The Deskbound Birder: Yellow-browed Bunting

Showing posts with label Yellow-browed Bunting. 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.

Monday, 23 April 2018

South-east China - 23rd April (Day 3)

Our first full birding day and we were raring to go, we were up at 05:00 and into the bus by 05:30 we were on site at the Dongtai seawall by 05:45 where we had breakfast of banana, Snicker’s bars and various bread with hot sweet coffee on the seawall. Scanning during our breakfast produced numerous Red-necked Stint running around on the sand, a flock of 60 Black-faced Spoonbill dozing on the lagoons, multiple Yellow-browed Warbler calling from the seawall scrub and best of all a flock of 15 Little Whimbrel that flew overhead. Once again, we began our birding in pursuit of Spoon-billed Sandpiper and headed out over the sand flats to the waters edge seeing large numbers of waders with Long-toed Stint being new for the trip. Unfortunately, by the time we had reached the waters edge the tide was well on its way out and the birds remained a long way off and the hard sand was turning to sticky mud. So turning back inland we checked the large numbers of waders on the dryer sand seeing much the same range of species as yesterday but got much better views of many of them including great views of Lesser Sandplover, Greater Sandplover, Broad-billed Sandpiper and Sharp-tailed Sandpiper.

We spent much of the remainder of the day working the white flowered leguminous scrub that has been planted on the landward slope of the seawall. There were clearly good numbers of migrant around and we recorded Tristams Bunting, Yellow-browed Bunting, Black-faced Bunting, Pale-legged Leaf-warbler, Yellow-browed Warbler, Pallas’s Warbler, Eastern Crowned Warbler, Alstrom’s Warbler, Korean Bush-warbler, Olive-backed Pipit, Grey-backed Thrush, Pale Thrush and Dusky Thrush. One of the highlights for me was a stunning Rufous-tailed Robin found by Andy D which eventually showed well as it hung out with a female Daurian Redstart.

We had reserved the final part of the day to try for the Spoon-billed Sandpiper once again, but with heavy rain and a force 5-6 northerly wind most of us bowed out leaving Andy D to head out to the waters edge with Tang-Jun while the rest of us worked a different area of scrub. We didn’t add a great deal to the list of species we had seen earlier but for a skulking Siberian Rubythroat. Andy D managed to find a winter plumaged Spoon-billed Sandpiper right in the dying hours of daylight – he was very please with this and he certainly deserved his reward in the fairly dire weather conditions. We toasted Andy's success over some cold beers in the evening and planned to head back to this fantastic birding spot tomorrow for our final morning.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Broad-billed Sandpiper and Curlew Sandpiper - Dongtai, Yancheng

Three Lesser Sandplover with Greater Sandplover (centre bird), Kentish Plover and Red-necked Stint - Dongtai, Yancheng

Greater Sandplover and Red-necked Stint - Dongtai, Yancheng

Lesser Sandplover - Dongtai, Yancheng

Red-necked Stint - Dongtai, Yancheng

Mixed wader flock with Red-necked Stint, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Kentish Plover, Greater Sandplover, Lesser Sandplover and Broad-billed Sandpiper - Dongtai, Yancheng

Exhausted Barn Swallows on the sand - Dongtai, Yancheng

Merlin of one of the eastern subspecies, presumably pacificus - Dongtai, Yancheng

Breakfast - Dongtai, Yancheng

Birding at Dongtai, Yancheng

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper - Dongtai, Yancheng

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper and Bar-tailed Godwit - Dongtai, Yancheng

Terek Sandpiper - Dongtai, Yancheng

Marsh Sandpiper - Dongtai, Yancheng

Light-vented Bulbul - Dongtai, Yancheng

Yellow-rumped Flycatcher - Dongtai, Yancheng

Yellow-browed Bunting - Dongtai, Yancheng

We were a bit stuck with the identification of this Bunting but believe it to be a female Black-faced Bunting - Dongtai, Yancheng

Altrom's Warbler - Dongtai, Yancheng

Yellow-browed Warbler - Dongtai, Yancheng

Korean Bush-warbler - Dongtai, Yancheng

Rufous-tailed Robin - Dongtai, Yancheng

Daurian Redstart - Dongtai, Yancheng

Links to Other Days of the Trip (Click to View)
Day 1 and 2 – International flight and Dongtai.
Day 4 – Dongtai and Magic Wood.
Day 5 - Nanhui then fly to Fuzhou.
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.

Friday, 11 November 2016

China Wetlands (Birdquest) Tour - 11th November (Day 8)

Wuyuan turned out to be a party town and despite the most comfortable bed of the trip at the Huayi Hotel sleep was interrupted by blaring horns and shouting right through the night. Breakfast was of Dim Sum and noodles with coffee in a small restaurant at 06:00 and by 07:00 we were in the field. Our first stop was in the small village of Kengkou where we wandered onto the bridge over the River Xiu. It was fairly misty and visibility was no more than 500m but fairly quickly we picked up two female Scaly-sided Merganser feeding in the rapids on the river, they were fairly distant and views were not great. A small group of Masked Laughing-thrush responded well to the tape and came in close to the bridge showing their black masks well. Next we picked up three Long-billed Plover feeding on one of the shingle islands on the river, reminiscent of a large Little-ringed Plover with a less prominent eye-ring and a long bill. Next we found four buntings feeding beneath the bridge, these consisted of two Black-faced Bunting and two Yellow-browed Bunting. Other birds we recorded here included Red-billed Starling, Red-billed Blue-magpie, Common Kingfisher, Plumbeous Water-redstart and Oriental Magpie Robin.

Yellow-browed Bunting - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Red-billed Blue-magpie - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Long-tailed Shrike - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Oriental Magpie-robin - Kengkou, Wuyuan

We then wandered through the small town of white-washed buildings, narrow streets and locals gathering to grind sweet potatoes. A trail extended out of the village and followed the river passing through crop field of cabbage, pat-choy and corn before passing into an area of short woodland and scrub with an abundance of bamboo. Collared Finchbill, Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler and Rufous-capped Babbler showed well while Olive-backed Pipit were abundant. We quickly bumped into our first mixed species flock which was led by Grey-sided Fulvetta (a possible split as Huet’s Fulvertta) and also contained Red-billed Leiothrix, Grey-sided Babbler and Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler. A short way along the trail a male Silver Pheasant was on the trail but quickly flushed on our approach. And then a Moustached Laughing Thrush which showed well along the tril, this species was a bit of a surprise species as it should be higher than the current site. We spent around two hours in this woodland, birding was quite tough going as the vegetation was thick right up to the trail but was very enjoyable, we also recorded Greater/Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush, Crested Goshawk, Rufous-capped Babbler, Chestnut Bulbul, Tristram’s Bunting and Japanese White-eye (fly-over birds).

Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Perny's Squirrel - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Moustached Laughingthrush - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Grey-sided Fulvetta (possible split as Huet's Fulvetta) - Kengkou, Wuyuan

The forests at Kengkou, Wuyuan

Darter species - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Collared Finchbill - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Maritime Striped Squirrel - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Long-tailed Shrike - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Kengkou, Wuyuan

Yam Market - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Kengkou, Wuyuan

Yam Market - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Lady at Yam Market - Kengkou, Wuyuan

After the forest we returned to the bridge for better views of the Scaly-sided Merganser and picked up five very distant birds, a male and four females. After speaking to the driver we headed along a paved road running parallel to the river to try to get closer. We drove around 1km and then walked the final 300 or 400m along a trail through the scrub to come to a small view point overlooking the river. The merganser’s were still around 300m away but as we watched they eventually made their way up river and past us showing very well. There were in total 12 birds, three males and nine females. The males stunning with green heads, double spikey crest and a bright red bill tipped yellow.

River Xiu - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Scaly-sided Merganser - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Satisfied we returned to the car and drove 45 minutes to Xiao Qi arriving at 13:55 here we quickly found our target, the diminutive Pied Falconet, a family party of six. These were visible from the roof of a restaurant and after enjoying good views we had lunch with a celebratory beer and began our journey south-west to Nanchang at 15:15. The journey took around four hours and we passed through wooded hills and open rice paddies before arriving in the town at 19:00. We stayed in the fabulously named Galactic Peace International Hotel in Nancheng.