Tag: Nanhui

Cape Nanhui

Cape Nanhui is the coastal area at the southeastern tip of Shanghai. Despite manic development, the site in Pudong, 85 km (53 mi.) from People’s Square, remains the premier birding spot in Shanghai and one of the best-known birding areas in China. The microforests, a series of small woods, at Cape Nanhui are astonishingly effective traps for migrants such as Japanese Paradise Flycatcher and Siberian Blue Robin. The wetlands offer East Asian rarities Black-faced Spoonbill and Asian Dowitcher.

Read our introduction to Cape Nanhui. Read shanghaibirding.com founder Craig Brelsford’s call to conserve Cape Nanhui. Scroll below to read posts about Cape Nanhui.

Featured image: The nubby promontory between the mouth of the Yangtze River and Hangzhou Bay is what local birders call Cape Nanhui. The site in Pudong, 85 km (53 mi.) from People’s Square, is the richest birding site in Shanghai and among the best birdwatching areas in China. (NASA/Craig Brelsford)

69 Species at Cape Nanhui

by Craig Brelsford
Founder, shanghaibirding.com

Stimulating discussions about leaf warblers enlivened the lulls on Sat. 24 Sept. 2016, a day in which my wife Elaine Du and I once again partnered with veteran British birder Michael Grunwell. We noted 69 species, starting at the sod farm south of Pudong airport then spending the rest of the day at Cape Nanhui. Highlights:

Ruff

Ruff, by Elaine Du.
Note the scaly upperparts and buffy head of this juvenile Ruff, as well as the white sides to its tail. Elaine got these shots with my iPhone 6 plus Swarovski ATX-95 spotting scope mounted atop our Manfrotto head and Gitzo tripod. (Elaine Du)

Juvenile spotted on mudflats at high tide. A far-northern, trans-Eurasian breeder, Philomachus pugnax is a scarce passage migrant in Shanghai. Amid the greenshanks and godwits, the Ruff stood out with its buff-washed head and scaly upperparts. Juvenile Ruff resembles Buff-breasted Sandpiper, a much smaller American bird that we quickly ruled out.

Eurasian Hobby

Peregrine Falcon, Nanhui, 24 Sept. 2016.
Eurasian Hobby, Nanhui, 24 Sept. (Craig Brelsford)

1 juv. Earlier mis’ID as Peregrine Falcon; corrected 3 Oct. 2016.

White-winged Tern

A week ago ca. 2500, on Saturday only 10. Coastal birding is a parade of change, especially in migration season.

Other goodies: Eurasian Wryneck 2, Japanese Paradise Flycatcher 6, Amur Paradise Flycatcher 1, Richard’s Pipit 5, White’s Thrush 5 first-of-season, Rufous-tailed Robin 1 first-of-season. We introduced Benjamin to Reed Parrotbill calling unseen from the reeds below, we had a strong count of 16 Blue-and-white Flycatcher, and we noted two endangered species: Far Eastern Curlew and Yellow-breasted Bunting.

Microforest 4
Microforest 4 (30.953225, 121.959083), Sat. 24 Sept. This is the largest of the eight microforests at Cape Nanhui and an astonishingly effective migrant trap. With woodland birds migrating through and trees all around, one almost begins to forget that this speck of woodland is just a stone’s throw from the mudflats and the East China Sea. (Craig Brelsford)

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