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Jianfengling, Hainan

CHANGING CURRENTS
20 YEARS of REFLECTIONS
BIRDS IN CHINA - PHOTOS
CYCLING to XANADU
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2 Playing the Waiting Game
3 Beware the Ides of March
4 The county not on a map
5 Chinese Chess in Beijing
6 Build it and They'll Come
7 Riding the Water Dragon
8 The Best of Both Worlds
9 Storming the Great Wall
10 Welcome to the Wangba
11 The Catcher in the Rice
12 The Marriage Business
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14 Counting the Numbers
15 A Century of Migration
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17 Rise of Yorkshire Puds
18 Harry Potter in Beijing
19 Standing Out in China
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21 Strolling on the Moon
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25 Christmas in Haerbin
26 Dave pops into Tesco
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30 The Great Exhibition
31 Spreading the Word
32 On Top of the World
33 Moonlight Madness
34 Beijing's Wild West
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39 Spinning the Wheel
40 Winter Wonderland
41 The End of the Sky
42 Ticket to Ride High
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44 Trouble in Toytown
45 Watch with Mother
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47 In a Barbie World
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50 Land of Extremes
51 Of 'Mice' and Men
52 Tour of the South
53 Brooding Clouds?
54 The Nabang Test
55 Guanxi Building
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59 Rural Shanghai
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BIRDING in CHINA
PORTS of CALL
FROM BEYOND THE WALL
ABOUT

Wednesday, 27th January 2010, 7.10am to 6pm

I woke up on Monday thinking that it would be good to fly south to escape the worst winter in Beijing for many a year.  And just to prove that China is a land of possibilities as well as of extremes, the following day (yesterday) I arrived in a place 2763km from and 30 degrees warmer than the capital.  Sanya, in the far south of the island province of Hainan, is popular with those who love sandy beaches, warm sea, and the night life that goes with those attractions.  It's also popular with those who really do like to get away from it all:
   From Sanya's airport, it's a mere two hour drive to Jianfengling, one of the best rain forest areas in China, and home to the much sought-after Hainan Peacock-Pheasant as well as an impressive supporting cast of mid-altitude southern China species, many of which are represented by sub-species that are endemic to the island. 
   This is my fifth visit to Hainan and my second visit to Jianfengling.  Last year, I saw some very special birds, but didn't get close to seeing the Peacock-Pheasant.  Would I have better luck this year I wondered as the car left the warmth and blue skies of the coastal lowlands and headed up the fog-shrouded mountain.  I arrived at 3pm, with three hours of exploring left in the day.  Alas, the thick fog got even thicker and, remarkably, I only managed to actually see two species of birds - Grey Wagtail and the ubiquitous Puff-throated Bulbul.   
   "It will be fine tomorrow," said an old man I passed on one of the tracks.  In these parts perhaps it's a case of "Thick fog at night, sheperd's delight" I  mused.   
   Sure enough, the fog had completely gone by first light and I was able to enjoy an excellent day's birding:
   The Ratchet-tailed Treepie was an early-morning treat.  Interestingly, I saw the same species last year in what could have been exactly the same flock - Greater Racket-tailed Drongo (2) and Lesser Yellownape (1).  This time, though, I was able to get some kind of shot of it as it flitted about in the canopy of a 1500 year-old tree. 
   Then, at 10am, I heard a rustle in the leaf litter about 30 yards to my right.  It wasn't a "rustle, rustle, rustle" (which is usually indicative of a feeding flock of laughingthrushes), but more of a "rustle" (long silence), "rustle" (long silence), "rustle" (long silence).  Then I saw something move.  I picked up my binoculars and immediately locked on to the amazing sight of the near-mythical Hainan Peacock-Pheasant.
   Just as I was thinking that photography was out of the question, as very little light was reaching the forest floor, the bird started to move towards a small chink of light that had somehow broken through.  I looked through my camera, but couldn't see the bird at all, although I could see that I would be shooting hand-held at 1/20th of a second at a ridiculously high ISO (let's call it the "rain forest setting").  Nevertheless, I gave it a go, before getting back to the serious business of watching the bird (and finding another one in an even thicker tangle of undergrowth nearby).
   After checking my camera later, I was amazed that I had actually got an image of the bird.  On the basis that any shot of a Hainan Peacock-Pheasant can't be that bad a shot, I've included it in the day's photo highlights.
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Ratchet-tailed Treepie (photo), 1
Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, endemic ssp johni, 2 
Lesser Yellownape (photo), endemic ssp longipennis, 1
Hainan Peacock-Pheasant (photo), endemic species, 2
Green-billed Malkoha, endemic ssp hainanus, 1
Sultan Tit (photo), sev
Crested Serpent Eagle (2 photos), endemic ssp rutherfordi, 3
White-browed Fantail, 1
Grey-cheeked Fulvetta, endemic ssp rufescentor, c30
White-bellied Yuhina, 2
Hainan Leaf Warbler, endemic species, 1
Grey Wagtail, 1
White Wagtail, few
Spot-necked Babbler, endemic ssp swinhoei, sev
Puff-throated Bulbul (photo), endemic nominate ssp pallidus, c30
Mountain Bulbul (photo), 1
Scarlet Minivet (photo),  endemic ssp fraterculus, 1
Black-throated Laughingthrush (photo), endemic ssp monachus, few
Little Grebe, 2
Black Drongo, 1
Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler, endemic ssp nigrostellatus, few 
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10 photos published today of 9 species (all not photographed before in 2010)
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2010 = 46 species photographed

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