Bundy,
China is huge in size and habitat. When I moved here I was shocked at how much of this country is "wild". Cities are VERY densely built, and this allows for ample space for farmland and fallow areas.
China also has a huge variety of habitats. I live in an area of NE China which has basically no bird records recorded but plenty to see. A lot of the land is cultivation, with some areas of conifer/broadleaf mixed forest and of course the coastline/sandflats. But China also has huge areas of grassland, forest, desert, and even mangroves. It has coastline and some of the highest mountain ranges in the world. The south of China is tropical, the north reaches tundra breeding sites. Any country with that variety collects a descent species list. The bird guide I have illustrates about 1350 obvious species, with the disclaimer that little is known about China species, especially the 100+ endemics. There is lots of room for research over here, and I am sure many a student could do their ornithology masters degree in this country and provide very important "new" discoveries. Especially in the northern half of China.
I have basically only birded here in the local area besides some of Beijing's parks, etc. Southern China would be similar to Thailand where I birded casually for 2 weeks and easily picked out more than 200 species.
Range maps in the China guides are often a good guess. There just is little known. I have photos of now common birds on our school grounds that are 1000kms out of range according to the guide. Many migrating birds show only winter and breeding areas, leaving migration paths as "don't knows".
Being on the coast during migration in a relatively unknown, under-birded area along a major flyway makes for some "who-knows-what-you-will-find" type birding. The other day it was Pacific Golden Plovers. Haven't seen them since. I went shorebirding two afternoons in a row to the same spot and saw completely different species. The first day I had Sharp-tailed Sandpipers, Red-necked Stints, Long-toed Stints, Black-winged Stilts and Wood Sandpipers. The second day there were Pacific Golden Plovers, Common Greenshanks, and Common Redshanks. Yesterday, there was nothing aside from 3 Little Ringed Plovers and about 25 Whimbrel.
You never know...maybe a Spoon-billed Sandpiper in breeding colours is next?
? That bird doesn't even show a range map except a dot at the wintering area in SE Asia and some small shaded areas across the water from Alaska. Migration records are almost non-existant, except at a Marsh near Hong Kong that seems to get 1 on most years. I am sure than any migration sighting would be very valuable information on saving the species - they estimate less than 300 pairs exist.
So it has been an interesting area to bird. Variety here is great, even though the number of birds are less. I have never seen a flock of birds like you would see Western Sandpiper or Dunlin along the BC coast. 30 birds is a big flock in this area.
All for now,
DB
P.S. For those of you who like lists, here are the birds seen in this area so far:
1 Common Pheasant
2 Hazel Grouse
3 Mute Swan
4 Whooper Swan
5 Swan Goose
6 Bean Goose
7 Greater White-fronted Goose
8 Ruddy Shelduck
9 Common Shelduck
10 Mallard
11 Spot-billed Duck
12 Northern Shoveler
13 Northern Pintail
14 Mandarin Duck
15 Gadwall
16 Falcated Duck
17 Eurasian Wigeon
18 Garganey
19 Baikal Teal
20 Common Teal
21 Common Goldeneye
22 Red-breasted Merganser
23 Common Merganser
24 Common Pochard
25 Ferruginous Pochard
26 Tufted Duck
27 Smew
28 Eurasian Wryneck
29 Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker
30 Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker
31 Rufous-bellied Woodpecker
32 Great Spotted Woodpecker
33 Grey headed Woodpecker
34 Common Kingfisher
35 Black-capped Kingfisher
36 Dollarbird
37 Common Hoopoe
38 Drongo Cuckoo
39 Indian Cuckoo
40 Pacific Swift
41 Common Swift
42 Little Owl
43 Oriental Scops Owl
44 Rock Pigeon
45 Hill Pigeon
46 Oriental Turtledove
47 Spotted Dove
48 Common Crane
49 Hooded Crane
50 Japanese Quail
51 Baillon's Crake
52 Common Moorhen
53 Common Coot
54 Pintail Snipe
55 Swinhoe's Snipe
56 Common Snipe
57 Northen Lapwing
58 Black-tailed Godwit
59 Bar-tailed Godwit
60 Little Curlew
61 Whimbrel
62 Eurasian Curlew
63 Eastern Curlew
64 Common Redshank
65 Marsh Sandpiper
66 Common Greenshank
67 Green Sandpiper
68 Wood Sandpiper
69 Terek Sandpiper
70 Common Sandpiper
71 Ruddy Turnstone
72 Great Knot
73 Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
74 Dunlin
75 Curlew Sandpiper
76 Broad-billed Sandpiper
77 Red-necked Stint
78 Temminck's Stint
79 Long-toed Stint
80 Eurasian Oystercatcher
81 Black-winged Stilt
82 Pied Avocet
83 Pacific-Golden Plover
84 Grey Plover
85 Long-billed Plover
86 Little Ringed Plover
87 Kentish Plover
88 Lesser Sand Plover
89 Black-tailed Gull
90 Common Gull
91 Vega Gull
92 Heuglin's Gull
93 Black-headed Gull
94 Saunders's Gull
95 Common Tern
96 Little Tern
97 White-tailed Eagle
98 Eastern Marsh Harrier
99 Hen Harrier
100 Japanese Sparrowhawk
101 Eurasian Sparrowhawk
102 Northern Goshawk
103 Grey-faced Buzzard
104 Common Buzzard
105 Upland Buzzard
106 Rough-legged Buzzard
107 Osprey
108 Common Kestrel
109 Amur Falcon
110 Merlin
111 Eurasian Hobby
112 Peregrine Falcon
113 Little Grebe
114 Red-necked Grebe
115 Great Crested Grebe
116 Horned Grebe
117 Black-necked Grebe
118 Great Comorant
119 Little Egret
120 Chinese Egret
121 Great Egret
122 Cattle Egret
123 Gray Heron
124 Chinese Pond Heron
125 Little Heron
126 Black-crowned Nightheron
127 Yellow Bittern
128 Oriental Stork
129 Bull-headed Shrike
130 Brown Shrike
131 Chinese Grey Shrike
132 Eurasian Jay
133 Red-billed Blue Magpie
134 Azure-winged Magpie
135 Black-billed Magpie
136 Spotted Nutcracker
137 Daurian Jakdaw
138 Carrion Crow
139 Large-billed Crow
140 Black-naped Oriole
141 Ashy Minivet
142 Long-tailed Minivet
143 Brown Dipper
144 Blue Rock Thrush
145 White's Thrush
146 Grey-backed Thrush
147 Eurasian Blackbird
148 Eyebrowed Thrush
149 Pale Thrush
150 Naumann's Thrush
151 Dusky Thrush
152 Chinese Thrush
153 Orange-flanked Bush Robin
154 Siberian Rubythroat
155 Bluethroat
156 Daurian Redstart
157 White-winged Redstart
158 White-capped Water Redstart
159 Plumbeous Water Redstart
160 Grey-streaked Flycatcher
161 Dark-sided Flycatcher
162 Asian Brown Flycatcher
163 Yellow-rumped Flycatcher
164 Red-throated Flycatcher
165 Common Stonechat
166 White-cheeked Starling
167 Common Starling
168 Crested Myna
169 Eurasian Nuthatch
170 Grey-capped Tit
171 Yellow-bellied Tit
172 Great Tit
173 Green-backed Tit
174 Chinese Penduline Tit
175 Marsh Tit
176 Willow Tit
177 Varied Tit
178 Long-tailed Tit
179 Sooty Tit
180 Barn Swallow
181 Red-rumped Swallow
182 Light-vented Bulbul
183 Brown-eared Bulbul
184 Zitting Cisticola
185 White-browed Chinese Warbler
186 Dusky Warbler
187 Asian Stubtail Warbler
188 Lanceolated Warbler
189 Rusty-rumped Warbler
190 Black-browed Reed Warbler
191 Oriental Reed Warbler
192 Thick-billed Warbler
193 Pallas's Leaf Warbler
194 Yellow-browed Warbler
195 Arctic Warbler
196 Two-barred Warbler
197 Pale-legged Leaf Warbler
198 Radde's Warbler
199 Goldcrest
200 Eastern Crowned Warbler
201 Winter Wren
202 Vinos-throated Parrotbill
203 Eurasian Skylark
204 Chestnut-flanked White-eye
205 Eurasian Tree Sparrow
206 Forest Wagtail
207 White Wagtail
208 Citrine Wagtail
209 Yellow Wagtail
210 Grey Wagtail
211 Richard's Pipit
212 Buff-bellied Pipit
213 Olive-backed Pipit
214 Pechora Pipit
215 Red-throated Pipit
216 Bohemian Waxwing
217 Japanese Waxwing
218 Alpine Accentor
219 Rufous-breasted Accentor
220 Siberian Accentor
221 Grey-capped Greenfinch
222 Eurasian Siskin
223 Brambling
224 Pallas's Rosefinch
225 Common Rosefinch
226 Long-tailed Rosefinch
227 Hawfinch
228 Chinese Grosbeak
229 Tristram's Bunting
230 Little Bunting
231 Yellow-browed Bunting
232 Yellow-throated Bunting
233 Black-faced Bunting
234 Pine Bunting
235 Godlewski's Bunting
236 Meadow Bunting
237 Rustic Bunting
238 Chestnut-eared Bunting
239 Yellow-breasted Bunting
240 Chestnut Bunting
241 Pallas's Reed Bunting
242 Japanese Reed Bunting
243 Common Reed Bunting
? That bird doesn't even show a range map except a dot at the wintering area in SE Asia and some small shaded areas across the water from Alaska. Migration records are almost non-existant, except at a Marsh near Hong Kong that seems to get 1 on most years. I am sure than any migration sighting would be very valuable information on saving the species - they estimate less than 300 pairs exist.
