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
Red-crowned Crane - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng
Red-crowned Crane - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng
Red-crowned Crane - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng
Red-crowned Crane - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng
Red-crowned Crane - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng
Red-crowned Crane - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng
Red-crowned Crane - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng
Red-crowned Crane - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng
Red-crowned Crane - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng
Common Crane - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng
Common Crane - Yancheng Nature Reserve, Yancheng
Common 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
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?
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
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 - 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
- Black-faced Spoonbill
- Amur Falcon
- White’s Thrush
- Japanese Thrush
Links to Other Days of the Trip (Click to View)