Tag: Daurian Starling

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
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
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 at Nanpu.
Jennifer scanning waders on one of the pools at Nanpu.
Ben watching GREAT KNOT from the bridge 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