


Top 20 Most Common Bird in Shanghai
Located on China's east coast, Shanghai boasts a unique ecosystem affected by distinct seasons, water bodies, and a concrete jungle. Within this environment, 20 kinds of birds thrive, flaunting myriad colors, behaviors, and adaptations. Each species, from the intricately patterned Scaly-breasted Munia to the nocturnal Long-eared Owl, reveals an evolutionary story - of survival and life amidst urban sprawl and natural landscapes.

Most Common Bird

1. Spotted Dove
The spotted Dove is a medium-sized bird that is swift in flight. It prefers to live year-round in warm climates in suburban areas, especially in parks. Their nests are mostly made out of sticks and they like to dine on insects and seeds.

2. Light-vented Bulbul
The light-vented Bulbul is a small, attractive bird with a distinctive chirping song. It can be found in a variety of habitats, including gardens, parks, and forests, and feeds on a variety of fruits and insects. This species is native to Asia. The Light-vented Bulbul is known for its adaptability and ability to thrive in urban environments and is often considered a common bird in cities.


3. Chinese Blackbird
The Chinese blackbird (Turdus mandarinus) is a member of the thrush family Turdidae. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the common blackbird.


4. Eurasian Tree Sparrow
The eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) is a widespread sparrow of the European mainland that has been introduced to some parts of North America. Eurasian Tree Sparrow is very similar to the House sparrow (Passer domesticus) but it's smaller and neater. It prefers more natural habitats, at the edges of human activity, and inhabits farmlands, parklands, and open woods.

5. Japanese Tit
The japanese Tit is a large bird for its species, it is also extremely vocal with its loud chirps and song. While it can be seen in parks, it prefers wooded habitats. The songbird made headlines when researchers noticed the syntax in its calls. The bird will even respond to other species if they follow the alert call.

6. Long-tailed Shrike
The long-tailed shrike is a typical shrike, favouring dry open habitats and found perched prominently atop a bush or on a wire. The dark mask through the eye is broad and covers the forehead in most subspecies and the whole head is black in subspecies tricolor and nasutus. The tail is narrow and graduated with pale rufous on the outer feathers. Subspecies erythronotus has the grey of the mantle and upper back suffused with rufous while the southern Indian caniceps has pure grey. A small amount of white is present at the base of the primaries. The bay-backed shrike is smaller and more contrastingly patterned and has a more prominent white patch on the wing. The sexes are alike in plumage.


7. Azure-winged Magpie
The azure-winged magpie (Cyanopica cyanus) is a bird in the crow family. It is 31–35 cm long and similar in overall shape to the Eurasian magpie (Pica pica) but is more slender with proportionately smaller legs and bill. It belongs to the genus Cyanopica. It has a glossy black top to the head and a white throat. The underparts and the back are a light grey-fawn in colour with the wings and the feathers of the long (16–20 cm) tail an azure blue. It inhabits various types of coniferous (mainly pine) and broadleaf forest, including parks and gardens in the eastern populations.


8. Oriental Magpie-robin
This species is 19 centimetres (7.5 in) long, including the long tail, which is usually held cocked upright when hopping on the ground. When they are singing a song the tail is normal like other birds. It is similar in shape to the smaller European robin, but is longer-tailed. The male has black upperparts, head and throat apart from a white shoulder patch. The underparts and the sides of the long tail are white. Females are greyish black above and greyish white. Young birds have scaly brown upperparts and head. It is the national bird of Bangladesh. The nominate race is found on the Indian subcontinent and the females of this race are the palest. The females of the Andaman Islands race andamanensis are darker, heavier-billed and shorter-tailed. The Sri Lankan race ceylonensis (formerly included with the peninsular Indian populations south of the Kaveri River) and southern nominate individuals have the females nearly identical to the males in shade. The eastern populations (Bhutan and Bangladesh) have more black on the tail and were formerly named erimelas. The populations in Burma and further south are named as the race musicus. A number of other races have been named across the range, including prosthopellus (Hong Kong), nesiotes, zacnecus, nesiarchus, masculus, pagiensis, javensis, problematicus, amoenus, adamsi, pluto, deuteronymus and mindanensis. However, many of these are not well-marked and the status of some of them is disputed. Some, like mindanensis, have now been usually recognized as full species (the Philippine magpie-robin). There is more geographic variation in the plumage of females than in that of the males. It is mostly seen close to the ground, hopping along branches or foraging in leaf-litter on the ground with a cocked tail. Males sing loudly from the top of trees or other high perches during the breeding season.


9. White Wagtail
The white Wagtail is the national bird of Latvia and is featured in traditional folk songs and placed on some postage stamps. These birds can be found in most habitat types besides deserts. As their name suggests, they exhibit a characteristic tail-wagging behavior as they search along the ground and nearby waterways for insects to eat.

10. Yellow-billed Grosbeak
The Chinese grosbeak or yellow-billed grosbeak (Eophona migratoria) is a species of finch in the family Fringillidae. It breeds in temperate forests in the Russian Far East, China, Manchuria and Korea; it winters in southern parts of China and Japan, Taiwan and northern Southeast Asia.


11. Black-crowned Night-heron
The shorter, stockier version of their long-legged heron counterparts, the black-crowned Night-heron is most active in the early evening hours, giving them their name. The most commonly-found heron across the world, you can spot them in wetlands, though they may be more difficult to notice than the taller heron species. Studying their nests can get a bit smelly- startled nestlings tend to eject their food when they are approached by people.

12. Little Egret
The small size of the little Egret makes the bird easily recognizable among larger species that share the same range. The egret is seen almost anywhere there are small fish including marshes, estuaries, and rivers. The bird often searches for food by itself but prefers to build nests in communities, occasionally with other bird species.

13. Little Grebe
The little Grebe is a diving bird that is easy to miss. Not only is it a small bird with inconspicuous coloring, but it is also shy. The bird prefers hiding in grasses and reeds, instead of being out on the open water. However, the bird is identifiable by its loud trills.

14. Common Moorhen
The common Moorhen is often found in slow-moving or standing-water aquatic ecosystems with dense vegetation coverage where they can hide and forage for food. If vegetation is dense enough, their large feet even enable them to walk across the floating plants. These birds are opportunistic feeders and will eat any food that is currently available.

15. Pale Thrush
The pale thrush (Turdus pallidus) is a passerine bird of the eastern Palearctic belonging to the genus Turdus in the thrush family Turdidae. It is closely related to the eye-browed thrush and grey-backed thrush. It is 23 cm long. The feet are pale pinkish-brown and the bill is grey above and yellow below. The male is brown above with a blue-grey head and throat. The underparts are pale brown, darker on the flanks and whitish on the belly and undertail-coverts. The flight feathers of the wing are dark grey and the underwing-coverts are grey or white. The tail is dark grey with white tips to the outer feathers. The female is similar to the male but duller with a browner head and pale throat. It has harsh chuck-chuck and see-ip calls and a bubbling alarm call. It breeds in south-east Siberia, north-east China and Korea and may breed in Japan, especially on Tsushima Island. It is largely migratory, wintering in southern and central Japan, South Korea and southern China, occasionally reaching as far as Yunnan, Taiwan and the Philippines. It inhabits forests, scrub, gardens and parks. It is a shy bird which keeps to cover. It can occur in large flocks on migration, particularly where there are berries.


16. Swinhoe's White-eye
Swinhoe's white-eye (Zosterops simplex) is a bird species in the family Zosteropidae. It is found in east China, north Vietnam, the Thai-Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo. This species was formerly treated as a subspecies group of the warbling white-eye (Zosterops japonicus) but based on the results of a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2018, it was promoted to species rank. There are five subspecies: Z. s. simplex R. Swinhoe, 1861 – east China, Taiwan and extreme northeast Vietnam Z. s. hainanus Hartert, 1923 – Hainan (off southeast China) Z. s. erwini (Chasen, 1935) – coastal Thai-Malay Peninsula, lowland Sumatra, Riau Islands, Bangka Island, Natuna Islands and lowland west Borneo Z. s. williamsoni Robinson & Kloss, 1919 – Gulf of Thailand coast and west Cambodia Z. s. salvadorii Meyer, AB & Wiglesworth, 1894 – Enggano Island (west Sumatra)


17. Red-billed Starling
The red-billed starling (Spodiopsar sericeus) is a species of starling in the family Sturnidae. It is found in south and southeastern China.


18. White-cheeked Starling
Its dark grey and brown coloring give the talkative white-cheeked Starling a drab appearance. When gathering in flocks, the bird always seems to have something to say when foraging. It is most often seen in open areas like pastures and along forest edges. The starling also visits urban areas, especially locations with bird feeders.

19. Red-flanked Bluetail
At 13–14 cm long and 10–18 g weight, the red-flanked bluetail is similar in size and weight to the common redstart and slightly smaller (particularly with a slimmer build) than the European robin. As the name implies, both sexes have a blue tail and rump, and orange-red flanks; they also have a white throat and greyish-white underparts, and a small, thin black bill and slender black legs. The adult male additionally has dark blue upperparts, while females and immature males are plain brown above apart from the blue rump and tail, and have a dusky breast. In behaviour, it is similar to a common redstart, frequently flicking its tail in the same manner, and regularly flying from a perch to catch insects in the air or on the ground. The male sings its melancholy trill from treetops. Its call is a typical chat "tacc" noise. The nest is built on or near the ground, with 3–5 eggs which are incubated by the female.


20. White-rumped Munia
The white-rumped munia is approximately 10 to 11 cm in length, with a stubby grey bill and a long black pointed tail. The adults are brown above and on the breast, and lighter below; the rump is white. There is some variation between the subspecies, but the sexes are almost impossible to distinguish in all subspecies; males have a more bulky head and bill.
