Dalian (Jinshitan) Birding Reports (10 Viewers)

[rockfowl]

Aren't they just amazing things Tom. You are right, I hadn't acknowledged the eastern distribution, just that something had happened up north to make them move. A few appearing out of normal range here in northern Europe also, though in perhaps expected locations.
Fingers crossed for you Tom, but I reckon the 'Harley's' are going to come sooner!

Looking at Terry and Paul's recent run of amazing finds, there will probably be one at Yeyahu in the next few weeks!

 

[Dong Bei]

Jinshitan Sea-farming Ponds March 17, 2014

Back in China after an 8 week break. Checked out the ponds for 1 hour today. Great to be back and looking forward to migration!


Common Pheasant - 1
Common Shelduck - 30
Ruddy Shelduck - 12
Mandarin Duck - 1 gorgeous male
Gadwall - 25
Mallard - 20
Spot-billed Duck - 8
Eurasian Teal - 6
Smew - 4
Little Grebe - 4
Grey Heron - 2
Eurasian Kestrel - 1
Eastern Buzzard - 2
Common Coot - 6
Black-tailed Gull - 100
Common Gull - 8
Mongolian Gull - 5
Hill Pigeon - 2
Great Tit - 2
Eurasian Skylark - 1
Chinese Bulbul - 1
Vinous-throated Parrotbill - 1 group
Naumann's Thrush - 3
Oriental Greenfinch - 3
Meadow Bunting - 1 singing
Pallas's Reed Bunting - 10

 

[Dong Bei]

the

rest

 

[Gretchen]

Nice to see you back out finding birds. Sad about the gull - hopefully the only oiled you saw? Looks quite heavily oiled.

Nice you caught the bunting in the midst of vigorous song!

 

[thirudevaram]

Welcome Back Tom! You have started the season with nice ducks.

 

[Dong Bei]

Temminck's Cormorant?

I was out today and photographed this one. A quick look at Oriental Bird Images and the three guides that I have here suggest this could be Temminck's based on the extensive white cheek and triangular edge to the yellow facial skin? This would be a lifer for me so I want to be careful. Most of the breeding plumaged Great Cormorants in the Oriental Bird Image database show quite different facial markings (more of a rounder edge to the yellow facial skin and less extensive white cheek patch). What do others think?

 

[Dong Bei]

Jinshitan Geopark Platform area March 19, 2014

Saw the following species. Still waiting on any comments regarding the cormorants in the post above. I know it is very hard to separate Temminck's/Japanese from Great Cormorant. For now they will be entered as Great Cormorant below.

Species Count
Mallard 2
Eastern Spot-billed Duck 1
Red-breasted Merganser 3
Great Cormorant 4
Pelagic Cormorant 1
Black-tailed Gull 100
Mew Gull 1
Herring Gull 15
Hill Pigeon 1
Great Tit 7
Light-vented Bulbul 2
Goldcrest 1
Vinous-throated Parrotbill 25
Daurian Redstart 1
Crested Myna 10
White Wagtail 2
Meadow Bunting 2
Rustic Bunting 3
Yellow-throated Bunting 10
Oriental Greenfinch 3

 

[Dong Bei]

Jinshitan Xiao Yao Wan area March 21, 2014

Went to a slightly different ocean place (a place that used to provide access to deep water before most of it was back-filled for development)and took the long way home through the forest. Brown-eared Bulbul is a good record here for late March.

Common Pheasant – 4
Mallard – 2
Common Goldeneye – 4
Great Crested Grebe – 1
Eurasian Kestrel – 1
Eastern Buzzard – 1
Black-tailed Gull – 45
Mongolian/Vega Gull – 2
Hill Pigeon – 3
Oriental Turtle Dove – 1
Spotted Dove – 2
Great Spotted Woodpecker – 3
Great Tit – 20
Coal Tit – 2
Chinese Hill Warbler – 1
Chinese Bulbul – 10
Brown-eared Bulbul – 4
Vinous-throated Parrotbill – 40
Naumann’s Thrush – 8
Dusky Thrush – 1
Daurian Redstart – 1
White Wagtail – 2 leucopsis
Brambling – 6
Oriental Greenfinch – 4
Rustic Bunting - 4

 

[Dong Bei]

the

rest and a Brown-eared Bulbul recording. Can't seem to get a recording around here without magpies in the background.

 

[Dong Bei]

Jinshitan Sea Farming Ponds March 22, 2014

Early morning hours with my daughter. She took the Little Owl picture below and I captured the moment on my cell phone. See below. She also recorded numbers.

Common Pheasant - 11
Greater White-fronted Geese - 5 flew around very high checking out the place but sadly moved on heading north.
Common Shelduck - 80
Ruddy Shelduck - 1
Gadwall - 2
Mallard - 47
Spot-billed Duck - 15
Eurasian Teal - 5
Common Goldeneye - 42
Smew - 4
Common Merganser - 6
Red-breasted Merganser - 1
Grey Heron - 21
Eurasian Kestrel - 1
Easter Buzzard - 1
Common Coot - 4
Kentish Plover - 3 (FOS)
Green Sandpiper - 2
Black-tailed Gull - 250
Common Gull - 30
Mongolian/Vega Gull - 20
Little Owl - 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1
Chinese Grey Shrike - 1
Great Tit - 4
Eurasian Skylark - 3
Vinous-throated Parrotbill - 1 group
White-cheeked Starling - 1
Red-flanked Bluetail - 1
White Wagtail - 5
Meadow Bunting - 4
Yellow-browed Bunting - 1
Yellow-throated Bunting - 5
Pallas's Reed Bunting - 25

 

[Dong Bei]

the

rest

 

[rockfowl]

I was out today and photographed this one. A quick look at Oriental Bird Images and the three guides that I have here suggest this could be Temminck's based on the extensive white cheek and triangular edge to the yellow facial skin? This would be a lifer for me so I want to be careful. Most of the breeding plumaged Great Cormorants in the Oriental Bird Image database show quite different facial markings (more of a rounder edge to the yellow facial skin and less extensive white cheek patch). What do others think?

Tough one Tom, and to be honest I could swing either way, basically down to being unclear about the shape of the bare skin portrayed in these images. If I had to say either way, I'd probably go with Great due to the images not showing the 'dink' or cutaway back toward the eye. Could be wrong.

 

[Dong Bei]

Mark, thanks for taking a stab. Difficult aren't they?. I did receive two emails this morning from excellent sources saying that this is Temminck's/Japanese. Don't worry, I consider you a excellent and credible source as well

One person was in Choshi, Japan when he wrote back and had just seen many Temminck's that day.

Another person quoted that Temminck's/Japanese are often overlooked because of identification difficulties but thought this was one.

I'm now left wondering how many I have overlooked for Great. It is rare that I see an individual close-up in breeding plumage, so have and will have a hard time distinguishing.

Tom

 

[rockfowl]

Rather timely Tom, Terry posted an image of a Temminck's on the Birding Beijing FB page yesterday which shows the bare skin dink rather nicely - https://www.facebook.com/BirdingBeijing?fref=ts

Happy to bow to the more experienced. I'm always looking for them in Hebei and recorded the odd bird but without good close views I get distracted too easily! :eek!:

 

[Dong Bei]

Jinshitan Sea-farming Ponds March 27, 2014

Had a wonderful hour at the ponds today. Migration now begins! The Eurasian Spoonbills are my second Dalian record, both at the ponds. Interesting that my other record was exactly a month later than these ones today two years ago. Also, I have a hard time separating blakistoni Water Pipit from Buff-bellied. These ones remind me of Buff-bellied and have very light coloured legs. The time of year is better for Water Pipit though...

Common Pheasant – 5
Common Shelduck – 44
Ruddy Shelduck – 2
Gadwall – 10
Eurasian Wigeon – 1
Mallard – 25
Spot-billed Duck – 8
Northern Shoveler – 3
Eurasian Teal – 10
Common Pochard – 3
Common Goldeneye – 25
Common Merganser – 6
Red-breasted Merganser – 4
Great Crested Grebe – 2
Euasian Spoonbill – 3
Grey Heron – 10
Eurasian Kestrel – 2
Common Buzzard – 1
Common Coot – 12
Little-ringed Plover – 2
Kentish Plover – 50
Eurasian Curlew – 2
Eastern Curlew – 9
Dunlin – 4
Black-tailed Gull – 50
Common Gull – 2
Mongolian Gull – 5
Great Tit – 3
Vinous-throated Parrotbill – 5
White-cheeked Starling – 4
Daurian Redstart – 1
White Wagtail – 20 luecopsis, 2 ocularis
Buff-bellied Pipit – 10
Meadow Bunting – 1
Pallas’s Reed Bunting – 2

 

[MKinHK]

That pipit is interesting Tom - not sure what I would have made of that had it turned up in HK.

Cheers
Mike

 

[Dong Bei]

Attached is Paul Holt and Terry Townshend's fall 2013 Laotieshan report. Good stuff here, enjoy!

A full morning of wader watching for me tomorrow up the eastern Liaoning Coast.

Tom

 

[Dong Bei]

Jinshitan to Pikou Yellow Sea Coast March 29, 2014

Spent the morning with Stephen travelling up the coast and back. We spent a large chunk of the time looking for ducks near the Pikou birding site. The tide was very high upon arrival so we scanned and scanned out in deep water for the likes of Long-tailed Duck, Harlequin Duck, Scaup, Scoters, Brent Geese, Divers or whatever else we might dream of in late March. We came up almost completely empty handed on the duck front there.:-C

We did end the morning with a Black-faced Spoonbill, which landed out of nowhere right where I was scanning gulls. I've never seen one at this specific place before but they are common on their breeding grounds about 40 kms north of where we were.

Having never been to the Pikou site in late March, we were not sure what to expect. The bulk of waders have not arrived yet but we kept getting singles of things....quite comical, see the list below.

Common Pheasant - many
Common Shelduck - 206
Ruddy Shelduck - 11
Mallard - 65
Spot-billed Duck - 1
Northern Shoveler - 1
Pintail - 1 female
Common Goldeneye - 1 female
Red-breasted Merganser - 1 female
Great-crested Grebe - 9
Black-faced Spoonbill - 1
Grey Heron - 3
Great or Temminck's Cormorant - 2
Pelagic Cormorant - 2
Cormorant Sp. - 8
Eurasian Kestrel - 5
Eastern Buzzard - 1
Eurasian Oystercatcher - 1
Grey Plover - 1
Little-ringed Plover - 1
Kentish Plover - 23
Lesser Sand Plover - 1
Bar-tailed Godwit - 18
Eurasian Curlew - 95
Far Eastern Curlew - 138
Common Greenshank - 1
Terek Sandpiper - 1
Great Knot - 31
Dunlin - roughly 350
Black-tailed Gull - 70
Common Gull - 127
Mongolian/Vega Gull - 129
Black-headed Gull - 150
Saunders's Gull - 5
Hill Pigeon - 2 yesterday
Oriental Turtle Dove - 3
Eurasian Collared Dove - 8 (my personal highest record for a day - scarce here)
Little Owl - 2 separate birds and not the ones in my usual place.
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1
Chinese Grey Shrike - 1
Great Tit - 15
Coal Tit - 6
Varied Tit - 3
Asian Short-toed Lark - 1
Chinese Bulbul - 2
Goldcrest - 1
Dusky Thrush - 4
Dusy x Naumann's Thrush - 31
Thrush Sp. - 4
Forest Wagtail - 3 probably this species. I know it's early but have absolutely no idea what else they could have been. 3 flyovers.
White Wagtail - 7 leucopsis
Brambling - 34
Oriental Greenfinch - 50
Meadow Bunting - 12

 

[Dong Bei]

the

rest

 

[Dong Bei]

Jinshitan Sea-farming Ponds March 31, 2014

Not much to report today other than a few more migrants trickling in. Swallows should show up at some point in the near future I would think. Pictures are not that good for today...

Common Pheasant - 6
Common Shelduck - 76
Gadwall - 4
Mallard - 15
Spot-billed Duck - 20
Garganey - 4
Eurasian Teal - 6
Common Pochard - 3
Common Goldeneye - 32
Common Merganser - 3
Grey Heron - 5
Eurasian Kestrel - 1
Eurasian Sparrowhawk - 1
Common Coot - 8
Little-ringed Plover - 14
Kentish Plover - 10
Black-tailed Gull - 80
Common Gull - 10
Mongolian/Vega Gull - 2
Great Tit - 2
Naumann's Thrush - 1
Daurian Redstart - 1
Siberian Stonechat - 5
White Wagtail - 12 all leucopsis
Buff-bellied Pipit - 1
Pallas's Reed Bunting - 1