Mmm, lots of signs of spring it sounds like.
I got out last week (Wed.), just slow to write about the trip, and there were some minor signs of spring. I went to the Beidaihe reservoirs, where the main waterway is undergoing extremely major construction. I couldn't really make out the sign explaining the project, and managed to ignore the ones that said it was a worksite now. Kind of noisy, but there were birds still. (Lots of gulls in the shallow areas of the "river" - sorry, no ids from me on those guys.)
Around the first small pool in the reeds, I was happy to find that a flock of birds was not all tree sparrows - there seemed to be quite a few vinous-throated parrotbills involved too. Actually at one point something startled the birds, and it was interesting to see the sparrows go up into a tree and the parrotbills just go deeper into the reeds. I didn't get great views of the parrotbills since they like to hide, but a few came out in open sunnier spots for a bit. (I did at that point also attract two Chinese workmen who were curious about what I was up to, but weren't overly impressed that I was watching "sparrows" apparently.)
The pool also held little egrets which I hadn't seen in several months, so that was a definite sign of spring. There was still a bit of snow around, which does provide nice camouflage for egrets! I enjoyed watching a larger gull swallow two sizable fish (which he must have caught while paddling around the pond, but I managed to miss both snatches!) - impressive to see what big fish they were!
Lots of white wagtails around, running among the gulls, walking on ice ledges and flying overhead. There were a few small unidentified single passerines too (and indescribable as well |
|). I got a better view of grey-capped pygmy woodpecker than the last time, but still not as long as I would have liked. I was pleased to see a hoopoe - hadn't seen one for quite a while. There were also two male Daurian redstarts, or I saw the same one two places (Had one around all winter last year, so not sure if they count as new spring birds or not.) I saw an unusual bunting too, and had decent views of it, but my fingers had frozen and weren't so useful for guide perusing at that point (I told myself "it's so distinctive, I'll recognize it in the book later" - untrue :-C) .
After Dong Bei wrote about his ducks, I did a little preparation to try to identify some possible new duck visitors (well most ids on ducks would be good for me ). However, I only saw two pairs - a mallard pair and spotbill pair each - not too exotic! It was a very cold day - and after two hours I was about frozen and headed home (northeast winds are cold!). No sign of cranes...
My last "spot" of the day was getting to meet Mike - regular visitor to BDH over the years who had seen some of the cranes in previous days, and had been looking for but not yet found the brown-eared bulbul (though he had run into several Chinese birders looking for it).
Not a bad day considering windy cold weather and an unpromisingly looking construction project at the entrance!
I got out last week (Wed.), just slow to write about the trip, and there were some minor signs of spring. I went to the Beidaihe reservoirs, where the main waterway is undergoing extremely major construction. I couldn't really make out the sign explaining the project, and managed to ignore the ones that said it was a worksite now. Kind of noisy, but there were birds still. (Lots of gulls in the shallow areas of the "river" - sorry, no ids from me on those guys.)
Around the first small pool in the reeds, I was happy to find that a flock of birds was not all tree sparrows - there seemed to be quite a few vinous-throated parrotbills involved too. Actually at one point something startled the birds, and it was interesting to see the sparrows go up into a tree and the parrotbills just go deeper into the reeds. I didn't get great views of the parrotbills since they like to hide, but a few came out in open sunnier spots for a bit. (I did at that point also attract two Chinese workmen who were curious about what I was up to, but weren't overly impressed that I was watching "sparrows" apparently.)
The pool also held little egrets which I hadn't seen in several months, so that was a definite sign of spring. There was still a bit of snow around, which does provide nice camouflage for egrets! I enjoyed watching a larger gull swallow two sizable fish (which he must have caught while paddling around the pond, but I managed to miss both snatches!) - impressive to see what big fish they were!
Lots of white wagtails around, running among the gulls, walking on ice ledges and flying overhead. There were a few small unidentified single passerines too (and indescribable as well |
|). I got a better view of grey-capped pygmy woodpecker than the last time, but still not as long as I would have liked. I was pleased to see a hoopoe - hadn't seen one for quite a while. There were also two male Daurian redstarts, or I saw the same one two places (Had one around all winter last year, so not sure if they count as new spring birds or not.) I saw an unusual bunting too, and had decent views of it, but my fingers had frozen and weren't so useful for guide perusing at that point (I told myself "it's so distinctive, I'll recognize it in the book later" - untrue :-C) .After Dong Bei wrote about his ducks, I did a little preparation to try to identify some possible new duck visitors (well most ids on ducks would be good for me
). However, I only saw two pairs - a mallard pair and spotbill pair each - not too exotic! It was a very cold day - and after two hours I was about frozen and headed home (northeast winds are cold!). No sign of cranes...My last "spot" of the day was getting to meet Mike - regular visitor to BDH over the years who had seen some of the cranes in previous days, and had been looking for but not yet found the brown-eared bulbul (though he had run into several Chinese birders looking for it).
Not a bad day considering windy cold weather and an unpromisingly looking construction project at the entrance!
