The Deskbound Birder: China Wetlands (Birdquest) Tour

Monday 7 November 2016

China Wetlands (Birdquest) Tour - 7th November (Day 4)

After a rather sleepless night in sleeper train from Beijing to Yendu we finally arrived at our station at 06:00 where we quickly met our guide/translator Simon and then headed to our hotel the Qing Shan Hotel in Qingyanggang arriving at 07:30. After a breakfast of rather nice spicy spinach and noodle soup we headed out into the field to the Yancheng Nature Reserve. The landscape here was one of extensive, flat rice paddies broken by treelines and ditches – rather like East Anglia in some respects. We stopped at an area known as Reed Farm and birded here from 09:00 until 12:30 walking reed filled ditch-lines and scanning across the rice paddies some of which had been harvested, others still with a near ripe crop of rice. Apparently, the harvest has been delayed this year due to a continuous period of heavy rain and therefore the dominance of uncut rice was less favourable to the cranes found in the area. Regardless, it was not long before we had located a group of stunning Red-crowned Crane, one of the main targets of the trip. The group was a family party consisting of two adults and a single juvenile of the year. This species is listed as Endangered and has two populations, one breeding and wintering in Japan the other breeding in northern China and wintering in three areas of China and Korea. The main threat to the species is loss and disturbance of its wetland habitats, its population in 2009 being around 2,750 individuals.

Also here was a flock of around 300 Common Crane which contained a single Hooded Crane and at least two Sandhill Crane. Nearby another flock of 18 Red-crowned Crane. Four species of crane within an area consisting of two, relatively small fields, was remarkable. The ditches were alive with buntings and we recorded Little Bunting, Chestnut-eared Bunting (six), Yellow-breasted Bunting (one), Yellow-throated Bunting (one), Rustic Bunting (four), Black-faced Bunting (two) and Pallas’s Bunting (10’s). Other highlights here included Siberian (Stejneger’s) Stonechat, Daurian Redstart (five), Grey-backed Thrush (one), White-cheeked Starling (four), Hoopoe (three), Red-throated Pipit (four), Merlin (1), Hen Harrier (three) and Black-shouldered Kite (one). While overhead were Tundra Bean Goose (50), two rather distant Oriental Stork and a brief Grey-backed Thrush. A short drive back down the road produced more buntings of the same species including another two Yellow-breasted Bunting and four more Yellow-throated Bunting and a single Pale Thrush. It started to spit with rain and so we decided to head for lunch, this was a ridiculous banquet with enough food to feed a group three times the size. It included some rather disgusting dishes including 1000-year-old eggs which tasted just how I would imagine licking a urinal would taste, raw crabs, dried and shredded octopus and pickled peanuts – really quite disgusting!

Red-crowned Crane, two adult and a juvenile - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

Common Crane - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

Flock of Common Crane - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

Tundra Bean Goose - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

Pallas's Bunting - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

Pallas's Bunting (female) - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

Pallas's Bunting (male) - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

Chestnut-eared Bunting - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

Little Bunting - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

Stejneger's Stonechat - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

Long-tailed Shrike - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

Reed Parrotbill - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

Hen Harrier - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

Spotted Redshank - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

Chinese Spot-billed Duck - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

Greylag Goose of race rubrirostris- Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

After lunch we headed for the Yancheng Crane Nature Reserve visitor centre and wetland area, it was raining more steadily by now and we opted to hire an electric vehicle to take us around the reserve. These were like mini electric single decker buses and were excellent birding hides. This turned out to be a good move as the rain became more and more steady and the wind picked up. The reserve consists of extensive reedbeds and pools many of which were still under construction. Highlights of the birding included four Swan Goose, 50 Falcated Duck, Eurasian Bittern (2), 100’s of Chinese Spot-billed Duck, 30 Mandarin Duck and White Wagtail of the races ocularis and leucopsis. The rain was now heavy and so we headed back to our hotel for 16:00 and relaxed until dinner at 18:30.

Life Birds;