Yesterday morning, as the weekend smog had been cleared by a moderate (but cold!) northerly wind, I made a last-minute decision to visit Miyun. On arrival at 0630 on a Monday morning I expected to have the place to myself but around 10 minutes later Swedish birder Jan-Erik Nilsen arrived and, a couple of hours later, a minibus of Beijing birders joined us, the latter including two exotic visitors, Rui and Yaya from Xinjiang! (lovely to see you guys!).
It was great to see so many birders and, although the Beijing group missed the GREAT WHITE PELICAN, which flew strongly north at 0905 (maybe gone for good after over 3 weeks on site?), there were plenty of birds to see. A flock of over 800 BEAN GEESE, including at least 2 GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE and a single SWAN GOOSE, made for a spectacular sight when they were occasionally flushed by a light aircraft… I just love the noise of a flock of geese in flight, one of nature’s most magical sounds.
Up to 3 PEREGRINES and 2 SAKERS roamed the area and we watched one juvenile PEREGRINE harassing an AVOCET, even hovering over the water as the latter made a desperate dive to escape its attention. Soon after we saw the same PEREGRINE carrying prey and, fortunately for us, it settled on the mud in front of us to devour it. A gory scene, fit for forthcoming Halloween!
As the day wore on, a handful of cranes dropped in, including 25 of the beautiful WHITE-NAPED (encouragingly, several parties containing juveniles) and a few COMMON. A ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD passed to the east providing excellent views and a handful of distant MONGOLIAN LARKS flew north…
With the water level so low at Miyun (apparently in preparation for receiving trillions of gallons from the great south-north water diversion project), the birding is currently spectacular with the traditional viewpoint at Houbajiazhuang offering superb views of usually difficult to see birds. With so many great birds being found at this site, it’s extremely hard to tear oneself away to visit other sites… so who knows what we are missing at Wild Duck Lake? After the recent emergence of the 31 August Spoon-billed Sandpiper record at that site, I don’t want to think about it…
The LESSER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE is classified as VULNERABLE by BirdLife International because “it has suffered a rapid population reduction in its key breeding population in Russia, and equivalent declines are predicted to continue. The Fennoscandian population has undergone a severe historical decline, and has not yet recovered.”
Thousands of the eastern population breed in northeast Russia and winter in central China. It is perhaps surprisingly rare in Beijing with fewer than 10? records. It is undoubtedly overlooked amongst large flocks of BEAN GEESE.
This autumn, the very low water level at Miyun Reservoir has uncovered a large flat area of grass and mud that is proving attractive to many species, including geese, cranes and bustards. And, with the close by hillocks at Houbajiazhuang offering a superb vantage point, it is an exceptional year to observe them.
Amongst the early arrivals of Bean Geese, a flock of 40+ LESSER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE have dropped in. They have been present for around a week and, on Wednesday, I was able to secure this video. Superb birds and, side by side with a few GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GEESE, it’s a brilliant opportunity to compare these two similar species.
This GREAT WHITE PELICAN (白鹈鹕, Pelecanus onocrotalus) was first seen on 5 October and, after going missing for a few days, presumably the same was seen again on 18 October and it now looks settled close to Houbajiazhuang at Miyun Reservoir. It spends most of its time asleep on the mud but, occasionally, makes short flights to the water where it feeds in its distinctive pelican fashion.
The flights provide an opportunity to photograph it and, luckily for us, the pelican spent a few minutes preening before it’s first flight of the day at around 1630 on Wednesday, allowing me to capture this short video.
Great White Pelican, Miyun Reservoir, 22 October 2014.
On Wednesday, around the time of finding the RED-THROATED LOON, a huge flock of BRAMBLINGS dropped in to some trees and shrubs close to our watchpoint before proceeding to the edge of the reservoir to drink…. We estimated over 500 in this single flock – an awesome sight. As in the UK, Bramblings are winter visitors to Beijing and right now they are streaming through.. beautiful birds.
This autumn is set to go down in Beijing birding history as the best ever (so far!). As well as the Holy Trinity of Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Swinhoe’s Rail and Streaked Reed Warbler, there has been a stunning supporting cast.
Yesterday at Miyun Reservoir, there were two more additions to the seemingly never ending list of rarities to be found in Beijing this autumn.
First, regular Beijing visitor, Dutch birder Ben Wielstra, picked up a BLACK-WINGED KITE loitering over the Chao He valley to the north and then, around lunchtime, whilst scanning through a group of distant GREAT CRESTED GREBES in the hope of finding a RED-NECKED GREBE, I spotted a loon. As soon as I had described to the others where it was, it was flushed by a fishing boat and took flight.. We all managed to get onto it and, as it flew, we were hastily discussing whether it was the more likely PACIFIC or BLACK-THROATED or the much rarer RED-THROATED. Despite the distance, Paul Holt was already suspecting it was a RED-THROATED and, fortunately, it flew towards us and landed in a bay much closer, but still some distance away. As soon as it landed it was immediately clear it was a RED-THROATED LOON, a species that with which I am very familiar as a winter visitor offshore from my home village of Winterton-on-Sea in Norfolk. Wow! Once again, the Swarovski kit of the ATX95 plus iPhone and adaptor proved its worth in being able to document a distant record that, without doubt, would have been impossible with my traditional set up of a Canon 400mm lens.
There are two previous records of RED-THROATED LOON from Beijing. The first was a dead female picked up “north of the river” in Tongzhou, remarkably on the same date of 22 October, in 1932. The second was a sight record at the same site from 10-12 April 1933. So this is the first record of RED-THROATED LOON in the capital for more than 80 years!
Big thanks to Paul for the intelligence on the records from the 1930s.
The Temple of Heaven is on the itinerary for most first-time visitors to Beijing. It’s an impressive tourist site, attracting thousands of visitors daily. In spring and autumn it is also something of a migrant trap and in one small fenced off area, local bird photographers set out their stalls and wait to snap photos of the latest crop of migrants that have dropped in for a rest.
Usually, they find relatively common migrants such as Siberian Rubythroat, Siberian Blue Robin, Taiga Flycatcher or Dusky Thrush. However, on 12 October, whilst photographing a Chinese Thrush, a small rail ran across in front of the startled photographers. One of them was quick to point their lens and shoot some photos. I am not sure the photographer knew the significance of the sighting immediately.. but one of the photos was circulated and one of the recipients, Wei Min, forwarded it on to the Birding Beijing WeChat group where, as you can imagine, it caused quite a stir!
I don’t have permission to publish the photo on this blog but you can see the photos by clicking here. They are probably the best ever photos of SWINHOE’S RAIL in the wild. It’s a tough bird to see anywhere in the world – extremely skulking and rare, possibly very rare.
Not surprisingly, this bird represents the first record of SWINHOE’S RAIL for Beijing. However, it was only seen by a handful of photographers. Unfortunately, it appears that one of the photographers on site ‘caught’ it and, once released, it flew off into deep cover, never to be seen again. Hopeful birders tried again the next day but, despite a thorough search, it was never re-found.
This sighting continues a remarkable autumn in Beijing that has seen some incredible records, not just in terms of rare species (juvenile SPOON-BILLED SANDPIPER and STREAKED REED WARBLER take some beating !) but also some astonishing high counts of some more regular birds, for example 50,000 LITTLE BUNTINGS in one day on 26 September and over 8,000 HORNED LARKS on 15 October. A browse of the Latest Sightings page will give you some idea of the amazing birding in Beijing this autumn. Long may it continue!
Some stunning news has just reached me of a juvenile SPOON-BILLED SANDPIPER that was photographed at Yeyahu, Beijing, on 31 August by Zhang Minhao, a junior high school student. Big thanks to Huang Hanchen and Guan Xiangyu for the heads-up. Here is the photo:
Juvenile SPOON-BILLED SANDPIPER, Ma Chang, Yeyahu, Beijing, 31 August 2014. Photo by Zhang Minhao.
And here is Zhang Minhao’s personal account:
A Brief Account for the Record of a Juvenile Spoonbill Sandpiper in Beijing by Zhang Minhao, October 16, 2014.
“The Spoon-billed Sandpiper was photographed at Machang, Yeyahu, Yanqing County, Beijing, on August 31, 2014.
At around 09:45am on 31 August 2014 I was observing Red-necked Stints, Long-toed Stints, and Long-billed Plovers near a large area of water on the edge of Guanting Reservoir. This area is known as Ma Chang, Wild Duck Lake. In order to avoid missing the distant shorebirds, I checked the areas where the Red-necked Stints were located by looking through my camera, and took pictures of the birds I could see.
When reviewing my photographs I recognised something distinctive, a juvenile Spoon-billed Sandpiper. The time of the photograph was 09:49am.
The single Spoon-billed Sandpiper foraged and preened alone, without mixing with other species. And there were no other Spoon-billed Sandpipers around it. About 3 minutes later 3 Red-necked Stints flew to its vicinity causing the Spoon-billed Sandpiper to fly and it alighted further away on the mudflat. But when I got there the Spoon-billed Sandpiper was not to be seen and it was never seen again.”
(Thanks to Guan Xiangyu for contacting Zhang Minhao about this account and to Huang Hanchen for the translation).
There are several brilliant things about this record. First, it’s a SPOON-BILLED SANDPIPER, one of the world’s most endangered birds (see here to read about just how few remain and for details of the international effort to try to save this species). Second, it’s of a juvenile, one of very few sightings of a Spoon-billed Sandpiper of this age in the world, giving hope to the conservation effort. Third, it was found in Beijing, one of the world’s major capital cities, more than 150km from the coast. And finally, the finder was a young Chinese birder.
It’s a truly remarkable record. And I hope this sighting by Zhang Minhao inspires other young people in Beijing and beyond to take up birding and to become part of an ever-louder voice to help conserve the amazing biodiversity with which China is blessed.
On 5 October, during the National Holiday, I visited Miyun Reservoir with Marie. It was a beautiful day but with a rather chilly northerly breeze that meant the jackets didn’t come off until late morning…. On arrival, almost the first thing we saw was a distant, but still very obvious, large white bird sitting on the water. I set up the telescope and could immediately see it was a pelican… fantastic! The obvious question was which species? In Beijing there are records of two pelican species – the DALMATIAN PELICAN (卷羽鹈鹕, Pelecanus crispus), a barely annual migrant, most likely to be encountered in spring, and the much rarer GREAT WHITE PELICAN (白鹈鹕, Pelecanus onocrotalus), the latter with just two Beijing records. I have very limited experience of both, with just one sighting of Great White and two of Dalmatians, all in spring.
Separating the two is relatively straightforward given good views and, even at great distance, the species can be separated if seen in flight (Great White shows an obvious sharp contrast between the black primaries and secondaries and the white wing coverts).
Frustratingly, given the distance, I decided that it was prudent to leave the Miyun pelican unidentified unless I saw it in flight… so I decided to keep an eye on it as I scanned the other birds on the reservoir. I put out the news on the Birding Beijing WeChat group and Paul Holt, who was birding at nearby Huairou Reservoir and was already planning to come to Miyun, replied to say he’d join us in a couple of hours.
At that time, there were lots of birds moving and it soon became apparent that there was an impressive raptor passage beginning with ‘Eastern’ Buzzards, Amur Falcons, Hobbies and Kestrels all moving…
Juvenile COMMON KESTREL. One of the many raptors to pass through Miyun on 5th October.
It was this distraction that allowed the pelican to slip away unnoticed… one minute it was there, the next it was gone and we had not seen it fly…! We desperately scanned the skies thinking that, even if it had left a few minutes before, we must be able to pick up a bird of its size in the sky.. but no, it had gone!
All I had were my grainy photos taken with my iPhone through my telescope at 70x magnification.
Pelican, Miyun Reservoir, 5 October 2014. Taken on 70x magnification with an iPhone and the Swarovski ATX 95 telescope
As scheduled, Paul arrived a little later and although disappointed at not seeing the pelican himself, he suspected from the original photo that it was probably a Great White.
Even so, it was more in hope than anticipation that I circulated the image to a few respected birders and their responses delighted me – all thought there was enough to identify it as a Great White!
“I don’t see a problem in ID-ing your Miyun birds as Great White:
– general very white colouration, colour of breast – “dent” in upper head, smooth outline of head (no shaggy crest) –> characteristic head profile – colour of pouch – rosy area around eye (poorly visible on photo, but apparently there)”
Axel summed up the ID criteria very well and, when combined with positive responses from Paul Holt and Colm Moore, I am very happy to call this Beijing’s 3rd record of GREAT WHITE PELICAN.
Even without the pelican, it was a brilliant day’s birding in stunning surroundings.. Miyun is spectacular when the air and weather behave themselves… Here is a photo of Paul and me enjoying the birding that day..
The author (left) and Paul Holt enjoying a brilliant day at Miyun Reservoir. Photo by Marie.
Big thanks to Marie for her great company throughout the day and to Axel, Paul and Colm for taking the time to provide me with their much-valued opinions on the identification of this pelican.
I must also thank Swarovski. The ATX95 with iPhone adaptor makes it possible to capture images at such an incredible distance… and this bird would have been in the records as “pelican sp” had it not been for the photo I was able to capture using this impressive kit.
Back in February 2012 I saw my first Water Rail in China… Remarkably it was a Western Water Rail and not the expected Eastern Water Rail (now a separate species – “Brown-cheeked Rail”).
In a sign of just how difficult it is to see Brown-cheeked Rail in Beijing, it was only this Spring that I saw my first, more than 2 years since that Western in the Olympic Forest Park.
So it was a big surprise to see a minimum of 4 Brown-cheeked Rails at Miyun last week. It was reassuring that the first one I saw was noticeably different to Western. It was darker overall, caused by the larger dark centres to the feathers on the upperparts, the face was darker, almost with a mask, the undertail coverts were heavily marked and there was a brownish wash on the breast, all combining to give Brown-cheeked Rail a distinctive appearance.
Here is some video of one of the four present.
And here are some stills of both Brown-cheeked and Western Water Rail for comparison:
Brown-cheeked Rail, Miyun, September 2014. Note the larger dark centres to the feathers on the upperparts and the more marked face.‘Western’ Water Rail, Olympic Forest Park, Beijing. Note the relatively plain face pattern and grey (not grey-brown) underparts.Brown-cheeked Rail, Miyun. Note the heavily marked undertail coverts.‘Western’ Water Rail, Olympic Forest Park, February 2012. The undertail coverts are unmarked.
Finally, this is a recording of the call of one the Miyun birds… quite different to the usual ‘squeal’ from Western Water Rail that I am used to from home.
Easy, eh? Although Western is a (probably regular) vagrant to eastern China, it’s unlikely that Brown-cheeked will ever make it to the Western Palearctic as its breeding range is restricted to eastern China, far southeast Russia, Japan and the Koreas. The range of the subspecies of Western and Eastern (part of the 2010 paper by Tavares, de Kroon and Baker indicating that they are separate species) can be seen here.
PEREGRINE (Falco peregrinus, 游隼) is not a common bird in Beijing. I have sometimes seen one or two on passage in autumn and spring and occasionally it’s seen in winter. I suspect it breeds in the mountains in small numbers (I have seen juveniles at Wulingshan, just over the border in Hebei, in July).
Most of the birds we see in Beijing look like pretty standard Peregrines, most likely of the subspecies peregrinus or japonensis. However, occasionally, we see one that looks small with rufous underparts, reminiscent of Shaheen Falcon (ssp peregrinator). One such bird was seen on 1 September 2013 at Miyun (photos below).
Peregrine of the subspecies peregrinator. Note the rufous underprts contrasting with the pale throat and upper breast. In the field this bird was small and sported a very dark cap, all features consistent with this southern subspecies. The first record for Beijing and, possibly, for northeast China.
And on Friday this week, Paul Holt and I saw another that we suspected could be a Shaheen. Although it was very distant, I was able to record some video of this bird.
According to literature, ssp peregrinator breeds in India and across to Vietnam and southern China and is non-migratory. It shouldn’t be anywhere near Beijing. A range map of the various subspecies of Peregrine can be seen here.I’d love to hear views from those familiar with ssp peregrinator as to whether they think this bird is of this subspecies.
Phalaropes are rare in Beijing. So when one flew in from the north and landed on the water just a few hundred metres from our watchpoint at Miyun Reservoir on Friday, Paul and I were pretty excited. Our first instinct was that it would probably be the more regular (but still rare) Red-necked Phalarope. However, as soon as we trained our telescopes onto the newly-arrived, and clearly tired, bird we suspected it was the much rarer GREY PHALAROPE (or RED PHALAROPE, Phalaropus fulicarius, 灰瓣蹼鷸). A closer view was required. So we slowly made our way towards the west from where we would have a closer view.
The best way to distinguish these two similar species in non-breeding plumage is the structure of the bill. On Red-necked it is long, fine and pointed, on Grey more robust and relatively blunt. For juveniles, there is also an important additional difference in moult timings. Juvenile Red-necked Phalaropes tends to retain their darker juvenile plumage into late autumn (well into October). Juvenile Grey Phalaropes moults earlier, often showing the typically grey mantle feathers by late August/September.
As can be seen in the photos and video below, the Miyun bird has quite an advanced moult with few retained juvenile scapulars and mantle feathers. It also showed a beautiful peachy wash to the neck, another good feature of juvenile Grey Phalarope.
Record images taken with iPhone and Swarovski ATX95.
Unfortunately, as we moved towards what would have been an even better viewing position, the bird vanished and despite extensive searching, it wasn’t seen again for the rest of the day. It was present for just one hour (from 1035-1140). After putting out the news, three birders from the city (Jennifer Leung, “Yu Yan” and Zhuang Weimin) came to Miyun to try to see it but unfortunately left without seeing this rare visitor. Despite missing the phalarope, there was plenty on offer to keep them entertained.
The phalarope – representing the second record for Beijing of this species (with fewer than 10 records in all of China!) – was the icing on the cake of a fantastic day at Miyun. The habitat there right now is the best I have ever seen – a relatively low water level offering superb habitat for shorebirds and – due to the very high water levels in the spring – very little maize cultivation near to the shore, meaning that most of the fields around the reservoir are full of wild vegetation – perfect for migrating buntings, pipits, rubythroats and who knows what else!?
Full list of species below. Big thanks to Paul Holt for taking extensive notes.
Weather
A reasonable day – until the early evening when there was a heavy thunderstorm. Cool in the early morning – 15˚C when we left Sanlitun in urban Beijing at 05h05 but just 9˚C when we reached Hou Ba Jia Zhuang at 06h20. The day’s peak was probably about 26˚C there. Reasonable long-range visibility – perhaps about 10 kilometres in the very early morning though this gradually reduced during the morning. There was a light northerly breeze in the early morning this switching around to a south-south-west by about 09h30. This wind gradually stiffened during the day. The skies darkened quite suddenly around 16h15 & it wasn’t long before we became aware of an approaching thunderstorm. It started to rain just as we were leaving at 17h00 & continued to do so, on & off & sometimes quite heavily, until we arrived back at about 19h00.
Taiga Bean Goose 8, a family party of tree (two adults & a juvenile) & another family party of five (two adults & three juveniles). An early date for so many.
Tundra Bean Goose 1. It was presumably the bird that’s now been present at this site for three weeks or so.
Greater White-fronted Goose 1 adult. An early date. Previous autumn reports of 1-6 (& once 31) birds span the period 1 October – 8 November while single reports in mid-June, August & September are thought to possibly relate to escapes.
Short-toed Snake Eagle 3. At one stage all three were visible in the air together.
Japanese Sparrowhawk 2 separate juveniles flew south
Eurasian Sparrowhawk 11, all juveniles, flew south
Eastern Marsh Harrier 3
Hen Harrier 1 juvenile. Interestingly another ringtail was seen over the Wangjinglou raptor watch point today (per Jennifer Leung – though at least one other Hen Harrier had been seen there a few days previously this autumn). Although there are four reports, all from Wild Duck Lake, involving five birds in August – ‘present’ on 4/8/2009 (韩冬, 天天, 东方云雀, Mogan(音)(美)和他的妈妈 via BirdTalker); one on 14/8/2010 (Brian Ivon Jones via BirdTalker); one on 27/8/2005 [ZLi in 2006 CBR] and two on 27/8/2006 (天台, lidove, Tim via BirdTalker) and 28 reports totalling 55 bird-days in September most of these reports are believed, by the author, to be erroneous. Genuine autumn passage probably doesn’t commence until the end of September and peaks in the second half of October and first week of November. The two highest autumn counts were both in late October 2007 and involved 17 (13 ringtails and four adult males) at a pre-roost gathering at Miyun reservoir in the early evening of the 19/10/2007 (PH pers. obs.) and, just over one week later, 19 that were counted at Wild Duck Lake during 27-28/10/2007 (高校观鸟赛总记录 via BirdTalker).
Pied Harrier 4, three juveniles & an adult male
Black Kite 3, two juveniles & an adult
Eastern Buzzard 1. Totally absent in summer, autumn migration starts in early September. The average first date between 2003-2012 is the 13 September and there are reports of single birds in three of the last ten years during the first week of that month with the earliest being the 3rd September 2005 when one was ‘present’ at Wild Duck Lake [科目, 田竹, 舒晓楠, bmlee, cccp, midway, 王沁一家及福建鸟友青竹瘦. via BirdTalker). There’s typically a marked influx during the second half of that month with a pronounced peak between the 29th September and 14 October (a 16 day period that accounts for 70% of the total autumn bird-days) before declining to the end of October.
Brown-cheeked Rail 1 was heard. Previous early autumn Beijing records include- one at Shahe Reservoir, Changping on 19/9/2004 [LHY in 2004 CBR], four at Zhongguocanaoguanliz, Shunyi on 28/9/2008 (birdslover via BirdTalker) & one at Shahe reservoir on 19/8/2010 (Jan-Erik Nilsén)
Eurasian Coot 190
Pied Avocet 1
Grey-headed Lapwing 1
Pacific Golden Plover 23
Grey Plover 2
Common Snipe 15
Black-tailed Godwit 20 juveniles
Spotted Redshank 50. All of those seen well (30+ birds) were juveniles.
Common Greenshank 4 juveniles
Wood Sandpiper 4
Red-necked Stint 1
Temminck’s Stint 5
Curlew Sandpiper 5 juveniles
Ruff 1 juvenile male
GREY PHALAROPE 1 juvenile moulting to first-winter. Video recorded. The previous Beijing record was one that was photographed at Shahe reservoir, Changping on the 12 November 2010 (Guan Xiangyu et al.).
Black-headed Gull 140
Mongolian Gull 4, an adult & three juveniles
Common Tern 1 juvenile
Oriental Turtle Dove 1
Eurasian Collared Dove 2 together
Spotted Dove 2 together
Pacific Swift 1 flew south
Common Kingfisher 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker 2
Common Kestrel 5
Amur Falcon 6
Eurasian Hobby 2
Saker Falcon 2 separate juveniles flew purposefully south. The first at 07h40, the second at 12h47.
Peregrine Falcon 2, including a juvenile peregrinator or ‘Shaheen’
Brown Shrike 1
Chinese Grey Shrike 2
Red-billed Blue Magpie 4
Eurasian Magpie 25
Yellow-bellied Tit 2
Japanese Tit 6
Chinese Penduline Tit 1 was heard
Eurasian Skylark 8. A fairly typical first autumn date.
Light-vented Bulbul 1
Sand Martin 3
Barn Swallow 350, including perhaps as many as 10 saturata
Red-rumped Swallow 400
Dusky Warbler 5
Radde’s Warbler 5
Yellow-browed Warbler 5
Oriental Reed Warbler 1
Black-browed Reed Warbler 10
Baikal (David’s) Bush Warbler 1
Lanceolated Warbler 3, one seen & the other two only heard
Zitting Cisticola 4
Plain Laughingthrush 1 heard
Chinese Hill Babbler 2
white-eye sp. 1 was heard
White-cheeked Starling 1
Common Starling 1. Perhaps the second earliest autumn Beijing record? Jan-Erik Nilsen, saw one at Miyun on the 17 Sept. 2012 and this is the earliest ever autumn record from the Capital just pre-dating one at Wild Duck Lake (WDL) on either 23rd or 24th 2010 (report is unclear on exactly which date) by Brian Jones. These are the only two September reports that I know of for Beijing and they’re not followed until four at WDL on either 3rd or 4 October (2010) but it’s the middle of that month before Common Starling becomes anything like regular. Autumn passage peaks in the second half of October. Two at WDL on the 6 Nov (2011) is the latest autumn report from Beijing (& the only record from that month).
Bluethroat 5
Siberian Rubythroat 7
Taiga Flycatcher 1
Daurian Redstart 1
Stejneger’s Stonechat 20
Eurasian Tree Sparrow 50
Eastern Yellow Wagtail 50, including 15 macronyx & one taivana
Grey Wagtail 3
White Wagtail 30, including 13 leucopsis & 15 ocularis
Richard’s Pipit 23
Blyth’s Pipit 3
Olive-backed Pipit 60
Red-throated Pipit 8
Brambling 1 was heard. Possibly the earliest ever autumn record from Beijing.. On the Hebei coast the first birds of the autumn are typically encountered in the last week of September but there appears to be just one previous Beijing record from that month, a single bird in Chaoyang Park on 23/9/2010 (Jan-Erik Nilsén). Autumn migration probably peaks in late October/early November.
Chinese Grey Shrike (Lanus sphenocercus) is an occasional breeder but predominantly a passage migrant and winter visitor to Beijing. It’s a beast of a shrike and always a joy to see. Unlike the shrikes I used to see in the UK, Chinese Grey is vocal and its call is often the first giveaway to its presence. In early September the first few of these birds are arriving in the capital at suitable sites such as Miyun Reservoir and Yeyahu.
This one was recorded at Miyun last weekend. Unfortunately for Western Palearctic birders, it’s not a long-distance migrant and therefore an unlikely vagrant to Europe.
SIBERIAN RUBYTHROAT (Luscinia calliope) is a migrant through Beijing and mid- to late-September is the peak time. This morning there were three – two adult males and a female – in just one small patch of scrub at Miyun Reservoir. One of the males was uncharacteristically showy and I took the opportunity to film him. Towards the end of the video he is even singing (although the microphone facility on my iPhone isn’t quite up to the standard of the video).
Definitely a species I dreamt of finding on my original home patch of Winterton-on-Sea in Norfolk…
Ok, they aren’t birds, but FINLESS PORPOISES are one of the features of Laotieshan. On calm days it is not unusual to see more than 10 of these cetaceans loafing around. Here’s a short video of these mammals hanging around a local fishing boat…
I have just returned from a few days with Paul Holt and Marie Louise at the brilliant visible migration watchpoint that is Laotieshan in Liaoning Province. Learned lots, as we always do when we visit this superb place. Paul is staying on for a few days and a full report will be available soon but I’ll blog about a few of my highlights over the next few days. First up is a video compilation of a few of the 15+ STEJNEGER’S STONECHATS that frequented the point on 9 September. Remarkably different from the stonechats with which I recently re-acquainted myself at Winterton-on-Sea in Norfolk….!
Monday and Tuesday were awful in Beijing with rain, wind and relatively chilly temperatures for the time of year. So it was with relief and a sense of expectation that Wednesday dawned clear, sunny and with expansive blue skies…. Any bad weather during the migration season can cause birds to make unscheduled stops and often the first good day after rainy weather can be very productive for birders.
And so, on Wednesday morning, after a ‘birdy’ few minutes on his local patch that included finding an Eye-browed Thrush, Paul Holt knew there had been a ‘fall’ of migrants and immediately abandoned his tiny area of urban scrub for potentially more productive sites.. He was rewarded with an exceptional find – a first for Beijing no less – in the shape of an adult SLENDER-BILLED GULL (细嘴鸥, Chroicocephalus genei) at Miyun Reservoir.
The nearest known breeding grounds of this gull are in Kazakhstan, 3-4,000 kilometres to the west. And so, as one might expect, it’s a rare bird in China, with the possible exception of Xinjiang Province in the far north-west where it appears to be fairly regular since the first record there in 2008. There are a handful of records from Hong Kong and also from well-watched Hebei coast around Beidaihe/Happy Island but elsewhere in China it’s very rare.
After Paul put out the news on the Birding Beijing WeChat group, I decided to make the trip and, along with Jennifer Leung, I was on site by 1600. Fortunately, we saw it immediately. Later in the afternoon it came close enough for me to take some record photos and a short video using my iPhone and Swarovski ATX95 set-up.
Adult SLENDER-BILLED GULL with Black-headed Gull, Miyun Reservoir, 3 September 2014. The first record for Beijing.
This gull turned up at exactly the same spot as the recent LESSER FRIGATEBIRD (see previous post).
Miyun Reservoir is simply stunning on a clear, blue-sky day…
Given there are so few birders in Beijing and no site is well-watched, who knows what would be seen if this site was covered on a regular basis?! There is so much opportunity for discovery, and some of the sites are stunningly beautiful, which is what makes birding in Beijing so brilliant…!
After participating in Sunbird’s tour of Qinghai and Tibet, led by Paul Holt, German birder Henning Lege decided to stay on for a spot of birding in Beijing. On 20 August he visited Miyun Reservoir, one of Beijing’s premier birding sites, where he found a juvenile LESSER FRIGATEBIRD (白斑军舰鸟, Fregata ariel) – the third record of this species in Beijing. Fortunately there were some Chinese birders from the Beijing Birdwatching Society, including its President, Ms Fu Jianping, on site with whom Henning could share his excitement. And, on his return to Beijing, he was quick to alert Paul who immediately circulated a message via the rapidly growing Birding Beijing WeChat group, meaning that local birders were alerted and had an opportunity to see it. Since its discovery on 20 August several groups of birders and photographers (possibly more than 20 in total) have visited and enjoyed this spectacular, almost prehistoric-looking bird, meaning it must be one of Beijing’s most “twitched” rarities ever.
With the nearest coast around 150km away, seabirds are, not surprisingly, hard to see in Beijing. There is only one record of a skua (a Long-tailed) and even species such as Saunders’s Gull and Great Knot (not uncommon on the coast), have never reliably been recorded in the capital. So it is perhaps surprising that three LESSER FRIGATEBIRDS – truly pelagic birds – have made it to Beijing.
The previous two Beijing sightings were both in April – in 2007 and 2011. The first was photographed by Hong Wanping at Shahe Reservoir, Changping 14 April 2007 (see China J. of Zoology (2011.4) Lesser Frigatebird, Shahe reservoir, April 2007 for a brief account). The second was seen, and photographed, at the Ming Tombs Reservoir (Shisanling Reservoir) on 7 April 2011.
LESSER FRIGATEBIRD is rare anywhere in China, though it may be just about annual in Hong Kong where regular pelagic trips are now taking place. There are reports from most coastal provinces from Guangxi to Guangdong, and Fujian north to Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Tianjin & Liaoning. Although we are not aware of any records from coastal Hebei, there are two reports of GREATER FRIGATEBIRD from Beidaihe, Qinhuangdao, Hebei with an immature on 6 June 1996 (Thalund et al. 1994) being the second of these.
One can only assume that this most recent bird was displaced by one of the recent tropical storms, possibly Typhoon Halong that hit east Asia in early August.
Thankfully, documentation of this record has not been difficult. In addition to Henning’s notes, China is blessed with some superb bird photographers. The brilliant set of photos below is by Zhang Weimin with an additional stunning photo by Huang Hanchen, to both of whom big thanks are in order for allowing me to reproduce their wonderful photos for this post.
This photo of the Lesser Frigatebird by Huang Hanchen
According to The Handbook Of The Birds Of The World (HBW), the LESSER FRIGATEBIRD breeds on small, remote tropical and sub-tropical islands, in mangroves or bushes, and even on bare ground on islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It feeds mainly on fish (especially flying-fish) and squid, but also on seabird eggs and chicks, carrion and fish scraps (del Hoyo et al. 1992). It is “kleptoparasitic” – a great word that means it habitually steals food from other species.
Unfortunately for Paul and me, this bird was found whilst we were overseas, Paul in Canada and me in the UK. After arriving back in Beijing on Saturday morning I visited the site with Paul and local birders Wu Lan and Zhao Min on Sunday and despite staying all day, we failed to see it. The last documented sighting was on Friday 29 August. Unless it has been hiding effectively for the last couple of days, it has almost certainly moved on, hopefully on its way back to the Pacific Ocean where it belongs.
Big thanks again to Zhang Weimin and Huang Hanchen for the use of their photographs, to Paul Holt for the information about the status of Lesser Frigatebird in Beijing (and China) and to everyone on the WeChat group who provided updates about the bird’s whereabouts during its stay at Miyun Reservoir.
This week I visited Nanpu with Jennifer Leung and Ben Wielstra. This site, on the Hebei coast just 2.5 hours from Beijing, offers world class shorebirding. With tens of thousands of waders, thousands of marsh terns and some rare East Asian specialities such as RELICT and SAUNDERS’S GULLS and ASIAN DOWITCHER, this site is hard to beat. Throw in some visible migration and the passerine migrant magnet of the tiny “Magic Wood” and it’s a wonderful place to spend a few days birding.
Here is a sample of just how many birds are on show here at this time of the year…
One of the most abundant shorebirds is the SHARP-TAILED SANDPIPER which can be found on the settling pools, the banks of tidal creeks and on the mudflats themselves. Of the 1000s seen over the visit, we saw only two juveniles. This one is an adult.
Adult SHARP-TAILED SANDPIPER, Nanpu, 14 August 2014
The spectacle of 1000s of waders arriving at the mudflats, as the mud becomes exposed on the falling tide, is superb… I counted 834 GREAT KNOT on the 14th and, at a different site, over 700 on 15th.. including a couple of colour-flagged birds with individual engravings.
Here is a short video of some of the GREAT KNOT shortly after they arrived at the first exposed mud. The sharp-eyed will notice one of the birds is colour-flagged with a combination of black over white on the upper right leg.
One of the GREAT KNOT sported a yellow flag with the letters “UWE”. On return to Beijing I reported it to the Aussie shorebirders and, within minutes, I had received a reply with the individual history of this bird. Our sighting was the first of this individual outside Australia…
Banding of “UWE”
06/03/2011 Boiler Point, Roebuck Bay, Broome(-18.00, 122.37)Australia 06313620 (UWE) Aged 2+
ResightingUWE
03/10/2011 Boiler Point, Roebuck Bay, Broome(17.00, 122.00)Australia Chris Hassell & Clare Morton
12/10/2011 Boiler Point, Roebuck Bay, Broome (17.00, 122.00) Australia Chris Hassell & Clare Morton
13/10/2011 Boiler Point, Roebuck Bay, Broome(17.00, 122.00)Australia Chris Hassell & Clare Morton
01/11/2011 Minton’s Straight(-17.98, 122.35)Australia Chris Hassell & Clare Morton
16/12/2011 Boiler Point, Roebuck Bay, Broome(17.00, 122.00)Australia Chris Hassell
18/12/2011 Boiler Point, Roebuck Bay, Broome(17.00, 122.00)Australia Chris Hassell
19/02/2013 Boiler Point, Roebuck Bay, Broome(17.00, 122.00)Australia Chris Hassell
20/12/2013 Minton’s Straight(-17.98, 122.35)Australia Chris Hassell
14/08/2014 Nan Pu, Bohai Bay(39.04, 118.36)China (mainland) Terry Townshend, Jennifer Leung & Ben Wielstra
Among the large numbers of GREAT KNOT were some RED KNOT and this photo shows the two species together, allowing a direct comparison. Note the size difference plus the difference in underpart markings, bill length and shape.
Great Knot with Red Knot, Nanpu, 15 August 2014
One of Nanpu’s specialities is the RELICT GULL. Although it’s primarily a wintering location, a few non-breeders remain all year round and it’s possible to see this species at any time of the year. Right now, the breeding birds are returning to the coast, along with a few first year juveniles. We saw at least three of this year’s young amongst more than 100 of these beautiful gulls. Here is an adult just beginning to moult out of breeding plumage:
Although Nanpu is primarily a shorebird site, its location on the east China coast means it is also an excellent place to witness visible migration. Even though our visit was in mid-August, we witnessed a nice passage of RICHARD’S PIPITS and YELLOW WAGTAILS and the “Magic Wood” – a tiny patch of trees and shrubs in the middle of the vast open area of ponds – hosted at least 8 EASTERN CROWNED and 6 ARCTIC WARBLERS as well as YELLOW-RUMPED, ASIAN BROWN, GREY-STREAKED and DARK-SIDED FLYCATCHERS. I can only imagine what this newly discovered ‘oasis’ will be like in September and October.
A nice surprise was this adult male DAURIAN STARLING, a scarce passage migrant in the Beijing/Hebei area.
And an even bigger surprise was an unseasonal PALLAS’S SANDGROUSE that flew backwards and forwards just inland from the sea wall and settled on some rough ground between some ‘nodding donkeys’. Bizarre.
All in all it was a brilliant few days. The full species list is below. Big thanks to Jennifer and Ben for their great company… itching to get back already!
Jennifer scanning waders on one of the pools at Nanpu.Ben watching GREAT KNOT from the bridge at Nanpu
Species List
Common Pheasant – 1 juvenile near the seawall on 15th
Common Shelduck – 1 juvenile on 14th
Spot-billed Duck – 6
Little Grebe – 3 on the pond at the sea wall by the police building
Black-crowned Night Heron – 4 in “Magic Wood” on 14th
Chinese Pond Heron – 1 in flight on 13th and 1 on 15th
Grey Heron – 6
Little Egret – 14
Chinese Egret – 2 on 14th near the bridge where the tidal channel runs into the sea and one on 15th
Great Cormorant – 287 flew in to roost on the ponds at 1745 on 14th
Common Kestrel – 2 (both females)
Amur Falcon – 2 (both adult females)
Black-winged Stilt – not counted but 1000s
Pied Avocet – not counted but 1000s
Grey Plover – 27 on 15th
Little Ringed Plover – c75
Kentish Plover – c500
Lesser Sand Plover – 1 in summer plumage from the bridge at the seawall
Greater Sand Plover – 2 adults in winter plumage on the ponds
Asian Dowitcher – at least 15, including 5 feeding on the falling tide on 15th
Black-tailed Godwit – c700 on 14th
Bar-tailed Godwit – c80
Whimbrel – 23
Eurasian Curlew – 14
Far Eastern Curlew – 29
Spotted Redshank – not counted but estimate of several hundred
Common Redshank – much less common than Spotted bt still 50+
Marsh Sandpiper – 1000s
Common Greenshank – 18
Green Sandpiper – 2
Wood Sandpiper –
Grey-tailed Tattler – 3
Terek Sandpiper – 8
Common Sandpiper – 16
Ruddy Turnstone – 14
Great Knot – 832 counted on 14th from the bridge. 700+ counted on morning of 15th from east of the oil terminal causeway…
Red Knot – at least 30 in total
Red-necked Stint – c40 (never found a substantial concentration of stints)
Temminck’s Stint – 1
Long-toed Stint – 5
Sharp-tailed Sandpiper – 1000s
Curlew Sandpiper – 20
Dunlin – 8
Broad-billed Sandpiper – 3
Ruff – 1 ad male
Red-necked Phalarope – 1 adult (male?)
Black-tailed Gull – 160
Mongolian Gull – 2 adults
Relict Gull – 105 counted on 14th
Black-headed Gull – c300-400
Saunders’s Gull – 6
Common Tern –
Little Tern – 38
Gull-billed Tern – 18
White-winged Tern – 1000s
Pallas’s Sandgrouse – 1 flew back and forth over the marshy area adjacent to the sea wall (viewed from the dirt track). Landed on the rough ground amongst the ‘nodding donkeys’ but not seen on the deck.
Oriental Turtle Dove – 3 around Nanpu
Spotted Dove – 1 in Nanpu
Pacific Swift – 11 flew west along the sea wall on 15th
Common Kingfisher – 1 heard at “Magic Wood”
Brown Shrike – 17 along the roadside
Black Drongo – 1 at the “ice cream” village
Azure-winged Magpie – 4 around Nanpu
Common Magpie – 12 along the roadside
Sand Martin – 12 along the seawall on 15th
Barn Swallow – 1000s
Red-rumped Swallow – 46 counted but many more present
Zitting Cisticola – 6 along the sea wall on 15th
Chinese Bulbul – 3
Thick-billed Warbler – 2 (one in “Magic Wood” on 14th and one along the seawall on 15th)
Arctic Warbler – at least 6 in “Magic Wood” on 14th
Eastern Crowned Warbler – at least 8 in “Magic Wood” on 14th
Reed Parrotbill – 6
White-eye sp – one migrated along the sea wall, seen from the bridge, on 14th
Daurian Starling – one adult male along the roadside with White-cheeked Starlings on 14th
White-cheeked Starling – 8
Dark-sided Flycatcher – 1 adult and 1 juvenile probably this species at “Magic Wood”
Grey-streaked Flycatcher – 1 adult at “Magic Wood”
Asian Brown Flycatcher – 1 adult at “Magic Wood”
Yellow-rumped Flycatcher – an adult male and an adult female at “Magic Wood” on 15th
Tree Sparrow – not counted but numerous
Yellow Wagtail – 12 on 14th and 15 on 15th
Grey Wagtail – 2 by the sea wall seen from the bridge on 14th
White Wagtail – 2
Richard’s Pipit – 28 on 14th from the bridge and 41 on 15th from the dirt track – all migrating
Blyth’s Pipit – 2 possibly this species migrating (a call similar to Richard’s plus an extra “chip”)
Yellow-breasted Bunting – two possibly this species (yellowish buntings) migrating on 14th
During my aborted trip to the Hebei coast last week, one of the birds with which I enjoyed a close encounter was this juvenile sandplover. The recovery from my appendectomy gave me some time to examine the photos and video to try to work out the identification. I found this bird tricky. It wasn’t particularly long-legged, the ‘bulge’ on the culmen wasn’t very pronounced (suggesting Lesser) but the overall gait – including the horizontal stance – suggested Greater. I was confused. So I sent this image to Dave Bakewell who has lots of experience with sandplovers and has written extensively about them on his excellent Dig Deep blog.
A juvenile Sandplover at Nanpu, Hebei Province, 2 August 2014. But which species?
His view is that this bird is a juvenile Greater. Why? This is what he said:
“Not surprised you are struggling with this one! I do find that leg colour is more reliable as a feature for juvs than adults. And, although the bill may not be fully grown (affecting the proportion of the swollen culmen), I do find the tip shape very helpful – slender and more pointed on GSP and blunter on LSP. By now you will know what I think it is! Despite the apparent dumpy, short-legged, round-headed shape, I think this is a very young juv GSP.”
Just when I thought I was getting to grips with sandplovers, I encounter a bird that makes me think again… and that’s what makes birding such a brilliant hobby – always so much to learn!
Here is some video of the same bird, just edited from footage I took last week.
Please let me know what YOU think!
EDIT: Dave Bakewell kindly sent me a link to a similar-aged juvenile Lesser Sandplover (of the atrifons group). You can see it here. It’s a darker plumaged bird overall with noticeably darker legs, darker centres to the coverts and showing a subtly different bill shape.
Early August is a great time to see a range of east Asian shorebirds on the coast of China. So last Saturday I planned to make a 2-day trip to check out Nanpu, a vast and featureless area of salt works and ponds to the south of Tangshan in Hebei Province that hosts hundreds of thousands of waders in spring and autumn.
I woke a little earlier than usual with mild abdominal pain. I put it down to the particularly spicy curry I had consumed on the Friday evening, popped a couple of paracetamol and set off. There was no way a little stomach pain was going to stop me driving the 2.5 hours to see 100,000+ waders on the coast…
As my journey progressed I was excited to see the air and cloud clearing – having started as a smoggy and cloudy day, Saturday turned into a beautifully clear, blue sky day.
On arrival I slowly drove the long road towards the coast, checking the roadside ponds. I was buoyed by a beautiful BROAD-BILLED SANDPIPER in amongst the many SHARP-TAILED SANDPIPERS, KENTISH PLOVERS and BLACK-WINGED STILTS.
I then found a superb pond filled with mostly BLACK-TAILED GODWITS, MARSH SANDPIPERS and SPOTTED REDSHANKS. As I carefully scanned, I found a group of ASIAN DOWITCHERS, a regular but fairly scarce migrant. I counted 22, 21 adults and one juvenile, in a small area. By now my abdominal pain was worsening and I was considering whether to go to a local hotel to rest or to drive back to Beijing. Whilst I was deciding what to do, I took the opportunity to record some video of the ASIAN DOWITCHERS.
After making this recording I decided to head back to Beijing; if I was going to be ill, I would much rather be in my apartment in Beijing than in a low-grade hotel in a small Chinese town. I was glad I did. When I reached my apartment late on Saturday evening, I could hardly stand up due to the pain. I called a friend and he took me to the Emergency Room of my local hospital where, after a series of tests and a CT scan, I was diagnosed with acute appendicitis. Just a few hours later I was in the recovery room after my appendectomy, feeling glad that my appendix didn’t decide to misbehave in some remote part of the developing world!
