Bulletin 304 - China #4 - Crows, Jays and Finches

I had an 8 day birding to trip in eastern China with a wonderful guide Lin Zhang based in Shanghai. He is perfectly fluent in English. We visited 5 different locales. His website is here. FYI making contact within China by email is a problem as the government blocks some email accounts coming in including gmail.  So I had to contact him using MS Outlook. His email is zhanglinas@hotmail.com.

The corvidae family consists of crows, jays, magpies and nutcrackers. I photographed several on this trip. First is the 13" Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius). It is brownish with black wings and tail.

Eurasian Jay

The 20" Collared Crow (Corvus torquatus) is a black crow has an extensive white collar. I had seen this bird at a distance in Hong Kong, but this time I found one on the ground. I was doing research as the species name has changed recently, from pectoralis to torquatus. I found this disturbing article that this species is in rapid decline. It lives just in eastern China, northern Vietnam and Hong Kong. The population has dropped from an estimated 30,000 birds to less than 2,000 in the past decade, likely due to pesticide use. We saw about a dozen birds in The Dongzhi Nature Reserve where this photo was taken.

Collared Crow

The 18"  Oriental Magpie (Pica pica) is identical to our Black-billed Magpie and they were considered as a single species until about 20 years ago. This bird has an extensive range from Europe to the Pacific Ocean in China and Russia. It appears that there may be further splits in the future of the east populations. It is also known as Common Magpie.

Oriental Magpie

They build a huge bulky nest.

Oriental Magpie - on nest

The 26" Red-billed Blue Magpie (Urocissa erythrorhyncha) is a magpie with a black head, blue wings and tail and red bill. The guide told me an interesting story. He went to university to become and air traffic controller. In his spare time he wandered in a woods near the university. He saw one of these birds and became hooked on birds and he never worked as an air traffic controller.

Red-billed Blue Magpie

I also photographed 4 finches on the trip and all were lifers for me. The 5.5" male Common Rosefinch (Carpodacus erythrinus) is a small brown bodied finch with a bright red head.

Common Rosefinch - male

The 7" male Chinese Grosbeak (Eophona migratoria) has a black head and tail, beige body and large yellow bill.

Chinese Grosbeak - male

The 5.5" male Grey-capped Greenfinch (Chloris sinica) has a gray head and greenish body with some yellow on wings and tail. This is a winter plumaged male and duller then breeding plumage. This was formerly in the genus carduela as it certainly looks like our goldfinches. It is also known as Oriental Greenfinch.

Grey-capped Greenfinch - male winter

The last is the 6" male Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla). This bird has a widespread range across Europa and Asia. It make enough appearances in North America, as a vagrant, that Sibley includes it in his book. The male has a black head and rusty breast with white underparts. We saw several large flocks of this species.

Brambling - male

I have put the different bird families in single folders for easy viewing

I have photos of 35 of the 130 species of crows, jays and magpies

I have photos of 49 of the 212 species of finches

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2018 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.

Bulletin 303 - China #3 - Sandpipers and Avocet

I had an 8 day birding to trip in eastern China with a wonderful guide Lin Zhang based in Shanghai. He is perfectly fluent in English. We visited 5 different locales. His website is here. FYI making contact within China by email is a problem as the government blocks some email accounts coming in including gmail.  So I had to contact him using MS Outlook. His email is zhanglinas@hotmail.com.

As I was on the Asian side of the Pacific Ocean, I got to see birds that only show up in USA as vagrants. I was a few weeks early for spring migration, but did see a number of wintering birds, so I got a number of life birds.

The first is the 12" Spotted Redshank (Tringa erythropus). This is the only one in the Sibley guide. It has bright red legs and some spotting along flanks. In breeding plumage it is distinctive with solid black underparts.

Spotted Redshank - winter

And here he is in flight.

Spotted Redshank - winter

The 11" Common Redshank (Tringa totanus) was in breeding plumage. It has orange-red legs and a shorter bill.

Common Redshank - breeding

Next was the 12" Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia) has gray green legs and a slightly upturned bill. These are winter plumage as they only have only slight streaking on breast

Common Greenshank

The 9" Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus) is very similar to our Solitary Sandpiper with dark wings. I had seen this bird in Hong Kong, but got improved photos this trip.

Green Sandpiper

And in flight.

Green Sandpiper

The 8" Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) is almost identical to our Spotted Sandpiper, but does not have spots in breeding plumage. It has the similar white shoulder patch. I had photographed this bird in Hong Kong before, but I got a much better photo this trip.

Common Sandpiper

The last sandpiper is the 22"  Eurasion Curlew (Numenius arquata). It is pale gray brownish, with the typical long down curved curlew bill. He has a crab in his bill.

Eurasian Curlew

I also got a better photo of the 17" Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta). This is the only avocet in the area. It is black and white with an upturned bill.

Pied Avocet

I have put the different bird families in single folders for easy viewing

I have photos of 44 of the 93 species of sandpipers.

I have photos of 4 of the 10 species of avocets and stilts


Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2018 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.

Bulletin 302 - China #2 - Bulbuls, Dipper and Lark

I had an 8 day birding to trip in eastern China with a wonderful guide Lin Zhang based in Shanghai. He is perfectly fluent in English. We visited 5 different locales. His website is here. FYI making contact within China by email is a problem as the government blocks some email accounts, including gmail.  So I had to contact him using MS Outlook. His email is zhanglinas@hotmail.com.

The bulbuls are an old word family of medium sized songbirds. There are 154 species in the family. Some are popular as cage birds and 1 species can be found in the USA as an escaped bird. I saw several new ones on this trip. The sexes are similar. The most colorful was the 8.5" Collared Finchbill (Spizixos semitorques). This bird is IDed by the black head, white neck collar and the rest of the bird is olive. 

Collared Finchbill

The 8" Chestnut Bulbul (Hemixos castanonotos) has a black cap, chestnut face, and back, white underparts and gray wings and tail.

Chestnut Bulbul

The 8.5" Brown-breasted Bulbul (Pycnonotus xanthorrhus) has a black head, brown back wings and tail, white underparts except brown chest band and bright yellow undertail. There were several of these birds flycatching over a small pond and the bright yellow was what caught my eye.

Brown-breasted Bulbul

The last was the 9" Mountain Bulbul (Ixos mcclellandii) is rather dull with olive wings and tail, grayish back, rufous on neck and breast and white streaking on gray throat and crown.

Mountain Bulbul

The dippers are a tiny family of aquatic songbirds consisting of just 5 species. They are plump birds with short tails that feed along mountain streams, often submerging to find insect larvae. The 8" Brown Dipper (Cinclus pallasii) is the species occurring from the central Asia eastward. The adult is all dark brown with a black bill. We saw several along a mountain stream on the 3rd day. I love watching dippers and so it was a treat to see this life bird.

Brown Dipper

Larks are a family of 98 species with all except the common Horned Lark being in the old world. The 5.5" Oriental Skylark (Alauda gulgula) is rich brown. I was lucky as this bird landed very close while we were watching for other birds. Usually skylarks are just seen flying.

Oriental Skylark

I have put the different bird families in single folders for easy viewing

I have photos of 7 of the 153 species of bulbul.

I have photos of 3 of the 5 species of dippers.

I have photos of 3 of the 98 species of larks.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2018 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.