by Craig Brelsford
Founder, shanghaibirding.com
Elaine and I noted 36 species, an all-time high for us at Century Park. The list is a delightful, passerine-heavy, and thus very typical Century Park mix, livened up by Eurasian Woodcock. We found Great Spotted Woodpecker, uncommon in the park, and Tristram’s Bunting showed well. Thrush species are arriving, but their numbers are still small. We had 5 White’s Thrush, 6 Grey-backed Thrush, 2 Eyebrowed Thrush, Japanese Thrush, and Pale Thrush as well as the ever-present Chinese Blackbird.
The woodcock was in the very productive forest to the right of Gate 7 from the perspective of one entering the park. The sparrowhawks were seen high above Gate 7; distinguishing between Japanese and Eurasian Sparrowhawk, the two likely species, would have been guesswork for me with birds that high.
Black-browed Reed Warbler were seen once again in the reeds edging the lake near Gate 7. Along the reed bed near the soccer field we found an adult-male Bull-headed Shrike.
Weather: Mostly cloudy. High 19°C.
Century Park (Shìjì Gōngyuán [世纪公园]), Pudong New Area (Pǔdōng Xīn Qū [浦东新区]), Shanghai, China (31.219361, 121.551900). 08:10-12:15.
Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis 8
Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax 3
Little Egret Egretta garzetta 4
Accipter sp. 2
White-breasted Waterhen Amaurornis phoenicurus 2
Common Moorhen Gallinula chloropus 2
Eurasian Woodcock Scolopax rusticola 1
Spotted Dove Spilopelia chinensis ca. 75
Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis 4
Great Spotted Woodpecker Dendrocopos major 1
Bull-headed Shrike Lanius bucephalus 1
Long-tailed Shrike L. schach 3
Azure-winged Magpie Cyanopica cyanus ca. 50
Yellow-bellied Tit Pardaliparus venustulus 15
Japanese Tit Parus minor 11
Light-vented Bulbul Pycnonotus sinensis 25
Black-throated Bushtit Aegithalos concinnus 15
Pallas’s Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus proregulus 4
Yellow-browed Warbler P. inornatus 5
Black-browed Reed Warbler Acrocephalus bistrigiceps 2
Vinous-throated Parrotbill Sinosuthora webbiana 45
White’s Thrush Zoothera aurea 5
Grey-backed Thrush Turdus hortulorum 6
Japanese Thrush T. cardis 1
Chinese Blackbird T. mandarinus 40
Eyebrowed Thrush T. obscurus 2
Pale Thrush T. pallidus 1
Red-flanked Bluetail Tarsiger cyanurus 5
Mugimaki Flycatcher Ficedula mugimaki 1
Daurian Redstart Phoenicurus auroreus 4
Eurasian Tree Sparrow Passer montanus 10
White Wagtail Motacilla alba 3
Olive-backed Pipit Anthus hodgsoni 11
Chinese Grosbeak Eophona migratoria 4
Eurasian Siskin Spinus spinus 5
Tristram’s Bunting Emberiza tristrami 2
Featured image: Japanese Thrush Turdus cardis passes through the Shanghai region each spring and autumn. This monotypic species breeds on all the main islands of Japan as well as in a disjunct range from Henan to Guizhou. I took this photo of a male last year on Lesser Yangshan Island.
