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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

China observations (1 Viewer)

While it's not on the typical birders circuit, I did see a few birds while sightseeing in Qufu this morning. Nothing particularly unusual, but I figure I'll at least add to the "database" for China.

At the Confucius Temple (Kong Miao), azure-winged magpies and tree sparrows were abundant. Along one stream I found a large flock of yellow-billed grosbeaks and what I believe was a fly-by hoopoe along with a few feral pigeons. I also had a common kingfisher fly-by while I was watching the gate-opening ceremony.

There was more variety at the Confucian Forest (Kong Lin). There were a few Eurasian magpies mixed in with the even larger number of Azure-wings. First thing in the morning I had a few oriental greenfinches, but I didn't find them when I went back later in the morning. I also found a large flock of tits. Most seemed to be silver-throated (long-tailed) tits but I found one varied tit mixed in with them. A few yellow-browed warblers also seemed to be travelling with the tit flock. Sacttered Japanese (great) tits were found in the forest. I also had a woodpecker that based on coloring could only have been a rufous-bellied. And of course, there were tree sparrows.

Near my hotel, the Shangri-la, there's a small river with a half-dozen little grebes and a small flock of light-vented bulbuls in the riverside trees. The bulbuls sound different from the ones in Shanghai. According to Clements, they should be the same subspecies, but it seems curious that they sound so different.
 
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While it's not on the typical birders circuit, I did see a few birds while sightseeing in Qufu this morning. Nothing particularly unusual, but I figure I'll at least add to the "database" for China.

At the Confucius Temple (Kong Miao), azure-winged magpies and tree sparrows were abundant. Along one stream I found a large flock of yellow-billed grosbeaks and what I believe was a fly-by hoopoe along with a few feral pigeons. I also had a common kingfisher fly-by while I was watching the gate-opening ceremony.

There was more variety at the Confucian Forest (Kong Lin). There were a few Eurasian magpies mixed in with the even larger number of Azure-wings. First thing in the morning I had a few oriental greenfinches, but I didn't find them when I went back later in the morning. I also found a large flock of tits. Most seemed to be silver-throated (long-tailed) tits but I found one varied tit mixed in with them. A few yellow-browed warblers also seemed to be travelling with the tit flock. Sacttered Japanese (great) tits were found in the forest. I also had a woodpecker that based on coloring could only have been a rufous-bellied. And of course, there were tree sparrows.

Near my hotel, the Shangri-la, there's a small river with a half-dozen little grebes and a small flock of light-vented bulbuls in the riverside trees. The bulbuls sound different from the ones in Shanghai. According to Clements, they should be the same subspecies, but it seems curious that they sound so different.

Decent birds for atypical birding circuit. Don't be fooled by the "Just Bulbul" notion, they could be Brown-breasted. When we were in Huangshan this summer, it happened to us.
 
Decent birds for atypical birding circuit. Don't be fooled by the "Just Bulbul" notion, they could be Brown-breasted. When we were in Huangshan this summer, it happened to us.

You nailed it, Dev. I saw some brown-breasted bulbuls yesterday in Beijing and they were making the same call.
 
Armed with a very useful site description from Terry Townshend's "Birding Beijing" webpage, I headed to the Beijing Botanical Gardens first thing Saturday morning in search of one major target: Beijing Babbler (a.k.a. the bird of many names). At the top of the ridge at the far end of Cherry Valley I found two, rustling around in the brush. Frankly, the field guides don't do them justice. They're quite pretty birds.

Also up on the ridge I had a few flocks of Plain Laughingthrushes, a couple of Godlewski's Buntings mixed in with a flock of Japanese tits, several yellow-browed warblers, a couple of large-billed crows and Eurasian magpies, and a few fly-by flocks of greenfinches.

Down at the base of the hill in the actual gardens, there was a single Chinese nuthatch, a couple large flocks of vinous-throated parrotills, lots of azure winged magpies with the Eurasians, more Japanese tits and yellow-browed warblers, and of course, flocks of tree-sparrows. No thrushes whatsoever, not even blackbirds.

And a warning, if you're going to go here on a weekend, go EARLY. I got there at 6 AM when they opened and there were already quite a few people on the trail with me. By the time I was done up on the mountain at 11 AM, the trail to the top was teeming with picnicking families and other climbers. And the road outside the park was one big traffic jam. People were parking miles away and walking to the park rather than sit in traffic. A 35 minute bus ride to the subway station took well over an hour because of the gridlock.
 
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Changchun (Indian summer?)

Well, managed to find time this weekend to get out to Nanhu Park - the chance to be outside with weather up in the 70's was a draw - last time we'll see that till April I guess. The park is large - they say second largest after the Summer Palace - I have no idea. They say 93 hectares of water and 130 acres of land. The latter has a good deal of trees, all planted at various times with different plans it seems, for example, a section with nothing but birch trees of the same age. Still there is quite a lot of fairly natural habitat.

I spent quite a few hours walking around the park, and was pleased to find there were quieter corners, and there were birds even in places with quite a bit of foot traffic (birds in China certainly can't be picky!). I did not see a sparrow the whole time - only thought of it afterwards. The birds appearing in number were Eurasian Magpies, and Azure-Winged Magpies, and Naumann's Thrushes. The thrushes may have out-numbered the magpies! It was fun to see them in a flock in a forest setting. I really appreciated how their coloring is cryptic - and the reddish highlights hide them perfectly now in the autumn. And they were noisy! Wow, just like a sparrow flock. Only saw one that had very much black reminding me of a Dusky (but did not look over every one, I confess).

Other birds seen in number were Long-tailed Tits (caudatus caudatus with all-white heads). Great Tits were probably there in number too, but I heard more than I saw. I did see one in good light, showing the yellowish back color of Eastern Tit. Also saw a few Bramblings and Rustic Buntings, but suspect there were a lot that I didn't see well enough to call. No sign of breeding colors in either one. It was fun to see a Kestrel hovering in the very strong winds - several times.

I also had great views of a Great Spotted Woodpecker - my first in nearly two years I guess. I forgot what good looking birds they are. I checked it carefully to make sure it wasn't white-backed (which I guess can occur here), but the white patches, beak length, and extremely bright vent seem to indicate GSW. I noticed attractive buffy markings lined by bright white on the face - when I looked through OBI I wondered if it could be identified as Dendrocopos major by the facial markings (like this one).

I also think I correctly identified a very briefly seen Brown-eared Bulbul. I heard calling between a few birds before getting a quick view of one. It was thanks to Tom's Xento-Canto recording of a high whistle for the BEB which confirmed it for me. Saw a solitary swallow up very high - don't know which. I'm sure I didn't see everything - I can tell I haven't been out seriously for almost 2 months now. I also need to work on bird calls here a lot. Very thankful for what I saw, and for being able to walk for several hours with no trouble!
 
Hi all,

Sorry, no report from Changshu as family matters took out the second week of my trip and all excursions outside Shanghai were cancelled. In fact, my birding came to an abrupt halt after the first week, as well, do to these unforeseen family affairs. However, everything was resolved before we departed for home and all is well now. Just a little disappointing for me.

Thanks to everyone on the forum who helped me before and during my visit. I will certainly keep my notes of all your good recommendations and ID tips and use them next time. Now that I am home, at least I can get out birding again and this morning I had the good fortune to see six species of woodpeckers at La Rinconada Park; my favorite small, 6 acre patch located in Los Gatos, California. This is a one day woodpecker record for me.

Acorn Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Northern Flicker (Red-shafted)
Nuttall's Woodpecker
Red-breasted Sapsucker (several migrating through)

If you are ever in my area, please give me a shout.

Bruce
 
I today, saw a juvenil female Western Marsh Harrier at Donghai Island near Zhangjiang city in Guangdong province.
The bird cross the large rice and paddyfield area that I choose for scenery as I was having my lunch,my attention has been immediatly caught by the uniformity of the plumage of this bird, I was abble to have if for about a minute on my telescope before it left the field. I first thought that Eastern marsh Harrier or hybrid can't be ruled out from what I've seen, but having read a bit more litterature (and especially the excellent notes on birdskorea blog, the feature (as follow) my bird was showing are enough to safely ID it as a Western Marsh Harrier to me :
- uniform dark brown plumage on the upperpart, even showing no contrast between upper wing covert and flight feathers, just a pale tip to the greater coverts, and I haven't noticed any pale area on the trailing edge, but I'm not I would have been to get it at such distance
- rump was showing no pale streak at all, it was uniform brown of a warmer brown that the rest of the plumage
- no pale area at all on the shoulder patch and nothing on breast, just uniform brown, no barring on tail
- underwing was showing a thin band of paler area at the base of the primaries and rest of the primaries was just slightly paler than compare to the secondaries
- the bird was showing typical plain creamy color on crown and throat and the key dark mask even I could not access at this distance what was going on on the lores

I did'nt get any picture as I left my camera in my car and had to decide if get prolongated view of it or try to get pics...
I turn around the island the rest of the afternoon, checking every ricefield and paddyfield area but unsuccessfully....
 
Found a Short-eared Owl today on one of the very rare grassfield left on the SW part of the Leizhou peninsula, a very rare bird in Guangdong, only a few record in HK and the last one allready couple of years ago...
 
thanks Joko and Craig.
Richard Lewthwaite who is keeping a hugge amount of dataes (historical and modern), just said that there is a lot of record from 1860 to 1967 all from nov to april in various part of Guangdong. And a more recent record in 2008/ 2009.So I would said that Guangdong is very likely to be on their wintering range. But it is species that to me is suffering a lot from illegal mistnetting as they are easily caught at night on mistnets over paddyfield...

Today I saw 2 male adult Shikra at two different site near Leizhou. We've allready found a bird in 2012 that was the first sighting for 50 years in Guangdong province, the today sighting just confirm that there is an established population in this part of Guangdong. Also a Ruff on a small pond with few waders, never common here....

All the best,

Jonathan
 
Quick stop in Nanjing

Just a few observations grabbed in the midst of a quick trip.

Saw on campus:
  • the Chinese Bulbuls I have missed since moving too far north
  • Tree Sparrows
  • Mynas (Crested?) just a quick view
  • Azure-Winged Magpies
  • Common Magpies

Saw at Qingliangshan Park (wrong time of day, and birds determined to be between me and sun!)
  • Oriental Collared Dove
  • Great Spotted Woodpecker
  • Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker
  • Vinous throated-Parrotbills (lots!)
  • Great Tit
  • Long-tailed Tits (? bad lighting, thought I saw a brow and a dark triangle on the throat)
  • Masked Laughingthrushes - mostly heard a group in the brush, and saw the dark tail and back half of one
  • Warblers heard, but not seen

Wish I'd planned more and worked out how to be there a bit longer, but it whet my appetite for going back - lovely city.
 
Thanks, Craig - I had read your reports on it - just hadn't left myself enough time for transport and meaningful time on site! It's on my list for next time.
 
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Changchun - late warbler

This morning looking out the window, I had a quick half minute of watching a little warbler feeding in an evergreen before it buzzed away, seemingly on its own. It was hopping up/hovering and generally moving pretty frenetically. It did give me a brief view of its (pale) coronal stripe and a little sense of a light rump. I guessed it as a Pallas's Warbler.
 
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Today I saw 2 male adult Shikra at two different site near Leizhou. We've allready found a bird in 2012 that was the first sighting for 50 years in Guangdong province, the today sighting just confirm that there is an established population in this part of Guangdong. Also a Ruff on a small pond with few waders, never common here....

All the best,

Jonathan

You are certainly on a roll here. First Western Marsh Harrier, Short-eared Owl, now 2 "Male" Shikra's. Congrats Jonathan. Your hard work is paying off, seamlessly.

All your sightings, reminds me of my childhood "birding days" back in South India with Shikra being the neighbourhood raptor and Western Marsh Harrier ruling the marshes in winter.
 
This morning looking out the window, I had a quick half minute of watching a little warbler feeding in an evergreen before it buzzed away, seemingly on its own. It was hopping up/hovering and generally moving pretty frenetically. It did give me a brief view of its (pale) coronal stripe and a little sense of a light rump. I guessed it as a Pallas's Warbler.

:t:
 
Jonathan,

On the topic of Short-eared Owls, yesterday evening Roland and I found one at +3500m on the "wood snipe hillside" at Balangshan. Slightly higher than I have seen that species in the past. Not sure if it was passing through or if it possibly even winters there.

Cheers,
Jocko

thanks Joko and Craig.
Richard Lewthwaite who is keeping a hugge amount of dataes (historical and modern), just said that there is a lot of record from 1860 to 1967 all from nov to april in various part of Guangdong. And a more recent record in 2008/ 2009.So I would said that Guangdong is very likely to be on their wintering range. But it is species that to me is suffering a lot from illegal mistnetting as they are easily caught at night on mistnets over paddyfield...

Today I saw 2 male adult Shikra at two different site near Leizhou. We've allready found a bird in 2012 that was the first sighting for 50 years in Guangdong province, the today sighting just confirm that there is an established population in this part of Guangdong. Also a Ruff on a small pond with few waders, never common here....

All the best,

Jonathan
 
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