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The Black-winged Cuckooshrike is breeding in several Shanghai locations – I suspect that some trees near the Nanhui hotel might be another one, given the vigorous singing of this bird. The Amur Paradise Flycatcher is another species breeding in Shanghai. Yellow-rumped Flycatchers are breeding in the same park.
But the way it is, familiarity breeds (relative) contempt. The Cattle Egret (or Eastern Cattle Egret , to be exact, but that would mess with my alphabetic order) can be seen in farmland around Shanghai. Instead of cattle, it nowadays often follows tractors ploughing the fields and thus stirring up small animals.
If you see 50 cattle egrets following a plough on a rice paddy, less so. Flashy when breeding, camouflaged when not (or when young). While most egrets are not a big draw for experienced birders, they are often the ones that non-birders find the most impressive. So, here are some of the species living in Nanhui, Shanghai.
Cattle Egrets have perfected that smudgy look. Breeding in Northern Japan and wintering in the Phillippines, some seem to take a migratory rest stop (and slight deviation) at the Shanghai coast. ” This is probably an Eastern Crowned Warbler. But do we really care? ” Hm.
Such programs are somewhat inefficient anyway – in one study , the breeding success of wild male pheasants was 2-5 times higher than for hand-reared and released ones while for females, hand-reared birds were 3 times as vulnerable to predation as the wild ones. Apparently, there once was a Buick model named Buick Skylark.
Around this time of the year, the first few waders are back in Shanghai from their breeding grounds far further up north. Generally, being back here early is not a very good sign – it may indicate a failed breeding attempt, as suggested for Asian Dowitchers in a paper on their presence in Lianyungang somewhat further north of Shanghai.
Fortunately, there are a few more such breeding species than most Shanghainese are aware of. While the HBW states that it breeds at 300 – 2450 meters, in Shanghai – where such elevations are not available outside of the upper floors of a few highrises – it makes to with an altitude of about 0 meters as well.
According to the HBW, when breeding, male birds do most of the incubation and parenting while females often leave the nest up to one week before the eggs hatch. Maybe better not to ever meet such a “mother” (given that I have been living in China for too long to be up-to-date regarding political correctness etc.,
. … Nest dismantling by the Hair-crested Drongo may be an adaptive behavior to increase fitness by reducing risk of future predation and competition for nest sites in the following breeding season” ( source ). When Cattle Egrets go to the local discotheque, they tend to overdo their makeup a bit. ” ( source ).
The fields near the Tiaozini mudflats look very much like a lunar landscape, but this does not seem to keep a number of species from breeding there, sometimes directly on dirt roads. But now back to birds … Little Ringed Plovers also seem to like to breed directly on the road. Blandness sells. Also available as a set of two.
Fortunately – as this is China, not the US – there is no “Three shrikes and you are out” rule here (and if this is not the worst joke you have ever heard, then your life really sucks). The third shrike seen in Shanghai this month was the Tiger Shrike. Maybe the males were not that impressive.
It is kind of rare to see a Fairy Pitta during Shanghai’s spring migration as those passing through are all adults rather than inexperienced chicks, and they are in a rush getting to their breeding grounds – but I was lucky. This should not be a problem in Shanghai as the pitta has not been reported to breed here.
Shanghai parks are rather crowded and noisy places, but the goshawks – who unlike me have lived in China all their lives – apparently do not mind. The Little Grebe is of course a very common bird that can still surprise by its beauty in its breeding plumage. Black-naped Orioles are breeding in Fengxian. but they do.
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