Paul Holt and I left Jinshitan at 4:30 am and slowly made our way to Zhuanghe, stopping wherever there were birds to see along the way. I think we arrived and had lunch at Zhuanghe right around noon. Zhuanghe is a little under two hours drive from Jinshitan without stopping. Near the end of the day the tide pushed numerous flagged Bar-tailed Godwits and 2 Great Knots close towards us. In all, we were able to see over 20 tags but many were just out of reach and they left because of the rising tide just before they came into view. We were able to read several at another site where we found a high tide roost but the majority weren't able to be seen clear enough. We did record colours, position on the legs, and other details that will make the researchers (in Australia) very happy. Attached is a photo of a very visible one.
Two lifers for me were 3 Pied Avocets (not too many pass this way) and 2 Asian Dowitchers (thanks to Paul). The dowitchers were too far for photos but clearly seen with good scope views while they were feeding among a large group of Bar-tailed Godwit. I should add that, being in summer plumage, they were very similar in colour to the Godwits.
An absolutely fantastic full day of shorebirding with one of the world's best!
Japanese Quail - 3 (heard my first one calling -- very cool sound)
Common Pheasant - 13
Common Shelduck - 9
Eurasian Wigeon - 2
Mallard- 15
Spot-billed Duck - 63
Northern Shoveler - 1
Eurasian Teal - 6
Little Grebe - 3
Black-faced Spoonbill - 5 (at the breeding site near Zhuanghe)
Chinese Pond Heron - 1
Grey Heron - 5
Great Egret - 1
Intermediate Egret - 5
Little Egret - 12
Chinese Egret - 75 (My goal was to get 100 which I think would be possible in a few weeks) As I like to say "the most common egret on the east coast of Liaoning Province"
Grey-faced Buzzard - 2 Funny story - we stopped because our driver thought he saw something in a tree. We stopped to check and it ended up being nothing, but right at that moment two flew directly over us. Must have been a movement of them but we had shorebirds to look at. It's only the 2nd record for me close to Jinshitan. (flocks of them at Laotieshan in autumn).
Common Kestrel - 3
Peregrine Falcon - 1 spoiled our close views at one site when it dropped in front of us and grabbed a Dunlin sized shorebird!
Common Coot - 2
Eurasian Oystercatcher - 1 ( a little late for them)
Black-winged Stilt - 5
Pied Avocet - 3 (lifer)
Pacific Golden Plover - 31
Grey Plover - 440
Little-ringed Plover - 7
Kentish Plover - 6
Lesser Sand Plover - 155
Asian Dowitcher - 2 (lifer) excellent scope views
Black-tailed Godwit - 3
Bar-tailed Godwit - 1570
Whimbrel - 487 (including 239 flyovers at the first Jinshitan location)
Eurasian Curlew - 11
Far Eastern Curlew - 92
Unidentified Curlew Sp. - 303
Spotted Redshank - 4
Common Redshank - 3
Marsh Sandpiper - 40
Common Greenshank - 98
Wood Sandpiper - 139 (including 49 flyovers at the first Jinshitan location)
Terek Sandpiper -84
Common Sandpiper - 9
Ruddy Turnstone - 69 (including my 3rd Jinshitan record)
Great Knot - 478 (320 at one location)
Red Knot - 10
Sanderling - 13 (not common at all around here)
Red-necked Stint - only 14
Temminck's Stint - 1
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper - 18
Curlew Sandpiper - 3 (gorgeous summer plumaged males)
Dunlin - 8275
Broad-billed Sandpiper - 16
Black-headed Gull - 3842
Saunders's Gull - 28 including some completely hooded adults
Black-tailed Gull - 378
Common Gull - 15
Mongolian Gull - 5
Unidentified large gulls - 17
Little Tern - 5
Hill Pigeon - 10
Oriental Turtle Dove - 3
Eurasian Collared Dove - 2 (only my second record in Dalian!) I was very excited and Paul was looking at me like I had completely lost my mind. They are much more common near Vancouver where I am originally from now!
Brown Shrike - 4
Chinese Penduline Tit - 2
Asian Short-toed Lark - 2 (not so ironically.....my third record and all 3 have been with Paul on three different trips in the area
)
Chinese Bulbul - 2
Barn Swallow - 7
Red-rumped Swallow - 3
Yellow-browed Warbler - 10
Zitting Cisicola - 1
Chinese Hill Warbler - 1
Chestnut-flanked White-eye - 2
Daurian Redstart - 1
Blue Rock Thrush - 3
Eastern Yellow Wagtail - 12 none would sit to check subspecies
Grey Wagtail - 6
White Wagtail - 12 inlcuding 3 leucopsis and 1 ocularis
Richard`s Pipit - 7
Blyth`s Pipit - 1 flyover (very good record)
Olive-backed Pipit - 17
Red-throated pipit - 18
Buff-bellied Pipit - 2
Oriental Greenfinch - 3
Common Rosefinch - 1
Meadow Bunting - 2
Little Bunting - 4
Black-faced Bunting - 11