The most widely distributed true Finch(in the Fringillidae faimily) throughout the Palearctic region must be the “Bramblings”. Their breeding range is throughout the Fennoscandia (Norway, Finland, Sweden), the Baltic Nations, Russia and the Far east. There is even a breeding pair recorded in Alaska.
Bramblings are regular wintering birds in Shanghai and i have seen small flocks in City parks every winter. On 11th October, me and Kevin Harding were in XiaoYangshan with visting birder Jeff Hopkins. We saw our first Bramblings of this season, a small flock of 10-15 birds, very usual during the last leg of the autumn migration.On 18th October, I was in the same place with Kevin Pickering and Len Kopka, another visiting birder from US. By the time we entered the garbage dump site, we saw a big flock of passerines in flight, the birds were about 600 metres away but seeing the distinct orange color on the median and lesser secondary coverts, my jaws dropped. Never seen these many Bramblings before. I counted about 200 birds in the flying flock plus additonal birds were perched in the tree. It was very hard to finalize the no as the birds were kept settling in the scrubs and taking off immediately.
A very fine moment in the flyway to see these many Bramblings. Bramblings exhibit Nomadic behaviour in the European Countries mainly because of the snow cover in winter which makes them impossible to feed on the grains. Unlike other Finches, Bramblings feed on insects and other invertebrates too.
Few years back, i have seen Bramblings feeding on the seeds of Chinese Toon, they are very fond of the seeds. With the whole China is on the motto of “Bring nature to your door step” by plucking and planting trees right on the road side, i always wondered what are the native trees of Shanghai. To answer my own question, Wiki says “Chinese Beech” is a native beech species to Central and East China. There goes the secret behind why Bramblings winter in Shanghai and rest of the East China.
Full account of the 18th October trip to follow shortly.
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