SEP-30 Panjin Wetland Park
Several attempts at finding some Passerines came up mostly empty with the only notable find being some
Siberian Stonechat feeding and well hidden, in the reeds and other tall growth along a narrow, overgrown footpath through a marshy area.
However, I returned to the Panjin Wetland Park on September 30th for much better results. Things started off slowly and I actually considered quitting, but luckily I decided to press on. Initially, other than the ubiquitous
Tree Sparrow, a total of 28
Great Cormorant and about 60
Black-Headed Gull were the only thing in evidence except for a few
Gray Heron.
As I pressed on I found the regular large family of
Azure-Winged Magpie but they were unusually reclusive and actually avoided people while they harrassed a
Great Spotted Woodpecker that revealed itself as it flew between trees. A single
Oriental Magpie was also discovered by them and was of special delight to me as it just went on about foraging the floor of a wooded area, totally ignoring the AWM. The thing that was so entertaining was that it was undoubtably the fattest OM that I have ever seen! In fact it so so rotund that instead of the usual hopping along it was actually waddling along in a duck walk. Unfortunately, it was so deep in the shadows and undergrowth that I didn't get any pictures that really conveyed it's appearance.
A couple more
Great-Spotted Woodpecker and again I hit an area with nothing of interest and considered giving up, but another half kilometer along things started to pickup again. At that point I reached the east shore of the lake beyond which is a more typical wetland with several shallow ponds and heavy reed growth. A single
Great Crested Grebe paddled about the main pond along with a
Eurasian Coot. However I could hear ducks to the north and set out to find them.
With each pond I kept coming up empty, but I could still hear ducks further on. As I was standing debating which pathway to take at a junction, I noted an
Oriental Magpie down one the ground at the edge of one of the paths repeatably, obviously very cautiously, approaching something on the ground and giving it a sudden peck then popping up into the air to quickly retreat back. My curiosity up, I decided to check it out for a very interesting find. The O. Magpie retreated to a nest in the top a tree which overhung the area to noisily warn me as I approached. Upon arriving I found a freshly killed snake which Andyadcock in the Reptiles and Amphibians forum helpfully identified as a
Tiger Keelback Rhabdophis tigrinus. A beautiful venomous snake, though with the small mouth and the venom glands being located in the back of the mouth make it not really of much danger.
Shortly after that I finally managed to find the ducks, though I wasn't able to get really close due to them being in an area right next to a flood control dam which has new barriers, fences and signs declaring it off bounds. I was just able to stand on tiptoe and rest the lens on the top of the fence to get a few decent shots of what I counted as 14
Spot-Billed Duck and one
Eurasian Coot. I suspicion that the impoundment pool on the other side of the dam would have held more of interest, but it would have required at least a couple of kilometers of hiking around to reach an unrestricted area where I might have been able to get a decent view of it.
Shortly after that I encountered a known regular narrow migration flyway which is heavily used by both Red-Rumped and Barn Swallow. This time it appeared to be all
Barn Swallow with 120 being estimated in a very short time. When active it is like a stream of swallows flowing along from north to south and you suddenly go from seeing very few birds to suddenly having a constant stream overhead.
Moving on down the river bank I was able to see that the water level is still well elevated above the normal and that it has been much higher this year.
Great Egret, Intermediate Egret and Little Egret were to be seen working along the far bank in small numbers as well as a couple of
Black-Crowned Night-Heron. It appears that most of them have moved along south in the migration while the
Mongolian Gull start to move back into the area for the winter.
I was lucky in the timing as 23
Gray-Headed Lapwing came in high from the north and decided to stop at the river, circling overhead and descending until the finally picked a spot where the far bank had been undercut leaving a recessed shelf which offered a landing spot and shelter from being seen from above.
It was getting late enough in the afternoon and I was feeling the effects of the longer hike, so I moved on out along the last kilometer and a half of the pathway rather quickly, but still managed to find a few
Reed Warblers unmistakably calling from the depths of the reeds and at least 20
Vinous-Throated Parrotbill foraging. I am sure there were many more of the Parrotbill, but they can be very difficult to actually see as they tend to stay well hidden. Up in some trees along the path I found 25 or so
Little Bunting.
Panjin Wetland Park, Liaoning, CN
Sep 30, 2020 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Protocol: Traveling
6.0 kilometer(s)
21 species
Eastern Spot-billed Duck (Anas zonorhyncha) 14
Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) 3
Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra) 2
Gray-headed Lapwing (Vanellus cinereus) 23
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) 135
Herring Gull (Mongolian) (Larus argentatus mongolicus) 5
Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) 28
Gray Heron (Ardea cinerea) 6
Great Egret (Ardea alba) 3
Intermediate Egret (Ardea intermedia) 1
Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) 3
Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) 2
Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major) 3
Azure-winged Magpie (Cyanopica cyanus) 24
Oriental Magpie (Pica serica) 8
Oriental Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus orientalis) 3
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) 120
Light-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis) 2
Vinous-throated Parrotbill (Sinosuthora webbiana) 25
Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) 90
Little Bunting (Emberiza pusilla) 20
View this checklist online at
https://ebird.org/checklist/S74314644
