Tag: Heilongjiang birding

Mandarin Duck

Birding in Heilongjiang is unlike birding anywhere else in China. The forests of Heilongjiang, remnants of the ancient Manchurian forest that once stretched unbroken across the region, hold northern species absent further south in China. In springtime, Heilongjiang is the breeding home of birds that in the more densely populated southern regions of China appear only as passage migrants or winter visitors.

shanghaibirding.com has extensive coverage of birding in Heilongjiang and Northeast China:

Great Tit

• Great Tit, New Eastern Record: We found Great Tit in Jiayin County, Heilongjiang, just south of the Sino-Russian border. On eBird our record of Parus major is the easternmost ever in China. The Great Tit was in the zone of contact between P. major and Japanese Tit P. minor, which we found nearby. The zone of contact is growing, and its boundaries remain unclear.

Band-bellied Crake

• Band-bellied Crake and Other Northeast China Specialties: Birding eastern Heilongjiang in May and June, the height of breeding season, our team noted Band-bellied Crake, found breeding Eurasian Eagle-Owl and Mandarin Duck, and recorded secretive species such as Rufous Hawk-Cuckoo and Gray’s Grasshopper Warbler.

White-throated Rock Thrush

• Birds of the Remnant Manchurian Forest: Elaine Du and Craig Brelsford became the first birders to survey Xidaquan, a vast forest reserve in Elaine’s home county of Boli in eastern Heilongjiang. The duo noted 91 species around Xidaquan, among them Ural Owl and local breeders Eastern Crowned Warbler, Radde’s Warbler, and White-throated Rock Thrush.

Jankowski’s Bunting

• Jankowski’s Bunting and Other Northeast China Species: On their first trip to Northeast China, Elaine Du and Craig Brelsford found Jankowski’s Bunting in Inner Mongolia and counts of up to 600 Siberian Crane in Jilin. Tumuji wetland yielded Red-crowned Crane and Oriental Stork as well as flocks of hundreds of geese, and at Zhalong Nature Reserve in Heilongjiang we found Swan Goose and White-naped Crane.

shanghaibirding.com also covers Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve in the Russian Far East, an area with many of the same birds as Chinese Manchuria: Sikhote-Alin: A Place Unparalleled for Experiencing the Birds of East Asia

In addition to coverage of Heilongjiang and our core area of Shanghai, shanghaibirding.com has extensive coverage of other areas of China, among them

Fujian
Hainan
Qinghai
Sichuan
Xinjiang
Yunnan

Scroll down for posts on birding in Heilongjiang and Northeast China. Reach us at info@shanghaibirding.com.

Featured image: Mandarin Duck breeds in the remnant Manchurian forest in Heilongjiang. One of the best sites is Xidaquan National Forest in Boli County, where this photo was taken. (Craig Brelsford)

Band-bellied Crake in Heilongjiang!

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.

Band-bellied Crake
Band-bellied Crake stunned Elaine and me with its beauty. I achieved this image using my Nikon D3S and 600 mm F4 lens. I shot in manual mode with the following specs: F9, 1/1000, ISO 1250. My camera and lens were mounted atop my Manfrotto 055 Carbon Fiber Tripod and MVH502AH video head. Sun, photographer, and bird were perfectly aligned. (Craig Brelsford)

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.

Band-bellied Crake
Band-bellied Crake. (Craig Brelsford)

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)
Reach us: info@shanghaibirding.com

Be notified every time we post. Send an
email with “Subscribe” as the subject to
info@shanghaibirding.com

Donate to Shanghai Birding!





Shanghai Birding 上海观鸟