Guan Xiangyu – Wild Beijing 北京自然

How a strange Brown Shrike turned into a Grey-backed Shrike – a new Beijing record

On 11 July, local birders Wei Chunzhi, Ren Lipeng and He Yongzhou visited Lingshan, Beijing’s highest mountain, to try to see some of the special breeding birds that are rarely seen in the city. They were rewarded with sightings not only of their main target species – Slaty-backed Flycatcher – but also a big surprise.

Ren Lipeng, He Yongzhou and Wei Chunzhi, the finders of Beijing’s first Grey-backed Shrike.

Wei Chunzhi tells the story of their adventure, complete with some beautiful photos of the bird and the scenery, and how the sighting of an odd shrike turned into a first for Beijing.

How a Brown Shrike turned into a Grey-backed Shrike!

“My name is Wei Chunzhi (Tracey), a relatively new birder who loves to go birding in Beijing. On 11 July 2020 I visited Lingshan with two friends, Ren Lipeng and He Yongzhou. We were shocked to find a Grey-backed Shrike, the first record of this species in Beijing! Magical days like this are a lot of fun…

Lingshan, as Beijing’s highest mountain, is cool in summer and, with birding slow in the heat of the city during that season, it’s a good place to visit to see some target birds such as Slaty-backed Flycatcher, Rosy Pipit and many other birds that are rarely seen in the city.

It’s hard work to hike at 2,000m while carrying cameras and binoculars. As we were walking up, I suddenly saw a dark bird sitting on top of a cedar tree about 10-20 metres away. I quickly alerted Ren Lipeng and pointed him at the bird. He couldn’t see it at first and then the bird flew. Fortunately, it didn’t fly far and landed on top of another tree close by. This time, both of my friends saw it and managed to take some photographs. Using my ‘toy camera’ and focusing manually, I could only manage a photo of the branches shaking immediately after the bird flew!

The Grey-backed Shrike at Lingshan, 11 July 2020 (Photo by Ren Lipeng)

Now you see it… Grey-backed Shrike at Lingshan, 11 July 2020 (Photo by Ren Lipeng)

After looking at the photos, He Yongzhou confidently announced “Brown Shrike!” (a fairly common breeder in lowland Beijing and a very common passage migrant). Ren Lipeng said it looked a bit like a Grey-backed Shrike and asked me to look at the photo. I also thought the bird looked grey-backed but then thought it must be the greyish subspecies of Brown Shrike (ssp lucionensis) . There are no other shrikes except Chinese Grey, Bull-headed, Brown and Long-tailed. We didn’t spend any more time on the bird and carried on to look for the Slaty-backed Flycatcher and other birds. The joy of seeing many good species – such as Rosy Pipit and the Slaty-backed Flycatcher – made us forget our doubts about the shrike and we marked it as a Brown Shrike on our eBird checklist.

A male Slaty-backed Flycatcher at Lingshan, 11 July 2020. One of the special species at Beijing’s highest mountain and rarely seen in the capital away from this site.

When reviewing the Field Guide to the Birds of China by John MacKinnon we looked at the lucionensis subspecies of Brown Shrike and I felt it was not this bird. After getting copies of the photos from Ren Lipeng and He Yongzhou, I sent the photos to Huang Hanchen who also sent them to Guan Xiangyu, both experienced birders. They responded that it was a Grey-backed Shrike, not only a new species for me but also a new record for Beijing. After learning this news, the three of us were very happy!

On cloud nine. Wei Chunzhi and Ren Lipeng enjoying Lingshan (Photo by He Yongzhou)

This is a story of a Brown Shrike ‘turning into’ a Grey-backed Shrike. Birding not only brings us these exciting moments but also takes us into nature where we can relax, feel calm and enjoy the simple pleasures of life. It reminds us of the main theme of the Chinese Lao Zhuang philosophy – the law of nature.”

Big congratulations to Wei Chunzhi, Ren Lipeng and He Yongzhou for their brilliant find and huge thanks for telling their story and for allowing the use of their photographs. Grey-backed Shrike is typically a bird of the Himalayas, including the Tibetan Plateau, breeding at elevations from 2,700-4,500+ metres above sea level (Birds of the World). It has been recorded as far east as Shanxi Province in summer and at Beidaihe/Happy Island on at least two occasions in spring, so it’s not a complete surprise that it has turned up in the mountains of the capital but, nevertheless, it’s a wonderful addition to the list of species recorded in Beijing. What next?!

=====

Story in Chinese/中文

红尾伯劳“变身”灰背伯劳记

我是Tracey，是个热爱观鸟但刚刚入门的菜鸟。7月11日，有幸和两位观鸟朋友：任立鹏老师和大河老师去灵山观鸟时，不期而遇看到灰背伯劳。整个过程如同变魔术般很有趣。尽管灵山上很凉快，可是夏季鸟荒让我们寻找目标鸟的步伐越来越沉重。走在最后的我，突然发现一二十米外的雪松尖上立着一只深色的鸟，赶紧拉住前面的任老师，指给他看鸟的位置，糟糕的是他看不到鸟，更糟糕的是鸟飞了。幸运的是鸟飞到不远的树尖，更幸运的是前面两位老师都看到了这鸟，先后举起了相机按动了快门。随即鸟就飞走了。使用“玩具相机”手动对焦的我只拍到了鸟飞后摇晃的树枝。两位老师看过照片后，大河老师自信地宣布“红尾伯劳！”。任老师边说有点灰像灰背伯劳边让我看照片，我也认为这只伯劳很灰，可是想到红尾伯劳的灰色亚种，就说红尾伯劳有个灰色亚种，大河更加肯定地说“灰色亚种的红尾伯劳，这里除了常见的牛头，红尾，棕背，不会有别的伯劳。”我们没再为这只红尾伯劳花费时间，继续寻找目标鸟。看到几种目标鸟后的喜悦让我们淡忘了对那只红尾伯劳的疑虑，并以红尾伯劳填写EBIRD记录。

灰背伯劳摄影：任立鹏锈胸蓝姬鹟雄摄影：任立鹏在对照马敬能大师的《中国鸟类野外手册》复习时，想起了那只很灰的红尾伯劳，我感觉不是红尾伯劳的灰色亚种。向两位老师要照片，任老师积极回应，大河老师觉得我太啰嗦。照片和图鉴对比，我觉得不是红尾伯劳，是什么无法确定。赶紧把照片转发给观鸟大师黄博士，他和另一位大师关先生（特别感谢两位大师认鸟）讨论后，认定是灰背伯劳，这不仅是我的新纪录，而且是北京新纪录。得知此消息后，我们三个人非常高兴。如今，想想那天的纪录，仍然让人兴奋不已。一路为我们奏乐的云南柳莺、棕眉柳莺，站在枝头开会的红眉朱雀，不知雌雄的红胁蓝尾鸲在我们身边蹦来蹦去，树林鸣唱的白腹短翅鸲，更有辛勤育雏的锈胸蓝姬鹟夫妻……这一切的美好，似乎都在预示着我们发现了北京新记录——灰背伯劳。这就是红尾伯劳“变”灰背伯劳的故事。观鸟不仅带给我们这些趣事，更把我们带进大自然怀抱，让我们放松，平和，简单，让我们重新思考一下中国老庄哲学的主旨：法自然。

听鸟阅云海摄影：大河

=====

Title image: Grey-backed Shrike, Lingshan, 11 July 2020 (Photo by Ren Lipeng)

Harlequin Duck in Beijing

Urban birding often springs surprises. Given Beijing’s geographic position, the spectacle of migration is particularly impressive and many unusual species can turn up in the city’s parks and gardens. The Swinhoe’s Rail in the Temple of Heaven Park and Beijing’s first Tree Pipit in the UK Ambassador’s garden are examples of rare and scarce species appearing at unexpected locations.

On Friday evening, news broke of another urban surprise in the shape of a female Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus, 丑鸭, Chǒu yā) that had been photographed near Anzhenmen, close to the north 3rd ring road in central Beijing. The photo, by local bird photographer 侯金生 (Hou Jinsheng), circulated fast on Chinese social media and very soon my Saturday plans, to accompany Paul Holt to a forested area in northern Beijing, changed to take in an early stop to look for the Harlequin.

We arrived around 30 minutes before dawn and quickly found the site, a tiny weir along a concrete-sided canal just a stone’s throw from the busy 3rd ring road at Anzhenmen. It seemed an odd place for a largely coastal (at least in winter) duck but there was running water which, together with the weir, provided an artificial micro-habitat not completely unlike the Harlequin’s preferred breeding habitat of fast-flowing streams.

2017-02-11-harlequin-site-at-beitucheng — The site of Beijing’s first HARLEQUIN, a first-winter female, near Anzhenmen.

In the darkness, a few Mallards took to the air as local early risers began their morning walks along the canal and a few White-cheeked Starlings and Azure-winged Magpies announced their departure from roosts with raucous calls. Even though the sun was not yet up it was possible to see that the Harlequin was not at the weir. We waited close by, using the time to speculate whether the bird had just arrived and had used this site as a temporary stopover before moving on, or had it been here all winter undetected? Given the location, and lack of observer coverage, the latter was certainly a possibility. We agreed to give it until around 0730 before heading north to the Labagou Forest Park, as we had originally planned.

Within a few minutes we were joined by some local birders, including Huang Hanchen, Zhao Min, Shen Yan, Guan Xiangyu and Zhang Xiao. Their arrival delayed our departure as we caught up to chat about birds and all manner of issues, including the significance of the day – Lantern Festival, officially the last day of Chinese New Year. The Lantern Festival is a family celebration, so most of the Chinese birders had limited time as they needed to visit relatives later in the day, some travelling to other Provinces. Guan Xiangyu and Zhang Xiao were on their way to the train station to visit relatives at Hengshui, and reluctantly had to leave with the bird not having shown itself..

Just a few minutes later, at around 0730, Paul and I were renewing our discussion about when to leave the site. Hanchen and Paul suddenly spotted something floating on the water, emerging from the tunnel and heading towards the weir. They initially thought it was a piece of litter but very quickly realised it was the Harlequin! It had seemingly roosted deep inside the dark tunnel and had emerged to feed around 20 minutes after sunrise. We watched in awe as it swam and fed amongst the weed for several minutes, often at extremely close quarters and seemingly oblivious to its growing fan base. Amused locals stopped to see what the fuss was about and, on seeing the Harlequin, one commented “Oh, that small brown duck has been there for at least 20 days”!

Several times the Harlequin stopped to preen on the edge of the weir and, as the sun rose, it looked splendid in the early morning light.

2017-02-11-harlequin-beitucheng-bill-open — Beijing’s first HARLEQUIN showed extremely well in its surprisingly urban setting.

If it’s true, and we have no reason to suspect it isn’t, the Harlequin’s lengthy stay of “at least 20 days” means that the unfortunate Guan Xiangyu and Zhang Xiao, who had to leave just minutes before the Harlequin’s emergence, will hopefully connect when they return to Beijing next week.

2017-02-10-harlequin-birders — The first birders on the scene. In the foreground, He Wenbo (left) and Zhao Min with the Harlequin on the water.

Harlequin is a difficult bird to see in China. There are a few records from well-watched Beidaihe in neighbouring Hebei Province, and several in the northeast Provinces of Jilin, Inner Mongolia and Liaoning, so it was on the radar as a potential visitor to Beijing. However, the urban location was a complete surprise. As well as being the first record for Beijing, the Anzhenmen Harlequin is the 482nd species to be reliably recorded in the capital. In a personal milestone for Paul Holt, the Harlequin was his 400th species in the Chinese capital since he first birded there around 28 years ago. Congratulations to Paul!

In Chinese, Harlequin is 丑鸭 (pronounced “chǒu yā”). The second character “鸭” is pronounced “yā”, meaning duck. The first character “丑”, pronounced “chǒu” has several meanings.. one is “clown”, the intended meaning in the case of the Harlequin, but another is “ugly”, hence Harlequin is known as “the ugly duck”! Despite its ugliness, it’s proving to be probably the most-photographed Harlequin in China.

What will be next?

Big thanks to Hou Jinsheng for circulating his original photo of the Harlequin and to Huang Hanchen for passing on the news. Thanks also to Paul Holt for driving on Saturday morning.

Note on diet: according to HBW, the Harlequin’s diet consists of “molluscs (e.g. gastropods such as Littorina sitkana), crustaceans and, in spring and summer, insects and their larvae/pupae (e.g. blackflies Simulium); also other invertebrates (worms) and small fish; very little plant material recorded.” The Beijing bird appeared to be feeding on weed but it’s possible it was sifting this material for tiny molluscs or invertebrates.

STOP PRESS: Spoon-billed Sandpiper in Beijing!

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.

Well done Zhang Minhao!