The final full day & departure
23rd May - a very early start today. We set off in the minibus at 5 a.m. with a picnic breakfast [mainly because we had just the morning, and after lunch we would begin the long drive back to Beijing]. So, I might as well round off with everything we saw on this our last day, in more or less systematic order. Oriental Turtle Doves were common, then a new species in Northern Hawk Cuckoo which was just a fly-over, although we heard several call and had frustrating glimpses in the trees. We also heard the distinctive call of Indian Cuckoo. Then Great Spotted Woodpecker, Barn and Red-rumped Swallows, Amur White Wagtail [leucopsis], Chinese Bulbul, Wren, Rufous-tailed Robin, Daurian Redstart, White-throated Rock-thrush, and Eurasian Blackbird. We heard many Grey-sided Thrushes singing their Robin-like song, but only Huw got what I think was some brief video. Next up another new species, the easy-to-ID Claudia’s Leaf-warbler, with its unique alternate left-right-left-right wing lifting as it moves through the canopy. Two other good warblers to get were Chinese Leaf Warbler observed singing on top of a conifer [characteristic prominent song perch apparently] and a Yellow-streaked Warbler heard only doing its scratchy song, and looking at the field guide, not really streaked at all – these two were near the entrance gate just before we left. Silver-throated Bushtits were seen again as were many Yellow-bellied Tits, and Japanese Tits. We then finally connected with another new bird, the Snowy-browed Nuthatch, or Chinese Nuthatch as it is sometimes known. We eventually saw 3 of these, but they were much less numerous than usual according to Bill. Black-naped Orioles were fairly frequent in the trees plus Red-billed Blue Magpie and Common Magpie, Large-billed Crow, Tree Sparrow, Oriental Greenfinch, and Godlewski’s Bunting. That about rounded it off. We had a good lunch at the restaurant and made our presentations and offered huge thanks to Kevin, Anna and Mr B for being such good companions and looking after us so well. We then had time for a very rapid pack before setting off for Beijing.
After a long drive we eventually arrived at the airport at around 5:30 p.m. and after driving around in circles for a while, found the hotel where a couple of rooms had been reserved for those who wanted to, to freshen up and change. Anna and Kevin also had a flight to catch to return to their home town of Chengdu, 2 hours’ flight to the west, but despite their limited time and our long wait [our flight wasn’t until 00:50 on 24th], they treated us to a KFC evening meal in the airport – so thoughtful. Finally we bade our sad farewells before we went through security. Eventually after we had cleared security and check-in, and found somewhere to settle down until boarding time, we were able to make our presentation to Bill and thank him for his leadership and excellent knowledge of the area and its birds, and for struggling along, in some discomfort at times, after his unfortunate mishap at the beginning. We eventually said our farewells and thanks again at Schiphol with strict instructions to have his ankle checked out when he got home.
So all-in-all a fantastic trip, so thanks BirdFinders! Overall group list was 220, including about 5-6 species that only Kevin saw on his wanderings. My own personal list was 206 species according to my database [which uses the IOC world checklist], and I had 73 lifers. The impressive list of waders comprised 40 species!! Warblers numbered 19 species. I could go on but those two were notable. Full list is on this site - link button on home page.
It is worth noting that there is some confusion over the various large gulls species. For example on our checklist we had Vega [Herring] Gull and Mongolian [Caspian] Gull. Re Mongolian, Clements lumps it in with Caspian Gull as a subsp of that and that is what our checklist follows, but my database follows the IOC checklist where it is a subsp of Vega Gull. Other sources also have it as a subsp of Vega Gull. The possible Tamyrensis gull we saw is apparently considered to be a subsp of Heuglin’s Gull. The taxonomy of all these large gulls is currently in a state of flux so whether they all counted as separate species for us is a matter of conjecture.
John Wilson
After a long drive we eventually arrived at the airport at around 5:30 p.m. and after driving around in circles for a while, found the hotel where a couple of rooms had been reserved for those who wanted to, to freshen up and change. Anna and Kevin also had a flight to catch to return to their home town of Chengdu, 2 hours’ flight to the west, but despite their limited time and our long wait [our flight wasn’t until 00:50 on 24th], they treated us to a KFC evening meal in the airport – so thoughtful. Finally we bade our sad farewells before we went through security. Eventually after we had cleared security and check-in, and found somewhere to settle down until boarding time, we were able to make our presentation to Bill and thank him for his leadership and excellent knowledge of the area and its birds, and for struggling along, in some discomfort at times, after his unfortunate mishap at the beginning. We eventually said our farewells and thanks again at Schiphol with strict instructions to have his ankle checked out when he got home.
So all-in-all a fantastic trip, so thanks BirdFinders! Overall group list was 220, including about 5-6 species that only Kevin saw on his wanderings. My own personal list was 206 species according to my database [which uses the IOC world checklist], and I had 73 lifers. The impressive list of waders comprised 40 species!! Warblers numbered 19 species. I could go on but those two were notable. Full list is on this site - link button on home page.
It is worth noting that there is some confusion over the various large gulls species. For example on our checklist we had Vega [Herring] Gull and Mongolian [Caspian] Gull. Re Mongolian, Clements lumps it in with Caspian Gull as a subsp of that and that is what our checklist follows, but my database follows the IOC checklist where it is a subsp of Vega Gull. Other sources also have it as a subsp of Vega Gull. The possible Tamyrensis gull we saw is apparently considered to be a subsp of Heuglin’s Gull. The taxonomy of all these large gulls is currently in a state of flux so whether they all counted as separate species for us is a matter of conjecture.
John Wilson