"A Field Guide to the Birds of China" (2000; MacKinnon, Phillipps) (1 Viewer)

Hey, I'm a new birder. I use the heavy Chinese version of this book for the pics and translations, though my Chinese is otherwise pretty poor. It's been a great help, but I've got 2 questions:

1) I can't find any hummingbirds listed. How can I find pics of hummingbird species in Southern China?

2) I've seen a number of black-shouldered kites on Hainan Island, though they're not listed as ever being here. You think my 2000 edition is too outdated?

3) Corollary to #2, should I get more involved in recording sightings through the CornellLab or something, so newer editions can be more aware that they're present?

Thanks.

thelittlemanreviews said:

Hey, I'm a new birder. I use the heavy Chinese version of this book for the pics and translations, though my Chinese is otherwise pretty poor. It's been a great help, but I've got 2 questions:

1) I can't find any hummingbirds listed. How can I find pics of hummingbird species in Southern China?

2) I've seen a number of black-shouldered kites on Hainan Island, though they're not listed as ever being here. You think my 2000 edition is too outdated?

3) Corollary to #2, should I get more involved in recording sightings through the CornellLab or something, so newer editions can be more aware that they're present?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

I don't know much about China birding but I do know you won't be seeing any Hummers there, they are a new world group of birds.... Sunbirds are the old world equivalent.

cheers
Andy

@Andy - Great! Totally helpful. Likely what I've been seeing is a hummingbird moth, and it's shockingly similar in its movements.

thelittlemanreviews said:

2) I've seen a number of black-shouldered kites on Hainan Island, though they're not listed as ever being here. You think my 2000 edition is too outdated?

3) Corollary to #2, should I get more involved in recording sightings through the CornellLab or something, so newer editions can be more aware that they're present?

Click to expand...

There's very little eBird data (run by Cornell and also funded by the National Audubon Society and the National Science Foundation) for Hainan province, so adding your sightings would be great. Here's a bar chart of the sightings to date:

http://ebird.org/ebird/GuideMe?repo...tLocations=states&continue.x=81&continue.y=11

There are a few reports of Black-shouldered Kite.

One thing I've found (as have many others) is that the ranges in MacKinnon are pretty weak. And yes, the taxonomy is rather old, especially when it comes to warblers. Brazil's "Birds of East Asia" is much better, but it doesn't include western China. If you're sticking to Hainan, you should be OK with Brazil. If you're heading west, e.g. to Sichuan, you have no choice but MacKinnon.

As to contributing to online databases, I'd encourage it. I also tried a couple times to convey sightings to the local bird societies. But I've found they don't always want input from us laowai.

@Jim - Thanks for the link and great to know my sightings could actually mean something, seeing as there's so little data from here!

@Jeff - I opted for the first, most broad field guide I could find on Taobao, but the Brazil option is great for when I travel next. Thanks. I haven't yet looked for any local bird societies. This place gets pretty overcrowded during the winter, and if I ever venture from my home, I venture out into the boonies

I think Asian eBird entries are always welcome. I was in a city of 500 000 in S Korea for a week and I seem to be the only one with any entries there. Birding just not seem to be a big hobby there.

Jeff hopkins said:

One thing I've found (as have many others) is that the ranges in MacKinnon are pretty weak. And yes, the taxonomy is rather old, especially when it comes to warblers. Brazil's "Birds of East Asia" is much better, but it doesn't include western China. If you're sticking to Hainan, you should be OK with Brazil. If you're heading west, e.g. to Sichuan, you have no choice but MacKinnon.

As to contributing to online databases, I'd encourage it. I also tried a couple times to convey sightings to the local bird societies. But I've found they don't always want input from us laowai.

Click to expand...

I agree with you, Jeff. Only I would add that ranges, no matter what the source, are at the best estimates and often outright guesses, mostly due to the lack of reporting. I also have found that local birding groups are not interested in input from the laowei.

thelittlemanreviews said:

@Andy - Great! Totally helpful. Likely what I've been seeing is a hummingbird moth, and it's shockingly similar in its movements.

Click to expand...

I commonly see the hummingbird moths here in Liaoning, late in the summer into fall until it gets too cold for them. They do indeed look like a hummingbird at first glance!

Definitely put sightings into eBird if you can. There are very few records included for China as a whole, and Hainan especially is under-reported compared to nearby provinces (I'm one of the eBird reviewers in south China, and I was amazed at how little was reported on Hainan). It would really help to provide others with information about the birds present in the region.

I don't think the lack of eBird records reflects a lack of interest in birding, which does seem to be increasing in popularity in China, but that many people bird in a different way than birders from Europe and America. Many people are more interested in photography than looking at birds (so they are less interested in building a list) and I think there is generally less interest or awareness in reporting sightings (especially on an American website).

Regarding books, it's probably worth being aware that Brazil will fall short for Hainan, where there are many more tropical species and some endemics. I think you may do as well with something like Viney's 'Birds of Hong Kong and South China' (http://www.hkbws.org.hk/web/eng/birds_of_hk_schina_eng.htm), the recent photgraphic guide for the region (https://www.amazon.com/Naturalists-Guide-Birds-China-Southeast/dp/1909612235) or even Robson's 'Birds of South-east Asia'. Mackinnon & Phillipps is useful for covering all of China, but it does fall short of the quality of field guides from other regions of the world.

@johnallcock - Thanks for the encouragement and info. I'm sure there're best-practices for submitting to eBird that I'll have to learn, but I'd love to assist the community as best I can! Those books will surely make it to my Christmas-in-July wishlist.