When I first arrived in Beijing it took me almost two years to find my first Japanese Reed Bunting (Emberiza yessoensis, 红颈苇鹀). It is a scarce, probably overlooked, winter visitor to the capital and it can be tricky to find in its favoured habitat of weedy scrub, usually close to water. This habitat is also used in winter by the much more common, almost abundant, Pallas’s Reed Bunting (Emberiza pallasi, 苇鹀) and it’s this species that one must be careful to eliminate when looking for Japanese. As is the case with separating many similar species, call is a good indicator. Japanese Reed Bunting utters a thin “tseep”, contrasting with the Pallas’s Reed Bunting’s chirpy sparrow-like call. Japanese Reed Buntings tend to feed on the ground in long grass and are usually skittish. Often the first sight or sound is when one is accidentally disturbed. When flushed, they tend to fly quite a long way before diving into long grass. However, just occasionally, they sit up in the open, which is exactly what these two posers did last week during a walk with Steve Bale along the Wenyu He.
Japanese Reed Buntings usually look ‘warmer’ in overall colouration than Pallas’s Reed Bunting. The yellowy look, combined with the black ear coverts, are good indicators of Japanese Reed. With orangey tones on the wing feathers, I think Japanese Reed Bunting is one of the most beautiful, if subtle, of the East Asian buntings and it’s always a delight to see.
Japanese Reed Bunting (Emberiza yessoensis), Wenyu River, Beijing, March 2015.Japanese Reed Buntings, Wenyu River, Beijing, March 2015For comparison, here is a Pallas’s Reed Bunting at Ma Chang in April 2012. Pallas’s is a variable species but always looks ‘colder’ overall, lacking any orange tones.
On Saturday I went for a walk. A long walk. Actually a little longer than I had anticipated. I estimate that I walked around 13km along the Wenyu River, situated between the 5th and 6th ring roads on the northeast side of Beijing. It’s a favourite haunt of local birder, Shi Jin, and I have visited several times, particularly in late Spring, as the area of rice paddies can be superb for locustella and acrocephalus warblers, as well as small bitterns.
In winter the birdlife is different. Huge flocks of tree sparrows, numbering almost 1,000 in total, and good numbers of buntings, including Yellow-throated, Pallas’s Reed and Pine inhabit the banks of the river at this season. And on the slow-moving water and the muddy fringes, wintering Long-billed Plover, Green Sandpiper and a few winter duck can be found.
This river was also the site where Shi Jin found a putative Whistling Swan in November, discussion about which can be found on Birding Frontiers. My walk on Saturday revealed that this aberrant swan is still there, and still in the company of a ‘normal’ Bewick’s. But it also revealed much more – a real sense of the wealth of species that can be seen on a winter’s day in Beijing.
Here’s what I saw…
Weather: sunny, relatively clear but pollution worsening as the day went on; still; cool first thing (around freezing) but rising to 11 degrees C during the day.
The Wenyu He was remarkably ice-free all the way along.
Full Species List:
Japanese Quail – 2 in the weedy field just east of the riding stables
Common Pheasant – 2 east of riding stables
Bewick’s Swan – 1 with the probable aberrant Bewick’s Swan just north of Picun (near brick building with chimney on northeast shore)
Ruddy Shelduck – 26
Gadwall – 18 (9 pairs)
Falcated Duck – 6 (4 males and 2 females)
Mallard – 395
Spot-billed Duck – 5
Northern Shoveler – 3 (females)
Eurasian Teal – 41
Tufted Duck/Greater Scaup – one female type seen in flight twice but both times distantly. Looked chunky with relatively dark underwing. Worth looking out for if you are in the area.
Goldeneye – 4 (all male)
Smew – 1 redhead
Goosander – 14
Little Grebe – 44
Eurasian Kestrel – 3
Merlin – 1 near golf course east of Jingmi Lu
Eurasian Sparrowhawk – 1
Eastern Buzzard – 3
Long-billed Plover – 7
Green Sandpiper – 6
Oriental Turtle Dove – 6
Spotted Dove – 1
Collared Dove – 1
Crested Kingfisher – 1
Hoopoe – 1
Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker – 3
Great Spotted Woodpecker – 1
Grey-headed Woodpecker – 3
Azure-winged Magpie – 39
Common Magpie – lots
Daurian Jackdaw – 350+ in pre-roost flock
Carrion Crow – 6
Large-billed Crow – 2
Eurasian Skylark – 6
Chinese Bulbul – 3
Vinous-throated Parrotbill – 2
Goldcrest – 6 in juniper-type trees just east of Jingmi Lu.
Wren – 1
Naumann’s Thrush – 3
Tree Sparrow – 900+ several flocks of several hundred each
Siberian Accentor – 6
Olive-backed Pipit – 9 together
Brambling – 5
Pine Bunting – 50+ in one pre-roost flock just north-west of Picun
In between leading tours to see Giant Panda in the wild in China (successful) and Tiger in India (fingers crossed), Sweden-based Phil Benstead dropped in on Beijing. Phil is a good friend from my time in Copenhagen: we hooked up for a few birding trips in 2009 and 2010, including around Phil’s local patch in Båstad Kommune, Falsterbo in Skåne and the island of Oland.
Phil arrived on Thursday with the Townshend household in something of a crisis. We were supposed to be cooking a turkey for 9, including two American friends, for Thanksgiving and Libby, who had planned to take the afternoon off work to prepare, was stuck at work… I was frantically looking on the internet, in between work conference calls to London – to discover precisely how long a 9kg turkey – at that time defrosting in the laundry room – would take to cook…. Phil stepped in magnificently and, after peeling and chopping I don’t know how many potatoes, carrots and green beans, he had certainly earned his supper by the time guests arrived for the 7pm start… And boy was that turkey good… (after months of Chinese food, you can’t imagine how good a roast turkey with all the trimmings tasted…!).
After following this blog since I moved to China, Phil wanted to visit my regular patch at Wild Duck Lake and so I had hired a car and we had arranged to leave at 0530 the following morning (tough after a post-midnight dinner party). We picked up Jesper Hornskov at 0600 and, after some all-too-common traffic issues on the G6 Badaling Expressway (broken down lorries), we arrived at Ma Chang around 0745, around 30 minutes after first light.
The first thing that struck me was that the reservoir was almost completely frozen over. The weather had turned cold mid-week and it had taken just a couple of cold nights for the water to freeze. After giving it some time at the spit by the yurts, we checked the island to the north of the ‘desert’ area, lucking in on 2 Daurian Partridges (my first of the winter) on the way, and enjoyed a flock of several hundred Ruddy Shelduck and a rather late Ferruginous Duck. A couple of inquisitive Chinese Hill Warblers was a bonus. A very showy Baikal Teal looked a bit lost walking on the ice in a frozen dyke and we enjoyed a couple of Chinese Grey Shrikes hunting over the grassland. After combing the area for larks – we counted a few Eurasian Skylark and up to 12 Asian Short-toed Larks plus a bonus Japanese Reed Bunting – we made our way to Yeyahu. Officially, Yeyahu closed last week but we were able to use the ‘secret entrance’ to gain entry and it was here that we heard (but sadly for Phil didn’t see) a Chinese Penduline Tit, a few Pallas’s Reed Buntings and a Great Egret. However, the most exciting sighting of the day was a very uniformly dark medium-sized bittern that flew from the west to east end of the lake. It was clearly smaller than Eurasian Bittern but larger than Yellow Bittern. Initially against the light it looked uniformly very dark with longish legs and big feet. As it flew into better light, it still looked uniformly very dark.. Phil managed to view it through his telescope and saw a pale line below and behind the eye, beginning at the base of the bill… There were some pale fringes to the wing coverts, indicating a first winter bird. It dropped in to a reedbed on the far side of the lake and we hurried over to see if we could see it again.. what could it be? Little Green Heron (Striated) and Black Bittern (a bird that I have never seen) entered our minds.. Jesper didn’t think it looked right for Little Green Heron – the jizz and colour were wrong and the leg length – with clearly protruding legs – wasn’t right for Little Green. Could it really be a Black Bittern in Beijing in late November?? That would be a very strange record. Unfortunately, despite spending some time near to where it went down, we did not see it again.
Edit: After looking at many images on the internet, including Oriental Bird Images, Jesper’s view is that it could only have been a Black Bittern.
After seeing a Common Kingfisher literally die in front of our eyes on the ice at the edge of the lake (it was heartbreaking), we walked down to ‘eagle field’ and, on the way, enjoyed my best ever views of Pine Bunting (two birds) and watched a young Upland Buzzard soaring. Most pleasing were two Great Bustards flying west along the reservoir.
Several decapitated Common Pheasants were a clear sign of a large predator.. possibly Goshawk but more likely an Eagle Owl… it’s the same area where I saw an Eagle Owl last winter.
We made our way back to the car and, with Naumann’s Thrush the last bird of the day, we headed back to Beijing for dinner with Jesper and his wife, Aiqin.
Saturday morning I visited the Botanical Gardens with Phil and Nick (a friend and non-birder), where Phil scored a few new birds – Chinese Grosbeak, Pere David’s Laughingthrush and Chinese Nuthatch – before he had to make his way to the airport to catch his flight to Delhi.
It was a great couple of days and we saw some good birds. Phil was a big hit with our friends – as illustrated by the number of offers he had for accommodation in Beijing when he returns next year to lead a similar panda trip in October – and we wish him all the best for the forthcoming trip to India for tigers.. we can’t wait to hear how he gets on.
Full species list for Wild Duck Lake below:
Ma Chang and Yeyahu NR 0745-1600.
Temp -5 at 0745 increasing to +2 or +3 by early afternoon; very light N wind increasing to force 2-3 by midday; visibility 2-3km.
Reservoir almost completely frozen with just a few small patches of open water. Yeyahu completely frozen.
Highlights: 1 juv/first winter BLACK BITTERN; 2 Great Bustards, Upland Buzzard, 2 Daurian Partridges, 550+ Bean Geese, 200+ Common Cranes, Japanese Reed Bunting
Full species list:
Daurian Partridge – 2 at Ma Chang
Common Pheasant – 25
Bean Goose – at least 870, probably more. Most in flight along the north edge of the reservoir with some on the ice itself
Whooper Swan – 42 on the ice, swimming on the open patches of water and in flight
Ruddy Shelduck – 550 at least, mostly on the ice and on the northern side of the reservoir
Eurasian Wigeon – 3
Mallard – 850
Chinese Spot-billed Duck – 12
Baikal Teal – 4-5 seen, including one drake incredibly well in a frozen dyke; probably many more in the distant tight flocks of duck on the patches of open water
Ferruginous Duck – 1 seen from the island north of Ma Chang, possibly with injured wing
Common Goldeneye – 3 seen from Ma Chang but probably many more
Smew – 5-6 seen but probably many more
Goosander – 40 seen
Great Bittern – 3 seen well, including one walking on the open ice
BLACK BITTERN – one juvenile/first winter seen in flight through binoculars for around 30 seconds over the lake at Yeyahu at around 150-200m range. Initially seen against the light but gradually into better light, this bird was clearly larger than Yellow Bittern but smaller than Great Bittern and uniformly very dark. Phil managed to see it through the telescope and saw a pale line starting at the base of the bill running back below and behind the eye; streaking below not seen. Legs were relatively long with large feet. Slight pale margins seen on the wing coverts, indicating a first winter. Little Green Heron ruled out on size, colour and leg length; Cinnamon Bittern ruled out on colour and size.
Grey Heron – 1
Great Egret – 1
Kestrel – 1
Merlin – 1 at Ma Chang
Hen Harrier – 3 (two ‘ringtails’ and one imm male)
Eurasian Sparrowhawk – 1
Northern Goshawk – 1 (Phil only)
Upland Buzzard – 1
Great Bustard – 2 in flight from ‘eagle field’ heading west
Common Crane – 200+
Large White-headed Gull sp – 1 seen by Phil at Ma Chang
Black-headed Gull – 3 at Yeyahu
Oriental Turtle Dove – 3
Eurasian Collared Dove – 31
Common Kingfisher – 1. Seen sitting forlornly on the edge of the ice at the base of some reeds. After a few minutes, its head dropped onto the ice and, after a brief flapping of its wings, it sat motionless and appeared to die – an early victim of the winter.
Great Spotted Woodpecker – 2
Grey-headed Woodpecker – 2
Chinese Grey Shrike – 3
Azure-winged Magpie – 6
Common Magpie – lots
Rook – 8
Carrion Crow – 6
Large-billed Crow – 1
Great Tit – 4
Marsh Tit – 3
Chinese Penduline Tit – 1 (heard only)
Asian Short-toed Lark – 13 at Ma Chang
Eurasian Skylark – 6
Chinese Hill Warbler – 4, including 2 on the island north of Ma Chang
Vinous-throated Parrotbill – 40+
Naumann’s Thrush – 1 ssp naumanni at Yeyahu
Tree Sparrow – many
Pine Bunting – 4, including 2 showing exceptionally well at Yeyahu
Pallas’s Reed Bunting – 30+
Japanese Reed Bunting – 1 at Ma Chang. Flushed from short grass 2-3 times and seen only in flight. (Very bad) photo attached.
Japanese Reed Bunting, Ma Chang, 25 November 2011: wildlife photograph of the year?Chinese Grey Shrike hunting at Ma Chang, 25 November 2011
