18 months in Shanghai: March 2012 - August 2013 (3 Viewers)

[thirudevaram]

That Tit-Warbler is to die for Mark - great shot !

My vote is on the Oriental Pratincole! Nice teasers mate!o

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

Love the purple chickadee!

Though I do like the pratincole, too.

 

[McMadd]

"Purple Chickadee"?! You at it again renaming our birds? ;D

Too many pics to process and stories to write!!

Cheers boys
MM

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

"Purple Chickadee"?! You at it again renaming our birds? ;D

It's just that ridiculous American prudishness. 8-P

Wish I could take credit for it. When I went to Kazakhstan a couple years back, another American birder on the trip jokingly used that name. She said it was a cute name for a cute bird.

That, and it was a lot easier to spit out than Severtzov's tit-warbler.

 

[thirudevaram]

That, and it was a lot easier to spit out than Severtzov's tit-warbler.

Sev...a what?:eek!: Let's do a rename of few species Jeff, may be we can sell a book.

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

Sev...a what?:eek!: Let's do a rename of few species Jeff, may be we can sell a book.

Actually one book I had called it Severtzov's tit-warbler and another calls it white-browed. My guess is the former is what they call it in the former USSR and the latter a more accepted world-wide name.

Either way, a beautiful bird that I hope to see again later this month.

 

[rockfowl]

Actually one book I had called it Severtzov's tit-warbler and another calls it white-browed. My guess is the former is what they call it in the former USSR and the latter a more accepted world-wide name.

Either way, a beautiful bird that I hope to see again later this month.

It's probably easier to call it White-browed because there are two groups involving four ssp Jeff.

Severtsov's Tit-warbler -
sophiae Severtsov, 1873 - mountains in SE Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, NW China (W Xinjiang, N Gansu, E Qinghai) and, in S, N Pakistan (S to Baltistan) and NW India (Ladakh).
obscurus Przevalski, 1887 - S & E fringes of Tibetan Plateau from trans-Himalayan region of C Nepal (Dolpo), S & SE Xizang (Lhasa, Tsangpo Bend area) and S & E Qinghai E to S Gansu and NW Sichuan (S to Kangding).

Stoliczka's Tit-warbler
major Menzbier, 1885 - W China in W Xinjiang (upper Tarim) and N Qinghai.
stoliczkae (Hume, 1874) - W China in S Xinjiang, W Qinghai and extreme W Xizang (upper R Indus).

I like the old names

 

[MKinHK]

I'm into old names too - they give you so much more on the romance and history of birding than a boring old descriptor.

Try googling some of these guys the birds are named after - and think about "doing" Qinghai, Tibet and Xinjiang by camel and yak instead of four wheel drive!

Cheers
Mike

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

Yeah, I like the old names, too, Mark. But thanks for the info.

And if you're into the history aspects of birding, Scott Weidensaul's book "Of a Feather: A Brief History of American Birding" is an interesting read. You learn a lot about the people for whom many of the North American species are named and what they went through.

 

[McMadd]

Severtsov's for me...

Meantime...and at the risk of both falling further behind in me narrative and mixing my adventure's up date-wise...here's a little something I quite like from this weekend's adventure to a certain site to see a certain duck...

This isn't the duck...

 

[MKinHK]

A fine shot Mark!

Cheers
Mike

 

[McMadd]

Mr Loma Man

Saturday 20th April

Mudflats...Wasteland...Pond...Magic Wood...Lunch...Temple...Small Fish Ponds...Large Fish Ponds...Back to Shanghai

Up early we found a grey day waiting for us. Headed out clad for the worst and drove to the mudflats to check the waders...approaching the point where the tide reached the sea wall we got out and the group (for we had been joined by Lin and his main tour) set about examining the waders...windy conditions made life a little trying but slowly things were located...Oystercatcher, Bar-tailed Godwits, Dunlin and the first goodies...sandplovers and Terek Sands...

Eventually three nice Nordmann's Greenshank gave themselves up and we back-tracked along the wall to view some different flocks...meantime a strange mewing overhead resolved into most folks' lifer Saunder's Gull...nice to see an old friend for some of us...the Heuglin's Gulls didn't seem to elicit the same 'cute' response...also on the flats were Grey Plover, Eurasian Curlew and Turnstone with longipennis Common Tern also overhead...

As usual, Lin calmly announced 'spooner'...we were out on the mud at this point and the wind and rain made for challenging viewing conditions as this most-wanted wader kept it's head and body down in the small pool it was favouring...frustration for Phil as it flew as he was getting on the bird...despite he and I remaining on the mud we couldn't relocate it or any other individuals...certainly the most difficult one I've seen in my visits there and immensely frustrating not to have got the views we desired...

With the clock ticking we decided to make the most of our remaining time this day and headed off to some, as yet, undeveloped fields near the magic wood...this improved our demeanour markedly as we scored a point-blank fly-by Eurasian Hobby almost immediately after finding Pallas's Bunting and on the ground views of Japanese Quail...a first for me too! Hoopoe, Kentish Plover, a single Buff-bellied Pipit, Magpie and a confiding Chestnut-eared Bunting also showed themselves here.

Swinging around onto another new road we travelled alongside a man-made pond (aren't they all) which we stopped at and scored 1 male and 4 female Falcated Ducks, some Little Grebes plus a solo Little and several Common Terns...

Into the Magic Wood and we slowly dug out a few goodies...Pale, Grey-backed and Dusky Thrushes; five Red-flanked Bluetails; Yellow-browed, Little, Tristram's and Elegant Buntings; OBP; a single Pale-legged Leaf-warbler looking very olive-brown on the back; a fly-away Great-spotted Woodpecker; Eurasian Sparrowhawk scuttling around the treetops; Goldcrest and Brambling...a nice mix of the familiar and exotic...

It was about this time I got a text off Kevin (Frogfish of this parish)...”Earthquake! Sichuan!!” Oh f...lip...more details please! I texted Roland...”You ok?”...which was obviously a product of clear thinking...one assumes anyone not ok may not be in a position to reply to stupid texts! He was ok but we might need to re-think our route...given Plan B would have had us in Labahe this morning...sitting on top of the epicentre we felt rather pleased we'd stuck with Plan A...

Lunchtime...back to the hotel and delivering the news but also back to the spare ribs we'd enjoyed the previous evening...my masterly animal impressions ensuring we got the good stuff...

Quickly to the Temple where again things were quiet but we dug out Red-billed Starling; Scaly and Grey-backed Thrushes; a lone Eurasian Siskin; a silent cuckoo species; and a Red-flanked Bluetail...

The clock ticking ever closer to our scheduled departure time we headed to the smaller fish pond where right at the entrance we happened upon a flock of feeding Chinese Grosbeaks and a few phylloscopus warblers that seemed mainly to be Eastern Crowned Warbler with a couple of Yellow-browed for good measure. The ponds themselves held a decent sized flock of Barn Swallow with a few Red-rumped admixed; four Avocet feeding quietly plus a 100+ noisy Black-winged Stilts. Other waders were 15+ Marsh Sandpipers; Dunlin; a couple of Long-toed Stint; Red-necked Stints; Sharp-tailed Sandpipers and, best of all, a small party of seven Oriental Pratincole appeared in the sky above us and settled on the mud. Excellent! Also here we were able to appreciate three sub-species of White Wagtail feeding together...leucopsis, ocularis and, the scarcer, lugens. A couple of Black-faced Buntings made up the non-wader contingent, 'tik'ing softly in the reeds and showing briefly...

Finally, the large fish ponds and what a treat we had in store...Common Tern, Saunder's and Black-headed Gulls flew overhead and more Black-winged Stilts and Common Sandpipers hugged the pond walls. Little and a lone Great Egret were feeding on the muddy margins of one pool. However, driving slowly amongst the ponds we were to see many White and, best of all, Grey, Yellow (tschutschensis and smarter than smart taivana) with one, grey-backed, male Citrine Wagtails. Red-throated Pipits were all around and a couple of White-cheeked Starlings sat in a bare tree. We drunk this spectacle in and eventually reached an area of greener vegetation where a smart male Siberian Stonechat popped his head up to say hello. Exiting reluctantly we made one final stop to view a fine flock of c.60 breeding plumage Spotted Redshanks...awesome!

That though was that...the clock had won and we needed to head back to the metropolis to prepare ourselves for the rest of the trip tomorrow...an uneventful journey saw us add nothing but Black-crowned Night-heron and Chinese Pond Heron to the trip list...Mr Ni dropped us at our accommodation and once Phil was checked in it was out again to the Shanghai Brewery 2 for a pint or two and a last western-style meal for a couple of weeks...the cuisine was about to get spicier...

 

[McMadd]

Mr Loma Man...

Saturday 20th April: Yangkou

 

[McMadd]

Mr Loma Man...

Saturday 20th April: Yangkou more shots

 

[McMadd]

Mr Loma Man...

Saturday 20th April: Yangkou more, more shots

 

[thirudevaram]

Excellent photos of the Rosy. No Pechora's? There were few of them near the large fish ponds last spring. The wagtails were also seen in the same place last year, love that duo of "Yellow & Yellow" "Yellow & Citrine". Sad that there were not some satisfying views of the "Spatulated Bill".

 

[McMadd]

Mr Loma Man...Spicy, Sexy Sichuan

Sunday 21st April saw us up early and jumping into a taxi to head out to Pudong where my organisational skills saw us dropped at T2 instead of T1...a moderate amble across the centre of the "H" that is the airport and we were checked in, through security and tucking into 'things various 'for a late breakfast...

Flight was boringly efficient and we left on time and spent an uneventful journey to the heart of the 'quake zone...landing equally on time we grabbed our gear and quickly found Roland waiting in arrivals...1200-1510 with 1828km covered (thanks to the nice lady on the plane announcing this little fact to us)

A quick round of hello's and off we went to do practical but necessary stuff at banks and food markets...

Plans were agreed that we would head away from the epicentre thus pushing our northward leg forward a little in what was already a late spring...this could cost us a few birds...

First stop was a city location on the river at Dujiangyan where we tried to spy us some plovers with long bills...we didn't get lucky with them but a few bits 'n' bobs presented themselves both on the journey and at the river:

Tree Sparrow, Spotted Dove, White-browed Laughingthrush, Long-tailed Shrike, Little Grebe, Chinese Bulbul, Barn Swallow, Oriental Greenfinch, Little Egret, Great Tit, White Wagtail (personata), Siberian Stonechat and Plain Prinia.

Moving on we headed off today's destination at Wolong. Much chatting and general 'getting to know you' as we made our way further from the big city...a few more birds gave themselves up as we slowly worked our way through the devastation of the previous (2008?) earthquake which took out the road in the lower Wolong valley...

The ride was brutal...bumpy, dusty, slow-moving...the list grew by Plumbeous Redstart, Grey Wagtail, White-capped Water Redstart and a single Blue Whistling Thrush...

Arriving in the evening half-light we checked in to our hotel and headed to Roland's favourite restaurant where we enjoyed a first, delicious taste of Sichuan cuisine with rolling news coverage of the on-going rescues from the more badly hit area near Ya'an...

Two pictures of the continuing 're-imagining' of the valley were the sole yield from all this!

Tomorrow...we bird the high peaks...

 

[Frogfish]

Flight was boringly efficient and we left on time ......

This I do NOT believe ! Not with McMadd on the flight - at least a 2 hour delay is de rigueur :eek!:

 

[Jeff Hopkins]

Ugh, that road. Definitely a lowlight of our tour to Sichuan also. It took 1-1/2 hours to go 20 km.

And there were LB plovers in Dujianyang a week-and-a-half ago. Three or four of them on the upstream side of the main bridge. Though the group of 12 laowai scoping them was more interesting to the locals than the birds.

And you wanna talk flights? We sat on the tarmac at Chengdu for 3-1/2 hours witing for clearance from Beijing. Fortunately (?) my connection in Beijing was also 3 hours late. And that plane sat on the tarmac another 2 hours before getting clearance to take off. Typical, huh?

 

[McMadd]

Ugh, that road. Definitely a lowlight of our tour to Sichuan also. It took 1-1/2 hours to go 20 km.

And there were LB plovers in Dujianyang a week-and-a-half ago. Three or four of them on the upstream side of the main bridge. Though the group of 12 laowai scoping them was more interesting to the locals than the birds.

And you wanna talk flights? We sat on the tarmac at Chengdu for 3-1/2 hours witing for clearance from Beijing. Fortunately (?) my connection in Beijing was also 3 hours late. And that plane sat on the tarmac another 2 hours before getting clearance to take off. Typical, huh?

Hi Jeff

Just back from an island south of here...flights on time and delicious meals each way...I'm confused...

...oh...also saw pretty much all the wished for species at extremely short notice...Mr Richard Foster is your man folks...http://birdingtaiwan.blogspot.tw/

Report to follow...all the other reports I've not written yet!

Cheers
M