The Deskbound Birder: Reed Parrotbill

Showing posts with label Reed Parrotbill. Show all posts

Wednesday, 25 April 2018

South-east China - 25th April (Day 5)

The morning began at the superb reedbeds at Nanhui to the south-east of Shanghai where breakfast of the usual sweet bread, banana, Snickers and sweet coffee overlooking the reeds quickly produced singing, but distant, Marsh Grassbird, Bluethroat of the red spotted form and Reed Parrotbill before we really started birding properly. A Grey-tailed Tattler roosting on a breakwater on the adjacent coastline was a new wader for the trip and we enjoyed great views of Terek Sandpiper and Greater Sandplover. After breakfast we walked the short trail through the centre of the reedbed seeing, in addition, Ochre-rumped Bunting, Oriental Reed-warbler, Bittern, two fly over Pechora Pipit and Black-browed Reed-warbler. We then headed back to the hotel and birded the hotel car park which is a well-known migrant location - rather oddly named the 'Magic Carpark'. Here we recorded a stunning male Narcissus Flycatcher, Sakkalin Leaf-warbler (identified based on its response to playback of song and short burst of song given), Ashy Minivet, Little Bunting and Yellow-browed Warbler.

Reed Parrotbill - Nanhui Reedbeds, Pudong District, Shanghai

Male Ochre-rumped Bunting - Nanhui Reedbeds, Pudong District, Shanghai

Oriental Reed-warbler - Nanhui Reedbeds, Pudong District, Shanghai

Breeding plumaged male Greater Sandplover of subspecies leschenaultii - Nanhui Reedbeds,

Pudong District, Shanghai

Non-breeding plumaged Greater Sandplover of subspecies leschenaultii - Nanhui Reedbeds,

Pudong District, Shanghai

White Wagtail of subspecies leucopsis - Nanhui Micro-forests, Pudong District, Shanghai

Narcissus Flycatcher, 1st summer male - Nanhui Micro-forests, Pudong District, Shanghai

Long-tailed Shrike with large lizard - Nanhui Micro-forests, Pudong District, Shanghai

The rather undistiguished rattle of Marsh Grassbird - Nanhui Micro-forests, Pudong District, Shanghai

Oriental Reed-warbler with Eurasian Bittern and Coot in background - Nanhui Micro-forests, Pudong District, Shanghai

Singing Yellow-browed Warbler - Nanhui Micro-forests, Pudong District, Shanghai

After checking out of our hotel and loading the vehicles we headed a few kilometres northwards along the coast to bird the small patches of mature scrub, known locally as micro-forests. Soon after the hotel we stopped at a large pool within the reeds where seven Falcated Duck were a great bonus. The micro-forests are very small patches of scrub scattered along the north to south orientated coast and surrounded by arable land, they thus attract migrants. In the four hours or so we birded these patches we recorded Blue-and-white Flycatcher, Zappey's Flycatcher, Grey-streaked Flycatcher, Pale-legged/Sakhalin Leaf-warbler, Yellow-browed Warbler, Siberian Blue Robin, Red-flanked Bluetail, Little Bunting, Chestnut-eared Bunting, Black-faced Bunting, Richard's Pipit, Olive-backed Pipit, Pechora Pipit, Eastern Yellow Wagtail, Grey-backed Thrush, Plain Thrush, Dusky Thrush and Japanese Thrush. It was fantastic birding and it was difficult to tear ourselves away but it was time to head to the airport for our 16:30 flight to Fuzhou. At check in it became apparent that my ticket had been booked in the wrong name with my middle name being incorrect. This caused a great deal of hassle and I was informed that I was not going to be able to board. Fortunately, Tang-Jun managed to call the airline and get a new ticket issued and so we rushed through security and through the airport and boarded the plane within a few minutes of arriving at our gate. The flight was 1.40 hours long and we were out of the airport at Fuzhou by 18:30 and arrived at our hotel in Changle by 19:30.

Little Bunting - Nanhui Micro-forests, Pudong District, Shanghai

Grey-backed Thrush - Nanhui Micro-forests, Pudong District, Shanghai

Blue-and-white Flycatcher - Nanhui Micro-forests, Pudong District, Shanghai

Zappey's Flycatcher, until recently considered conspecific with Blue-and-white Flycatcher but note the blue (versus black) throat in the current species - Nanhui Micro-forests, Pudong District, Shanghai

Zappey's Flycatcher - Nanhui Micro-forests, Pudong District, Shanghai

Female Zappey's or Blue-and-white Flycatcher, based on current knowledge the females of these two species are not distinguishable - Nanhui Micro-forests, Pudong District, Shanghai

Grey-backed Thrush - Nanhui Micro-forests, Pudong District, Shanghai

Yellow-browed Bunting - Nanhui Micro-forests, Pudong District, Shanghai

Ashy Minivet - Nanhui Micro-forests, Pudong District, Shanghai

Grey-streaked Flycatcher - Nanhui Micro-forests, Pudong District, Shanghai

Pale-legged/Sakhalin Leaf-warbler - Nanhui Micro-forests, Pudong District, Shanghai

Links to Other Days of the Trip (Click to View)
Day 1 and 2 – International flight and Dongtai.
Day 3 - Dongtai.
Day 4 – Dongtai and Magic Wood.
Day 6 - Shanutan Island and Fuzhou Forest Park.
Day 7 - Fuzhou Forest Park then Emeifeng Mountain.
Day 8 - Emeifeng Mountain.
Day 9 - Emeifeng Mountain.
Day 10 - Emeifeng Mountain then Wuyuan.
Day 11 - Wuyuan.
Day 12 – Drive Wuyuan to Dongzhai.
Day 13 - Dongzhai.
Day 14 – Dongzhai then fly Wuhan to Korlor.
Day 15 – Taklamakan Desert.
Day 16 – Taklamakan Desert then Urumqi.
Day 17 and 18 – Nanshan in the Tien Shan Mountains then fly Beijing. International flight.

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.