Ng Tung Chai, Hong Kong (1 Viewer)

[china guy]

Hi Mike (and other readers),
your pictures of Coucals - are great - earlier this year we got our first Sichuan pics of Lesser Coucal (not so easy to find here) - they can be difficult.

But a question on Coucal and the Chinese wildlife protection laws - have you any ideas why they've been given special class II protection under the Chinese wildlife laws - that can't be that threatened (Class I is the highest then comes II and after that - what the vast majority of Chinese birds recieve - Zilch).
Not that I'm complaining, any type of protection is great - even if some near to extiction species like Biet's Laugher get none (they've recently been photographed as caged and openly for sale in the main market at Lijiang) - while the population trends, of some, like the Coucal don't really seem to justify their position in the protection heirarchy!!!!!

This one has been a head-scratcher for me the whole summer :smoke:

PS - I forgot to add Coucals also have special protection in HK - but in such a small area with so much population pressure, that I can really understand!!!!!!

 

[Gretchen]

However this White-breasted Kingfisher added some colour.

Nice pic! That is an impressive beak, even for a kingfisher. So far I've only seen commons, and am looking forward to seeing some others eventually.

By the way, I notice some people talk about white-throated and others white-breasted - but that is all the same, right? (It's hard enough learning 3 continents worth of birds' names, without having some birds have 2 :-O )

Hang on, migration should be coming before too long

 

[MKinHK]

Hi Guy

Thanks for your kind words about my coucal pix - no effort whatsoever - didn't even leave the house!

The reason for protection is that coucals are used in Traditional Chinese Medicine and therefore have "economic value", which means they are "exploited".

All birds are protected by law in HK - nothing special for coucals.

Very sad to hear bout Biet's Laughers for sale in Lijiang - Are the pix on the web. anywhere?

Hi Gretchen

I didn't need to leave the house for the White-breasted Kingfisher pic either - it is the same species as White-throated, but there re lots of races with varying amounts of white on the breast/throat.

There is a pair of White-breasted Kingfisher breeding in the valley, but this is my first sighting in the valley in a couple of months. Sadly they don't get north of the Yangzi River.

You are, however, in range of three other kingfishers in Qinhuangdao:
1. Crested Kingfisher - I saw my first ever on the canal at the top of the Beidaihe reservoir in October 1990.

2. Black-capped Kingfisher breeds up into Heilongjiang, so must pass you by

3. There is a record of Ruddy Kingfisher too, but this is a very rare species.

You will see from my edit that I did get some migrants this evening !

Cheers
Mike

 

[china guy]

Medicine - I should have guessed!!!!!!!!
I was sure somewhere I had a table of birds with special protection from HK that had Coucals listed - I just found it - And now I find its saying that Coucals have special protection in China!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Biet's is a good and bad story - bad about the trapping but good that a new breeding site may have been found -
threads, from winter/spring this year, are here -
http://www.kmbirder.org/bbs/read.php?tid=2153

http://www.swild.cn/bbs/viewthread.php?tid=183
Here the discussion talks about how Biet's maybe found on the Yunnan side of the border - in an area called Ning Lang. One piece of evidence used to support the Yunnan population theory are the number Biet's skins held in the Kunming Zoological collection

There's a latter thread about birds being discovered in the wild in Yunnan - but I cant find that at the moment - so it looks like there are more of them around than we thought. Nasty stuff in the thread is that trappers are using playback to get the birds into the nets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Mark Bruce]

Trapping! Big problem here, too. They removed the protected status of many species late last year and things are seriously spiraling out of control with trapping here. Interesting about the Coucals. I've never been aware of them being targeted here but then it may be a case of out of sight, out of mind.

 

[dalat]

Coucals.

Same in Vietnam, Coucals are being put into rice-wine, together with snakes. Not sure what exactly is the expected effect, but most likely "good for men".

Other wise a lot of trapping here as well. For cage birds, but also a lot is caught for eating, especially in the north...

 

[Gretchen]

Hi Gretchen

You are, however, in range of three other kingfishers in Qinhuangdao:
1. Crested Kingfisher - I saw my first ever on the canal at the top of the Beidaihe reservoir in October 1990.

2. Black-capped Kingfisher breeds up into Heilongjiang, so must pass you by

3. There is a record of Ruddy Kingfisher too, but this is a very rare species.

Hi Mike,

Thanks for extending hope! I saw that the Crested was supposed to be in this region, but had read about its habitat, and figured we didn't have it around here. I'll read up a bit more - I assume there's been sitings of it since yours, and will look around to see more about the Black-capped possibilities.

I've just gotten a new bike which I hope will inspire me to get out a bit more... too much indoors the last few months - hard to see any birds that way

 

[china guy]

If you want to see those Black-caps I suppose it'll be very soon you have to look - they head south for the winter. They're stunning birds - during their breeding season we see them in wet-lands close to forest habitat - they enjoy hunting both amphibians and reptiles and we've watched them catching Lizards.
However your chance of seeing them is during passage - and I'm really not sure what kind of places they turn up on migration?????

PS - wouldn't like one of those guys to fly into my head - looks like that could be pretty painful!!!!!

 

[MKinHK]

Gretchen

You could look for Crested on the big river at Shanhaiguan - which also had Ibisbills in winter at one stage!

Get on that bike - and let us know what you see - life's too short to study THAT hard!

Cheers
Mike

 

[Gretchen]

If you want to see those Black-caps I suppose it'll be very soon you have to look - they head south for the winter. They're stunning birds - during their breeding season we see them in wet-lands close to forest habitat - they enjoy hunting both amphibians and reptiles and we've watched them catching Lizards.
However your chance of seeing them is during passage - and I'm really not sure what kind of places they turn up on migration?????

Hi Guy,
Thanks for focusing me on this a bit more! I've looked at trip reports, and this is actually much more frequently seen around here Aug- Oct than the Crested. So I will definitely be keeping an eye out for them here.

You could look for Crested on the big river at Shanhaiguan - which also had Ibisbills in winter at one stage!

Hi Mike,
Yes, I knew they liked big rivers, but I hadn't thought of the one in Shanhaiguan being very fast (big?). I guess you mean the one coming out of the Yansai Resevoir ... You don't recall what stretch you looked on, do you - closer to ocean or reservoir?

Get on that bike - and let us know what you see - life's too short to study THAT hard!
Mike

Yeah, true... but if I don't finish up, I just prolong the agony Thanks for the encouragement though.

 

[MKinHK]

Easy solution - study all night , bird all day! And just remember, the characters won't love you back, however hard you study them (bitter experience there!)

Never been to the river but I would check around the reservoir - I've seen Crested near dams in S China.

Cheers
Mike

 

[Gretchen]

the characters won't love you back, however hard you study them (bitter experience there!)

I know it's an endless task, but still sometimes wish it was mine (the grass is greener...) I'm writing a diss - a big enough challenge, I think - but at least this 5+ year project will end someday o Watching birds has become a very pleasant distraction during the time working on this; though this summer, it's mostly been virtual birding :eek!: Need to stop half-hearted working, half-hearted birding and get on with real stuff...

 

[MKinHK]

No patch news , but I did have a good afternoon at Long Valley (see here) on Sunday - a few more waders and some other wildlife, while I pluck up the courage to go up the hill after the first Eastern Crowned Warblers and Asian Paradise Flycatchers of the autumn, which have started to arrive elsewhere in HK - maybe this weekend . . .

Cheers
Mike

 

[Gretchen]

No patch news , but I did have a good afternoon at Long Valley (see here) on Sunday

Looked like a great time!

while I pluck up the courage to go up the hill after the first Eastern Crowned Warblers and Asian Paradise Flycatchers of the autumn,

Why courage needed? hot or long walk or ?

I hope to do some bird watching in BJ this weekend, perhaps see some more migrants too.

Gretchen

 

[china guy]

Hey Gretchen here's a bit more Kingfisher inspiration for you - just back last night from our latest trip - that Crested Kingfisher is two days old. They move about in winter - when we can see them in locations much closer to Chengdu. This bird was taken in Tangjiahe Nature reserve in NW Sichuan - if you're fit, just a week or so's peddling on your new bike!!!!!!!
But I'm pretty sure there'll be Kingfisher sites a little closer to your own patch.

 

[MKinHK]

Hot & sticky, uphill, full of mosquitos, overgrown paths, cobras in residence, not usually that much to look for at this time of year . . . but so much better than being stuck in the office, so you're right -not actually that scary - its just that flat open spaces like Long Valley are so much easier to bird!!

Cheers
Mike

PS great pic of a cracking bird! Any goodies from Tangjiahe?

 

[china guy]

Tangjiahe - we didn't get to the Rusty-throated Parrotbills - earthquake damage made it difficult to find the start of the path and we only got just over halfway to the bamboo where they are often seen. But our recon work puts us in good stance for our next visit - the walk to that bamboo should only take three hours (if you go quickly and block all other birds out of your mind - and you're not loaded down with bags).
Otherwise nothing too spectacular bird-wise - but we got a Cobra and Takin. You by any chance know what kind of Cobra it is - it was a baby snake only about 10 inches - but did it play tough.

When I get time I'll write a post on Tangjiahe/Wanglang - but I'll just add that the roads in the earthquake areas aren't too bad, and repair is going on day by day (we can see progress over the period from June) - no real need for 4WD unless it's pouring with rain - if you're lucky in avoiding jams, you can make Tangjiahe in about 6 hours from Chengdu (taking the motorway passed Mianyang to the Jinzishan turn-off).

 

[china guy]

hahahahaha - after looking up lists of snakes found in the reserve, afraid my Cobra seems to have turned into a Toad-eating - Tiger Keelback (can flatten the front part of the body).
Well at least that Takin looks real!!!!

 

[MKinHK]

Great to get so close to a Takin

When I was in Shaanxi a few years ago we heard from one of the forest workers that they are aggressive and people die every year from being pushed down steep cliffs by Takin.

That keelback has serious attitude - a terrific snake - makes the young Checkered Keelback I saw on the edge of the cherry tree field last last Sunday look positively dowdy!

Look forward to your posting on Tangjiahe - its on my list to visit - for Chinese Monal (the last one I need to complete the set) as well as the parrotbill.

Enjoyed your pix of Jiuzhaigou too - the trick must be to go when there are fewer people - It was packed in 2001 and I missed a few goodies (but coincidentally did see Spectacled Parrotbill the same day I saw Takin in Shaanxi).

Cheers
Mike

 

[china guy]

Hi Mike - if you want Monal at Tangjiahe it's maybe best to go to the to of Da Cao Tang - which is the same location for the Parrots, up at the end of that right hand fork after the tickets office. On the top - after that three hour walk - theres a hut in which you can overnight - free - and there's water, but no food. A night or two up there - will give you the chance of early morning Monal. Monal should also be about at Wanglang - the wardens talk about them on the area they call Golden Grassland - and they get easier to see during the winter - with coming down to lower elevations, shorter grass, more time spent feeding.
Our Tangjiahe/Wanglang trip brought the usual Chicken-suspects - Temminck's Tragopan, Blood, Koklass, Golden, Common and Blue-eared Pheasant. We hope to get out again to Wanglang in March.

As for those dangerous Takin - apparently those animals just over the mountains in Shaanxi/Gansu are famed for their nasty behaviour - but I suppose it would take hundreds of casualities before man-killing Takins made the front pages here!!!!!!
You also have to watch how close you get to them in Tangjiahe - but we saw all our animals on the other side of the river.