The Deskbound Birder: Hen Harrier

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Wednesday, 9 November 2016

China Wetlands (Birdquest) Tour - 9th November (Day 6)

We were up at the usual 05:00 for a 06:00 breakfast and then back out to the area of the Yancheng Crane Nature Reserve known as Reed Factory. It was another overcast and rather gloomy day and as we drove to site it began to drizzle. As we approached the parking area we could see good numbers of Red-crowned Crane on the cut rice paddies. We approached the birds as close as we dare in the bus and enjoyed good views of a superb flock of 24 Red-crowned Crane and we spent some time taking photographs of these birds. We then birded the fields from the now familiar tracks seeing much the same as on the 7th November, highlights being Black-faced Bunting (three), Reed Parrotbill (six), Chinese Penduline Tit (one), Red-throated Pipit (one), Tundra Bean Goose (40), Merlin (three) and Hen Harrier (three). It was fairly quiet compared to our visit on the 7th and so we headed back to where the bus was parked. During the morning we had noticed large numbers of crane dropping into the fields by the bus and by the time we had returned we had counted a total of 62 Red-crowned Crane. Back at the bus there were several 100 Common Crane and 44 Red-crowned Crane and we enjoyed the spectacle for a while – Red-crowned Crane really is a stunning species.

Red-crowned Crane - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

Around 20 Red-crowned Crane are shown in this photograph, roughly 1% of the world population - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

Red-crowned Crane - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

Red-crowned Crane and Common Crane - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

Red-crowned Crane - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

Common Crane - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

Black-faced Bunting - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

Tundra Bean Goose - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

Reed Parrotbill - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng

Visitor Centre at Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng - I guess its meant to look like a crane?

It was time to head south to Dongtai, a journey of around 110km. We passed through an industrial landscape of turbines and pylons over arable land and scattered fishponds – not an entirely appealing landscape and one that appeared largely devoid of wildlife and wild areas. We arrived at Dongtai at 11:15, the tide was low and a vast expanse of sandflats extended before us and the birds were no more than distant specks. We birded the saltpans and sandflats seeing Black-faced Spoonbill (two), Dalmatian Pelican (43) and many hundreds of wader including Curlew, Dunlin, Kentish Plover, Lesser Sand-plover (two), Grey Plover, Oystercatcher and Avocet (50). Gulls included small numbers of Lesser Black-backed Gull of the race heuglini or Heuglin’s Gull and Arctic Herring Gull of the race mongolicus or Mongolian Herring Gull. The flock of Dalmatian Pelican were fishing in a channel in the mudflats, frequently disappearing from view entirely only giving themselves away when their wings were raised so that they appeared over the top of the banks of the channel. They were clearly catching good numbers of fish as they hunted in synchronization. As the tide was so low we decided to return tomorrow morning when the incoming tide would bring the birds nearer.

Hen Harrier - Dongtai, Yanghou

Eurasian Spoonbill, Black-faced Spoonbill, Grey Heron, Heuglin's Gull, Mongolian Gull, Kentish Plover, Lesser Sand-plover and Dunlin - Dongtai, Yanghou

Dalmatian Pelican - Dongtai, Yanghou

Heading south, Hannu spotted an Amur Falcon perched on roadside power lines so a quick stop on the dual carriage way allowed us good views as it repeatedly dropped from its perch into the grass. This was a juvenile bird with distinctly rufous fringed upperparts and quite a surprise to see, I believe that it has only been recorded once on this Birdquest tour previously. Arriving in the town of Yangkou, we had a quick pit stop to gather some snacks before heading to a long strip of woodland growing atop a sea defence. This area of woodland is known by birders as the ‘Magic Wood’ due to it being an excellent location for seeing migrant passerines, mainly in the Spring (see Mike Buckland's superb account of birding here in the spring to gain an understanding of why it is called Magic Wood - Travels with Birds). We arrived here at Magic Wood at 14:00 and birded it until around 17:00. The woodland is around 2km long and no more than 50m wide following the length of the sea defence. The birding here was excellent and we recorded at least four Red-flanked Bluetail, six Pale Thrush, four Naumann’s Thrush, ten Dusky Thrush, six Chinese Grosbeak, two Rustic Bunting, ten Yellow-throated Bunting and two Olive-backed Pipit. But the highlights were a cracking 1st winter male Japanese Thrush and even better, two White’s Thrush, one of which gave good views as it perched in the trees – a dream bird. We left for our hotel pleased with the days birding and looking forward to a couple of beers - albeit rather watery Chinese beer.

Amur Falcon - Dongtai, Yanghou

The Streets of Yanghou

Boats in the harbour at Yanghou

Magic Wood - Yanghou

The scene that welcomes migrants to Magic Wood, Yanghou

Red-flanked Bluetail - Magic Wood, Yanghou

Red-flanked Bluetail (different to above bird) - Magic Wood, Yanghou

The stunning White's Thrush, a dream bird of mine and one of the

highlights of the trip (no more will I feel quite so gripped

by the British records) - Magic Wood, Yanghou

1st winter male Japanese Thrush, by now the light was pretty bad - Magic Wood, Yanghou

Life Birds;

Black-faced Spoonbill
Amur Falcon
White’s Thrush
Japanese Thrush

Links to Other Days of the Trip (Click to View)

Day 1 and 2 - Travel and Beijing Area

Day 3 - Ming Tombs

Day 4 - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yengdu

Day 5 - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yengdu

Day 7 - Dongtai, Yancheng

Day 8 - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Day 9 - Nanjishan Wetland Reserve, Nancheng

Day 10 - Poyang Hu Reserve, Wu Cheng

Day 11 - Poyang Hu Reserve, Wu Cheng and Emei Feng, Taining

Day 12 - Emei Feng, Taining

Day 13 - Emei Feng, Taining and Changle

Day 14 - Changle, Fuzhou

Day 15 - Nanshan Park, Changle and travel

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;