Dalian birding
Aron,
Where exactly in Dalian are you staying? Are you able to travel? Laotieshan is 1 hour southwest of Dalian city, 1.5 hours from the Dalian Development Zone, and 2 hours southwest of Jinshitan where I lived.
Owen is correct. Laotieshan is a premier birding site this time of year. It will depend on the weather considerably but the forest areas near the point and farm areas just back inland a few kms should produce a nice list for you. You should prepare to see most of the east Asian bunting species among many other things. You will be at the tailing end of raptore migration as well so there should be a lot of raptors to be seen crossing the Bohai.
There are some budget options to stay there about 5-10 kms inland from and could be other options closer to the point as well. There are a few small hotels that may not be able to reserve online but if you speak Mandarin, you should not have a problem. Also, arrange a black or regular cab to pick you up and drop you off in the area at certain times. There is also a bus station right at the bottom of the turnoff to go into the protected area but the last bus of the day is often before birders want to go home around 5:00 pm. You can search my old forum about birding in Dalian as Owen said but also check
www.birdingbeijing.com for good maps of the area showing trails, etc... I've also attached some maps here that I've used in the past. On the image titled "capture 2", the red areas are not able to be entered by birders because that is a military area. Part of the Laotieshan experience has been the dance between where you can and cannot go due to military sensitivities in the area. I'm hoping that now people there are most used to Chinese and foreign birders in the area because Laotieshan has grown in popularity considerably in the last 5-10 years. On the same image, the blue lines show popular birding trails/roads. On the image titled "capture" the red line shows the main access road and the blue dot shows the hotel where I usually stayed. I was easily able to find a black cab near that hotel to drop me off and pick me up whenever I wanted.
In addition to the birds, the place is known for snakes
By this late in the year, depending on the temperature, they might all be in their winter dens. However, look carefully before venturing off the trail too far. There are a lot of rat snakes, Keelbacks, etc.. that are not poisonous but there are Pallas's Pit Vipers in the area (as well on Snake Island off the the coast there) that you do not want to encounter. Long thick pants and good boots!
Dalian will be quite birdy because it's on a south facing peninsula and you will be there in the fall. There should be good numbers of migrants in the forest/farming areas just inland from the point if you're not seeing good raptor numbers during the day from the lighthouse platform area.
Tom
www.revealednature.com