“Coot Foot” – Is that a new species, did someone studied the mDNA of a coot for years and a new species was found overnight? No, it’s not. I never look beyond the common name of any bird. See the bird, if its a first time occurence, mark it as a lifer and add it to the patch list. “Coot Foot” put an end to the stereotype birding style and made me to look beyond the common name.
On 29th September, I was out again with Kevin Pickering and Cezary, Hangzhou based expat birder. Cezary checked-in the Holiday Inn of Nanhui a day before to experience the migration magic of the car park and got an Asian Stubtail. He was amazed by the thousand dollar worth camera gear in the small car park.
Just before picking up Cezary, i picked up my first lifer of the day, the delicate, elegant and stunning oceanic shorebird “Red-necked Phalarope” (Phalaropus lobatus). The name Phalarope is from the Greek word “phalaris” meaning coot, pous meaning foot hence the name “Coot Foot”. Why coot foot? Phalaropes have short webs between their front toes forming a lobbed feet as like the feet of a coot.. This lobbed feet structure helps the bird swim in the water.This lobbed feet helps the bird to stir up the water causing the insects to reach the surface and they use their thin bill to catch the prey.
When i was checking the images of different plumages of Red-necked Phalarope, i saw the other names of the bird as “Sea Goose” and it matches them so well as these birds spend most of their time in coastal waters. A small flock of 8 birds were feeding in a shrimp pond and showed no fear of humans. I wasn’t able to get close view of their lobbed feet as most of the times the bird was swimming in the water and the bird which took off couple of times has lost one of its leg. The average lifetime of a Phalarope is 5 years and this bird is an adult moulting into winter plumage, the survival rate of the bird is very less but it was very active. Hope it survives for the rest of its life time.
I was very much looking forward to find this bird during spring as their nuptial plumage is very exotic looking. To my surprise, Red-necked Phalaropes have sexual dimorphism, in other words the females are more colorful than the male in breeding plumage.
Only one leg but you can see the lobbed feet
Winter plumage
Show no fear!
We then drove to the Yangshan isle and covered rest of the migrating passerines. For the first time i had “good enough views of the “Taiga Flycatcher“. I had some decent photos a week later when i successfully summoned Kevin Harding out of his “Summer Campaign”. Other highlights included a pair of Scaly Thrushes, single Rufous-tailed Robin, few Stejneger’s Stonechats and good no of Phylloscopus Warblers.
Asian “Grey” Flycatcher
Cezary gunning down the phalaropes.
Species List :
| Common name | Scientific name | Location |
| Grebes (Podicipedidae) – 2 / 23 | ||
| Little Grebe | Tachybaptus ruficollis | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Great Crested Grebe | Podiceps cristatus | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Herons, Bitterns (Ardeidae) – 5 / 72 | ||
| Chinese Pond Heron | Ardeola bacchus | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Grey Heron | Ardea cinerea | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Great Egret | Ardea alba | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Intermediate Egret | Egretta intermedia | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Little Egret | Egretta garzetta | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Rails, Crakes and Coots (Rallidae) – 2 / 151 | ||
| Common Moorhen | Gallinula chloropus | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Eurasian Coot | Fulica atra | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Stilts, Avocets (Recurvirostridae) – 1 / 10 | ||
| Black-winged Stilt | Himantopus himantopus | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Plovers (Charadriidae) – 2 / 67 | ||
| Little Ringed Plover | Charadrius dubius | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Kentish Plover | Charadrius alexandrinus | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Sandpipers, Snipes (Scolopacidae) – 8 / 96 | ||
| Common Redshank | Tringa totanus | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Common Greenshank | Tringa nebularia | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Wood Sandpiper | Tringa glareola | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Common Sandpiper | Actitis hypoleucos | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Ruddy Turnstone | Arenaria interpres | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Temminck’s Stint | Calidris temminckii | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Long-toed Stint | Calidris subminuta | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Red-necked Phalarope | Phalaropus lobatus | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Gulls, Terns and Skimmers (Laridae) – 3 / 102 | ||
| Vega Gull | Larus vegae | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Whiskered Tern | Chlidonias hybrida | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| White-winged Tern | Chlidonias leucopterus | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Owls (Strigidae) – 1 / 221 | ||
| Oriental Scops Owl | Otus sunia | XiaoYangshan, Shanghai, China |
| Kingfishers (Alcedinidae) – 1 / 93 | ||
| Common Kingfisher | Alcedo atthis | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Caracaras, Falcons (Falconidae) – 2 / 67 | ||
| Common Kestrel | Falco tinnunculus | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Peregrine Falcon | Falco peregrinus | XiaoYangshan, Shanghai, China |
| Shrikes (Laniidae) – 2 / 33 | ||
| Brown Shrike | Lanius cristatus | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Long-tailed Shrike | Lanius schach | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Monarchs (Monarchidae) – 1 / 99 | ||
| Japanese Paradise Flycatcher | Terpsiphone atrocaudata | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Swallows, Martins (Hirundinidae) – 2 / 88 | ||
| Pale Martin | Riparia diluta | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Barn Swallow | Hirundo rustica | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Leaf Warblers and allies (Phylloscopidae) – 3 / 77 | ||
| Yellow-browed Warbler | Phylloscopus inornatus | XiaoYangshan, Shanghai, China |
| Arctic Warbler | Phylloscopus borealis | XiaoYangshan, Shanghai, China |
| Pale-legged Leaf Warbler | Phylloscopus tenellipes | XiaoYangshan, Shanghai, China |
| Starlings, Rhabdornis (Sturnidae) – 1 / 123 | ||
| Crested Myna | Acridotheres cristatellus | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Thrushes (Turdidae) – 1 / 166 | ||
| Scaly Thrush | Zoothera dauma | XiaoYangshan, Shanghai, China |
| Chats, Old World Flycatchers (320) (Muscicapidae) – 8 / 320 | ||
| Grey-streaked Flycatcher | Muscicapa griseisticta | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Dark-sided Flycatcher | Muscicapa sibirica | XiaoYangshan, Shanghai, China |
| Asian Brown Flycatcher | Muscicapa latirostris | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Blue-and-white Flycatcher | Cyanoptila cyanomelana | XiaoYangshan, Shanghai, China |
| Rufous-tailed Robin | Larvivora sibilans | XiaoYangshan, Shanghai, China |
| Taiga Flycatcher | Ficedula albicilla | XiaoYangshan, Shanghai, China |
| Blue Rock Thrush | Monticola solitarius | XiaoYangshan, Shanghai, China |
| Stejneger’s Stonechat | Saxicola stejnegeri | XiaoYangshan, Shanghai, China |
| Wagtails, Pipits (Motacillidae) – 3 / 67 | ||
| Eastern Yellow Wagtail | Motacilla tschutschensis | XiaoYangshan, Shanghai, China |
| White Wagtail | Motacilla alba | Nanhui, Shanghai, China |
| Olive-backed Pipit | Anthus hodgsoni | XiaoYangshan, Shanghai, China |
| Finches (Fringillidae) – 1 / 219 | ||
| Chinese Grosbeak | Eophona migratoria | XiaoYangshan, Shanghai, China |
| Buntings, New World Sparrows and allies (Emberizidae) – 1 / 176 | ||
| Yellow-browed Bunting | Emberiza chrysophrys | XiaoYangshan, Shanghai, China |
| Species: 50 | ||
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