The coastal Chinese city of Qingdao is known for beer and beaches, but that's only part of the total picture. The city, as located on the East Coast of the country, is also a pretty good spot to find migrant Asian bird species in spring and fall as they navigate the the coast during spring and fall migration. The city also hosts a number of interesting resident species as well.

Eurasian Wryneck (Jynx torquilla)

(17 cm.) White eye line over brown eye line; grayish-brown head and back; heavily barred whitish underparts; often twists neck from side to side.

The Eurasian Wryneck is perhaps the oddest bird in China. The bird gets its name from its habit of twisting its neck from side to side when it is alarmed. It has a bizarre, even alien air about it. The bird is a member of the woodpecker family, “picidae,” but it does not behave much like a woodpecker at all. It seems to be more the avian equivalent of an anteater, that odd, strangely shaped mammal that eats ants exclusively and laps them up with a long, sticky tongue.

Most woodpeckers conform to a standard mode of behavior that consists of climbing around on the trunk of a tree and probing for insects that can be found in the bark. If none can be found, drill holes in the tree and extract the insects that way. The wryneck rejects this established behavior and chooses instead to hunt on the ground for its favorite food, ants, in a most un-woodpecker-like manner.

The Eurasian Wryneck is another semi-cosmopolitan bird species that can be found in Europe and Asia and in winter, in Africa. In China, the Eurasian Wryneck can be found in the northeast during summer, through the Central East Coast during spring and fall and in the Southeast in winter.

If a female Eurasian Wryneck is disturbed while at its nest, it will engage in its head-twisting behavior while making with loud hissing noises. This odd behavior was noticed by some in Europe who practiced witchcraft and the bird was often used in rituals. Part of the bird’s Latin name, “jynx,” means to put an evil spell on someone, more often spelled “jinx,” in English.

Like other woodpeckers, the Eurasian Wryneck nests in the cavity of a tree. This species, lacking the powerful bill and adaptations for drilling that other woodpeckers possess, will not make its own hole, instead it will find abandoned cavities left by other woodpeckers.

The Eurasian Wryneck’s appearance is just as strange as its curious habits. It looks unlike any other bird and its long heavily barred and mottled body gives it a rather reptilian look. For all its strangeness, this species must be appreciated its uniqueness, for it is truly just one of a kind.

Eurasian Wryneck (Photo by Martien Brand)

Dusky Thrush (Turdus eunomos)

(25 cm.) Heavily-patterned black and white; reddish-brown wing linings; broad reddish-brown wing patch.

The Dusky Thrush is a member of a large family of sweet-singing songbirds, the thrushes, of the family, “Turdidae.” Thrushes throughout the world are considered among the most gifted of avian singers for their beautiful, rich flute-like warblings. Many thrush species in China are also gifted musical performers, with the Song Thrush as perhaps the most gifted of the clan.

The Dusky Thrush is also quite musical, performing its simple whistled song many times from the time it sets off on its spring migration north through the breeding season in mid- summer.

Thrushes and other species of songbirds sing not only to attract a mate, but also to set up territories during the annual summer breeding season. Each pair of birds of a particular species needs several square kilometers of space in a particular location from which they build nests and have exclusive food-gathering rights. The maintenance of strict territories ensures that chicks raised by parent birds of a particular species will have access to the necessary food resources for their survival.

The Dusky Thrush’s song is less often heard in China, however, as its breeding range is in the Far North of Russia. This bird seeks out grassy fields, pastures, and similar open country with scattered trees as its preferred habitat. The female lays 3-5 eggs in a rather messy-looking nest.

Following the breeding season, Dusky Thrushes will migrate south and spend the winters in Central and Southern China and Southeast Asia. It is during the winter that the Chinese observer will most often have the opportunity to glimpse this handsome bird in city parks. This bird is quite common and can be readily found in southeast China during the winter  months.

The Dusky Thrush is another versatile omnivore that is fond of insects, especially mosquitoes, and berries.

Dusky Thrush (Photo by Brian Westland)

Common Stonechat (Saxicola maurus)

(14 cm.) Male: Black head; dark brown back; white patches on neck and wings; whitish rump; brown breast. Female: Duller than male; no black; light brown under parts; white patch on wing

The Common Stonechat, also known as the Siberian Stonechat, is a bird that has been recently reclassified by ornithologists and placed in a new family. Once considered a thrush, it has been now placed in the family, Muscicapidae, the family of flycatchers. Several sub-species of this bird can be found in Europe and Asia.

The bird derives its name from its voice which has been likened to the sound of two stones being struck together. This species is strict insectivore, like other members of the flycatcher family. It prefers open scrubby habitat where it can find low bushes in which it likes to perch and wait for its insect prey.

The Common Stonechat has a wide breeding range which covers most of temperate Asia. In China, its breeding range includes the northeast and central parts of the country. It generally only inhabits the East Coast of the country during its spring and fall migrations.

This bird seems particularly averse to cool temperatures and its northern breeding range and departs these regions as early as possible to avoid the rapid drop in temperature that can happen at these latitudes in early fall. Stonechats which breed in warmer regions usually do not migrate. If the breeding site of a Common Stonechat is warm come fall and winter, there will likely be no southward movement.

The Common Stonechat is indeed a common and widespread species that can fairly reliably be spotted in eastern China during its migrations in spring and fall.

Common Stonechat (Photo by Jose Sousa)

Dollarbird (Eurystomus orientalis) Sanbaoniao

(30 cm.) Large, slightly hooked red bill; large head; bluish-green plumage; light patches in wings seen in flight

The Dollarbird, also known as the Oriental Dollarbird, is a member of the roller family, “Coraciiformes,” and is the only member of this family of birds that can be found in East China. The Dollarbird gets its name from the blue spots seen in its wings during flight. The spots look vaguely like coins of money.

The Dollarbird is a large attractive species of roller with green and blue plumage and a large red bill. The bill of young birds is dark and gradually becomes red with age. The large red bill is somewhat hooked, giving it a slight resemblance to a bird of prey. The Dollarbird is often attacked by small songbirds that mistake it for a predatory bird.

This species is found throughout Eastern China during the summer breeding season. While it is a widespread species, it is in no place a common bird, so the sighting of a Dollarbird is always an occasion to be celebrated and savored.

The Dollarbird will often be first seen as it perches, flycatcher-style, in the exposed branch of a dead tree, waiting for insects to fly by. This species is a strict insectivore, and as such it must migrate to warm climates in the winter where a steady supply of insects is assured.

The Dollarbird is migratory only in the parts of its range that become cold in winter and will not support insect life. In the warmer parts of its range, the Dollarbird will set up year-round residence.

Dollarbird (Photo by Dick Daniels)

Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)

(31 cm.) Black; red frontal shield; short bill; line of white streaks across flanks; two white patches under tail

The Common Moorhen is an unmistakable member of the rail family, “Rallidae.” It is a large species of rail, and it is far more conspicuous than many members of its family. Rails are generally skulking birds of swamps which hide deep within tall stands of reeds. The Common Moorhen makes its presence far more obvious by noisily walking on pond and swamp vegetation or swimming out in open water like a duck. The bird gets its name from the old English word, “moor” which means marsh or swamp. In North America, it is called the “Common Gallinule.”

This species is very attractive in its uniformly slate black plumage with white streaks on its flanks. The legs and feet of the bird are yellow. The bill is green with a red base that extends up the bird’s face to form a noticeable and odd-looking frontal shield. The species displays a persistent habit of flicking its tail.

The bird is another extremely widespread and common species that is found throughout most of the world. It is not found in polar regions, or throughout much of the tropics.  Throughout its range, this species lives in lakes, ponds, and swamps which offer ample open water.

The Common Moorhen is another omnivorous species that will consume a large variety of foods. It feeds on various aquatic vegetation and aquatic creatures.

This species will generally breed in early spring in most of its breeding range. The female moorhen builds a basket-like nest on the ground among the thick vegetation and lays around 8 eggs. Both parents share the duties of incubating the eggs and the feeding of young chicks after hatching.

Common Moorhen (Photo by Andreas Trepte, www.photo-natur.de.)

Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus)

(32 cm.) Upperparts grey with black tail; black bars in white abdomen; yellow iris; unbarred rump

The Common Cuckoo is a member of a notorious family of the birds, “Cuculidae,” the cuckoos. Cuckoos also have an order named after them, “Cuculiformes,” which includes roadrunners, anis and coucals. Their position in an order other than Passeriformes means that despite a similar appearance, cuckoos are not considered “songbirds”.

All species of cuckoos derive their names from the call of the male Common Cuckoo which is heard during summer in the Common Cuckoo’s breeding range. During the summer breeding period, this species utters a loud and clear “kuk-oo” refrain from the treetops. The name “cuckoo” in English, is an excellent example of onomatopoeia being applied in the name of a bird.

Cuckoos of all species have earned their notorious reputations due to their practice of “brood parasitism.” The females of cuckoo species do not make nests nor possess any desire to raise their own chicks. Instead, they lay their eggs in the nests of other, usually smaller, birds and in so doing force their parental duties on them. Female cuckoos do so by visiting nests, pushing an egg out of those nests, and leaving one of their own. They will visit many nests and repeat the process. The Common Cuckoo is particular about which species it will victimize with its parasitic behavior, preferring to inconvenience the females of the reed warbler group.

In addition to their shirking of parental responsibilities, cuckoos’ reputations have been further sullied by their occasion habit of eating the eggs and chicks of other bird species.

Also known at times as the Eurasian Cuckoo, the Common Cuckoo breeds in Europe and Asia, and can be found in winter in Africa and Southeast Asia. In China, it breeds in every part of the country except the western desert regions where it is never seen. It prefers to live in open wooded areas.

In addition to the occasional egg and chick the Common Cuckoo’s diet consists of insects, particularly species of hairy caterpillars which other birds avoid. It would be considered an insectivore as it rarely eats food from other sources.

Although the Common Cuckoo does possess some habits that we might describe as despicable, this bird is nonetheless an interesting creature which although common, is rarely seen.