Panjin Birding by the Old Fat Man (10 Viewers)

BTW, there is something about eBird that you are not allowed to check other people's life or yearly lists. If I click the links in your post, I see my Liaoning life list, on which there are Eurasian Magpie and Eurasian Tree Sparrow. I'm sure I have seen them and I'm positive of the IDs.

Lancy,

Thanks for letting me know about the life list. I don't care if anybody sees mine, but I don't see anyway to do that in ebird. Check you private messages.

The director at DingXiang Rookery has told me that there are no more wild Red-Crowned Crane in the area. The last he knew of were actually pets of a farmer. Bird.soong on ebird found 100 Common Crane over by Jinzhou back on December 1, but I've not seen or heard any reports since.

I would say that you could do justice to the Yingkou Wetland Park in half a day, unless it was really hopping and another half a day for Honghaitan. You can actually bus from the Panjin side of the Yingkou bridge to the south gate of Honghaitan for 2 RMB I believe. I am sure you won't get a hotel there, but I'm sure you could in either Yingkou or Dawa and that Dawa would be less expensive. Taxi back to either from Honghaitan would be expensive and the buses stop at 6:00 PM I think. Checking the tide tables for either is a good idea as the mudflats can push the bird out of sight at lowest tide. Especially at Honghaitan where even the tide line is out of sight.

Donghu and Gedalou can be done in one day pretty easily. The rental bike craze has just hit here so perhaps your local friends can help you set up the WeChat Pay so you can use the rental bikes if you want. You just scan the QR code and go. Actually would be really handy for Gedalou. Don't know if they allow it or if its available at Honghaitan.

Dalian APR-26

A couple who are friends of my wife were making a business trip to Dalian Jinshitan and Jinzhou Kaifaqu yesterday and were nice enough to invite us along. The plan was for us to leave before sunrise and they would spend a couple of hours in the morning on business and then to Jinshitan for birding. However on the way down their brand new car developed problems with suddenly displaying an engine warning, then going to engine shutdown. Three engineers in the group, so we checked under the hood, nothing obviously wrong. But after a few minutes it restarted and ran fine. This happened a couple more times and the shutdown warning stayed on. Stranded on the expressway, between cities and in China is a really major problem. A call to the manufacturers "emergency help" line went as expected in China. "There is nothing wrong with our car, you must be doing something wrong!" It took three engineers half an hour before an idea suddenly dawned on me and that was more from experience with cars than from any engineering expertise. This was a GM engine in a Chinese manufactured car. Hmmm... I asked him to open the fuel door. "No, no, it has fuel". I finally convinced him even though he obviously thought I was crazy. As it turned out, the attendant had not tightened the fuel cap all the way. Years ago in a Buick, I had the same thing happen. For some insane reason that I do not understand, the GM engineers have programed the computer to shut the engine down when the fuel tank develops positive or negative pressure. Wouldn't a warning light be better? A message that says whats wrong?

This put us late and ended up with only a couple of hours to spend birding. The original plan was to go up to the fish farms, but road work had the route they knew closed so, not deciding not to waste time trying to find another way, we returned back to the seaside park immediate to Jinshitan and Golden Pebble Beach. Walking up to the sea, the tide was out and the smoke in the air from burning off rice fields was getting intense. It looked vacant. Then I spotted a few Gull. I scanned them with the binoculars and, "Wait a minute... Those are different." My first new life tic of the day, some nice Black-tailed Gull and verification pics! I then walked up the hill into some woodland finding some Japanese Tit singing and scurrying about the cedars. Finding a pathway back down towards the water I found myself at the top of a cliff dropping off to the sea with nice scenic rock outcroppings. A loud beautiful song attracted my attention to one of those tall rocks just off shore and getting closer I found my second new tic, a Thrush like bird, all blue, clinging to the rock and singing loudly. Hmmm... what could that be? How about the obvious - a Blue Rock Thrush - Moticola solitarius pandoo to be exact. Then to make it even better, a second one responded to the singing and flew in to perch just above him. Only this one had a distinctly red belly. According to how you want to look at it, another new tic! This time Blue Rock Thrush - Moticola solitarius philippensis. Very good look with the bins for absolutely positive ID and one pic mostly from the back but you can see a hint of the red belly. He also sang one loud song and then the two of them had at each other and they flew off with the pandoo in hot pursuit.

Already worth the trip, but not done yet. Moving up the trail to the upper parking lot I spotted something that sounded and looked like a probable new tic to me sitting higher up the hill in the very top of a still bare tree. As I tried to work in closer a couple more arrived. I couldn't get very close as they were easily spooked, but 15 minutes of working on it finally yielded good enough pics to ID Oriental Greenfinch. Another new tic! Also managed some decent pics of the males battling it out. They both left chasing each other leaving the female sitting sitting there alone.

Hearing Ring-Necked Pheasant calling nearby I moved further back to another wooded area. I managed to get within shotgun range of one with it still crowing but with no bird dog I never saw one. I did get a nice shot of a Red Squirrel in some pines. There were two of them working on the pine cones. If I lived in Jinshitan and could have just walked home, I probably would have stayed working the woods until dark, but time was rapidly running out and our hosts wanted to take me to the Golf Club. On the way out I noticed that there were some petrified trees, some still in an upright posture at the entry to the pathway. They were not marked, which was probably best as otherwise they would probably have been souvenired to oblivion by now. As it was nobody was paying any attention to them.

We moved on but the Golf Club gates were locked shut. Apparently our hosts had payed for a membership, as they were not happy about that. We moved on to the International Conference Center where the gates were open, but barriers were up across the roads. There was room to just squeeze past though, so in true Chinese logic that means that it was OK to drive around them. Turns out a wedding photography outfit had rented out the area and several couples were having pictures taken. A guard stopped us and then noticing me tried to convince me to get out and come have my picture taken with the couples. Knowing that would drag on for ever and being short on time we declined the offer and were therefore told to leave. On the way out I spotted a flock of Waxwings in a tree and we had to stop for that. As I was getting some pics of both Bohemian and Japanese Waxwing small flocks kept arriving finally raising the total number in the small area to at least 10 Japanese and 90 Bohemian. Meanwhile a couple more Pheasant were calling, Chinese Bulbul were calling and half a dozen Common Magpie were scolding us for being too near to their nests. It was getting to time that we had to leave in order to get home before dark though, so I reluctantly had to give up.

One final new tic still to come though! Just as we were arriving near home, a lone Brant Goose flew over the road in front of us low and close. Also at our turn off the main highway, right next to a patch I bird often, was a new highway sign declaring "Red-Crowned Crane Protect Area" only in English, but it was new, so having to do with the new wetland protection emphasis from Beijing?

All in all, an enjoyable day. Apparently Mr. Wang (or is it Wong - pronounced slightly different from my wife's Wang) thought so too as he just called this morning and asked if I would like to tag along with a trip to the hill country near Jinzhou.

Waxwing pics

Just some more pics showing both types of Waxwing. Note in the cedar, if you look closely, you can see a red tipped tail sticking out on the lower left.

It was great to read this Owen! Sounds like you had a good time with the little time you had. Made me a little home sick to be honest.

Tom

Hi Tom,

It was fun. The wife was berating me for not agreeing with her when she wanted to buy a condo apartment overlooking the sea back then.

Another birding trip was planned for today as the trip up to the hill country north of Jinzhou. Turns out it was a group going to some sort of seminar or such at a temple. However, late Saturday afternoon the police called to say that I needed to come into the office Sunday morning. Odd as usually such things are only taken care of Monday through Friday. Turns out they were instructed to verify visas and contact information for all Americans before the first of the month. The few lower level officers that were on duty for Sunday obviously considered it a nuisance, but "mao ban fa", just like me, nothing they could do but comply. The part I found odd was that they had been ordered to get pictures, but instead of the usual passport style photos an officer was steadily clicking away taking action shots from all angles as I was interacting with the interviewing officer. Wonder if it was just a Liaoning thing or all China.

Oh well, now working on a possible trip to Huludao next week.

May-2

I hadn't been up to the north side of the Panjin Wetlands Park for almost a year, so I decided to check it out.

The Black-headed Gull were present in large numbers with just a few Saunder's Gull scattered about. One Common Tern was working along the bridge, which seems to be the common place for tern in general to hang out. I was primarily there to check on the wooded areas and the reed beds though, so didn't spend a lot of time working on the gulls or the "Swallow Gulls" as Lancy tells me is the Chinese term for the terns.

An oddity that I had not noticed before was that the river was considerably below the zero mark on the depth gauge and had obviously dropped at least a half meter within the last few hours since the mud was still fresh and hadn't dried out at all yet. While I was there I noticed it drop another half meter or so, then as I was leaving I could see some small bars re-submerging. I would have thought it too far up-river for any tide effect, but when I got home I checked the meta-data on the pics and found it said only 8 meters ASL. Allowing for the camera being at least a meter off the ground and being a couple of meters higher than the river at that point and for any error in the reading, it could indeed have an effect there.

Yellow-Browed Warbler were easy to find as it seems to be a boom year for them here and the Chinese Bulbul greeted me as I entered the park. The Barn Swallow have finally arrived in numbers and a couple of the Red-Rumped Swallow were spotted. No evidence of nesting yet as the undersides of the bridges where they normally nest had been cleared of the old nests.

I crossed over the pedestrian bridge to the other side of the river to check out the known nesting sites for the Vinous-Throated Parrotbill, but its still too early for them. I was rewarded with being able to spot three Great Crested Grebe far out on the lake to the south.

A few Azure-winged Magpie and a couple of Common Magpie spent some time harassing a Spotted Dove but got bored and moved on. Finished up with the usual herds of Tree Sparrow, a couple of White Wagtail and a Ring-Necked Pheasant crowing loudly from cover.

Panjin Wetland Park, Liaoning, CN
May 2, 2018 12:15 PM - 3:15 PM
Protocol: Traveling
5.0 kilometer(s)
13 species

Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) 1
Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) 3
Saunders's Gull (Saundersilarus saundersi) 18
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) 75
Common Tern (Sterna hirundo) 6
Azure-winged Magpie (Cyanopica cyanus) 4
Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica) 2
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 75
Red-rumped Swallow (Cecropis daurica) 2
Light-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis) 3
Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus) 30
White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) 2
Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) 75

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S45167264

May-2 more pics

I am always surprised that I don't see any waders working the mudflats here. Only an occasional BC Night Heron.

May-3

It kept looking like it might rain, so I stayed near home today. Saturday is ebird's Birding Big Day anyway, so a good day to get out and about.

The primary thing of interest was some Chinese Penduline Tit singing away in a narrow wooded strip. I haven't seen evidence of them nesting there before, but maybe they will nest in the reeds just 20 meters away.

Panjin, Dawa County, Liaoning, CN, Liaoning, CN
May 3, 2018 9:15 AM - 10:30 AM
Protocol: Traveling
2.0 kilometer(s)
7 species

Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) 1
Eurasian Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) 1
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 30
Chinese Penduline-Tit (Remiz consobrinus) 4
Light-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis) 9
Yellow-browed Warbler (Phylloscopus inornatus) 20
Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) 10

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S45207319

Waders and Penduline Tits

Hi Owen,

You posted a photo above where you say you are surprised you don't see waders. When I click on the photo I see some gulls but it almost looks like there are Golden Plovers or something similar to the left of the right hand most gull. They were probably just gulls hunched over?

Penduline Tits will nest in the trees you photographed them in. They make the coolest looking hanging nests with a small entry hole. It's always surprising how they stay attached. It will stump any engineer.

Good eyes Tom, but I went back to the original with all the pixels and what you were seeing was, based on apparent size difference, one Black-Headed Gull and three Saunder's Gull, though two of those just might be Common Tern. Which admittedly I didn't notice. The rest, before someone else asks, was some stumps of some old wooden posts (old piers?), the remains of some old concrete bridge piers barely showing, a few rocks and the obligatory random trash. Just the sort of thing that I always spend time scanning in the binoculars on every mudflat. Thanks though, I actually encourage people to pass a critical eye over any pics I post and let me know if you notice something.

May-5

This morning's early outing was just to the nearby park and yielded the normal birds. Yellow-Browed Warbler, which are abundant this year, Barn Swallow, slowly increasing numbers, a few Tree Sparrow, two Spotted Dove and the normal Azure-Winged Magpie, being even noisier than usual.

I made another longer hike out to a better location this afternoon and turned up some really good results. Just before entering the birding area I was headed to is the fire station and just on a hunch decided to take a look at the ponds and canal just behind it. I was able to spot one Common Moorhen and get some really good pics including one showing off those clown feet. They are normally quite difficult to get a good picture. Barn Swallow were working over the adjacent village, as where the regular Tree Sparrow.

Entering the park itself, the Yellow-Browed Warbler that are so abundant this year were thick in the trees right at the entrance. A short distance away a small grove of trees held a noisy group of Chinese Bulbul. The area I go into has usually been practically empty of people, but this time there were quite a few people back in there. In the past the park itself was gated off to keep cars out, but unfortunately they have started letting the cars in.

Moving off the road which used to be a path and over to the shoreline produced some nice finds though. Several Siberian Stonechat were scattered though out the reeds at the edge of the small lake, which made for a new tic and solved a question about some up to then unknowns that I had briefly glimpsed a couple of days before. Additionally, I was able to stalk right up to within a couple of meters of a pair of Northern Parrotbill aka Reed Parrotbill aka Polivanov's Parrotbill. Close enough to clearly hear them cracking seeds. Got some really nice shots! Not done though as a couple of Black-Faced Bunting were also hiding in the reeds.

Meanwhile, scanning the lake itself with the binoculars produced several groups of Little Grebe, a couple of Great-Crested Grebe and two flights of Black-Crowned Night Heron as well as a single Common Coot and one Common Tern.

I had a long hike back home and it was looking like it might rain, so I headed out and on the way managed to spot the Great-Spotted Woodpecker and Grey-Headed Woodpecker that I had been hearing. I heard at least two Ring Necked Pheasant crowing loudly very close, but staying just inside the cover. If I had wanted to stand in some cover long enough, I probably could have gotten a pic, but was sure of what they were and didn't want to spend the time. A final catch was another single Common Moorhen who looked like it was making a dash across the pond, head down and telling itself, "Keep moving and keep your head down and he won't see you!"

May-5 more pics

A few more that didn't fit in the first post

Ahhh, spring migration. Good stuff Owen, some good pics and some nice species.

May-9

A walk along an irrigation canal turned up light numbers of the usual. I did spot three flocks of 30-40 each Brambling passing over from south to north without stopping. Also movement in some reeds attracted attention and I managed to get a reasonably good look at what I feel sure of being a couple of Siberian Blue Robin. A brightly blue male and a mostly brown with white belly female. Unfortunately, it was a choice of eyeball or camera as they were giving me only quick glimpses. I included the one rather poor shot that I got of the male to see if anyone can tell me it wasn't a SBR. There aren't a lot of choices for that coloration here and it lacked the white superciilium or orange flanking of a Red Flanked Bluetail or the black chest of the Blue-And-White Flycatcher.

Happy to confirm the Siberian Blue Robin Owen.

Love the parrotbill shots and envy you those waxwings!

Cheers
Mike

Hi Mike,

The Northern Parrotbill was one that exceptionally striking and one that was on my target list for a really good picture. Often for me that is even more important than just getting the life tic. The SBR was one that I knew I should be able to find. Now the hunt for a good ID pic!

May-17

I've been keeping in touch with Lancy via WeChat today. I guess it does serve some useful purpose. 8-P Sounds like he's doing well.

Rain was threatening here so I just hit some of the local patches this morning. Indeed at times I could see where it was raining just to the south. My limited outing was productive however. Right off the bat I spotted a couple of Shrike that I initially thought were Brown Shrike but the 'beefier' look with 'no neck' and the slightly smaller size proved to be the less common Bull Headed Shrike. I thought I could hear a few Chinese Penduline Tit in the same locations where they were seen last week, but never got a look at them this time. Hanging around hopefully means they will nest here this year. While trying to get a look at them I came across a bird that puzzled me and later at home still just didn't quite fit with any of the field guide illustrations. Finally an Oriental Bird Club image proved it to be a Female White-Throated Rock Thrush. That was a new tic and a good ID photo as well, which was enough to make it a good outing.

However, a short distance later when I diverted to a small wetland area to try to get a good look at the Ring-Necked Pheasant I could hear crowing in there, I ran across a male and female Yellow-Rumped (aka Korean) Flycatcher. The female stayed well under cover, but I did manage my first good ID shots of the male.

I briefly glimpsed a Eurasian Kestrel zooming by and landing on the flat top roof of the Electric Co. building. Couldn't see, but from what I could hear I would surmise that it had some nestlings up there that it was feeding.

Red-Rumped Swallow have made several attempts at nesting in our apartment complex but the Barn Swallow have always drove them off. Last fall the management actually did some maintenance on the buildings and cleaned out all the old BS nests. I noticed this morning that a few mud nests under the awning in front of the little shops looked different than the typical Barn Swallow nest and sure enough, I caught a R-RS working on building up one of the nests. Maybe they will manage to establish a colony.

Panjin, Dawa County, Liaoning, CN, Liaoning, CN
May 17, 2018 9:30 AM - 10:45 AM
Protocol: Traveling
2.0 kilometer(s)
9 species

Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) 2
Eurasian Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) 1
Bull-headed Shrike (Lanius bucephalus) 2
Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica) 1
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 30
Red-rumped Swallow (Cecropis daurica) 5
Korean Flycatcher (Ficedula zanthopygia) 2
White-throated Rock-Thrush (Monticola gularis) 1
Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) 20

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S45757766

With Owen's permission, I'm posting my first time birding here in Panjin . I briefly checked the east part of the "left bank" this afternoon and bagged 20 species. The wind reminded me of my Newfoundland. The highlights are 3 lifers:
Gray-headed Woodpecker: I heard drumming and saw it flew and landed on a pole.
Little Tern: four were feeding in a small pond, which was shared by Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe and Eastern Spot-billed Duck as well.
Green Sandpiper: my first mystery bird of the day. After checking my field guide and listening to Green and Wood Sandpiper flight calls, I believe it's a Green.

I'm thinking to do more birding in Wetland park tomorrow. Hope to get more passerines.

Here is the full list of today:
Eastern Spot-billed Duck
Ring-necked Pheasant
Little Grebe
Great Crested Grebe
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Green Sandpiper
Black-headed Gull
Little Tern
White-winged Tern
Common Tern
Common Cuckoo
Common Swift
Common Kingfisher
Gray-headed Woodpecker
Brown Shrike
Eurasian Magpie
Barn Swallow
Light-vented Bulbul
White Wagtail
Eurasian Tree Sparrow

eBird list. I included description of two unknown species. I appreciate any thoughts on ID.
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S45758381