Amongst Chinese language birders, the Wuyuan, Jiangxi space is understood for 3 species – the Pied Falconet (separate publish), the Scaly-sided Merganser (winter solely – separate publish), and the Blue-crowned Laughingthrush (summer time solely). However even in winter, there are fairly a number of different species, most of which I can’t see right here in Shanghai.
For instance, we do have the Gentle-vented Bulbul in Shanghai …
… however the selection is way broader at Wuyuan: Chestnut Bulbul …
… Black Bulbul (with various levels of white heads) …
… Mountain Bulbul …
… and the Collared Finchbill (a bulbul hiding its bulbulness behind a pseudonym, as presumably most kinfolk of Donald Trump do. Be happy to specific your disappointment with this pointless political assertion within the feedback).
Then there are birds that may simply be seen in Shanghai as nicely. Undecided why I even embody them right here. Most likely simply to indicate off with my images:
Daurian Redstart …
… White Wagtail …
… Lengthy-tailed Shrike (I believe they give the impression of being barely totally different from the Shanghai ones, as if they’re utilizing extra hair gel, or only a totally different model, perhaps) …
… and Cinereous Tit (in all probability the higher identify than Asian Tit – my guess is that many guests reaching this web site by way of the search time period Asian Tits depart the positioning after only a few seconds).
Whereas there are a number of Nice Noticed Woodpeckers in Shanghai, they’re much extra frequent right here …
… and the identical applies to the Gray-capped Pygmy Woodpecker.
The Black Eagle appears to be the primary raptor right here – at the least essentially the most seen, ceaselessly circling over birds and birders alike.
Regardless of an estimated inhabitants of solely about 10,000 people and a dependency on forest cowl (which is declining), it’s listed as Least Concern.
In China, there are about 100 breeding pairs unfold over 8 provinces (supply).
Apparently, it’s a hen that’s not often seen perched – based on Wikipedia, the Lepcha individuals of India’s Darjeeling district describe it as a hen that by no means sits down, and a paper describing a nest in Sri Lanka begins with the sentence “Observing a perched Black Eagle is taken into account to be a uncommon incidence; even one in every of Sri Lanka’s biggest ornithologists, G. M. Henry, by no means noticed one perched”.
It’s a species totally different from Verreaux’s Eagle, an African species that within the older literature can also be referred to as Black Eagle (it seems considerably related as nicely).
Whereas there are not any Blue-crowned Laughingthrushes right here in winter, two low-budget laughingthrushes are simply seen, the Chinese language Hwamei …
…. and the Masked Laughingthrush.
I believe it seems surprisingly engaging given the slightly boring description within the HBW: “Massive laughingthrush, boring plain grey-brown above and greyish-buff under, with greyish head and huge blackish masks”.
It’s a cooperative breeder – helpers take part in nest-building, incubation, and provisioning (supply).
Wuyuan has a number of small, fast-flowing rivers that host the species one would anticipate:
Blue Whistling Thrush …
… Plumbeous Water Redstart …
… Little Forktail …
… and White-crowned Forktail (which considerably to my shock I noticed foraging on a fallow area, although it was fairly a moist one).
A pair of Indochinese Yuhinas drew a variety of consideration from Shanghai birders in November 2024 (see my publish). Right here at Wuyuan, it’s a frequent species forming largish flocks and being largely ignored by birders. It doesn’t thoughts.
Huet’s Fulvetta is one other such flock-forming hen round right here. eBird politely calls it “modestly coloured”, which sounds a bit like describing a girl as having an exquisite soul.
Lastly, two barely extra fascinating species. Whereas not notably uncommon, I nonetheless discover the Pink-billed Blue Magpie fairly beautiful. And eBird – including insult to damage compared to the fulvetta – calls it “vividly-colored”.
A journal named “Synthetic Intelligence Overview” has a paper titled “Pink-billed blue magpie optimizer: a novel metaheuristic algorithm for 2D/3D UAV path planning and engineering design issues”.
In that paper, the authors “suggest a novel metaheuristic strategy referred to as the Pink-billed Blue Magpie Optimizer (RBMO), impressed by the cooperative and environment friendly predation behaviors of red-billed blue magpies.”
However it appears some individuals really perceive what this implies, which then leads to further papers with sentences similar to “Combining the Pink-billed Blue Magpie Optimizer (RBMO) and the Line-of-Sight (LOS) steering regulation and the Lively Disturbance Rejection Management, the issue of mutual coupling between the states of the system is solved, and the decoupled two-channel Lively Disturbance Rejection Management is shaped.”
This all jogs my memory of a sequence of pc books printed by O’Reilly Media – they at all times have a hen species on the duvet, which makes me take a better look till I notice that the title of the guide is one thing like “C# 8.0 in a Nutshell: The Definitive Reference“. Name it deceptive promoting.
This video right here is a extra related supply for birders – displaying three grownup magpies collectively feeding chicks and thus indicating cooperative breeding. Good to look at, too.
After which there’s the Gray-sided Scimitar Babbler. Considerably disappointingly, eBird simply calls it a “giant scimitar-babbler”, which I really feel doesn’t do the bizarre look of the species full justice.
It was elevated to full species stage in 2006 – see right here for the rationale.
Regardless of this elevation, it’s nonetheless performing removed from confident, skulking (see my images) as an alternative – although its name provides it away.
The species (Erythrogenys swinhoei) is called after Robert Swinhoe, the primary British consul to Taiwan and a really energetic naturalist. He died in 1877 aged solely 41 – yow will discover his obituary in Nature right here. Neither Wikipedia nor the obituary point out the reason for his early dying – so I requested ChatGPT about it. The reply is concise and should clarify why it was neglected of the obituary: “Robert Swinhoe, the British naturalist and diplomat, suffered from syphilis, which led to his early retirement and eventual dying on 28 October 1877.”
