White-crowned Sparrow in Inner Mongolia!

(info by Jesper Hornskov via the Oriental Birding mailing list of the Oriental Bird Club)

The November 2012 issue of China Bird Watch revealed that a White-crowned Sparrow Zonotrichia leucophrys, a North American species of the buntings and sparrows family Emberizidae was seen and photographed on 28 Oct 2012 at Yakeshi Wuerqihan forest area (roughly 280 km NE of easternmost Dornod, i.e. the easternmost part of Mongolia), NE Inner Mongolia, China, by WANG Qin. The bird was part of a mixed flock consisting of Common and Arctic Redpolls and Long-tailed and Pallas’s Rosefinches! This is the first record for China. 

White-crowned Sparrow, California, USA

(photo by Mike Baird, licensed under the

Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license)

This record was followed hot on the heels by two further firsts for China, involving North American species, too: American Wigeon Anas americana on 12 Dec 2012, and Redhead Aythya americana on 13 Dec 2012, both at Yancheng National Nature Reserve, Jiangsu province (both duck records by Paul Holt & a tour group, via Oriental Birding mailing list).