bunting - 5
bunting sp. - 200
passerine sp. - 1000

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That's a massive raptor festival. The count of OHB migrating through the bay is amazing.

Superb birding Tom. What a Rapt-Fest as Dev says !

Wonder if any are coming our way and if so where the best place in the region to find them will be. Anyone ?