birding...

Spot-billed Duck Anas poecilorhyncha ©Alister Benn http://www.availablelightimages.com

Guangdong is a heavily populated province spread across 600km of tropical south China, between the Nanling mountain range to the north and the South China Sea to the south. The provincial capital is Guangzhou (formerly Canton) at the head of the Pearl River delta.

The former Portuguese colony of Macau lies to the west of the Pearl River delta, and former British colony of Hong Kong to the east of it. In the past thirty years, much of lowland Guangdong had been transformed into factories and industrial estates. This has led to economic advancement on a huge scale, but the environment has paid a heavy price.

Nonetheless, Nanling National Nature Reserve, which straddles Guangdong’s northern border with Hunan Province, has a good coverage of warm temperate forest and is home to Cabot’s Tragopan and Silver Pheasant, as well as the spectacular Red-tailed Laughingthrush. Silver Orioles breed in Nanling in summer, before dispersing to southeast asia for the winter.

Further east and at a lower elevation, Chebaling National Nature Reserve is a site for Blyth’s Kingfisher and White-eared Night Heron. It is a good place to see and hear Chinese Barbet, recently “split” from Black-browed Barbet. The site has suffered from ill-considered development in the past few years, especially small hydroelectric projects downstream from the reserve boundary which have damaged riverine habitat. However, Chebaling still has five species of woodpecker, Crested Kingfisher, Red-headed Trogon, and some wintering species that rarely get to the south of the province, such as Eurasian Siskins, Common Rosefinch and some buntings.

There are few nature reserves on Guangdong’s coast, but Gongping Dahu in Haifeng County supports a good number of wintering duck, and a significant proportion of the very rare eastern population of Dalmatian Pelican.

On the west side of Shenzhen city the mangrove reserve of Futian looks south across Deep Bay to Hong Kong’s Mai Po Nature Reserve.

Although Dalmatian Pelicans have become irregular in Deep Bay in recent years, there is still plenty to see in winter. The bay supports over 200 endangered Black-faced Spoonbills, as well as thousands of duck, Avocet and Black-headed Gulls. In spring and autumn there are thousands of migrating waders of about forty species - including Nordmann’s Greenshank and Spoon-billed Sandpiper.

The Shenzhen Birdwatching Society is heavily committed to public education about wild birds, and members travel all over China to pursue their hobby.