Xiamen China, December 9, 2017 and February 3, 2019

Azure-winged Magpie (Cyanopica cyanus) Bailuzhou Park Xiamen China 3 February 2019 Callyn Yorke

December 9, 2017 and February 3, 2019 Xiamen University & Bailuzhou Park, Xiamen, China

Lengthy layovers in China are routine when flying from the USA to destinations in SE Asia. Much to my pleasant surprise, this inconvenience was a good opportunity for exploration. Xiamen Airlines, in addition to being reliable and providing excellent in-flight services for business class passengers, offers complimentary lodging and meals in a 5-star hotel during 8+hour layovers in Xiamen (incorrectly but recognizably pronounced, Jhu-amin). Daytime layovers turned out to be ideal for local taxi rides to birding spots around the city.

December 9, 2017 Xiamen University

A young Chinese fellow, working as a hotel interpreter (English is not widely understood in Xiamen), though unfamiliar with birding, readily identified some locations in Xiamen where he believed birds could be found. One of those was the large, park-like campus of Xiamen University, where Aaron and I spent a couple of hours looking into trees and hedges for birds. Aaron, a traveling audiologist from Tennessee, not only saw Xiamen University for the first time, he experienced birding as a completely novel activity. Never mind that I had not been to Xiamen and was only marginally acquainted with with the avifauna of China; this city was entirely new to both of us. We shared a binocular and the excitement of discovery, like a couple of young college kids that neither of us were anymore.

Actually, we had chosen what was perhaps the worst day for birding on the Xiamen University campus. There were throngs of students running about, evidently searching for clues anywhere and everywhere (including gardens, shrubs and trees) in what appeared to be a treasure hunt. Consequently, most of whatever birdlife had been on the campus was now entirely gone or well concealed. We were often preoccupied with avoiding collisions amongst crowds of determined treasure seekers, who smiled at us as though we were, in a rather hesitant yet thoughtful way, engaged in the same activity.

The few birds we found were elusive. A laughingthrush (possibly Masked Laughingthrush) vocalized in some nearby shrubbery and quickly disappeared in silence. Two vigilant White Wagtails, normally on the ground, had taken refuge on a tile roof; two Eurasian Magpies (similar to the North American Black-billed Magpie) showed their long tails and bright bluish-black & white plumage, then retreated from view in a tall conifer. Clearly, the campus was under siege. A Light-vented Bulbul showing its buffy cheek patch appeared for a quick but blurry photo – a lifer for both Aaron and me. At the end of our visit, only thirteen bird species were tallied, three of them of uncertain identity. Somewhat frustrated, yet thankful for his first guided bird tour, Aaron remarked with a half-smile, “This birding really sucks.”

Here’s what we found on the Xiamen University campus during our visit (9 December, 2017, 0945-1200 hrs., partly cloudy, 63F, light winds):

Domestic Black Swan (Australian exotic), 2 on a small lake; Mallard 2 males, on the same small lake; Feral Rock Pigeon 8 gregarious, flying around; Dove (Streptopelia sp.?) 2, large with relatively long tail; Laughingthrush sp. 2 with dark cheeks and rusty-brown plumage, on ground and in shrubs, shy; White-vented Bulbul 1; Eurasian Magpie 2 a pair in a large conifer; Japanese (Gray) Tit 3, gregarious, in trees and on ground; White Wagtail 2 a pair on a second-level tile roof; Magpie Robin 5 vocal, ubiquitous; Eurasian Blackbird 6, mostly on ground in secluded areas; Eurasian Tree Sparrow 10, gregarious, ubiquitous; Leaf Warbler (Phylloscopus sp. (possibly Dusky Leaf Warbler) 1 active in low shrubs.

February 3, 2019 Bailuzhou Park, Xiamen

Bailuzhou Park Xiamen, China 3 February 2019 Callyn Yorke

Another daytime layover between flights in Xiamen, provided an opportunity to continue exploring birding sites in the city. Using a simplified tourist map that looked like it belonged to Disneyland, a friendly Nikko Hotel concierge and I found some prospective birding areas, identified mostly by a lack of buildings and the presence of grass and trees. One such place, located alongside an interior waterway, was called Bailuzhou Park. Arrangements were quickly made for a taxi; I would have to find my own way back to the hotel whenever I was finished birding. That turned out to be something of a challenge, despite having the hotel name written in Chinese and English on a piece of paper.

This time I was on my own. I really had no idea if the park chosen for an afternoon of birding would be worthwhile. Just an educated guess, really – lawns, trees and water – all seemed like an oasis within the concrete jungle of Xiamen. Fortunately, I was not disappointed. Two and a half hours of birding in Bailuzhou Park produced twenty-one species of bird, including at least six lifers. The following is an annotated checklist of what I found…

Bailuzhou Park, Xiamen 3 February, 2019, 1425-1700 hrs.; 78F, hazy overcast; winds calm.

Feral Rock Pigeon 15 gregarious, ubiquitous; Oriental Turtle Dove 1; Spotted Dove 1-2 vocal (unseen); Black Kite 1 in flight; Plaintive Cuckoo 1 atop a tree (photo);

Plaintive Cuckoo (Cacomantis merulinus) Bailuzhou Park, Xiamen 3 February 2019 Callyn Yorke

Gray Heron 2 resting on an anchored boat; Great Egret 10 gregarious, resting on an anchored boat; Chinese Egret 10, resting on an anchored boat, also in flight over waterway; White-breasted Waterhen 1 on lawn at edge of garden; Coppersmith Barbet 1 distinctive repeated calls (out of range?); Azure-winged Magpie 12 vocal, gregarious on lawns and in trees (photo);