Tag: Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

Shorebirding at Nanpu, 13-15 August 2014

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+

Resighting UWE

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

August 16, 2014
Dalian – Day Three

Day Three at Dalian was the day that Laotieshan began to deliver in style. In one 5-minute period between 0810 and 0815 we saw a White-throated Needletail, a Japanese Waxwing and a Rufous-bellied Woodpecker all fly in off the sea and head inland… followed very closely by a Merlin! Wow..

The day began at 0530 at the lighthouse and, as on the first full day, we began by birding the track that runs north-east below the lighthouse. On the entrance track we found a Rufous-tailed Robin and, almost immediately afterwards, flushed a Grey Nightjar. Then, just before we began to walk north-east we disturbed a thrush from the verge and, after it flew a short distance, we could see it was a superb Grey-backed Thrush. Not a bad start!

The track below the lighthouse was in shade and it was relatively quiet with just a Siberian Blue Robin, a couple of Asian Brown Flycatchers, an Ashy Minivet and a few Meadow and Tristram’s Buntings. The sun hits this area between 0730 and 0800 so we discussed whether, on balance, it was probably better to cover another area first thing and then return here later in the morning. After our experience in the hours that followed, we will almost certainly heed this thought when we return to Laotieshan from our northern wader sojourn on Saturday.

The reason is that we discovered a fantastic clearing on the ridge from where to watch visible migration and, between 0830 and 1030, we saw an additional 2 White-throated Needletails (off the sea and past me at head height!) and 3 House Martins (scarce in northern China), one of which was definitely a Northern House Martin and the other two not identified as either Northern or Asian. The supporting cast included 47 Fork-tailed (Pacific) Swifts, 18 Amur Falcons, 700+ Barn Swallows, 70+ Red-rumped Swallows, 15 Sand Martins, a single Merlin, 8 Hobbies, 3 Eurasian Sparrowhawks, a single Chestnut Bunting, 6 White-eyes (not identified to species) and 3 Chinese Pond Herons. On the slope we found two more White-throated Rock Thrushes (in a different location to yesterday) and on the way down I flushed an Oriental Scops Owl which perched briefly before flying off into dense cover.

It was with a heavy heart that we left Laotieshan at 1100 to travel to Dalian to meet up with Tom Beeke to cover the Jinshitan Fish Ponds in the afternoon ahead of our big wader day on Saturday (at Pikou). After meeting up with Tom, the Fish Ponds produced a stunning Sharp-tailed Sandpiper which Tom had found previously as well as 2 distant Chinese Egrets, 28 Pacific Golden Plover in stunning summer plumage, a large and close-knit flock of 65 large white-headed gulls seemingly migrating west (probably Vega but I need to check the images) as well as 3 Oriental Honey Buzzards, Chinese Penduline Tits, Oriental Reed Warbler, Zitting Cisticola etc etc..

After fantastic home-made pizza with Tom and his family, we arrived at our Jinshitan hotel at about 8.30pm and I’m writing this before I hit my bed and try to get as much sleep as possible before our 0430 start tomorrow, so apologies if this reads a little awkwardly!

White-throated Needletail, Laotieshan, 13 May 2011. Needletails are powerful flyers with a very different flying action to that of Fork-tailed Swifts

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Jinshitan, 13 May 2011. A very smart wader.

Oriental Scops Owl, Laotieshan, 13 May 2011

Full species list (in chronological order):

Laotieshan (0530-1100)

Amur Falcon (18)

Brown Shrike (14)

Great Tit (4)

Rufous-tailed Robin (1)

Grey Nightjar (1)

Grey Wagtail (3)

Grey-backed Thrush (1)

Chinese Bulbul (5)

Pallas’s Warbler (5)

Taiga Flycatcher (2)

Yellow-browed Warbler (12)

Oriental Greenfinch (6)

Richard’s Pipit (5)

Olive-backed Pipit (18) – most very early morning

Dusky Warbler (4)

Fork-tailed Swift (55)

Ashy Minivet (3)

Siberian Stonechat (2)

Tristram’s Bunting (2)

Barn Swallow (coming in off the sea at the rate of 350+ per hour)

Red-rumped Swallow (in off the sea at a rate of c35 per hour)

Asian Brown Flycatcher (2)

Radde’s Warbler (9)

Siberian Blue Robin (3)

Black-tailed Gull (150+ offshore)

Heuglin’s Gull ssp taimyrensis (1)

Yellow Wagtail (1)

Chinese Pond Heron (3)

Meadow Bunting (5)

Siberian Rubythroat (1)

Hobby (8)

White-throated Rock Thrush (2)

Common Pheasant (1)

White-throated Needletail (3) – in off sea (1 at 0810 and 2 at 1030)

Rufous-bellied Woodpecker (1) – in off sea and continued north

Japanese Waxwing (1) – in off sea and continued north

Merlin (1)

Chestnut Bunting (1)

Eurasian Sparrowhawk (3)

Chinese Hill Warbler (2)

Yellow-rumped Flycatcher (1)

Sand Martin (15)

Northern House Martin (1)

House Martin sp (either Asian or Northern) (2)

White-eye sp (6)

Oriental Scops Owl (1)

Black Drongo (2) – at the point, feeding actively and almost certainly fresh in.

Jinshitan Fish Ponds (1530-1900)

Chinese Spot-billed Duck (4)

Chinese Egret (2)

Hobby (2)

White Wagtail (2)

Whimbrel (2)

Siberian Stonechat (3)

Yellow Wagtail (3) including one of the subspecies taivana)

Sand Martin (5)

Zitting Cisticola (1)

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (1)

Common Sandpiper (1)

Greenshank (12)

Black-winged Stilt (2)

Pacific Golden Plover (28)

Marsh Sandpiper (1)

Peregrine (1)

Eastern Marsh Harrier (2)

Chinese Penduline Tit (3)

Large white-headed gull sp (65) – all in one flock at 1635 moving west

Gadwall (2)

Black-browed Reed Warbler (1)

Amur Falcon (2)

Oriental Reed Warbler (1)

Oriental Honey Buzzard (3)

Magpie (5)

Fork-tailed Swift (8)

Grey Heron (2)

Barn Swallow (34)

Little Ringed Plover (2)

Vinous-throated Parrotbill (12)

Grey Wagtail (1)

Kestrel (1)

May 13, 2011
Spooners!

A brief update on my trip to Rudong with Shanghai birders Zhang Lin and Tong Mienxu. Fuller account to follow. First, I have to blurt it out – I saw SPOON-BILLED SANDPIPER!!! In fact, I had four sightings (2 on each day, involving at least 3 different individuals). One was even self-found (a moulting adult still with some rufous on the throat).

Supporting cast of waders (there were probably around 7,000 waders on site) included 6 Nordmann’s Greenshanks, Common Greenshank, Redshank, Great Knot, Grey-tailed Tattler, Long-toed Stint, Far Eastern Curlew, Eurasian Curlew, Whimbrel, Greater and Lesser Sand Plover, Red-necked Stint, Black- and Bar-tailed Godwit, Oystercatcher (quite scarce), Kentish Plover, Dunlin, Sanderling, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper and Turnstone. Other highlights were many and included an adult male Pied Harrier (a stonking bird!), Northern Hawk Cuckoo, Reed Parrotbill, Pechora Pipit, etc etc.

No photos of Spooners (they were all seen at middle distance and, to be honest, I just enjoyed the sighting without trying to juggle camera and scope), but I have a few photos of some of the other birds (Asian Brown Flycatcher, Eastern Crowned Warbler, Reed Parrotbill etc) which I will post shortly.

More soon….

September 15, 2010