Ducks in Guanghan
The continuously cold weather in Sichuan encouraged me to look after 'our' duck population and whether they have left their winter quarters already. Today I went to Guanghan (the town with the famous archaeological site "Sanxingdui", and where the Red-breasted Goose showed up last winter, see page 17 on this thread).
At first I was looking for that goose again, this time without success. However, the best finding today probably was a male and three females Falcated Ducks. The male looks really spectacular with its iridescent head colours from a dark green to a bright copper-brown. Unfortunately it was the only small group of this species. Falcated Ducks usually don't come in huge numbers to the western part of China. Most winter guests migrate to China's East, such as Dongting Hu in Hunan Province.
Today the most common ducks were Gadwall, Mallard, Ruddy and Common Shelduck. Common Teal and Northern Pintail also were not rare. Eurasian Wigeon, Spott-billed Duck, and Common Merganser complete today's duck list.
Though staying there for a couple of hours I couldn't make out any Pochards and Shovelers. Usually you can find them easily on the waters of Sichuan in winter. Could they have left already? Also Goldeneye belongs to the yearly visitors, but not for me for today.
Nevertheless, a single Greenshank and a Peregrine Falcon were the two other remarkable birds of today. The Peregrine was hobbling on the ground between a big flock of Ruddies and looking for probably rotten river-left-overs.
Another positive discovery was a set of signs along the whole road to promote the protection of wildlife, and an official car with the characters for "Wetland Patrol" on it.