by Craig Brelsford
Founder, shanghaibirding.com
On 18–20 March, Elaine Du, Kai Pflug, and I noted 89 species at Chongming, Dongtai-Tiaozini, and Yangkou-Rudong. We found a dowitcher at Dongtai, and at Chongming we had 90 cranes so far away and in such thick fog that we were unable to determine how many were the expected Hooded Crane. The canal at the base of the northeast Chongming sea wall gave us Common Goldeneye, Garganey, and Horned Grebe assuming breeding plumage and Black-necked Grebe in breeding plumage. In addition to the dowitcher, Dongtai produced Greater Scaup, Common Merganser, and endangered Far Eastern Curlew and near-threatened Eurasian Oystercatcher as well as early Bar-tailed Godwit, Barn Swallow, and Bull-headed Shrike and singing Chinese Grey Shrike. Yangkou gave us early Black Drongo.
On Fri. 18 March Elaine and I left our apartment near Zhongshan Park in a Skoda Scout rented from Avis. We picked up Kai at his home in Jiading, Shanghai and drove to the ferry terminal on Changxing Island in the Yangtze River. Our plan was to take the ferry to Hengsha Island. The ferry was fogged out until at least 07:25, at which time we gave up and drove to Chongming. We noted 49 species there, our chief stops being a place rich in Common Snipe near the base of the eastern sea wall and the aforementioned canal where we found the goldeneye and grebes.
After dark we drove 236 km north on the G40 and G15 to Dongtai. There, we set up for two nights at Greentree Inn (Gélín Háotài Jiǔdiàn [格林豪泰酒店], +86 (0) 515-85820999; 32.749262, 120.850125).
Sat. 19 March saw us note 60 species around what Elaine and I call the Great Dongtai Surf ’n’ Turf Birding Trail. We had a neap tide that crested around 10:00, leaving the shorebirds far out. The godwit showed the slightly upturned bill and was associating with Eurasian Curlew, as was our lone Far Eastern Curlew. The dowitcher was far inside the sea wall and visible only through the spotting scope. It was showing more brown than grey and no orange. It had a long, seemingly straight bill like a snipe but unlike a typical snipe was alone in an area far from cover. We observed a clear sewing-machine feeding motion.
Intensive work is under way around the southeast corner of the reclaimed area. Digging machines were working throughout the weekend dredging up canals, changing forevermore areas where only last year Elaine and I found breeding Common Tern and territorial and possibly breeding Pied Avocet. The plan, clearly spelled out on the billboards near the tourist facilities, is to give nearly the entire reclaimed area over to aquaculture. The Great Dongtai Surf ’n’ Turf Birding Trail offers the best coastal birding within 500 km of Shanghai, it is a critical staging area for Nordmann’s Greenshank and Spoon-billed Sandpiper, it is relied upon by Black-faced Spoonbill, Great Knot, and Far Eastern Curlew—and it is being transformed, utterly. How interesting it is to be birding at this moment in history on the Chinese coast, scene of an ecological disaster like few ever seen before.
On Sunday morning 20 March we again covered the Surf ’n’ Turf Trail. We moved down to Yangkou in the afternoon, and we sneaked in an hour’s worth of birding at Chongming on the way back to the city. At Yangkou we failed to note Brown-cheeked Rail at the spot where I have seen the species three times before. We used playback off and on for about 45 minutes and got no response. Reed Parrotbill were in the area. At the snipe spot on Chongming, I photographed as many of the flushed snipe as possible, trying to find Jack, Pin-tailed, or Swinhoe’s. The photos I got show only Common Snipe.
PHOTOS AND LISTS
List 1 of 3 for Sun. 20 March 2016 (46 species). Great Dongtai Surf ’n’ Turf Birding Trail, a 40-km loop on coast of Dongtai (Dōngtái [东台]), a county-level city in Jiangsu, China. Important points on Trail are N entrance to new sea-wall road on Dongtai Levee Road (Dōngtái Hǎidī [东台海堤], 32.868218, 120.912340), T-junction on Dongtai Levee Road (32.855576, 120.896557), SE corner of sea wall (32.759499, 120.962893), & NE corner of sea wall (32.872444, 120.951522). Cloudy; low 7° C, high 12° C. Wind NE 18 km/h. Visibility 10 km. PM2.5 AQI: 112 (unhealthful). Sunrise 05:57, sunset 18:06. SUN 20 MAR 2016 08:10–12:10. Craig Brelsford, Elaine Du, & Kai Pflug.
Common Shelduck Tadorna tadorna 45
Falcated Duck Anas falcata 5
Eurasian Wigeon A. penelope 25
Eastern Spot-billed Duck A. zonorhyncha 2
Northern Shoveler A. clypeata 3
Northern Pintail A. acuta 31
Eurasian Teal A. crecca 6
Common Pochard Aythya ferina 6
Greater Scaup A. marila 8
Common Pheasant Phasianus colchicus 7
Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis 58
Grey Heron Ardea cinerea 25
Little Egret Egretta garzetta 7
Great Cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo 153
Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus 2
Eurasian Coot Fulica atra 138
Eurasian Oystercatcher Haematopus ostralegus 34
Pied Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta 120
Grey-headed Lapwing Vanellus cinereus 2
Grey Plover Pluvialis squatarola 250
Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata 160
Far Eastern Curlew N. madagascariensis 1
Dunlin Calidris alpina 50
Saunders’s Gull Chroicocephalus saundersi 8
Vega Gull L. vegae vegae/L. v. mongolicus 13
Eurasian Hoopoe Upupa epops 4
Grey-headed Woodpecker Picus canus 2
Bull-headed Shrike Lanius bucephalus 1
Long-tailed Shrike L. schach 1
Eurasian Magpie Pica pica 2
Japanese Tit Parus minor 2
Eurasian/Oriental Skylark Alauda arvensis/A. gulgula 15
Light-vented Bulbul Pycnonotus sinensis 1
Vinous-throated Parrotbill Sinosuthora webbiana 10
White-cheeked Starling Spodiopsar cineraceus 8
Chinese Blackbird Turdus mandarinus 2
Naumann’s Thrush T. naumanni 1
Dusky Thrush T. eunomus 1
Daurian Redstart Phoenicurus auroreus 6
Eurasian Tree Sparrow Passer montanus ca. 50
Chinese Grosbeak Eophona migratoria 5
Grey-capped Greenfinch Chloris sinica 4
Little Bunting Emberiza pusilla 25
Rustic Bunting E. rustica 2
Black-faced Bunting E. spodocephala 1
Pallas’s Reed Bunting E. pallasi 2
List 2 of 3 for Sun. 20 March 2016 (18 species)
Yangkou (Yángkǒu [洋口]), fishing town in Rudong County (Rúdōng Xiàn [如东县]), Jiangsu, China (32.537730, 121.017746). Area visited: reed beds near Haiyin Temple (32.557387, 121.037381). Cloudy; low 7° C, high 12° C. Wind NE 18 km/h. Visibility 10 km. PM2.5 AQI: 112 (unhealthful). Sunrise 05:57, sunset 18:06. SUN 20 MAR 2016 13:20–14:30. Craig Brelsford, Elaine Du, & Kai Pflug.
Eurasian Teal Anas crecca 16
Common Pheasant Phasianus colchicus 1
Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis 4
Common Moorhen Gallinula chloropus 6
Eurasian Coot Fulica atra 1
Grey-headed Lapwing Vanellus cinereus 3
Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago 3
Vega Gull Larus vegae vegae/L. v. mongolicus 1
Long-tailed Shrike Lanius schach 1
Black Drongo Dicrurus macrocercus 1
Eurasian Magpie Pica pica 3
Japanese Tit Parus minor 1
Plain Prinia Prinia inornata 2
Vinous-throated Parrotbill Sinosuthora webbiana 10
Reed Parrotbill Calamornis heudei 8
Red-billed Starling Spodiopsar sericeus 7
Daurian Redstart Phoenicurus auroreus 1
Black-faced Bunting Emberiza spodocephala 1
List 3 of 3 for Sun. 20 March 2016 (14 species). Around Chongming Dongtan National Bird Sanctuary and Nature Reserve (Chóngmíng Dōngtān Niǎolèi Guójiājí Zìrán Bǎohùqū [崇明东滩鸟类国家级自然保护区]), Chongming Island, Shanghai, China (31.510109, 121.961955). Cloudy; low 7° C, high 12° C. Wind NE 18 km/h. Visibility 10 km. PM2.5 AQI: 112 (unhealthful). Sunrise 05:57, sunset 18:06. SUN 20 MAR 2016 17:00–18:00. Craig Brelsford, Elaine Du, & Kai Pflug.
Common Pheasant Phasianus colchicus 3
Great Egret Ardea alba 1
Little Egret Egretta garzetta 2
Pied Harrier Circus melanoleucos 1
Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago 30
Spotted Redshank Tringa erythropus 4
Spotted Dove Spilopelia chinensis 3
Eurasian Magpie Pica pica 1
Chinese Penduline Tit Remiz consobrinus 8
Plain Prinia Prinia inornata 1
Vinous-throated Parrotbill Sinosuthora webbiana 4
Reed Parrotbill Calamornis heudei 1
Daurian Redstart Phoenicurus auroreus 1
Eurasian Tree Sparrow Passer montanus ca. 100
Featured image: German photographer Kai Pflug (L) and Craig Brelsford viewing Black-necked Grebe, Chongming Island, Shanghai, 18 March. (Elaine Du)
