Yancheng is a medium sized city (for Chinese standards) on the east-coast of Jiangsu province. It is about 300km north of Shanghai. It’s about 3 hours on the train from Shanghai. On the journey up thick fog obscured the view. This was to be a theme of the trip. Upon arrival it’s clear to see how important nature is to the local tourism economy. There are giant posters and sculptures promoting the local animals, primarily the red-crowned crane. Our main purpose was to visit the red-crowned crane reserve. Ebird '盐城湿地珍禽国家级自然保护区 (Yancheng Wetland NNR)' hotspot.
We stayed in a hotel in the city and caught a taxi to the ‘red-crowned crane reserve’ early the next morning. This is a 280,000-hectare site about 60km outside of the city. There are also frequent buses between the train station and the reserve. When we arrived thick fog completely hid the entrance.
Upon entering the reserve at 8:30am (we had tried to get in earlier but no luck) we heard cranes! And by the sound of them, not far away at all. However, the fog prevented any views. We dashed around trying to follow the sound. We even inadvertently exited the park through a side gate before a guard stopped us. Despite our best efforts we didn’t see any cranes.
Here is a map of the reserve, with waypoints added.
Feeling quite disappointed we continued around the reserve. There are a few ornamental ponds with stocked waterfowl, perhaps some wild animals in there too, however, we didn’t stay long and continued to the main area of the reserve. It was quite a walk. There is a shuttle bus operating that takes you to the main look-out platform (2.5km from the entrance), however, we wanted to try our luck along the way.
There is one main path, flanked on either side by man-made ditches, ponds, and lakes, that takes you in a somewhat circular route around the reserve. All along the way we could hear the occasional crane, but the persistent fog didn’t allow views. There was also thick patches of tall reedbed that obscured the view in places, but was tactically cut in others to allow limited views over the water in places.
Our first stroke of luck came around 1km into the walk (point 1 on the map). There was a somewhat exposed muddy bank with a variety of ducks and geese. Highlights included tundra and taiga bean geese, greater white-fronted geese and smew. Not long after wating there we had a very close encounter with an eastern marsh harrier. A little further along (point 2 on the map) we also got reed parrotbill and Pallas’ reed bunting. By this time the fog was lifting, though some patches stubbornly remained.
As we continued along the path there were more and more gaps in the reeds and we were able to see more of the water / islands with bids. Mostly it was more bean geese, however, we also saw a number of oriental stork and eurasian spoonbills.
Upon arriving at the main watchtower (a large platform at least 30m in the air - point 3 on the map/yellow circle) we should have had commanding views out across the reserve. However, a combination of the fog and direction of the sun made it hard to see the main areas. Nevertheless, we had our first views of cranes! Red-crowned and common cranes were in a large field to the north east (pink circle area). We enjoyed distant views of the many groups of cranes. As we lingered a number of other birds flew past the tower, including hen harrier, Eurasian bittern, smew, and more eastern marsh harriers.
After a while we moved on. There main boardwalk that would have got us close to the cranes was blocked off. From my limited Chinese it was because they didn’t want the birds to be disturbed in winter, understandable. Presumably in summer it’s possible to use this boardwalk and go through the reedbed.
Even though we had seen the cranes, the views left a lot to be desired. This was all to change when we got to the other side of the reserve and took a turn. There was a path that led around the back of the ‘crane field’ (point 4 on the map). We slowly made our way along, the sides being blocked by tall reeds. Once we got to an opening we stopped and made camp. Again, the sun was directly in our eyes and we could only make our silhouettes most of the time, however, it was well worth it. In this field we counted 5 species of crane (well, at the time 4, it wasn’t until we looked at pictures afterwards did we see one more!). Red-crowned crane, common crane, a lone Siberian crane, three white-naped crane, and a single demoiselle crane). Amazing. There was also a number of Pere David's deer.
After this success spirits were high. On the way back we passed a colony of great cormorants, easily over 1,000. There was also a crested ibis rehabilitation area (point 5), with some birds living wild, some in cages to make sure they are fully fit before being released. By this time it was getting on and we slowly made our way back to the start.
The day wasn’t finished though, it had a few more surprises. Probably the most welcome was the appearance of four hooded cranes. Taking the daily total to 6 crane species.
In total, that day, we saw 73 species and stayed 8 hours.
Greater White-fronted Goose
Taiga Bean Goose
Tundra Bean Goose
Common Shelduck
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
Falcated Duck
Eastern Spot-billed Duck
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Eurasian Teal
Smew
Goosander
Common Pheasant
Feral Pigeon
Spotted Dove
Common Moorhen
Eurasian Coot
Demoiselle Crane
Siberian Crane
White-naped Crane
Common Crane
Hooded Crane
Red-crowned Crane
Black-winged Stilt
Northern Lapwing
Green Sandpiper
Spotted Redshank
Common Greenshank
Dunlin
Black-headed Gull
Vega Gull
Mongolian Gull
Little Grebe (Little)
Great Crested Grebe
Oriental Stork
Great Cormorant
Eurasian Spoonbill
Eurasian Bittern
Black-crowned Night Heron
Little Egret
Great White Egret
Grey Heron
Black-winged Kite
Eastern Marsh Harrier
Hen Harrier
Black Kite
Eastern Buzzard
Eurasian Hoopoe
Common Kingfisher
Pied Kingfisher
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Common Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
Long-tailed Shrike
Azure-winged Magpie
Oriental Magpie
Asian Tit
Light-vented Bulbul
Reed Parrotbill
Vinous-throated Parrotbill
White-cheeked Starling
Chinese Blackbird
thrush sp.
Daurian Redstart
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
Pied Wagtail/White Wagtail
Olive-backed Pipit
Water Pipit
Siberian Pipit
pipit sp.
Yellow-billed Grosbeak
Pallas's Reed Bunting
Rustic Bunting
Black-faced Bunting
We stayed in a hotel in the city and caught a taxi to the ‘red-crowned crane reserve’ early the next morning. This is a 280,000-hectare site about 60km outside of the city. There are also frequent buses between the train station and the reserve. When we arrived thick fog completely hid the entrance.
Upon entering the reserve at 8:30am (we had tried to get in earlier but no luck) we heard cranes! And by the sound of them, not far away at all. However, the fog prevented any views. We dashed around trying to follow the sound. We even inadvertently exited the park through a side gate before a guard stopped us. Despite our best efforts we didn’t see any cranes.
Here is a map of the reserve, with waypoints added.
Feeling quite disappointed we continued around the reserve. There are a few ornamental ponds with stocked waterfowl, perhaps some wild animals in there too, however, we didn’t stay long and continued to the main area of the reserve. It was quite a walk. There is a shuttle bus operating that takes you to the main look-out platform (2.5km from the entrance), however, we wanted to try our luck along the way.
There is one main path, flanked on either side by man-made ditches, ponds, and lakes, that takes you in a somewhat circular route around the reserve. All along the way we could hear the occasional crane, but the persistent fog didn’t allow views. There was also thick patches of tall reedbed that obscured the view in places, but was tactically cut in others to allow limited views over the water in places.
Our first stroke of luck came around 1km into the walk (point 1 on the map). There was a somewhat exposed muddy bank with a variety of ducks and geese. Highlights included tundra and taiga bean geese, greater white-fronted geese and smew. Not long after wating there we had a very close encounter with an eastern marsh harrier. A little further along (point 2 on the map) we also got reed parrotbill and Pallas’ reed bunting. By this time the fog was lifting, though some patches stubbornly remained.
As we continued along the path there were more and more gaps in the reeds and we were able to see more of the water / islands with bids. Mostly it was more bean geese, however, we also saw a number of oriental stork and eurasian spoonbills.
Upon arriving at the main watchtower (a large platform at least 30m in the air - point 3 on the map/yellow circle) we should have had commanding views out across the reserve. However, a combination of the fog and direction of the sun made it hard to see the main areas. Nevertheless, we had our first views of cranes! Red-crowned and common cranes were in a large field to the north east (pink circle area). We enjoyed distant views of the many groups of cranes. As we lingered a number of other birds flew past the tower, including hen harrier, Eurasian bittern, smew, and more eastern marsh harriers.
After a while we moved on. There main boardwalk that would have got us close to the cranes was blocked off. From my limited Chinese it was because they didn’t want the birds to be disturbed in winter, understandable. Presumably in summer it’s possible to use this boardwalk and go through the reedbed.
Even though we had seen the cranes, the views left a lot to be desired. This was all to change when we got to the other side of the reserve and took a turn. There was a path that led around the back of the ‘crane field’ (point 4 on the map). We slowly made our way along, the sides being blocked by tall reeds. Once we got to an opening we stopped and made camp. Again, the sun was directly in our eyes and we could only make our silhouettes most of the time, however, it was well worth it. In this field we counted 5 species of crane (well, at the time 4, it wasn’t until we looked at pictures afterwards did we see one more!). Red-crowned crane, common crane, a lone Siberian crane, three white-naped crane, and a single demoiselle crane). Amazing. There was also a number of Pere David's deer.
After this success spirits were high. On the way back we passed a colony of great cormorants, easily over 1,000. There was also a crested ibis rehabilitation area (point 5), with some birds living wild, some in cages to make sure they are fully fit before being released. By this time it was getting on and we slowly made our way back to the start.
The day wasn’t finished though, it had a few more surprises. Probably the most welcome was the appearance of four hooded cranes. Taking the daily total to 6 crane species.
In total, that day, we saw 73 species and stayed 8 hours.
Greater White-fronted Goose
Taiga Bean Goose
Tundra Bean Goose
Common Shelduck
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
Falcated Duck
Eastern Spot-billed Duck
Mallard
Northern Pintail
Eurasian Teal
Smew
Goosander
Common Pheasant
Feral Pigeon
Spotted Dove
Common Moorhen
Eurasian Coot
Demoiselle Crane
Siberian Crane
White-naped Crane
Common Crane
Hooded Crane
Red-crowned Crane
Black-winged Stilt
Northern Lapwing
Green Sandpiper
Spotted Redshank
Common Greenshank
Dunlin
Black-headed Gull
Vega Gull
Mongolian Gull
Little Grebe (Little)
Great Crested Grebe
Oriental Stork
Great Cormorant
Eurasian Spoonbill
Eurasian Bittern
Black-crowned Night Heron
Little Egret
Great White Egret
Grey Heron
Black-winged Kite
Eastern Marsh Harrier
Hen Harrier
Black Kite
Eastern Buzzard
Eurasian Hoopoe
Common Kingfisher
Pied Kingfisher
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Common Kestrel
Peregrine Falcon
Long-tailed Shrike
Azure-winged Magpie
Oriental Magpie
Asian Tit
Light-vented Bulbul
Reed Parrotbill
Vinous-throated Parrotbill
White-cheeked Starling
Chinese Blackbird
thrush sp.
Daurian Redstart
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
Pied Wagtail/White Wagtail
Olive-backed Pipit
Water Pipit
Siberian Pipit
pipit sp.
Yellow-billed Grosbeak
Pallas's Reed Bunting
Rustic Bunting
Black-faced Bunting
