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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Owen Krout" data-source="post: 3403021" data-attributes="member: 131330">May 22, 2016I made it back to the government run rookery in west of Panjin City in Xinglongtai county for a really enjoyable days birding.  To answer your question now, Dev, no, the spoonbills did not return this year.  Just to get the bad news out of the way, Mr. Lu, the Asst. Director, told me that there used to be Red-Crowned Cranes in Panjin, but there were now none in the wild and two birds that a farmer kept penned up at his compound.  On the brighter side, I did spot and get some pictures of some nesting Eastern Cattle Egret while taking advantage of access to normally off limits areas.  Apparently expanding their range northward.  Just as we were coming up to the entrance, we encountered members of the Panjin Bird Watching Club set up on the access road waiting to catch pictures of a pair of Hoopoe who were nesting in a tree cavity and who were putting on a show as they came and went.  Stopped to say hi, shake some hands and pose for pictures with Old Man Christmas. :king:  Picked up the Hoopoe and a pair of Common Cuckoo while there.The trees having filled out their foliage makes observation much more difficult with the observation tower being the best place to go right now.  From there I finally managed the elusive photo of a Black-Naped Oriole and a new tick with a Northern Hobby.The Great White Egret & Intermediate Egret were in abundance and as always yielding great photos, but the Chinese Pond Heron & Black-Crowned Night Heron were cooperating the best for photos.  Mr. Lu then took us back into a closed off area with several small observation towers.  Numerous Grey Heron were putting on a show.  The tower was well located as they are especially easy to spook it appeared and the tower was just close enough to get some great shots without bothering them.  Further on were numerous Black-Crowned Night Heron that were nesting right up to the edge of the road.  Got a great shot of a nestling peeking out at me.  Also a couple of Ring Neck Pheasant up next to the road.  Also picked up some nice pics of Chinese Penduline Tit who were busily constructing a nest.We finished up as he took me by to see a new area of reed beds being developed with very nice boardwalks to attract more tourism money.  As is normal here, the reeds are infested with crabs, which will also serve as food to attract the heron and egret.  Looked like they were actually doing a good job of protecting the environment while still providing access.</blockquote>

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