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Bristol to Kagu ? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Larry Sweetland
- Start date
Lappkrabben
Well-known member
Looking forward to that wren-split. I guess it look similarily fabulous as the Fairy-Wrens down under?!
So when i get my thumb out of my a** and get to visit you in Bristol you'll guide me to The Wren and also that exquisite Scotish Crossbill as well.
Maybe some famous (red) grouse?
So when i get my thumb out of my a** and get to visit you in Bristol you'll guide me to The Wren and also that exquisite Scotish Crossbill as well.
Maybe some famous (red) grouse?
Larry Sweetland
Formerly 'Larry Wheatland'
Huang Shan
Where?
Exactly. From Xiamen we took an overnight train to Tung Xi in Anhui province. This is a short bus ride from Tang Kou, which is near the base of Huang Shan, a famously picturesque mountain popular with Chinese tourists. We stayed one night in Tung Xi then headed up the mountain where we stayed last night. We'd forgotten what it was like to be properly cold, like ice on the trees cold and all that. Must have been over 2 years since our hands have been cold with gloves on.
Huang Shan was very pretty and a bit like being inside one of those vertical scroll Chinese paintings with impossibly steep cliffs and funny shaped conifers. It was, however, almost entirely birdless but this could be a seasonal thing. All the birds mentioned below were identified based on what I thought they looked like, given that we don't have a field guide and haven't got the slightest clue what species might occur in this part of China. So please forgive me if I've got any of it wrong.
Unexpected highlight was 2 Fukien Slaty Buntings that fed right below us as we sat to consume our boiled eggs in tea that we bought partially to keep our hands warm. These birds were seen quite near the 'Beginning To Believe' viewpoint. By the egg sellers. Perhaps the next most interesting species was Asian House Martin, of which there was a small colony around Xihai Hotel where we stayed. But what they were finding to eat up there in the cold is anyone's guess. Also possibly of interest were a couple of Collared Finchbills in the town of Tang Kou itself, where we also saw a Crested Kingfisher and Brown-breasted Bulbul. A single Rufous-faced Warbler and a few Red-billed Blue Magpies were seen during our ascent, as was a flock of Yuhinas which I'm going to have to look up when I next get to see a bird book (what are the options round here?). The only birds that were reasonably common were Coal Tit, and 'great tits' with green upper mantles which presumably are Japanese Tits?
I guess as Shropshire is close enough to Wales we'd better take your phonetic word for it Jacana. And hopefully Mattias there'll be more British splits to tempt you over to visit us, by the time we get home at the current rate!
We're having a few hassles trying to get the paperwork we need to get a Russian visa together. Involving trying to find printers that work and faxes that do international calls in tiny Chinese towns where we can't read anything. It's been difficult even with the help of tourist guide extraordinaire Mr Cheng. By the way it's worth visiting Tang Kou just to hear his English accent, which is better than ours. We're still hoping we're going to be able to get the train back to Europe at the beginning of April. At the moment we're having to deal with nonsense like having to give the embassy in Beijing the original copy of the written invitation from a registered Russian travel organisation. What with only having 1 month Chinese visas, no proper address, general communication difficulties, etc, we're not 100% hopeful at the moment. But fingers crossed eh?
Oh and H, good luck with migrant phylloscs and thrushes, but if you don't see any you'll know why it is. It's those ruddy kingfishers.
Photo = Fukien Slaty Bunting or so we think
Where?
Exactly. From Xiamen we took an overnight train to Tung Xi in Anhui province. This is a short bus ride from Tang Kou, which is near the base of Huang Shan, a famously picturesque mountain popular with Chinese tourists. We stayed one night in Tung Xi then headed up the mountain where we stayed last night. We'd forgotten what it was like to be properly cold, like ice on the trees cold and all that. Must have been over 2 years since our hands have been cold with gloves on.
Huang Shan was very pretty and a bit like being inside one of those vertical scroll Chinese paintings with impossibly steep cliffs and funny shaped conifers. It was, however, almost entirely birdless but this could be a seasonal thing. All the birds mentioned below were identified based on what I thought they looked like, given that we don't have a field guide and haven't got the slightest clue what species might occur in this part of China. So please forgive me if I've got any of it wrong.
Unexpected highlight was 2 Fukien Slaty Buntings that fed right below us as we sat to consume our boiled eggs in tea that we bought partially to keep our hands warm. These birds were seen quite near the 'Beginning To Believe' viewpoint. By the egg sellers. Perhaps the next most interesting species was Asian House Martin, of which there was a small colony around Xihai Hotel where we stayed. But what they were finding to eat up there in the cold is anyone's guess. Also possibly of interest were a couple of Collared Finchbills in the town of Tang Kou itself, where we also saw a Crested Kingfisher and Brown-breasted Bulbul. A single Rufous-faced Warbler and a few Red-billed Blue Magpies were seen during our ascent, as was a flock of Yuhinas which I'm going to have to look up when I next get to see a bird book (what are the options round here?). The only birds that were reasonably common were Coal Tit, and 'great tits' with green upper mantles which presumably are Japanese Tits?
I guess as Shropshire is close enough to Wales we'd better take your phonetic word for it Jacana. And hopefully Mattias there'll be more British splits to tempt you over to visit us, by the time we get home at the current rate!
We're having a few hassles trying to get the paperwork we need to get a Russian visa together. Involving trying to find printers that work and faxes that do international calls in tiny Chinese towns where we can't read anything. It's been difficult even with the help of tourist guide extraordinaire Mr Cheng. By the way it's worth visiting Tang Kou just to hear his English accent, which is better than ours. We're still hoping we're going to be able to get the train back to Europe at the beginning of April. At the moment we're having to deal with nonsense like having to give the embassy in Beijing the original copy of the written invitation from a registered Russian travel organisation. What with only having 1 month Chinese visas, no proper address, general communication difficulties, etc, we're not 100% hopeful at the moment. But fingers crossed eh?
Oh and H, good luck with migrant phylloscs and thrushes, but if you don't see any you'll know why it is. It's those ruddy kingfishers.
Photo = Fukien Slaty Bunting or so we think
Attachments
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halftwo
Wird Batcher
Hi Larry,
You're out of range for Green-backed tit - so Japanese is probably right.
My fieldguide shows Slaty bunting (& text) with extensive white belly - and makes no mention of "Fukien".
The only Yuhinas in your area are the now-split Striated: now Indochinese yuhinas (torqueola) in China. They should have a grey cap/crest and a brown face mask extending to the nape.
H
You're out of range for Green-backed tit - so Japanese is probably right.
My fieldguide shows Slaty bunting (& text) with extensive white belly - and makes no mention of "Fukien".
The only Yuhinas in your area are the now-split Striated: now Indochinese yuhinas (torqueola) in China. They should have a grey cap/crest and a brown face mask extending to the nape.
H
Yes, seems there is only one Slaty bunting, whose range includes Fujian. View of the white belly depends a lot on the angle I guess (e.g. here). Did you see the reddish females too?
Larry Sweetland
Formerly 'Larry Wheatland'
Thanks folks.
The buntings did have a small amount of white on the belly only visible at some angles. We didn't see any females here but did see one earlier in the trip in Sichuan. I think the bird is variously named and spelt but there's nothing else remotely similar nearby except maybe Dark-eyed Junco! Indochinese Yuhina makes sense.
After I posted yesterday we saw a Russet Sparrow and a pair of Plumbeous Water-Redstarts on the river in town. Just done a search and I think that Russet Sparrow, Asian House Martin and Crested Kingfisher appear to be new for the trip.
1760 Crested Kingfisher
1761 Asian House Martin
1762 Russet Sparrow
The buntings did have a small amount of white on the belly only visible at some angles. We didn't see any females here but did see one earlier in the trip in Sichuan. I think the bird is variously named and spelt but there's nothing else remotely similar nearby except maybe Dark-eyed Junco! Indochinese Yuhina makes sense.
After I posted yesterday we saw a Russet Sparrow and a pair of Plumbeous Water-Redstarts on the river in town. Just done a search and I think that Russet Sparrow, Asian House Martin and Crested Kingfisher appear to be new for the trip.
1760 Crested Kingfisher
1761 Asian House Martin
1762 Russet Sparrow
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Larry Sweetland
Formerly 'Larry Wheatland'
Before leaving Tang Kou, a walk upriver from town produced a pair of entertaining Brown Dippers.
We then had a long bus jouney to HeFei. We were dreading the inevitable confusion of getting from wherever the bus stopped to the train station, but what actually happened was too amusing to be scary. All the other passengers getting off the bus headed out towards the entrance to the road where the bus came in. We however were pleased to observe that finding a taxi was easy, there was a huge concrete square full of them directly behind the bus station. As we headed towards them we were surprised that they weren't fighting for our custom. Even when we were amongst the cars, which all had the same colouring and roof lights, no-one seemed interested, though some appeared to have one passenger already. Then we saw the office, so we figured maybe it was really civilized and you had to book a ride through the office. At the office I asked for "taxi" and the lady behind the desk brightly pointed to the left, appearing pleased that she'd understood, and brightly repeated "W.C." We had of course just been wandering around a driver learning school. We headed out to the road to look for a taxi.
We somehow managed to get to the train station and onto an overnight train to Xian, famous for it's army of terracotta warriors. Birds seen out of bus and train have been changing, with White-cheeked Starling and Azure-winged Magpie becoming common, several Hoopoe (especially nice), a few Common Pheasant (grey-rumped, white-collared birds), some Oriental Turtle Doves, Grey-capped Greenfinch, a Daurian Redstart etc. A few birds we hadn't seen since the first couple of months of the trip.
We then had a long bus jouney to HeFei. We were dreading the inevitable confusion of getting from wherever the bus stopped to the train station, but what actually happened was too amusing to be scary. All the other passengers getting off the bus headed out towards the entrance to the road where the bus came in. We however were pleased to observe that finding a taxi was easy, there was a huge concrete square full of them directly behind the bus station. As we headed towards them we were surprised that they weren't fighting for our custom. Even when we were amongst the cars, which all had the same colouring and roof lights, no-one seemed interested, though some appeared to have one passenger already. Then we saw the office, so we figured maybe it was really civilized and you had to book a ride through the office. At the office I asked for "taxi" and the lady behind the desk brightly pointed to the left, appearing pleased that she'd understood, and brightly repeated "W.C." We had of course just been wandering around a driver learning school. We headed out to the road to look for a taxi.
We somehow managed to get to the train station and onto an overnight train to Xian, famous for it's army of terracotta warriors. Birds seen out of bus and train have been changing, with White-cheeked Starling and Azure-winged Magpie becoming common, several Hoopoe (especially nice), a few Common Pheasant (grey-rumped, white-collared birds), some Oriental Turtle Doves, Grey-capped Greenfinch, a Daurian Redstart etc. A few birds we hadn't seen since the first couple of months of the trip.
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Larry Sweetland
Formerly 'Larry Wheatland'
operation ibis
It's been onehellovaday.
We booked our train ticket to Beijing shortly after we arrived at Xian. This has given us 5 days, enough time we figured, to fit in a side trip to look for Crested Ibis at Yangxian. The more we looked into this however, the less tempting it was to try it. My enquiries drew a blank when it came to recent attempts by foreigners to go and see them without going on an expensive tour. The most recent news I heard was of someone a couple of years ago being detained by police, and I also heard of someone just being stopped and turned back, even though he was on a public bus. It seemed as though foreigners were being made to do a tour, even though the birds could be seen in public places. We were also told at our guesthouse that regular buses from the south terminal took 7 hours to get to Yangxian. This would mean trying to find somewhere cheap to stay, if there was anywhere, and a lot of potential confusion in a town where backpackers just don't go. Even if we went, our gen was vague, so we could easily dip if not arrested.
We ummed and erred for days, and I must admit that 90% of the time I was "No way. Why travel 7 hours on a bus to get nicked, just so you sing a la Clash:
Went for the ibis but saw none
I fought the law and the Law won"
10% of the time (normally after some beer) I'd be more "Someone's got to try it then, to see if it can be done, for the good of budget birding. And anyway, this thread will get really boring if we don't go for it". Nicky was more up for it though, and when we got some slightly better gen from Mcaribou on where to look, we changed our minds, and yesterday we decided we'd go today.
We were then dealt a bit of a blow. Yesterday afternoon I had my bag nicked while we were in an internet cafe. This has meant the loss of one of our duff pairs of bins, and my notebook going back to Australia (so thank goodness for BF for having lots of it on here). Also lost was a compass we thought might be useful in case we got totally lost at Yangxian.
This morning we took bus 203 to the south terminal, arriving at 6.45am. We then had a nice surprise, there was a minibus outside the bus station about to leave for Yangxian. It cost 7Q (only a quid more than the bus), and was to take only 3 hours. On the approach to Yangxian, just before the turn off, the highway crosses the main river. Looking to our right we saw 2 objects on the river that maybe could have been the ibises. This prompted us to get out of the minibus way before town, just after the toll booth. Covering our heads and trying to look as local as possible at a distance, we headed down the road parallel to the river in the direction of the highway. A couple of police cars passed, and we tried not to look unlocal. I felt like a kid again, birding somewhere I shouldn't, and it was a real buzz! We turned east when the road went under the highway, and headed down a track, then through fields towards the river. We only got the bins out when a flock of thrushes was too tempting not to go through. They were mostly Naumann's Thrush, which turned out to be numerous in the area, but a couple of good-looking Dusky Thrush was a new bird bird for me. Sneaking up on the objects we'd seen from the bridge was a doddle. They were mopeds. Not known for their wariness on approach.
So now what? Mcaribou had told us that the ibises feed along the main river, but there is a nesting spot c2km north of town, to the east of a tributary. We thought from here, that it would be better to just walk along the river bank, which seemed likely to be free of Plod. The terrain was a bit awkward, with mucky pools, gravel works, cows, suspicious-looking locals etc. But it was full of birds. It was difficult not to get distracted by Green Sandpipers, Little Ringed Plovers, wagtails and pipits etc. exploding everywhere. We were mainly looking for big things, and I very nearly overlooked something pretty major. It took a while to click that one of the LRPs just wasn't right, and when I flushed it again it started to sink in. It was an adult plumaged "ringed plover" without a conspicuous wingbar, but it looked rather big and had the wing pattern wasn't quite right, including a large dark carpal area! When it landed it appeared to also have a long all dark bill and no yellow eye-ring, and was less compact than LRP. Could it be? Nicky had gone on ahead to find somewhere to snack, and wasn't bothered about chasing plovers around, so we never got a pic of it, but I kept pursuing it. I flushed it about 5 more times, and each time it looked wrong in all the right ways, until it finally landed right beside a group of 3 LRPs and dwarfed them considerably. I was finally happy that I was looking at my first LONG-BILLED PLOVER. What an unexpected bonus!
The walk onwards, towards the two big bridges ahead, produced a smattering of egrets, Grey Herons, Cormorants, Lapwings, Teal, Wigeon, Little Grebes etc. We decided to walk further along the river before crossing the bidges into town, and about 50m after we'd walked under the 2nd bridge, we pretty much walked into 2 unexpectedly grey looking CRESTED IBIS! Wowzer. Really odd looking birds, and a real shock when they flew, revealing peachy-white flight and tail feathers. Incredibly it was job done for the price of the bus fare, by 11.30am. We even made it back to Xian for tea time.
Other birds around the bridges included Vinous-throated Parrotbill, Daurian Redstart, Grey-capped Greenfinch, Little Bunting, Kestrel, and what I first figured must be Sooty Tits, but now, having seen Oriental Bird Images, think might be a really odd race of Long-tailed Tit. I wish I had a field guide!
Can someone with a China field guide help me with these too?:
1. Two large dark-rumped Apus swifts seen over Xian. Looked like Common or Pallid. Which is/are likely?
2. Pipits in big numbers along the river at Yangxian. Looked like Water Pipits. Are there any other pipits with unmarked buffish breasts and greyish crown that they could be?
3. Corvus sp on a post c100km south of Xian in Qinling mts. Had white nape extending round to unds. Not seen well enough to tell if Collared Crow or Daurian Jackdaw. Which is/are possible ?
Lastly I'd really like to thank MKinHK for telling us about the Crested Ibis site in the first place, Mcaribou for closing us in on them, and the people who told us warning stories, for making the day more of a thrill!
1763 DUSKY THRUSH
1764 LONG-BILLED PLOVER
1765 CRESTED IBIS
It's been onehellovaday.
We booked our train ticket to Beijing shortly after we arrived at Xian. This has given us 5 days, enough time we figured, to fit in a side trip to look for Crested Ibis at Yangxian. The more we looked into this however, the less tempting it was to try it. My enquiries drew a blank when it came to recent attempts by foreigners to go and see them without going on an expensive tour. The most recent news I heard was of someone a couple of years ago being detained by police, and I also heard of someone just being stopped and turned back, even though he was on a public bus. It seemed as though foreigners were being made to do a tour, even though the birds could be seen in public places. We were also told at our guesthouse that regular buses from the south terminal took 7 hours to get to Yangxian. This would mean trying to find somewhere cheap to stay, if there was anywhere, and a lot of potential confusion in a town where backpackers just don't go. Even if we went, our gen was vague, so we could easily dip if not arrested.
We ummed and erred for days, and I must admit that 90% of the time I was "No way. Why travel 7 hours on a bus to get nicked, just so you sing a la Clash:
Went for the ibis but saw none
I fought the law and the Law won"
10% of the time (normally after some beer) I'd be more "Someone's got to try it then, to see if it can be done, for the good of budget birding. And anyway, this thread will get really boring if we don't go for it". Nicky was more up for it though, and when we got some slightly better gen from Mcaribou on where to look, we changed our minds, and yesterday we decided we'd go today.
We were then dealt a bit of a blow. Yesterday afternoon I had my bag nicked while we were in an internet cafe. This has meant the loss of one of our duff pairs of bins, and my notebook going back to Australia (so thank goodness for BF for having lots of it on here). Also lost was a compass we thought might be useful in case we got totally lost at Yangxian.
This morning we took bus 203 to the south terminal, arriving at 6.45am. We then had a nice surprise, there was a minibus outside the bus station about to leave for Yangxian. It cost 7Q (only a quid more than the bus), and was to take only 3 hours. On the approach to Yangxian, just before the turn off, the highway crosses the main river. Looking to our right we saw 2 objects on the river that maybe could have been the ibises. This prompted us to get out of the minibus way before town, just after the toll booth. Covering our heads and trying to look as local as possible at a distance, we headed down the road parallel to the river in the direction of the highway. A couple of police cars passed, and we tried not to look unlocal. I felt like a kid again, birding somewhere I shouldn't, and it was a real buzz! We turned east when the road went under the highway, and headed down a track, then through fields towards the river. We only got the bins out when a flock of thrushes was too tempting not to go through. They were mostly Naumann's Thrush, which turned out to be numerous in the area, but a couple of good-looking Dusky Thrush was a new bird bird for me. Sneaking up on the objects we'd seen from the bridge was a doddle. They were mopeds. Not known for their wariness on approach.
So now what? Mcaribou had told us that the ibises feed along the main river, but there is a nesting spot c2km north of town, to the east of a tributary. We thought from here, that it would be better to just walk along the river bank, which seemed likely to be free of Plod. The terrain was a bit awkward, with mucky pools, gravel works, cows, suspicious-looking locals etc. But it was full of birds. It was difficult not to get distracted by Green Sandpipers, Little Ringed Plovers, wagtails and pipits etc. exploding everywhere. We were mainly looking for big things, and I very nearly overlooked something pretty major. It took a while to click that one of the LRPs just wasn't right, and when I flushed it again it started to sink in. It was an adult plumaged "ringed plover" without a conspicuous wingbar, but it looked rather big and had the wing pattern wasn't quite right, including a large dark carpal area! When it landed it appeared to also have a long all dark bill and no yellow eye-ring, and was less compact than LRP. Could it be? Nicky had gone on ahead to find somewhere to snack, and wasn't bothered about chasing plovers around, so we never got a pic of it, but I kept pursuing it. I flushed it about 5 more times, and each time it looked wrong in all the right ways, until it finally landed right beside a group of 3 LRPs and dwarfed them considerably. I was finally happy that I was looking at my first LONG-BILLED PLOVER. What an unexpected bonus!
The walk onwards, towards the two big bridges ahead, produced a smattering of egrets, Grey Herons, Cormorants, Lapwings, Teal, Wigeon, Little Grebes etc. We decided to walk further along the river before crossing the bidges into town, and about 50m after we'd walked under the 2nd bridge, we pretty much walked into 2 unexpectedly grey looking CRESTED IBIS! Wowzer. Really odd looking birds, and a real shock when they flew, revealing peachy-white flight and tail feathers. Incredibly it was job done for the price of the bus fare, by 11.30am. We even made it back to Xian for tea time.
Other birds around the bridges included Vinous-throated Parrotbill, Daurian Redstart, Grey-capped Greenfinch, Little Bunting, Kestrel, and what I first figured must be Sooty Tits, but now, having seen Oriental Bird Images, think might be a really odd race of Long-tailed Tit. I wish I had a field guide!
Can someone with a China field guide help me with these too?:
1. Two large dark-rumped Apus swifts seen over Xian. Looked like Common or Pallid. Which is/are likely?
2. Pipits in big numbers along the river at Yangxian. Looked like Water Pipits. Are there any other pipits with unmarked buffish breasts and greyish crown that they could be?
3. Corvus sp on a post c100km south of Xian in Qinling mts. Had white nape extending round to unds. Not seen well enough to tell if Collared Crow or Daurian Jackdaw. Which is/are possible ?
Lastly I'd really like to thank MKinHK for telling us about the Crested Ibis site in the first place, Mcaribou for closing us in on them, and the people who told us warning stories, for making the day more of a thrill!
1763 DUSKY THRUSH
1764 LONG-BILLED PLOVER
1765 CRESTED IBIS
Attachments
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JWN Andrewes
Poor Judge of Pasta.
Outstanding guys! Well done. Very well done indeed. Always thrilling when the madly optomistic long shot pays off. Good on you for that "what the hell, why not" attitude. Hope there's plenty more days like that on your journey home.
James
James
MKinHK
Mike Kilburn
FANTASTIC!!
Once again fortune favours the brave! - was really hoping you'd go for them, but was hesitant to urge you in case it ended in disaster. and twitching them from Xian in a day - outstanding!
Major bummer to lose the bins and diary - but at least it didn't stop you seeing China's greatest conservation success story - an excellent choice of bird if you're down to a single pair of bins.
as for your questions:
distribution data based on De Schauensee 1984
1. Common Swift breeds throughout N and central China and in their thousands in Xian - but the date seems rather early
2. The race of Long-tailed Tit in southern Shaanxi is vinaceus. Sooty Tit is also a montane species here, but I don't know of any lowland records - it's possible its an altitudinal migrant. Te only place I've seen it is Foping in the Qinling Shan. Black-throated Tit concinnus is also in the mix here, and Black-browed is as close as N Sichuan, so is also possible! Not helpful, I know!
3. Collared Crow reaches n into S Shaanxi, while Daurian is not listed, but its a big wanderer (including to HK).
Its a long shot but If you were high up Nutcracker is also a possibility in the Qinling Shan.
4. The other possible pipit is Rosy Pipit, which is listed as resident in S Shaanxi, and Buff-bellied may also be possible - again not much help - sorry
Cheers
Mike
Once again fortune favours the brave! - was really hoping you'd go for them, but was hesitant to urge you in case it ended in disaster. and twitching them from Xian in a day - outstanding!
Major bummer to lose the bins and diary - but at least it didn't stop you seeing China's greatest conservation success story - an excellent choice of bird if you're down to a single pair of bins.
as for your questions:
distribution data based on De Schauensee 1984
1. Common Swift breeds throughout N and central China and in their thousands in Xian - but the date seems rather early
2. The race of Long-tailed Tit in southern Shaanxi is vinaceus. Sooty Tit is also a montane species here, but I don't know of any lowland records - it's possible its an altitudinal migrant. Te only place I've seen it is Foping in the Qinling Shan. Black-throated Tit concinnus is also in the mix here, and Black-browed is as close as N Sichuan, so is also possible! Not helpful, I know!
3. Collared Crow reaches n into S Shaanxi, while Daurian is not listed, but its a big wanderer (including to HK).
Its a long shot but If you were high up Nutcracker is also a possibility in the Qinling Shan.
4. The other possible pipit is Rosy Pipit, which is listed as resident in S Shaanxi, and Buff-bellied may also be possible - again not much help - sorry
Cheers
Mike
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Captain_of_Crunch
YVdpep_re64
Hi,
Don't have much experience birding in China, but I do have a copy of the FG to Birds of China:
(1) Only Apus Swifts in China are: Common, Fork-tailed and House. Common Swift appears to be migrant in your region.
(2) Maybe Rosy Pipit?
(3) I think both may occur in that region.
Hopefully this helps a little. Good luck with the rest of the trip!
Don't have much experience birding in China, but I do have a copy of the FG to Birds of China:
(1) Only Apus Swifts in China are: Common, Fork-tailed and House. Common Swift appears to be migrant in your region.
(2) Maybe Rosy Pipit?
(3) I think both may occur in that region.
Hopefully this helps a little. Good luck with the rest of the trip!
Allen S. Moore
Well-known member
Shame about the theft of your bag. I wonder what the thief will make of your note book and entries like "06.30 Meet Brian Ridge" or whatever? Still, as with all good stories, you turned events round to great effect. I particularly liked the musical reference. Nice photographs of the crested ibises.
Maybe you should write your travels up in a book. I would certainly buy a copy, and not just because of my new anagram!
Ale Room Lens
Maybe you should write your travels up in a book. I would certainly buy a copy, and not just because of my new anagram!
Ale Room Lens
firstreesjohn
Well-known member
Chlidonias
Well-known member
those ibis are fantastic, well done; and good job on going for over two years before getting your stuff nicked 
Chlidonias
Well-known member
I'm actually really impressed that you don't have a China field guide but you're still able to identify the birds you see! I'd just be like "I saw a bird that had a long tail and a brown head....um...sort of looked like a babbler or something...."
Fantastic stuff. Very well done indeed. What do you have planned for your next trick, day-tripping Cabot's Tragopan perhaps... or, if that's too easy, what about Blackthroat...;-)
An old Chinese saying springs to mind (that has lost none of its relevancy). Roughly translated it's:
"It's often easier to ask for forgiveness than permission".
;-)
An old Chinese saying springs to mind (that has lost none of its relevancy). Roughly translated it's:
"It's often easier to ask for forgiveness than permission".
;-)
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halftwo
Wird Batcher
Me too. Isn't that just like a nightmare...birding an unknown area & seeing loads of stuff - but not knowing what it is! Aaaaghhhh!
Well done - another pioneering episode from the L&N saga. Maybe the notebook might get re-found - trouble is if the police find it they'll be scrutinising it for months for clues about some strange spy who travels the world with a coded book that only talks about birds - or so it seems! They'll never believe that - so what do these references to Fairy wrens and babblers really mean?! Oh! the intrigue.
Well, Sand martins are passing again here this morning - so I must away.
