Panjin Birding by the Old Fat Man (3 Viewers)

Dec-19

Seeing a clear blue sky and no wind this morning, I started out intending to check out the Lao River by Yingkou again. However, after seeing that the south bound buses were all packed I decided instead to just check out a local patch.

That worked out well as I hadn't checked on my Red-Billed Blue Magpie recently and sure enough, all three were found almost immediately. The Azure-Winged Magpie are starting to accept their presence as today there were only about 15 of them quietly following the RBBM about. They were basically just keeping an eye on them and I got the impression that they wanted the RBBM to know they were under observation.

Two Grey-Headed Woodpecker and two Sreat Spotted Woodpecker were in the area with the AWM occasionally chasing them into flight.

Three Hoopoe were scratching in the leaf litter and popped up to nearby trees to check me out.

A couple of Olive-Backed Pipit were also rummaging through the leaf litter and nearby were about 10Japanese Tit and 5 Long-Tailed Tit.

I almost forgot and had to edit it in, but does anybody know what the significance is of the trees tagged with red ribbons? Sometimes with a bow and sometimes like this one. I have seen a few, like this one, where the same tree has the ribbon renewed regularly. This one has been tagged like this for at least four years now.

Sounds like a nice time out Owen. I'm always surprised that you get Hoopoe through the winter. Wonder what they find to eat to stay? Long-tailed Tit is nice.

Dong Bei said:

Wow, you gotta want it! Maybe they were inspired by Bear Grylls?

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Oh, now I get it! You had me puzzled with that one. I initially assumed it was a misspell so went through puzzling over Bear Grills?, Bare Grills?, Bear Growls? ????? Finally I just did a web search. I haven't watched TV for anything except the weather for the last 20 years, so it was new to me. 8-P

On the Hoopoe, I have wondered the same thing. When I first started reporting them in the winter ebird kept flagging it and even sent me an email saying there were no Hoopoe in this area in the winter. I sent them a picture of one in the snow and they finally started accepting it.

I was very pleased to find the Long-Tailed Tit. There were none to be found here last winter and they are one of my favorites. Quite friendly and often will come down close apparently investigating the lens.

Dec-24

The new ban on celebrating Christmas brought an early end to my appearances as Old Man Christmas, so decided to use the free time yesterday to do another check on the Lao River near Yingkou. I came in further upriver in what is still Panjin, Dawa County and found that since my last trip the overgrowth had been cleared off the paved footpath running along the river edge making access much easier.

Trying to preserve the battery in the cold weather, I had kept a pair in my pocket to keep them warm and waited until I arrived to shove one in and set up the camera. Unfortunately that meant that I wasn't prepared for the immediate appearance of the only crane I saw. A very large white bird with the iconic long legs and neck was slowly flapping over the reeds on the opposite shore and did the also iconic landing of the slow approach over the reeds with the legs hanging down and executed a perfect stall just over the tops of the reeds then slowly and gently dropped straight down and disappeared into the reeds. Pretty sure it was a Red-Crowned Crane, but the river itself is about 500 meters wide at that point and probably another 100 meters into the reeds is where it landed, so couldn't make out any details like whether it had the red cap or not. It was a good summer for the reeds this year so they were taller than the crane. I kept an eye on the reeds for the next couple of hours while moving downstream, but never saw any other birds.

The river was about 90% covered with ice floes despite the strong current and other than half a dozen Mongolian Gulls it was deserted. A couple of dozen Oriental Magpies were about along with the usual Tree Sparrows but that was all. As I was back under some trees trying to find some Bunting, Tits or such and getting ready to leave, I spotted a new lifer in a single Upland Buzzard moving to the south high overhead and out over the other side of the river. If it hadn't been such a very large bird at that distance and height I would never have seen it. As it is it was only visible for a minute or so and faded away before I could get to an unobscured viewing position. Managed four shots, three of which were of any use through the trees before it was gone. That was enough to make the trip worthwhile at least.

Owen - your crane can only be Siberian or Red-crowned. Siberian has black wingtips only and a white neck, while Red-crowned - which is the more likely - has black secondaries and a mostly black neck.

Hope this might help you figure out the exact species of your Christmas gift!

Merry Christmas!
Mike

Yeah, I only guessed Red-Crowned based on it being the most likely. I didn't claim either as it appeared to have the white neck and I was just too far out to claim the Siberian without an ID photo or at least a better visual observation.

You did inspire me to just now do some further online research and I remembered that ebird now has their audio recordings easily available online. I wasn't seeing anything, but occasionally I could faintly hear something that I thought might be cranes in the distant reeds. Comparing the two just now it definitely sounded like possible Siberian. Tempting, but I always want to have a high degree of certainty in my own mind at least before I claim any new lifer.

Large white bird with long legs and neck...grey heron? Egret species? How did you eliminate these?

McMadd said:

Large white bird with long legs and neck...grey heron? Egret species? How did you eliminate these?

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Fair question as those are common here and seen almost daily in season, but they are smarter than me and eschew the -16 C predicted by sunrise so are long gone by this time of year up here in North-East China. At least I haven't seen one ice fishing yet! 8-P

In addition though, I know the distance at that location so I could reasonably judge size and this was considerably larger than a Grey H or Great E. Wingspan larger with slower wing beats flying with neck outstretched and legs dangling almost straight down rather than trailing behind. Basically, the general jiz of the bird.

Still, as I said, not enough for me to determine between Red-Crowned or Siberian and add it to my list though.

Hi Owen, an Oriental Stork is also a possibility? There is a Siberian Crane staging site north of Shenyang in Faku County but they would most certainly all be south by now. I believe Red-crowned Crane only breed in the Panjin area but then winter south? There is a place near Wafangdian (near your area generally speaking) where there are hundreds of over wintering Common Cranes with the odd Hooded and White-naped mixed in. These would not appear white in flight, however. A stork would.

Congrats on the Upland Buzzard!

Tom

I see that yesterday, December 27, a Richard Zhu reported three Kentish Plover in the bay at Jinzhou, (just to the west and slightly north of Panjin), stating that he had clear photos. Now that would a surprise this late!

I've been wimping out the last few days with dawn at about -18 and highs about -10. With the wind that is a bit much for me!

Over a month since my last post due to the cold and lack of any interesting finds when I did get out once or twice a week. Outings all basically looked the same: A few Azure-Winged Magpie, maybe the three Red Billed Blue Magpie a few Japanese Tits, occasional Long-Tailed Tit and a lone Great Spotted Woodpecker.

This morning, however, I was greeted in the predawn by the unmistakable loud calls of one of our resident Little Owls! Despite the -17 temps the first sign of the beginnings of the spring migration.

Feb-17

Finally had a day where the temperature managed to (barely) break freezing. First time for about six weeks that I've seen posi9tive numbers, even if it was only for a few hours. Related to that we've had a very dry winter so the water levels have dropped leaving the ice suspended in the air rather than floating on water. I saw one place where the ice had recently collapsed under its own weight and it was a good 20cm thick.

Along with the warming air though were the first of the migrants. The Hoopoe had disappeared for about the last month but I found six of them today.

The Grey Headed Woodpecker were acting territorial, chasing each other about. One had a particular tree staked out and anything that came near was getting chased away. They are usually pretty shy, but he stayed put as I walked by, giving me the hairy eyeball. They have a pretty fierce demeanor about them normally and for a moment I thought he was going to take me on!

The thing of most interest and delight was when checking out some Meadow Bunting (Emberiza cioides I noticed some "off" looking individuals. Paler and with clean white breasts and a dark spot on the belly. A couple had not a full narrow ring around the breast, but a hint of such with spots. Checking it out when I got home they matched perfectly with Jankowski Bunting Emberiza jankowskii! Another lifer and a fairly rare one at that. Unfortunately I didn't have the camera with me as I was on one of my Mark I eyeball and bins outings which are intended to improve my skills by forcing me to be more observant and not just depend on being able to see details in a photo back home.

Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops) 6
Gray-headed Woodpecker (Picus canus) 6
Oriental Magpie (Pica serica) 1
Japanese Tit (Parus minor) 6
Light-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis) 5
Olive-backed Pipit (Anthus hodgsoni) 6
Rufous-backed Bunting (Emberiza jankowskii) 4 Good visual sighting with & without binoculars. Mixed with Emberiza cioides but paler colored and with clean white breast. Two males with central dark belly spot.
Meadow Bunting (Emberiza cioides) 14
Little Bunting (Emberiza pusilla) 2
Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) 100

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52805027

I had a project that I had counted as a dead end revive itself yesterday. My wife had been contacted about organizing some cultural projects for a new cultural center that is to be a private business close to us in Panjin, Dawa County. The sort of thing she did as a professor before she retired. They invited both of us to a luncheon meeting and I was surprised to see two people that I had talked to before who are interested in environmental education in the Panjin area. One of them was an artist that I had met a couple of times before and the other the then vice-mayor of Dawa who was in charge of environmental regulation. He had been very positive in talking to me a couple of years ago, but after not hearing anymore from him for quite a while I tried to contact him and we were just told the Party had transferred him elsewhere. Seems he just reached 60 and retired and is now wanting to do the cultural center he wanted to do then except now as a private enterprise. He is planning to do dance, music and general Chinese cultural things but wants to also have an environmental awareness program. So once again he wants to use me as the "White Monkey" foreign "expert" and to have a display of my photos of local birds. They want me as one of the business partners.

Now I have been in China long enough to have several instances of getting ripped off by Chinese businesses, so I know there will never be any significant money from such, but they did have an offer of interest. A government pass as an expert conducting government approved research that will grant me access to the "off limits" areas that I have so far been unable to scout out, including the areas where the cranes are to be found. The artist was surprised that I didn't have one and showed me his well worn little green booklet. Looked just like the "Foreign Expert" certification that I used to have except that was red. He even promised to take me along next month when he made a local trip to observe the Harbor Seals.

They are hoping to get up enough interest to start up a local bird watching club and possibly a photography group. Of course I had already planned out a trip back to America in April, but they probably won't be ready to get started until this fall anyway. The trip back was to include looking at a possible retirement property and spending winters back in the USA. This sounds interesting though and especially since the wife is excited about her cultural projects in such, I'll probably give it a go for a few years. They were trying to get me to commit to ten years, but I left it open ended and nothing is in writing. If nothing else if I can help to raise environmental awareness here then it plays into my goal in life of leaving the world a little bit better than I found it.

Hi Owen,

With thanks to McMadd for alerting me to this post, I wanted to congratulate you on the sighting of Jankowski's Bunting. Your description of the birds is good... and reward for forcing yourself to observe as well as take photos!

As you know, Jankowski's Bunting is a very rare bird and any records away from the breeding grounds are of huge significance. It would be fantastic if you were able to return to the area to survey it as thoroughly as possible. For example, the number of birds, their sex and photos of the habitat, including the plants they are feeding on, would all be important information. And if you were able to secure some images of the birds as well, that would be brilliant!

Congratulations again on this important sighting and sending you best wishes from Beijing.
Terry

Owen Krout said:

Finally had a day where the temperature managed to (barely) break freezing. First time for about six weeks that I've seen posi9tive numbers, even if it was only for a few hours. Related to that we've had a very dry winter so the water levels have dropped leaving the ice suspended in the air rather than floating on water. I saw one place where the ice had recently collapsed under its own weight and it was a good 20cm thick.

Along with the warming air though were the first of the migrants. The Hoopoe had disappeared for about the last month but I found six of them today.

The Grey Headed Woodpecker were acting territorial, chasing each other about. One had a particular tree staked out and anything that came near was getting chased away. They are usually pretty shy, but he stayed put as I walked by, giving me the hairy eyeball. They have a pretty fierce demeanor about them normally and for a moment I thought he was going to take me on!

The thing of most interest and delight was when checking out some Meadow Bunting (Emberiza cioides I noticed some "off" looking individuals. Paler and with clean white breasts and a dark spot on the belly. A couple had not a full narrow ring around the breast, but a hint of such with spots. Checking it out when I got home they matched perfectly with Jankowski Bunting Emberiza jankowskii! Another lifer and a fairly rare one at that. Unfortunately I didn't have the camera with me as I was on one of my Mark I eyeball and bins outings which are intended to improve my skills by forcing me to be more observant and not just depend on being able to see details in a photo back home.

Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops) 6
Gray-headed Woodpecker (Picus canus) 6
Oriental Magpie (Pica serica) 1
Japanese Tit (Parus minor) 6
Light-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis) 5
Olive-backed Pipit (Anthus hodgsoni) 6
Rufous-backed Bunting (Emberiza jankowskii) 4 Good visual sighting with & without binoculars. Mixed with Emberiza cioides but paler colored and with clean white breast. Two males with central dark belly spot.
Meadow Bunting (Emberiza cioides) 14
Little Bunting (Emberiza pusilla) 2
Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) 100

View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S52805027

Click to expand...

Thanks for the input Terry. The weather has been poor the last couple of days, but I was already planning a photo outing today. I'll see if I can find them again, but I suspicion they are just moving through as it was in an area I periodically check out and I hadn't seen them all winter.

If you haven't been following, I also have three Red Billed Blue Magpie that I have been tracking since last fall that are in the same general area as the Jankowskii Bunting. I do have photos of them. Also last fall I found a single Eurasian Spoonbill with photos. Hopefully the promised access to the off-limits areas pans out as I am sure there are more surprises waiting there. The people that have been recruiting me believe there is a growing interest in the natural environment and hence a potential for a new local bird watching club. If that can be done, having an organized system for record keeping and multiple people watching could do a lot to better establish what species are actually using IBA CN052 Shaungtaizi Hekou Nature Preserve.

Feb-20

I took a walk over to the area where the Jankowskii Buntings were the other day but couldn't find them or the Meadow Bunting again. Instead there were some very washed out and ragged looking Elegant Bunting and Goldcrest in the same location. The EB just seem to pass through here as I have only once seen a pair that stayed into the breeding period and had the clean bright coloration.

The Goldcrest have been in the area for about a month now and were acting very territorial, chasing each other around at even more than their normal fast pace. They were zooming through the trees while furiously squeaking at their high, to me almost inaudible, pitch. Occasionally a pair would be chasing a single bird. Two males chasing a female I assume as they would be especially frantic in their squeaks and would be trying to cut each other off.

A lone Long-Tailed Tit was mixed in with the Bunting and Goldcrest. They are normally only seen in flocks, so it must have gotten separated from its group.

Just barely visible and not a full view at that was an intriguing woodpecker, looking generally like a very small Great Spotted Woodpecker. Unfortunately when I tried to move to where the heavy brush in my foreground wasn't obscuring the view and making it impossible to get focus on it, the little fellow disappeared and I was not able to locate him again. I have once, several years ago seen what I ID as a Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker in the area but without a better view this could have been a female JPW, Grey-Capped Pygmy Woodpecker or even Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. So small and staying up in the twigs rather than hanging off the trunk that I could see it being easily overlooked. I only saw it briefly because I was scanning the trees with the binoculars looking for the Jankowsill B.

Not having any luck at my goal, I decided to check out the nearby Red Billed Blue Magpie. I was only able to find one of the three that had been staying closely together all winter with 20 or so Azure Winged Magpie not harassing, but keeping a close eye on it. I could hear a large group of AWM in the distance making a racket, so they may have been giving the other two RBBM a hard time since that seems to be a favorite activity of theirs.

Rounding out the day were a couple of Great Spotted Woodpecker, a couple of Hoopoe, four Japanese Tit, a single Oriental Magpie and the usual 50 or so E. Tree Sparrow.

Feb-21

Took tour around the immediate neighborhood hoping to soon get some of the Red Flanked Bluetail that briefly pass through in the early migration. Only thing of real note was spotting a single Red Billed Blue Magpie hanging out with a small flock of 14 Azure Winged Magpie who were studiously ignoring its presence. Great Spotted Woodpecker and Grey-Headed Woodpecker were acting territorial with the two GSWP drumming back and forth to each other.

A Yellow Bellied Tit, brightly colored but looking a bit rumpled was singing lustily, putting great effort into the song.

The Chinese Bulbul were chasing each other about and staking out territory. One seemed to be self identifying as a Nuthatch.

Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) 2
Gray-headed Woodpecker (Picus canus) 1
Azure-winged Magpie (Cyanopica cyanus) 14
Red-billed Blue-Magpie (Urocissa erythroryncha) 1
Oriental Magpie (Pica serica) 1
Yellow-bellied Tit (Periparus venustulus) 2
Light-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis) 16
Olive-backed Pipit (Anthus hodgsoni) 5
Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) 10

Huge congratulations on the Jankowski's Bunting Owen!

Score one for eyeball Mark 1!

Cheers
Mike

March 6, 2019

The warmer weather has finally started to clear off the ice. Still some thin ice left in some areas, but much open water starting to show. The last five days were frustrating as the temperature was nice enough to get out but they were burning off large sections of reeds and the AQI was between a nasty 250 and a eye burning, choking 325! Yesterday Yingkou was showing in the 400s!

Today a strong north wind brought in clean air from Siberia with temps in the single digits. I've been chomping at the bit to get in some birding, so I decided to check out the Panjin Wetland Park. My favorite area for Passerines has been closed off again, this time to pile huge piles of snow and make a winter sports area. Some of that hill of snow and ice, which has been placed right on top of the Ground Squirrel colony, probably won't finish melting until July. I therefore back tracked and went east along the river. The North wind across the open water and ice still bit at my face despite it being above zero.

No sign of any Heron yet, but I did find about 175 of what I ID as Vega Gull and a few Black-Tailed Gull. Vega had a "laughing" call. Only others were 20 Elegant Bunting and 30 Tree Sparrow. I heard what I am sure were a few unidentified Tit but I never managed to get a visual on them to ID.

MAR-7 Gedalou Reservoir

Today was the first time that the proposed cooperation actually produced anything. One of the investors took me out to Gedalou Reservoir and with a vehicle at hand it was the first time that I have actually circumvented the 14 km of the lake in one go. The weather was absolutely fantastic at about 8°, sunny and almost a dead calm.

Black-Headed Gull were, as usual, in abundance and were the first thing I sighted as we pulled up. Following yesterday's theme, Vega Gull were also common but mostly sleeping. I had a few Mongolian Gull but just as I was working my way close enough to get a shot some skylarking boaters showed up with their main goal seeming to be getting everything to fly. The Bean Goose completely abandoned the lake because of their disturbance before I could get close enough to try to distinguish between Taiga/Tundra. Well over a kilometer away. I thought I saw some Cormorant size and looking birds mixed in but again too far away to be sure.

After their run around the lake shore, everything moved out to the middle of the lake making IDs really difficult. I did however get a very good look at five Grey Heron as they came up from one of the adjacent fishing ponds. Common Pochard were indeed, common and as usual were mixed with Common Coot. On the fringes of their flocks were small numbers of Tufted Duck, Smew & Eastern Spot-Billed Duck. A small number of dark Grebe looking individuals were chasing each other about in a Grebe like manner, but just too far away to ID even with the binoculars.

The Oriental Magpie are thick this year and despite not really looking for them they were obvious with having nesting sites staked out all around the lake. A pair of Hoopoe were "hoop-hoop" at each other.

The earliest I have seen numbers there. Usually there is still about 50% ice at this time but today was probably only 10% and that very thin. The really big flocks are probably another week away.

Tomorrow I am hoping to check out a couple other lakes in far south Dawa county. One that had Black-Winged Stilt nesting last year and the other as large as Gedalou and immediately adjacent to Honghaitan (Red Beach).