Bird News by Subhojit Chakladar
With news of large-scale movement underway and not having birded the previous weekend, I was quite eager to head out on the Saturday morning inspite of having a cold. Though I wanted to check out one of the nearer Yellow Sea Islands, circumstances compelled me to go to my nearest birding ground – Uiwang, which inspite of being a rather humble inland reservoir has produced some wonderful surprises in the past. It also happens to the place where I really learned about birds. Also being familiar with the habitat, birding is usually more relaxed and actually quite productive. In fact, I’ve spotted lifers on 3 of the 4 occasions I’ve been there this year!
Right from the onset, it was clear that there were significant number of Black-faced Buntings. Even a stingy counter would easily reach three digits. A more practical estimate is about 120~140 birds in a limited part of the reservoir edge and the adjoining fields. The size of the reservoir has been considerably reduced owing to ongoing construction, which had lead to reed growth. This in turn has attracted birds that prefer that habitat in quite large numbers. Other birds of note were 4 Yellow-browed Warblers, 7 Bean Geese flying overhead, 6 Marsh Tits, 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 4 Daurian Redstarts and the best of all (at least for me) was a female Siberian Rubythroat (thanks to Dr Moores for helping with the ID).