10,000 Birds

MARCH 5, 2020

Shanghai is located on the coast of the East China Sea and lies right on the East Asian–Australasian Flyway. This means that every year, millions of birds fly by the city on their way between their breeding grounds in Northern Asia and their wintering spots in Southeast Asia and Australia. And yet it is. So, there is some hope.

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Wildlife Reserve Asia China Birds 163

10,000 Birds

APRIL 1, 2024

in northeast Asia.” It seems to be impressed by the species: “The Verditer Flycatcher ( Eumyias thalassinus ) is a strikingly beautiful bird found in South Asia.” ” While range-restricted, it is apparently common on Ryukyu Island – but a rare sight here in Shanghai.

Chicago 142

Chicago Birds Asia China 142

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2021

A typical description of the family is that of “a tropical African and Asian songbird that typically has a melodious voice and drab plumage”, another is “small, dull-colored passerine birds of Asia and Africa”, yet another states that they are “often rather plain” Individual species get even harsher reviews.

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South Africa Malaysia Africa China 217

Critter News

MARCH 27, 2011

Please consider Animals Asia for your future donations. I love this organization and have supported them for a few years now. They do important work.

Asia 100

Asia Animal Rights Groups For Animals 100

Critter News

JULY 13, 2009

From the China Daily. Eating wild animals is also a traditional practice in southern China. Tags: wildlife smuggling Traditional Chinese Medicine tigers exotic meat china endangered species. The Chinese want them for exotic foods and for medicine. Up to 20 percent of these are now considered threatened.

China 100

China Wildlife Tigers Endangered Species 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 31, 2022

While I am still not so sure about China’s sense of humor – though admittedly, the issue is mostly a mismatch between what I think is funny and what the average Chinese thinks is funny, an issue that I have had in other countries as well – the country sure has its fair share of Laughingthrushes.

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San Diego Malaysia China Zoos 200

10,000 Birds

JUNE 23, 2022

While it is listed as Least Concern, it is rare in China – the range map in the HBW barely touches Chinese territory. The Latin name “ chinensis ” is somewhat misleading as is much more common in Southeast Asia than in China – apparently, it was chosen in the mistaken belief that the type specimen had come from China.

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Birds Myanmar China Chicago 147

10,000 Birds

MARCH 23, 2014

Big news about a small bird broke earlier this month when bird researchers from several nations announced that the species formerly known as Spotted Wren-Babbler ( Spelaeornis formosus ) — a tiny, secretive bird of montane forests from the eastern Himalayas to southeast China — is not a Spelaeornis wren-babbler at all.

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Family Comoros Asia Birds 267

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 14, 2019

Despite not being rare in China, this was the first time for me to see Carrion Crow at Nanhui. Grey-faced Buzzards are also on migration in October, passing Nanhui on the way to their wintering grounds in South East Asia. A typhoon in Japan blew a few Brown-eared Bulbuls in – they are common in Japan but quite rare here.

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2019 Japan Birds Owls 186

Critter News

JANUARY 26, 2010

Again, the China connection. Thank Animals Asia for the rescue. Tags: taiwan Traditional Chinese Medicine bear bile china asia. Please note that the illegal bile farm was Taiwanese-owned. I can't read such stuff without being sickened by my species. They are an amazing organization that we support financially.).

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Bears Rescue Farming Vietnam 100

Critter News

APRIL 5, 2012

There is only one greyhound racing course in Asia and that is in Macau which now belongs to China. American organization Grey2K visited it and expressed concerns about treatment of the greyhounds both during their racing careers and once they are over.

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Greyhounds China Asia Dogs 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 19, 2018

201-400 sp: Madagascar, north African countries; European countries; Asia Minor, Arabian Peninsula, Mongolia. 1201-1400 sp: Venezuela; China. 1201-1400 sp: Venezuela; China. Costa Rica has 900 and not 800 species, but I made no corrections, remaining faithful to the original map data. 801-1000 sp. –

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Equatorial Guinea Costa Rica Guyana Central African Republic 190

Critter News

OCTOBER 6, 2011

The call was issued after the animal rights group discovered that the fur were sourced from the raccoon dog in China, ABC Radio Australia reports. About 10 million dogs in China are killed for their fur, prompting an animal rights group to seek a ban on fur trade to Australia. The dog fur are used are inside lining for ugg boots.

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Fur Australia Groups Raccoons 100

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 23, 2014

Unfortunately for me, that special species spotted in the bay separating Hong Kong from China was Red-breasted Merganser. I don’t want my Best Bird of the Weekend to be Red-breasted Merganser while I’m in Asia. We saw a lot of great birds but only one truly rare one, a species that everyone on that trip will long remember.

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2014 Feral Asia China 183

10,000 Birds

MARCH 25, 2011

The Black Stork ( Ciconia nigra ) has a very wide distribution in the Old World, ranging from Spain (an isolated population) and northern France through central and eastern Europe all across northern and central Asia to the Pacific coast of Russia and China.

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Germany Asia China Russia 151

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 10, 2019

The 125 Best Bird Watching Sites in Southeast Asia, edited by Yong Ding Li & Low Bing Wen. And now I am holding the “The 125 Best Bird Watching Sites in Southeast Asia” – an expanded and fully updated second edition of “The 100 Best Birdwatching Sites in Southeast Asia”. As a rule, I like second editions better.

Asia 221

Asia Laos Myanmar Indonesia 221

10,000 Birds

MARCH 3, 2022

The new Guide to the Birds of China (John MacKinnon) has been published. This is partly due to hunting in China, where about 90% of the species winter (HBW). Fortunately, some birds seem to be ok with a concrete environment – like this Blue Rock Thrush. And it does not even live in reeds.

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Raccoons Birds Oregon China 207

10,000 Birds

APRIL 18, 2022

According to the HBW, “The Common Myna, a native of southern Asia, was widely introduced (mainly for pest control) in the late 1800s in many far-flung areas of the world” I was more curious about the Latin species name (I did Latin at school and remember that “tristis” means sad or unhappy).

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Mauritius Birds 2000 South Africa 217

Critter News

OCTOBER 2, 2009

Officials say the sales have fuelled demand for ivory in Asian countries, especially China, contributing to a sharp increase in elephant poaching. Tags: wildlife crime ivory africa Kenya china asia elephants traf. Elephants are being screwed by Asian demand for ivory. It's a mess. From the BBC.

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illegal Kenya Laos Elephants 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 18, 2012

They breed in the arid inland areas in Mongolia and northern China and then migrate south into coastal parts of south-east Asia and northern Australia. Oriental Plovers stand very upright and look very brown compared to the usual grey of shorebirds and tend to be rather more vocal in flight.

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Mongolia Asia China Shelters 178

Critter News

OCTOBER 9, 2010

The two-month operation involved national enforcement agencies in six tiger-range countries (China, India, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam) and was coordinated by INTERPOL's Environmental Crime Program at its headquarters in Lyon, France. Tags: wildlife smuggling tigers interpol asia endangered species.

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International Fund For Animal Welfare Tigers IFAW Nepal 100

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2012

Its natural range in Europe was restricted the the surroundings of the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, and in Asia it ranged from Asia Minor to central China. Mute Swans are large, white, and decorative, and as such their natural range has been significantly altered by humans who generally enjoy having them around.

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Feral Europe Asia North America 168

10,000 Birds

MAY 6, 2012

Are you or do you know someone who is currently anywhere between the north of Australia and the Bohai Sea in China? Even if you are somewhere on the coast in China…have you seen any Red Knot ? Some appear to go directly to China, but are they stopping somewhere like Sarawak? Have you seen any Red Knot ?

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China New Zealand Australia Asia 169

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 18, 2015

Admittedly, I might be tempted to compare Temminck’s, Buettikofer’s, Horsfield’s, Abbott’s, or Vanderbilt’s Babblers to Audubon’s, Townsend’s, Kirtland’s and MacGillivray’s Warblers by pointing out that dull scientists went to Asia while more colourful personalities went West.

Vietnam 158

Vietnam Timor Myanmar Asia 158

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 2, 2021

Edward Brown (1810-1867) was a Victorian-age bird collector particularly active in East Asia, in whose honor this shrike species was named. It is a fact unknown to most birders that the name of the Brown Shrike originally was Brown’s Shrike.

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Cats Birds Kittens Transported 211

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 9, 2023

The Bar-backed Partridge is a species of partridge found in southwestern China and Southeast Asia. The Bar-backed Partridge was also one of four focal species in an investigation into illegal bird hunting in Southwestern China. If I can give you some advice: Better not be a bird in China. Unsurprisingly, it is.

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China Hunting Birds illegal 147

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 2, 2014

Kinabalu (at 13,455 feet the highest peak in southeast Asia), and human development that has resulted in freshwater rice fields, secondary forest, and oil palm plantations, this means that Borneo offers an incredibly high degree of biodiversity. Borneo, the authors say, is under-birded. I think we need to do something about that.

Brunei 173

Brunei Birds Asia China 173

10,000 Birds

APRIL 21, 2015

China used H5N2 inactivated vaccine to prevent spread of H5N1 strain highly infectious bird flu virus and that has proved to be effective, an official with the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) said on Tuesday. If that form causes serious illness (in a bird or in humans), and if it is spread easily, then we have a problem.

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Mississippi Fowl Turkey Minnesota 174

4 The Love Of Animals

NOVEMBER 23, 2011

The fins are then utilized in a wide variety of ways, especially in areas of Asia. For example, shark fin soup is a delicacy in most of Asia, especially China. In fact, dried shark fin can go for as much as $300 a pound or more. Shark fins are also dried and used in alternative medicine and ancient medical practices.

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Sharks Asia Endangered Species Hunters 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 21, 2014

The prinias are a group of around 25 Old World warbler species found in Africa and Asia. It inhabits rather dry areas within a region notorious for being one of the rainiest parts of the world, and is thus patchily distributed from Burma through Laos, Cambodia, parts of Thailand and south China, all the way to Vietnam. Yes, indeed.

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Burma Laos Birds Indonesia 160

10,000 Birds

MARCH 9, 2014

Many of these migratory shorebirds will be heading into the Arctic to breed and some will make a stopover in Asia on their way to their breeding grounds. I have observed Red-necked Stint with an orange flag from Victoria and also blue and yellow flags from Bohai Bay in China, but suddenly I saw two blue flags.

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Japan 2012 2013 China 173

10,000 Birds

MARCH 25, 2017

Birds of South Asia. White’s Thrush contains two subspecies, aurea and toratugumi; and Scaly Thrush includes the subspecies dauma, major, and horsfieldi, each of which also is recogized as a monotypic group. Nilgiri Thrush and Sri Lanka Thrush are monotypic. Reference: Rasmussen, P.C., The Ripley guide. Volume 2: attributes and status.

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Sri Lanka Japan India 2005 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 25, 2017

During the following 21 years I was fortunate to travel to central Asia on more than 10 occasions, and I would see Azure T**s – or their former sub-species Yellow-breasted T**s – quite frequently. The Cold War was over, the Soviet Union had ceased to exist and the Russians? They were friends now. Azure T**s. For better.

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Europe Birds Kazakhstan Russia 100

10,000 Birds

MARCH 12, 2016

An article in Birding Asia from 2010 put forward that the bunting could be the next east Asia species to go extinct. The Birdlife International factsheet makes depressing reading and suggests that the IUCN Red list entry for the Jankowski’s Bunting could be uplisted from endangered to critically endangered.

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Asia Campaign 2010 Suffering 102

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2022

I do not get too many comments on my blog posts, but it seems that whenever I write about jacanas – whether in Africa, Australia, or Asia – there is an unusually high number of reactions (well, maybe one or two rather than the usual zero) from female readers. This is ok as birds do not have teeth anyway).

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Birds South Korea Japan Abandon 162

10,000 Birds

MAY 1, 2014

It lives from the Peloponnese and the Aegean Islands across the whole of Asia to the shores of the East China Sea and here I stand at the very edge of the range of this species. After a light seafood lunch and some local brew, we went to the hills surrounding the Finikas.

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Greece Malta Croatia Birds 228

10,000 Birds

JUNE 8, 2014

This handsome little bird has a wide distribution, roaming from north of the Black Sea over central Asia and way, way into China and Mongolia. The species you will shake your fist at after reading this post is the Pied Wheatear Oenanthe pleschanka.

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Kazakhstan Iceland Mongolia Wisconsin 165