Birding for Life

After the Zoothera Birding trip to Yunnan, I flew to Shenzhen on February 2 to visit with my son Dave and his girlfriend Rachel.  The timing was perfect as it allowed me to join Rachel’s family for the celebration of Chinese New Year, the quintessential food and family holiday.  Many stores and businesses close for the week-long holiday, commonly called Spring Festival in China, so that people can return to their home towns to celebrate with their families.  The holiday starts with a huge meal on New Year’s Eve.  Our table was overflowing with plain boiled chicken served with ginger-green onion dip, braised prawns, roasted goose, sautéed Chinese cabbage with vermicelli, steamed Turbot fish, stir-fry vegetables, fried oysters, and chicken soup.  Everything was delicious, but we could not eat it all.  I later learned that it’s part of the tradition to have leftovers so that there is plenty to eat without any cooking or other work on the first day of the new year.

Dazzling decorations in Shenzhen celebrate Spring Festival

When I was not spending time with Dave or Rachel, I was free to go birding in Shenzhen’s parks.  This was my fifth trip to China and I have become very comfortable going out by myself.  I don’t see a lot of species, but it’s very satisfying to find them myself.  And, I love those birds!  It’s like visiting old friends.

Chinese Hwamei in a Shenzhen city park.

On my first day of birding, I went to a close-by park that that I have been to many times on previous visits.  This time I saw a new bird there, but I could hardly believe my eyes.  I spied a Chinese Hwamei in the trees!  I went to the park again the following day and investigated more thoroughly.  This time I estimated at least six of these birds, all but one in the same little area.  Several men sat nearby with cages hanging in the trees.  Sadly, I recognized that they must have been trapping the birds for the caged bird trade, which is illegal in China but very common nonetheless.  Hwamei are by far the most popular bird that is kept as a pet in China.  I find them attractive, but the main appeal is their beautiful song.

That afternoon Rachel took me to a new park, Futian Mangrove Ecological Park, which opened for visitors in December 2015.  The local government spent $47 million restoring the ecosystem of this park on Deep Bay, a critical ecological location.  A press release states that one of the main functions of the park is to promote environmental awareness.  We didn’t see a lot of birds that afternoon, but I did have my closest looks ever at White-breasted Waterhens.  We also met a friendly park staff member who said that Black-faced Spoonbills could be seen at the park and she told me exactly where to find them.

White-breasted Waterhen, a common bird in Asia

As you can guess, I went back to Futian Mangrove Ecological Park the next morning to look for the spoonbills.  Rachel wrote directions in Chinese for me so that I could get a taxi to the park while she visited with friends.  We would meet later for lunch.  I went to the estuary viewing area as directed and immediately saw my target bird.  The Black-faced Spoonbill is endangered with only 2,693 total birds recorded in the 2012 census.  I had seen this species a few times previously, but never so close.

Black-faced Spoonbill, a globally endangered species

Here’s my video of the spoonbill in action along with a Little Egret for an opening act.

There were several other birds in this same area including this Common Greenshank.

Common Greenshank, a bird that really is common. It occurs in Asia, Europe, Africa, and Australia.

Kingfishers were also busy here and I especially admired a Pied Kingfisher.  This species feeds exclusively by hovering over water and plunging down to catch its prey.  It hovered nearly 40 feet above the water, for several minutes each time, and it did this repeatedly.  I was amazed at the energy and focus this must take; later research revealed that only a handful of birds are able to plunge dive from a hovering flight like this.

Pied Kingfisher

The middle of the week brought a trip to one of my favorite parks in Shenzhen, Mangrove Seashore Ecological Park.  This park, along with Futian Mangrove Ecological Park, is on the Shenzhen side of Deep Bay, with the world-famous Mai Po wetlands of Hong Kong just a couple of miles south on the other side of the bay.  The park is absolutely gorgeous and always attracts a lot of people strolling along the walk beside the bay, picnicking on the grass, and just generally enjoying this wonderful place to be outdoors.

A small part of the crowd watching the gulls and ducks on the edge of Deep Bay

I was glad that Rachel had gone with me this day because we witnessed a spectacle that I had never seen before.  Something was causing fish to congregate at one particular spot along the bay and that in turn attracted birds.  Black-headed Gulls feeding on the fish flew so close we could almost have reached out and touched them.  Eurasian Wigeon and Northern Shovelers swam below.  And, dozens of people had converged at this spot, too.  There were photographers with their big lenses alongside families with children of all ages.  Some had climbed down on the rocks at the water’s edge (many with small children) where they were mere feet from the ducks.  Everyone seemed to be enthralled with the birds.

Black-headed Gulls

Handsome male Eurasian Wigeon

Male Norther Shoveler in full breeding plumage

We saw only twenty species of birds that day, but I can’t remember a time when birding was more fun.  It was one of my favorite outings ever and I was especially happy that Rachel shared the experience with me.

Other birds at Mangrove Seashore Ecological Park included lovely Black-winged Stilts.

The next day I could not resist going to Futian Mangrove Ecological Park one more time.  I loved this park that was new to me and I was very happy that I found a few new species for my Guangdong province bird list there.

Yellow-bellied Prinia

On my last day of birding in China, Rachel joined me again to show me where she had played as a child, Lizhi Park (Lychee Park).  Shenzhen has many beautiful parks; this lovely one surrounds a lake.  Rachel had not paid much attention to the birds before, so it was fun sharing my enthusiasm with her. She especially liked the Common and White-throated Kingfishers.

Common Kingfisher

We played “Where did the white bird go?” as Chinese Pond-Herons, which appear mostly white in flight, settled into the weedy edges of the lake and seemed to disappear as the plain brown feathers on their backs provided the perfect camouflage.

A goofy photo of a Chinese Pond-Heron, but it shows the white undersides of the brown-backed bird. Once spring comes and these birds molt into their breeding plumage, they will be so colorful that they look like a different species.

We also spent considerable time watching Little Egrets in their breeding plumage glory.  I never tire of watching these birds wade in the shallow edges of the water looking for a meal or just standing still and looking elegant.

Little Egret, a common Asian bird that is quite similar to Snowy Egret.

It was a wonderful way to spend my last day in China.  I was tired and ready to go home, but I suspect that this was not my last trip to this fascinating part of the world.

Rachel’s photo of me at Lychee Park