Craining day II – Dawn Of the Red-crowned Crane
05/12/2014 – Yancheng
The much wanted Baer’s Pochard was in the bag so now we could focus on completing the list of possible Crane species for this trip. Today we were gonna look for the most beautiful of them all: the endangered Red-crowned Crane…
The Red-crowned Crane is a majestic 1.75 meter high black-and-white crane with a contrasting red crown; hence the name. It breeds in increasingly low numbers in the East-Siberian taiga – where its famous dancing display is revered in local cultures – and winters mainly in Japan and nowadays in low numbers – up to a mere 200 birds in 2013 – in the Yancheng region in eastern China.
Cotton farmers by Garry Bakker
At dawn we drove to the fields where the cranes usually feed on leftovers from the harvest and upon arrival we immediately found up to 18 Red-crowned Cranes, standing in small family groups among large numbers of Common Cranes and a few Hooded Cranes. The Common Cranes – already very large birds – were dwarfed by the Red-crowneds that stood like snowy white giants among them. As the birds gave their characteristic trumpeting calls you could see the vapor coming out of their nostrils; making this truly an unforgettable experience.
Red-crowned Cranes family by Garry Bakker
Red-crowned Crane family by Garry Bakker
Red-crowned Cranes adult & juvenile Garry Bakker
After enjoying this spectacle we started checking the Common Cranes for the much smaller Sandhill Crane; a vagrant from far northeast Siberia – or maybe even North America – that is sometimes reported from this region. To our own amazement we found one within half an hour, thereby completing the list of 6 possible cranes this trip. With 6 species of Crane and 7 species of Pheasant in one trip we can say for sure that this China trip is indeed ‘EPIC’!
Sandhill Crane with Common Cranes by Garry Bakker
The rest of the day was spend sorting through large numbers of Pallas’s Bunting for the localized Ochre-rumped Bunting. It took some time but eventually we found an adult female and a first winter. Other quality birds today were: 2 Eurasian Bitterns, several Reed Parrotbills and Chinese Penduline Tits and 2 Chestnut-eared Buntings. We searched the fishponds one more time but yesterdays Baer’s was nowhere to be found…
Pallas’s Reed Bunting by Garry Bakker
Vega Gull by Garry Bakker
Around 9 PM we board the night-train back to Beijing; the trip comes almost to an end…
Species list day 15 (underlined are LIFERS)
- Common Pheasant
- Eurasian Coot
- Common Moorhen
- Bean Goose sp.
- Swan Goose 32
- Common Shelduck
- Eurasian Teal
- Northern Pintail
- Northern Shoveler
- Gadwall
- Mallard
- Smew
- Common Merganser
- Red-breasted Merganser 1
- Ferruginous Duck 1 male
- Tufted Duck
- Common Pochard
- Eastern Spot-billed Duck
- Little Grebe
- Great Crested Grebe
- Common Kingfisher
- Pied Kingfisher
- Eurasian Hoopoe
- Spotted Dove
- Oriental Turtle Dove
- Common Crane 1000
- Hooded Crane 10
- Sandhill Crane 1 adult
- Japanese Crane 29
- Avocet
- Eurasian Curlew
- Spotted Redshank
- Common Sandpiper
- Green Sandpiper
- Dunlin
- Grey Plover
- Kentish Plover
- Common Kestrel
- Peregrine 1
- Mongolian Gull
- Vega Gull
- Black-headed Gull
- Whiskered Tern
- White-winged Black Tern 1
- Great Cormorant
- Eurasian Spoonbill
- Oriental Stork 35
- Black-crowned Night-heron
- Great Bittern 2
- Chinese Pond Heron
- Grey Heron
- Little Egret
- Great Egret
- Long-tailed Shrike
- (Oriental) Magpie
- Azure-winged Magpie
- Oriental Blackbird
- Dusky Thrush
- Daurian Redstart
- Bluethroat
- White-cheeked Starling
- Crested Myna
- Chinese Bulbul
- Vinous-throated Parrotbill
- Reed Parrotbill 10
- Plain Prinia
- Tree Sparrow
- Oriental Skylark
- White Wagtail (Leucopsis)
- Eastern Yellow Wagtail 1
- Buff-bellied Pipit
- Richard’s Pipit
- Little Bunting
- Black-faced Bunting
- Rustic Bunting 5
- Chestnut-eared Bunting 2
- Pallas’s Bunting very common
- Japanese Reed Bunting 1 1st winter, 1 spec., 1 ad female (Bas)
- Reed Bunting
Swan Geese by Garry Bakker
Red-crowned Cranes by Garry Bakker
Common cranes by Garry Bakker
Happy birding!