12 Hours in Shanghai

As someone who rarely travels in Asia outside the Philippines, connections on my occasional visits outside the US are opportunities for me to get out to countries I wouldn't otherwise get to visit, and of course see some birds I'm not used to seeing. I was initially a bit nervous when the cheapest flights connecting the Philippines and Hawaii connected through Shanghai, since I knew that China has a quite strict (read: expensive) visa process for Americans. However, it turned out that travelers with layovers in some major cities, including Shanghai, are allowed visa waivers for up to 5 or 6 days, providing they have an outgoing flight to a different country than the one they flew in from. Suddenly, long layovers didn't seem as bad. 

My layover in Shanghai on the way to Hawaii was only 8 hours or so, but I decided to try getting out of the airport anyway, in part just to figure out how the process went. As it turned out, it's actually a fairly quick process, as long as the documents are in order and there's a proper flight booked. Unfortunately, the two women before me, who'd booked flights from and back to Singapore, found out that they're not terribly flexible, as they were told they'd have to either wait in the airport for four days without leaving, or get on the next flight back. Thankfully, my departing flight was on to the US rather than back to the Philippines, so I was able to go ahead.

I picked up a Chinese SIM card at the airport and was shown how to use a VPN (since basically any useful phone app won't work in China if you don't have one), then headed to the only place interesting place I knew of that seemed to be easily accessible via metro ride: Century Park, the most central of Shanghai's forest parks. My only plans were to walk around for a couple of hours, get the feel of Shanghai a little bit, and of course see some new birds. It's a rather pleasant park, with lots of walkways along a large artificial lake, some gardens, and a couple of small forest patches. Unfortunately, it was a bit early in the spring for most of the migratory birds Shanghai is known for collecting to be passing through, so most of what I saw bird-wise were the resident birds.

Most common were the Chinese Blackbirds, a large, attractive thrush. They're quite noisy and rather bold, meaning that they can be easily approached for good pictures. They are, however, common enough that they get old pretty quickly.

Chinese Blackbird

The first interesting birds I saw were a flock of Vinous-throated Parrotbills feeding on the buds of a willow tree near the park entrance. Parrotbills are actually related to warblers, but have a big, thick bill strong enough for cracking tough seeds. They're also very small and hard to get a picture of.

Vinous-throated Parrotbill

In a small patch of forest were some more interesting thrushes, though they were more skittish than the Chinese Blackbirds and harder to approach. I'm still rather unfamiliar with mainland Asia birds, so it was tough at first telling apart Pale Thrush, Dusky Thrush, and Naumann's Thrush, especially the latter two, both of which breed in the park, and sometimes even interbreed...

Pale Thrush

Dusky Thrush

At the shore of the lake, I noticed a bunch of photographers lining up with massive telephoto lenses. Large groups of bird photographers are generally (if not always) a good sign, so I followed their gaze and eventually saw a massive Black-throated Loon swimming in the middle of the lake. They're bigger and quite distinct from the Common Loon we get in the US, so it was a great new addition to my loon list, though it remained a bit far away and difficult to get a picture of, partly because people in paddleboats kept getting close to it and scaring it off.

The lake in Century Park

Loon papparazzi

What they were looking at

While it was too early in the season for migrating birds, it was the perfect time for flowering trees, which the park was full of. Living in the tropics the trees bloom all year round, but rather patchily. It was a beautiful sight to see all the plum and cherry trees here flowering at once, bringing in lots of people with selfie sticks of course. A nice local lady who happened to be an English teacher told me that the garden with all the flowering trees was planted as a gift from the Canadian government as a gesture of goodwill (typical Canadians), and thus named the Montreal Garden.

Another tourist highlight was the field rapeseed (what a horrible name) that was blooming, looking like a carpet of yellow flowers. It was apparently especially popular with aunties wanting flower selfies in traditional dress.

On the way out towards the park entrance, I ended up getting held up at a patch of trees that held some good new birds, including a Red-flanked Bluetail, Naumann's Thrush, and a large flock of Eurasian Siskin, the latter apparently only an uncommon visitor to the park.

Red-flanked Bluetail

Naumann's Thrush

Male Eurasian Siskin

Female Eurasian Siskin

I'd have liked to stay in the park some more time to seek out some less-common residents like Great Spotted Woodpecker or Chinese Grosbeak, but my flight was drawing nearer, so I headed out, got back on the metro, and headed out of the country to Hawaii.

Of course, that wasn't my last time in China, as I had another, longer layover on my way back- this one an overnight. I got in in the late afternoon, checked into my Airbnb in a surprisingly posh neighborhood of Shanghai, and met up with a good friend from college for dinner and a much-needed catch-up session. The following day, I had originally planned to visit the famous migrant trap of Cape Nanhui, but it turned out to be 2 hours away from my Airbnb via public transportation, and lots of walking to boot- not ideal when I needed to be at the airport in the afternoon. In addition, looking at recent reports on eBird there wasn't much there at that point that I hadn't seen already. With that in mind, I decided to just visit Century Park again.

When I got in, the Naumann's Thrush and Red-flanked Bluetail I'd seen the previous week was still around the same place, along with a large flock of Azure-winged Magpies, beautiful but too skittish for good pictures. A welcome lifer was a Chinese Grosbeak, which perched very nicely except for the branch in front of its face.

Naumann's Thrush

Red-flanked Bluetail

Azure-winged Magpie

Chinese Grosbeak

I decided to spend some time around "Bird Island", a small artificial island near the plum blossoms that acts as a mini-wildlife sanctuary. The island is closed to the public, but sometimes good birds can be seen from across the small moat separating it. I was taking pictures of a confiding pair of Little Grebes when I saw on the island my most hoped-for resident: Great Spotted Woodpecker! Great Spotteds are fairly common in northern Eurasia, but Century Park is the only place they're known in urban Shanghai, and they're not common there either. That made it a very good find, and a new bird for me since I've spent essentially no time in mainland Asia.

Little Grebe

Great Spotted Woodpecker

The park around Bird Island

At the lake, the Black-throated Loon was still around with its usual crowd of photographer papparazzi, but I got a bit better of views this time. Around the lake I also had good views of Chinese Blackbird, Japanese Tit, Common Moorhen, Vinous-throated Parrotbill, and Long-tailed Shrike- all common birds in Asia, but every good bird is a good bird (except Eurasian Tree Sparrow maybe).

Black-throated Loon

Chinese Blackbird

Common Moorhen

After Century Park, I decided to make a quick detour to the Bund before heading to the airport. The Bund is a spot along the Huangpu River with good views of older colonial buildings on one side, and the modern skyscrapers of Shanghai's skyline on the other (it's also supposedly a good spot for gulls in the winter months, but at this time of the year all I saw were Black-crowned Night-herons). It was indeed a great view, though of course absolutely packed with tourists despite being cold and drizzly. I actually liked Shanghai more than I was expecting; it's an organized, modern city with a great cultural scene and friendly people. A place I'd enjoy spending more time in, but I had only a day and then it was off to the Philippines for the next adventure.

The Bund