by Craig Brelsford
Founder, shanghaibirding.com
Found today, 8 June, in Boli, Heilongjiang, China: Incredible Band-bellied Crake. A near threatened species, Band-bellied Crake Zapornia paykullii breeds in the Russian Far East, where it apparently is still locally common, and in Northeast China, where it is almost surely declining. It winters south to Indonesia.
This graceful and little-known rail is far and away Elaine’s and my Bird of the Heilongjiang Breeding Season Trip and a life bird for both of us.
Elaine and I scouted out new birding sites yesterday, and Band-bellied Crake was the payoff today. The crake called spontaneously at 06:00 as Elaine and I were breakfasting near a stream at a site we discovered yesterday. Here is the call I recorded:
Band-bellied Crake Zapornia paykullii, creek bottom (45.637215, 130.548444) near Hongwei Linchang, 12 km (7.5 mi.) south of Boli, Heilongjiang, China, elev. 450 m (1,480 ft.), 8 June, by Craig Brelsford (0:10, 2 MB)
Elaine and I searched up- and downstream for four hours, finding no other crakes. We returned to the breakfast spot at 10:10 and found our crake again. Was he the only one?
Almost totally given over to agriculture, eastern Heilongjiang offers less and less habitat suitable for crakes and dozens of other environmentally sensitive birds. A trip through farming areas such as those we passed through yesterday shows dramatically what has been lost. Miles and miles of the formerly endless northern temperate forest here have been torn down and plowed under, in places down to the very last square inch.
Elaine happens to be from one of the best areas left for forest birding in this part of Heilongjiang. The place where we found the crake is an area of poor to good habitat just 12 km (7½ mi.) south of Elaine’s home village. Xidaquan, the large forest reserve with much good to excellent habitat, is just 21 km (13 mi.) away.
My wife Elaine Du and I are on a 17-day trip to her hometown of Boli in eastern Heilongjiang. Our trip started 26 May. We birded the area twice last year, and I wrote this report.
EDITOR’S NOTE
This post is part of a series on birding in Manchuria and the Russian Far East. See also:
Northeast China
Boli, Heilongjiang at the Height of Breeding Season
Birding Northern Inner Mongolia and Eastern Heilongjiang
Birding Northeast China in April & May
Russian Far East
Sikhote-Alin: A Place Unparalleled for Experiencing the Birds of East Asia
Featured image: Band-bellied Crake Zapornia paykullii, Boli, Heilongjiang, China. (Craig Brelsford)
