I'm an expat in China with a very rough familiarity with birds of the palearctic. Recently (eh, recent by PST---pacific slacker time), I went birding at Wusongkou Paotaiwan Wetland Park 吴淞炮台湾湿地森林公园 (on both 12/11/2011 and 12/17/2011) which is at the northern end of Shanghai in the Bao Shan district (near the terminus of the #3 metro line at the Jiangwan end).
I have a few problem buntings and any help would be greatly appreciated! I mostly go off the Collins (Britain/Europe) and the Brazil (East Asia) guides. Any other recs would be great--it would be fantastic to be less crap at ID'ing buntings.
Files attached:
Buntings A & B--we saw a pair together (unfortunately, in all my photos only one member of the pair is somewhat clear) in a patch of reeds (I assume Phragmites australis though I'm not certain) alongside the park's artificial stream. My tentative guess is a female winter Black-faced bunting 灰头鹀 Emberiza spodocephala spodocephala...though I imagine I might be wrong! It looks rather like the Reed Bunting Emberiza schoeniclus depicted in the Collins guide, but Mark Brazil indicates that the subspecies present in China have much less flank streaking.
Bunting D--seen mucking about in a bit of bare ground covered with pine needles. There were other buntings (which I assume were Black-faced buntings). Unfortunately, this is the only shot I could get. Not a clue as to what it is--my best guess is Little bunting Emberiza pusilla...
I have a few problem buntings and any help would be greatly appreciated! I mostly go off the Collins (Britain/Europe) and the Brazil (East Asia) guides. Any other recs would be great--it would be fantastic to be less crap at ID'ing buntings.
Files attached:
Buntings A & B--we saw a pair together (unfortunately, in all my photos only one member of the pair is somewhat clear) in a patch of reeds (I assume Phragmites australis though I'm not certain) alongside the park's artificial stream. My tentative guess is a female winter Black-faced bunting 灰头鹀 Emberiza spodocephala spodocephala...though I imagine I might be wrong! It looks rather like the Reed Bunting Emberiza schoeniclus depicted in the Collins guide, but Mark Brazil indicates that the subspecies present in China have much less flank streaking.
Bunting D--seen mucking about in a bit of bare ground covered with pine needles. There were other buntings (which I assume were Black-faced buntings). Unfortunately, this is the only shot I could get. Not a clue as to what it is--my best guess is Little bunting Emberiza pusilla...
