Just starting to get into birding (is it another form of LBA ?) and also wanted to give my Tamron BB 500 mirror a work-out. These are all taken in the housing compound where our home is located in Shanghai.

I know some (most) of these are not that good but I'd love to know what type of birds they are since they don't seem familiar to me (from Europe) except the (European) Blackbirds & Sparrows !

ALL OF THESE SHOTS BELOW WERE TAKEN WITH THE TAMRON BB 500mm.

1. Start off with this chaffinch sized bird with a breast like a thrush :



2. Then there are these gregarious (and noisy - but can sing a ver sweet song too !) Starling sized birds :



3.



4.



5. A 100% crop of #3 above :



6. A Great Tit sized bird singing a very sweet song from the very top of a 30m high tree !



7. A wren sized bird :



8.



9.



10. Anyone recognise this gloriously scented flowering tree ( pairs of wrens seem to like this type of tree) ?



11. Some sort of collared pigeon



12. I am very impressed with this cheap mirror - this taken from 200 metres (yards) away !



13. And a 100% crop from #12 above :



14. Some sort of Pied Wagtail :



15. .... and finally a Blackbird enjoying a bath :

[Frogfish]

For those that are interested it seems that the birds are (with caveats) :-

1. Olive Backed Pipit

2,3,4,5. Light-vented Chinese BulBul.

6. Your funny-looking Great Tit is mostly regarded as a different species these days, since Great Tit has been split into three. I think the birds in your area are called Japanese (or Eastern Great) Tit, but you might not be far north of them being Cinereous Tits, or even Intergrades. Cinereous Tit lacks any greenish on the mantle, but you can't see that part of the bird in this pic!

7,8,9. I think is Yellow-Browed Warbler (or Pallas' Warbler). The photos don't show the key features I need to be sure.

10. Chimonanthus praecox, sometimes commonly called Wintersweet.

11. Spotted Dove (or is it a Lace Neck Dove) ?

12,13. Light-vented BulBul

14. White (or Amur) Wagtail. Not sure which race without a field guide.

15. Blackbird.

[Bob Harris]

Hey, I was looking them up, you didn't give me enough time. A lot of these are very nice shots, 3 and 5(crop turned out very well) and I really like the blackbird, I find humor in that one. I haven't used that long of a lens..yet. Thanks for the view. Bob

[Frogfish]

Hey, I was looking them up, you didn't give me enough time. A lot of these are very nice shots, 3 and 5(crop turned out very well) and I really like the blackbird, I find humor in that one. I haven't used that long of a lens..yet. Thanks for the view. Bob

Ha ha. Thanks Bob. Those guys over at birdforum.net really know their stuff ! That Blackbird really enjoyed it's bath.

[RobG]

6. Your funny-looking Great Tit is mostly regarded as a different species these days, since Great Tit has been split into three. I think the birds in your area are called Japanese (or Eastern Great) Tit, but you might not be far north of them being Cinereous Tits, or even Intergrades. Cinereous Tit lacks any greenish on the mantle, but you can't see that part of the bird in this pic!

Interesting - my Japanese field guide just calls it a Great Tit.

The Turtledove looks like a Spotted Turtledove (they used to be called Indian Turtledoves).

[Frogfish]

Thanks for your comments Rob. I've since been told that Spotted Dove and Lace Neck Dove are in fact just two names for the same bird, maybe the Spotted Turtle Dove is a third name because it definitely looks like the same bird on Google Images !

[Scottnorwo]

very nice series. like the third shot and the last shot

[Frogfish]

Thanks for commenting Scott !