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....

China: Yancheng NNR

A great day at Yancheng National Nature Reserve began at a small park on the edge of town where we waited patiently for some Japanese Waxwings to appear. Unfortunately they failed to materialise but we did score with an unexpected party of Silver-throated Bushtits, Northern Red-flanked Bluetail, Eye-browed and Dusky Thrushes, a flock of Chinese Grosbeaks, Yellow-browed and Pallas’s Leaf Warblers, several Japanese Tits, and a Northern Red-flanked Bluetail for some of us. It was just a shame the male Japanese Thrush that flew over us didn’t land. From here we drove back into the reserve and found more Red-crowned Cranes than yesterday in the fields alongside the main track. In fact there was so much activity with hundreds of Common Cranes flying in to land in the surrounding fields, with little groups of Red-crowned Cranes arriving all the time. 

Better views of Red-crowned Cranes today.

It was quite a spectacle watching flocks of Common Cranes flying over

More Red-crowned Cranes flew in...

What a spectacle this was, and add to this groups of Great Cormorants, Tundra Bean Geese and thousands of ducks it was a very impressive spectacle indeed. Tang Jun then found a rare Sandhill Crane amongst a group of Common Cranes, and this bird has migrated the wrong way and should be in the USA so was quite a sighting. 

We did walk a fair way this morning and headed to the first bridge before Derek and I trudged across a stubble field in the hopes of finding Japanese Quail. No such luck but our first spectacular Oriental Stork of the tour flew low, right over our heads. 

Our first Oriental Stork

And there was the first of many Little Buntings to be seen today, as well as Eurasian Bittern, Red-throated Pipit, Merlin and hundreds of Common Reed Buntings along the path. In fact we spent quite some time sifting through the buntings and picked up a Yellow-browed, several Rustics, Black-faced and a rare Yellow-breasted Bunting. We then drove back to the approach road and walked alongside a line of trees where I found another Sandhill Crane, but the walk is best remembered for the crippling Eye-browed and especially a confiding male Pale Thrush we had. And many more Little Buntings, and a surprising female Chestnut Bunting as well.

Eye-browed Thrush

Pale Thrush

After lunch we drove to the fishponds but there weren’t many ducks on the water and rather frustratingly we saw thousands flying off into the distance and dropping down into the closed area of the reserve, Despite this there was a fine drake Falcated Duck, as well as our first Northern Lapwings. So we decided to drive back to the small park and this turned out to be a good move as we had much better views of Red-flanked Bluetail than this morning, along with Olive-backed Pipit and at dusk hundreds (at least 700+) Dusky Thrushes were flying in to roost, which made for a very impressive spectacle.

China: Yancheng NNR

After a very long night’s sleep we returned to the same area of coastline this morning with the intention of searching through the duck flocks. Those people that know me are aware of my dislike for ducks but still I tried and must admit I enjoyed seeing numerous Falcated Ducks in better light, amongst the flocks of other commoner species. But the bund we were viewing from had grass and trees on the landward side and we pulled out a cracking Meadow Bunting and a couple of Pallas’s Leaf Warblers that showed rather well. Out on the mudflats a pair of Black-faced Spoonbills posed nicely and then we got distracted with some visible migration (vis mig) with numerous passerines flying overhead. These included Bramblings (and we’d see some big flocks later this morning), Oriental Skylarks and some unidentified buntings. Some Chinese Penduline Tits flew over but then I managed to call in a small party from the reedbed below us and these little crackers gave mind-boggling close views.

Chinese Penduline Tits

A flock of Vinous-throated Parrotbills also came in to check us out and as I wandered across the marsh a Japanese Reed Bunting hopped up onto the reeds and we spent the next half an hour trying to get decent views, which we did in the end. It was at this point that an immature Amur Falcon flew right over our heads – a very late migrating bird, although I’ve heard of a few sightings at Nanhui near Shanghai this week as well. A few Pale Thrushes were moving through the trees as well, but then a Rustic Bunting showed amazingly well down to about a metre away. 

Rustic Bunting

And I’d almost forgotten about the flock of Tundra Bean Geese here as well. Absolutely stunning! With time slipping away we drove on further along the coastline and stopped to view a group of Pied Avocets that were in company with some gulls. They proved to be Black-headed Gulls, but after further scrutiny we realised there were at least 5 Saunders’s Gulls present as well. When I heard a Brown-cheeked Rail calling we walked further along the road to view a marsh area, but despite playing the call it never showed. However, Derek found a Chestnut-eared Bunting and we enjoyed great views of at least 3 birds, along with our first Pallas’s Reed Buntings and another Japanese Reed Bunting, plus Mongolian and Heuglin’s Gulls and a flock of Eurasian Spoonbills. 

Chestnut-eared Bunting

A distant Pallas's Reed Bunting

Dragging ourselves away from here we jumped on board the bus and started driving to Yancheng, passing through lots of woodland that would be superb in the spring migration period. And there were quite a few Dusky Thrushes on the muddy track before we reached the main highway. After a two hour drive we reached our hotel and dived straight into the restaurant across the street. I wasn’t sure what to expect of this hotel as it was in such a small town but it turned out to be rather good. 

Anyway, after lunch we drove just 20 minutes away to Yancheng Reserve and started driving along a dirt track. We hadn’t got far when our first cranes were spotted and we all jumped out of the coach rather excitedly. Across the field was a family of 2 adult and 2 immature Red-crowned Cranes – but I prefer their other name of Japanese Crane. What an elegant bird they are. I didn’t realise just how big they are until a short while later when a Grey Heron flew past them and was totally dwarfed. We watched the cranes for a while, practically ignoring a couple families of Common Cranes nearby. In the trees behind us it was hard to ignore a flock of Rustic Buntings, a Daurian Redstart and a Little Bunting. 

Reed Parrotbills

Walking on we came across a group of Reed Parrotbills – like Bearded Tits on steroids, this Chinese endemic gave excellent close views. Then a few Black-faced Buntings appeared – our 7^th bunting species of the day. And just around the corner we came across a flock of 35+ Red-crowned Cranes and this time they were much closer. 

Red-crowned Cranes

There were also a few more Pallas’s Reed Buntings along the ditch next to us, a Hen Harrier flew by and a Trumpeter Swan flew over. So we spent quite a while watching and photographing the cranes, but it was a shame the weather was so dull, grey and overcast. But at least it was dry! We walked on further, seeing a flock of 10 Reed Parrotbills, as well as Black-crowned Night-heron and Eurasian Hoopoe before it got dark at just after 5pm and we returned the short distance to our hotel. What a day!