Dalian (Jinshitan) Birding Reports (1 Viewer)

Gretchen · Jun 8, 2011

I know what you mean about the weather! We're hoping the rain today will clear up the skies here a bit ...

Very interesting about the Azure-Winged Magpies. A Beijing birder told me that they were intentionally brought to Beijing some time ago from the south. I don't recall the details. We only occasionally see them here, though there are some. I wonder if they are moving to occupy more areas in the north?

PS. Nice shot of the PT nest - a good reminder to me to keep an eye out for them!

Dong Bei · Jun 13, 2011

June 13, 2011 Jinshi Golf Course

A quick trip after work. Highlights would be flushing a Grey Nightjar from a low tree and a few Great Cormorants flying around the point. Very dense forest meant birding mostly by ear. The cool weather lately has kept the spiders down so the forest is still manageable. The forest within the golf course is as close to natural as can be found around here. I walked into an area where there must have been a Greenfinch nest and recorded their scolding call. I also got a recording of an Indian Cuckoo again but not as good as last time.

Common Pheasant
Great Cormorant -- 3
Black-tailed Gull
Grey Nightjar
Indian Cuckoo -- saw one and heard 3 more
Brown Shrike
Black-naped Oriole
Azure-winged Magpie
Great Tit
Barn Swallow
Chinese Bulbul
Oriental Reed Warbler
Arctic Warbler
Vinous-throated Parrotbill
Blue Rock Thrush
White Wagtail
Oriental Greenfinch
Chinese Grosbeak
Meadow Bunting

Dong Bei · Jun 13, 2011

June 13, 2011 recordings

recordings

Dong Bei · Jun 19, 2011

Sea-farming Ponds June 19, 2011

Happy Fathers Day to all the fathers! There certainly are some new fathers in the bird world in the last week. Today I saw young Coots, Moorhens, Spot-billed Ducks, Mallards, Great Tits, and Little Grebes.

Common Pheasant
Mandarin Duck -- 2
Falcated Duck -- 1(strange record for this time of year)
Mallard -- many
Spot-billed Duck -- many
Little Grebe -- 15
Striated Heron -- 6
Chinese Egret -- 8
Eurasian Kestrel -- 5
Northern Hobby -- 1
Common Moorhen -- 6 adults
Common Coot -- 2 adults
Little-ringed Plover -- 4
Oriental Turtle Dove -- 3
Eurasian Cuckoo -- seen 1, heard a few more.
Dollarbird -- 1
Great-spotted Woodpecker -- 1
Black-naped Oriole -- saw 4 but heard many
Great Tit
Chinese Penduine Tit -- 15
Barn Swallow
Red-rumped Swallow
Zitting Cisticola -- 2
Chinese Bulbul
Oriental Reed Warbler -- 2
Vinous-throated Parrotbill -- 2 groups
White Wagtail -- 8
Greenfinch
Meadow Bunting -- 1

Gretchen · Jun 20, 2011

Nice! I haven't seen young coots - a face only a mother could love!

Quite a few interesting birds around - 5 kestrels seems like a lot, or maybe that 's typical for you...

Is the mandarin picture a young duck? female? or are males losing their breeding colors already?

Dong Bei · Jun 29, 2011

Doldrums -- June 28, 2011

Out with my daughter for an hour yesterday. She got a new camera and wanted to go take pictures of birds :t:. We had a decent tropical storm move through last Sunday which knocked over many trees and dumped a record amount of rain. I was hoping for some ocean birds that were blown in during the storm but was busy with work for the first few days of this week. We're in the middle of moving to a new place and then leave for Vancouver in a few days so this is the last post until the end of August.

I'm really looking forward to raptor migration at Laotieshan at the end of September and early October. There is a group of people coming so if anyone wants to join us, you are more than welcome. Scroll back to that time last year on earlier posts to get a sampling.

We might be staying in China for our 5 week holiday next winter and already have one birding outing booked then. If anyone wants to come brave the north-east China winter there is always good birding here at tha time. My holiday is from mid January to mid February.

MKinHK · Jun 30, 2011

Good to see your daughter getting bitten by the bug.

Many thanks for posting through the spring - it makes it last longer after they all leave HK by mid-May.

Cheers
Mike

Dong Bei · Aug 23, 2011

Jinshitan sea-farming ponds and mudflats August 23, 2011

Back in Dalian again after a 6 week holiday. There was a lot of rain here over the summer and the ponds are almost overflowing. There are two huge wash outs that prevented me from doing my complete circle route through the ponds. One of them is pictured below. Whole sections of roads are under water so I was only able to cover about half of what I normally do in the 1.5 hours out tonight. Highlight for tonight was distant looks at a Watercock, only my second record. The ponds were swarming with egrets. By far the most that I've seen there at one time and I only covered half of the habitat. Again, this was a very quick outing without covering anything other than ponds and their edges.

Common Pheasant
Mallard
Spot-billed
Little Grebe
Striated Heron -- 3
Black-crowned Night Heron -- 3
Grey Heron -- 15
Great Egret -- 15
Little Egret -- over 75
Chinese Egret -- 3
Watercock -- 1 (very distant looks)
Common Moorhen -- 5
Common Coot -- 2
Whimbrel -- everywhere
Far Eastern Curlew -- 3
Common Greenshank -- 2
Green Sandpiper -- 20
Wood Sandpiper -- 3
Common Sandpiper -- 5
Dunlin -- 1
Black-tailed Gull -- many
Black-headed Gull -- many
Oriental Turtle Dove -- 3
Common Kingfisher -- 3
Brown Shrike -- 2
Black-naped Oriole -- 2
Barn Swallow
Red-rumped Swallow
Chinese Hill Warbler -- 2 (recorded, see below)
Oriental Reed Warbler -- 3
Vinous-throated Parrotbill -- 10
White Wagtail -- 15
Grey Wagtail -- 2

MKinHK · Aug 24, 2011

welcome back - looking forward to your updates on passage down the Dalian Peninsula

Cheers
Mike

Gretchen · Aug 24, 2011

Yes, welcome back!

Thanks for the Hill Warbler recordings - I hope they will eventually help me to find one of those guys! (Of course going outdoors would be one of the requisites I suppose

) What is the difference between these? (is one a song and one a call? or different activities?)

Dong Bei · Aug 24, 2011

Sea-farming ponds August 24, 2011

Gretchen, that's a good question. What happens is that I am driving on my motorbike on some back road and hear them. I can imitate their call and that usually brings them in and then they respond with all sorts of notes. I'm assuming one is a territorial call and the other some kind of scold. They will do the "territorial call" at any time of the year however. They are always heard before seen. These particular individuals were sounding off before I got there and continued as I stopped right beside them.

Here is the list from 2 hours today.

Common Pheasant
Mallard
Little Grebe
Yellow Bittern -- 1
Striated Heron -- 1
Black-crowned Night Heron -- 1
Great Egret -- 5
Little Egret -- 40
Chinese Egret -- 15 all juv.
Eurasian Kestrel -- 3
Amur Falcon -- 1
Common Moorhen -- 2
Whimbrel -- at least 75
Eurasian Curlew -- 1
Far Eastern Curlew -- 3
Green Sandpiper -- 4
Wood Sandpiper -- 2
Common Sandpiper -- 6
Red-necked Stint -- 3
Black-tailed Gull -- many
Black-headed Gull -- many
Vega or Mongolian Gull -- 15
Gull-billed Tern -- 3 (Life Bird:eek!

any tern is a big deal here.
Common Tern -- 1
Oriental Turtle Dove -- 6
Dollarbird -- 2
Common Kingfisher -- 2
Brown Shrike -- 5
Great Tit -- 3
Barn Swallow -- many
Red-rumped Swallow -- many
Zitting Cisticola -- 1
Arctic Warbler -- 1
Vinous-throated Parrotbill -- one group
Siberian Stonechat -- 1
White Wagtail -- 10
Grey Wagtail -- 2
Greenfinch -- 10
Meadow Bunting -- 1

MKinHK · Aug 25, 2011

Congratulations on the Gull-billed Terns.
Happy to hear Amur Falcons and Dollarbirds are moving - the first is my most desired for my own patch , and I can bore everyone else to death when I can start counting Dollarbirds!

Cheers
Mike

Dong Bei · Aug 25, 2011

Birds seen while at the beach with the kids today:

White Wagtail
Yellow Wagtail
Grey Wagtail
Great Cormorant
Green Sandpiper
Brown Shrike

Birds seen during a quick 30 minute tour of the mudflats with my daughter after dinner:
Whimbrel -- 45
Far Eastern Curlew -- 1
Chinese Egret -- at least 20
Little Egret -- 10
Great Egret -- 5
Grey Heron -- 2
Black-tailed Gull -- many
zero Black-headed Gull

Went and looked at the country club today which was completely flooded in July and it looks fine aside from a lot of erosion in places. The grass areas have a new layer of silt! Big shorebird day tomorrow up the coast on the bike.

MKinHK · Aug 26, 2011

Loving the 20 Chinese Egrets as a routine data entry!

Cheers
Mike

Dong Bei · Aug 26, 2011

Yellow Sea Coast shorebirding August 26, 2011

Morning trip between Jinshitan and Zhuanghe. Put over 250 kms on my bike. Stopped wherever I could get a view.

Common Pheasant
Little Grebe
Grey Heron
Great Egret
Little Egret
Chinese Egret -- only 4. Moving out?
Eurasian Kestrel
Coot
Eurasian Oystercatcher -- 14
Grey Plover -- 30
Little-ringed Plover -- 1 juv.
Kentish Plover -- 15
Bar-tailed Godwit -- 247
Whimbrel -- stopped counting after 150 and that was on my way up.
Eurasian Curlew -- 51
Far Eastern Curlew -- 23
Marsh Sandpiper -- 3
Common Greenshank -- many many
Green Sandpiper -- 6
Wood Sandpiper -- 4
Grey-tailed Tattler -- 38
Terek Sandpiper -- 15
Common Sandpiper -- 2
Temmincks Stint -- 3
Broad-billed Sandpiper -- 14
Black-tailed Gull
Black-headed Gull
Vega and/or Mongolian Gull
Oriental Turtle Dove
Little Owl -- nice treat on the way up as daylight approached
Common Kingfisher
Brown Shrike
Chinese Penduline Tit
Barn Swallow
Red-rumped Swallow
Zitting Cisticola
Yellow Wagtail
White Wagtail

Dong Bei · Sep 14, 2011

Pikou mudflats Sept. 4, 2011

I'm back online -- what a nightmare that was! We moved to a new place and had to buy another year's service -- wow!, all we wanted was an internet connection.

Anyway, Terry Townshend was here 2 weekends ago and I was able to join him for an afternoon. He birded between here and Dandong for 3 days and has an excellent report on his blog here: http://birdingbeijing.wordpress.com/

Here is the list from the one afternoon:

1. Spot-billed Duck
2. Little Grebe
3. Grey Heron
4. Little Egret
5. Chinese Egret
6. Great Egret
7. Eurasian Kestrel
8. Northern Hobby
9. Peregrine Falcon
10. Common Moorhen
11. Common Coot
12. Eurasian Oystercatcher – 22
13. Grey Plover
14. Little Ringed Plover
15. Kentish Plover
16. Lesser Sand Plover
17. Bar-tailed Godwit
18. Whimbrel
19. Eurasian Curlew
20. Far Eastern Curlew
21. Marsh Sandpiper
22. Wood Sandpiper
23. Terek Sandpiper
24. Great Knot
25. Red Knot
26. Red-necked Stint
27. Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
28. Dunlin
29. Broad-billed Sandpiper
30. Black-tailed Gull
31. Black-headed Gull
32. Saunders’s Gull
33. Vega Gull
34. Caspian Tern
35. Eurasian Collared Dove
36. Brown Shrike
37. Sand Martin
38. Barn Swallow
39. Red-rumped Swallow
40. White Wagtail
41. Yellow Wagtail

Dong Bei · Sep 15, 2011

Country Club Sept. 5, 2011

Quick 1 hour stop at the Country Club:

Eurasian Kestrel
Northern Hobby
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Brown Shrike
Black-naped Oriole
Barn Swallow
Red-umped Swallow
Lanceolated Warbler
Thick-billed Warbler
Yellow-browed Warbler
Arctic Warbler
Asian Brown Flycatcher
Dark-sided Flycatcher
Grey Wagtail

Dong Bei · Sep 15, 2011

Jinshitan Sea-farming Ponds Sept. 8, 2011

The Lancy recorded below was the same one photographed.

1. Common Pheasant
2. Spot-billed Duck
3. Little Grebe
4. Grey Heron
5. Great Egret
6. Little Egret
7. Chinese Egret
8. Northern Hobby
9. Common Moorhen
10. Far Eastern Curlew
11. Common Greenshank
12. Wood Sandpiper
13. Common Sandpiper
14. Vega/Mongolian Gull
15. Black-tailed Gull
16. Black-headed Gull
17. Oriental Turtle Dove
18. Common Kingfisher
19. Great Spotted Woodpecker
20. Brown Shrike
21. Great Tit
22. Chinese Penduline Tit
23. Barn Swallow
24. Red-rumped Swallow
25. Chinese Bulbul
26. Lanceolated Warbler
27. Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler
28. Oriental Reed Warbler
29. Vinous-throated Parrotbill
30. Siberian Stonechat
31. White Wagtail
32. Grey Wagtail
33. Yellow Wagtail

Gretchen · Sep 15, 2011

Hi Dongbei,

It sounds like good sightings. I especially appreciate the picture of the magpie and hobby - I'm still having trouble with raptors and appreciate the chance to see one with such a familiar bird in contrast.

(I'm feeling familiar with internet problems these days, though we usually have something which can be called "access"

Dong Bei · Sep 15, 2011

Jinshitan Sea-farming Ponds Sept. 9, 2011

Had an amazing encounter with a Watercock family. The mother was trying to bring her young across a new road that runs between two wetland areas. The problem was a very tall curb on both sides. The chicks were unable to get over and the mother was calling from the weeds and finally came right out in the open. I parked my motorcycle right in the middle of the road so cars had to go around. Eventually I chased the chicks to an area where the curb was missing a few pieces without having to touch them. The mother was there immediately and led them off. Rare to see them out in the open like this. A memorable 5 minutes!

Common Pheasant
2. Mandarin Duck
3. Spot-billed
4. Mallard
5. Little Grebe
6. Yellow Bittern
7. Grey Heron
8. Great Egret
9. Little Egret
10. Chinese Egret – 5
11. Watercock -- 3
12. Common Moorhen
13. Common Snipe
14. Whimbrel
15. Common Greenshank
16. Wood Sandpiper
17. Mongolian/Vega Gull
18. Black-tailed Gull
19. Black-headed Gull
20. Oriental Turtle Dove
21. Common Kingfisher
22. Brown Shrike
23. Chinese Grey Shrike
24. Chinese Penduline Tit
25. Barn Swallow
26. Red-rumped Swallow
27. Pallas’s Grasshopper Warbler
28. Vinous-throated Parrotbill
29. Siberian Stonechat
30. Yellow Wagtail
31. White Wagtail

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