China: Poyang Hu - Wuyuan

At breakfast we watched some starlings outside the restaurant, along with Daurian Redstart, Black-faced Bunting and a Red-flanked Bluetail, whilst some White-rumped Munias were seen in the hotel grounds. We then drove a couple of hours to a strip of woodland amidst some stubble fields where we spent the next half an hour trying to get views of Yellow-browed Bunting, which eventually fell to everyone. Yellow-throated (Elegant) Buntings were numerous here and we’d now brought out bunting tally up to 12 species. 

Elegant (Yellow-throated) Bunting

There were lots of Black-faced and some Rustic & Little Buntings here as well, along with 6+ Red-flanked Bluetails, Brambling and Scaly-breasted Munia. Flocks of Taiga Bean Geese were out in the fields, along with our first Black-winged Stilts. Moving on from here to Nanjishan, another area of the vast Poyang Hu Reserve and we saw huge numbers of birds it was incredible. Just driving along we saw 30+ Eurasian Bitterns, and also roadside Buff-bellied and Red-throated Pipits. Lagoons along the road held hundreds of Greylag Geese, Trumpeter Swans, several Swan Geese, Ferruginous Duck and other common waterfowl. 

Swan Goose

Tundra Swan and Greylags

Tundra Swans

After lunch we checked out the huge lake behind the town and we were all in agreement it was “amazeballs”. There must have been almost a thousand Whiskered Terns here, with some still retaining their breeding plumage, plus a couple of White-winged Terns were spotted as well. Two Siberian Cranes were present, along with a flock of Bar-tailed Godwits, a flock of Pied Avocets, hundreds of Spotted Redshanks, Mongolian Gull, hundreds of Black-headed Gulls, another flock of Swan Geese and incredibly 360 Oriental Storks. But by now it was after 3.00pm and we had a 350km drive to Wuyuan so we drove back the same way, stopping a few times to check the ducks and get one last look at Swan Geese before finally ending a cracking days birding Gromit.

China: Poyang Hu

Still had the strong winds and a little rain today and the birding proved to be a struggle really. But we still saw 4 species of crane: Common, Hooded, White-naped and a family of Siberian this morning – so not too shabby. 

Hooded Cranes

With the wind making birding difficult we had to persevere and our first stop saw a few of us walking across some stubble fields where we put up a Japanese Quail, along with numerous Little and Black-faced Buntings, I mean hundreds of them and it really was quite a spectacle. A flock of over 30 Chinese Penduline-Tits was also pretty impressive here as well. We also saw more Buff-bellied Pipits, Oriental Greenfinch and lots of Eurasian Skylarks, plus our first Richard’s Pipit on the track as well. Around an abandoned building we stopped the bus when a flock of Chinese Grosbeaks was seen and further scrutiny revealed White-browed and Masked Laughingthrushes, Brown Crake and yet more buntings. Our next stop to view a large congregation of White-cheeked Starlings also revealed some Red-billed Starlings, Bramblings, more grosbeaks, Red-flanked Bluetail and a Brown-flanked Bush-Warbler. We had lunch in the nearby city that consisted of burgers, fries and ice-cream before checking out some fields where a Collared Crow had been reported. Unfortunately no crows and the only new bird was a pair of Ruddy Shelducks, but some Black-collared Starlings were new for a few of the group who had missed them earlier in the trip.  

  

China: Poyang Hu

We woke to gale force winds and some light rain that did little to dampen our spirits and I’m always a little amazed at the resilience of birders to cope with such tough conditions. But our perseverance did pay off with some stunningly excellent, quality, rare birds today. We began by walking 1.5kms to a large lake where we had distant views of both Siberian and White-naped Cranes, which was a little frustrating but definitely good enough to tick. I was hopeful of getting them closer at some stage during our stay here, so we scoped them and had reasonable views. There were also 8 Oriental Storks dotted around the lake, as well as brief Black-throated Bushtit, Japanese White-eyes and Vinous-throated Parrotbill on the walk in, but with the high winds it wasn’t really a day for doing passerines. So we retuned to the bus and drove to a different lake that was teeming with birds, and after scoping huge congregations of geese and ducks that were just too distant we began getting closer birds from the road. There was an amazing  number of Taiga Bean Geese and Greater White-fronted Geese here and we made several stops to scan the area, sheltering behind the bus from the wind. 

Taiga Bean Goose

Greater White-fronted Goose

It then began to rain quite steadily, just to add to the drama! But we continued birding and enjoyed nice looks at the geese, with Paul first picking out a Swan Goose and then a Lesser White-fronted Goose. What fabulous birds and 28 years since I’ve seen a Lesser White-front. We drove closer and I got some reasonable photos….. 

Lesser White-fronted Goose

Driving further along the lakeshore and a family of 3 Hooded Cranes was next up – our 6^th species of crane on this tour! 

Hooded Cranes

But by now it was after midday so we retraced our steps, stopping to view an Eurasian Bittern and then getting to grips with a few Buff-bellied (japonicas) Pipits to compare to the Water Pipit seen earlier.

Eurasian Bittern

During lunch at a restaurant in Wucheng we had Red-billed and Black-collared Starlings, some White Wagtails (lugens and ocularis races), and an Oriental Magpie Robin. Then we drove to the other side of the lake we had visited after breakfast this morning and got much closer to the 16 Siberian Cranes we had seen so distantly then. And boy was this good! 

Siberian and White-naped Cranes

There were 3 White-naped Cranes with them and we crept as close as possible, although still around 400m away and separated by an arm of the lake so the birds weren’t in the least bit bothered by us. We studied them for over an hour and lapped up the views – a real privilege to see such rare birds. 

Watching the cranes...

It wasn’t raining but still the wind was ridiculous and we hunkered down below a bank for a modicum of shelter. And that was our day, so we retreated back to the hotel ‘wind blown and interesting’ at 5pm. A great day.

China: Yancheng - Shanghai - Nanchang

We had a couple of hours back in what we called Yancheng Wood this morning before setting off on the long drive back to Shanghai. Still no waxwings but plenty of other birds to keep us occupied and I was particularly pleased to see the flock of Silver-throated Bushtits again, this time showing much better than yesterday. After all it was a lifer for me yesterday!

Silver-throated Bushtit - a split from Long-tailed Tit

There were also plenty more Pallas’s Warblers around, as well as some Dusky, a few Pale and a single Naumann’s Thrush as well. A Mugimaki Flycatcher was a bit of a surprise, but at least 5 Northern Red-flanked Bluetails were more expected and in the bare tree tops we saw 6 Hawfinches and Brambling. A singing Manchurian Bush Warbler was odd but reaffirmed the brief glimpses given yesterday to Paul and Derek. 

Pallas's Warbler

At 8.40am we had to leave and walking back to the bus a White’s Thrush flew right across the path in front of us. From here we drove back to Shanghai, where we said goodbye to Tang Jun, and flew to Nanchang. Our flight was delayed several hours and it was quite late by the time we arrived at our destination and met up with my good friend, Steven An. It was a drive of maybe 90 minutes to our digs in Poyang Hu - a great location to explore this vast area and there's more cranes to find....