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Sichuan Birding (3 Viewers)

Fabulous pix all round!

Gripped by the pandas and the Sukachev's Laugher too!

Nearest i got to a panda was collecting a fresh turd at Changqing in Shaanxi a few years ago.

Cheers
Mike
 
Actually that Red Panda was beautifully behaved considering there were about 20 excited on lookers all pointing some form of optical instrument in its direction!!!!!!!!!!!
The Grey-hooded Parottbill, which I suspect is one of the pair we were watching a little further down the track, also gave a great performance.

As for Ruo Er Gai and summer snow - we were lucky this year. Last summer we got a storm that made things rather chilly and badly impaired visibility - far from ideal birding conditions!!!
On this second trip we also got a Chinese Grey Shrike family - our birds had 6 young. Another Ruo Er Gai bird we got on both trips was Eagle Owl.
Our birding problems were more connected with rain and road-construction rather than snow - which resulted in having to find Sichuan Jay at a site other than the usual Mengbi Shan location. Luckily after a lot of damp searching we found our birds on the high mountain pass between Baxi and JZ - thankfully low enough still to be visible - 100m further up the road was totally clouded out!
 

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I just posted the message below to the Wolong thread. I thought I'd repost it here to get wider coverage. Is Wolong going to be accessible when I touch down in Sichuan later this month? How's the birding about now? How's the weather?

I'm heading to Wolong and was wondering whether you or anyone had any updates on access to the reserve and accommodations there. How do I get to the pass cheaply? I heard that you can stay with local folks up top. I'll be carrying a heavy 600 mm lens plus other equipment. Thanks.
 
Not sure about how to do Balang Shan cheaply - there is so much road construction going on that you may struggle to stay with the Yak herders up there like I and others did many years ago now though this is NOT a pleasant experience! Sharing a single, Chinese-sized bed with a mate with all layers on as it was that cold, eating boiled wintermelon and rice each day and walking 20-30km's a day.

Wolong has to be one of the most difficult places in Sichuan to do on the cheap. Wuyipeng is out-of-bounds if you do not have a permit ($150 a day if I'm not mistaken?). Birders do day-trip but this has caused a a bit of bother with the local authorities there + all the species can be seen elsewhere, maybe not as easily (ie tragopans) but everything else is straight forward at other sites.
I'm sure you can hire transport in Wolong village (Sawan) but getting them to drive you up for the Wood Snipe for dawn will either a, not be easy or b, expensive. If you are not fussed about the snipes then hitching up is the best way - it used to be easy to do and all the birds can be seen at any time of the day - I regularly see monals in the afternoon (including this year) but they can also be seen at Jiuzhaigou if you get high enough (some friends of mine saw them just 2 weeks ago there).

In Wolong village there is accommodation rebuilt including a nice, cheap place on the left at the end of the town - can't remember the name but is very obvious.

Cheers,

James
 
There are many birding sites around Wolong - many of which that are hardly visited by foreign birders. Hiking towards Balang used to be possible by taking up the Silver-mine Valley - and part of this track is still open. But the best area for exploring the lower slopes of Balang and get into some stunning forest is to get to the very bottom of Balang, where the road makes a big swing and starts on the first of the big cut-backs - Denshen valley.There are signs to mark it out as a walking area. If Meggie and I go to this area alone this is one of our preferred birding spots - lots of birds and walking trails in here - and for those who want to escape the crowds of China - well don't expect to meet anyone in this piece of magic habitat!!!!!!

As for birding on a budget - since Thrush speaks Mandarin - and understands how things"work" in China - I'm pretty sure he stands a a decent chance of doing the Wolong area on the cheap. As with everything in China - join in with the national sport - bargain, bargain and bargain again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A couple more pix from the last trip - a bird from Sawan (Wolong) - Brown-breasted Flycatcher and a species we a snip on the first trip but had a job to find on the second - Rufous-necked Snowfinch - birds finally found after scanning a 'million' or so of Ruo Er Gai's White-rumped Snowfinches!!!!!!!!
 

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That brown-breasted flycatcher has a very interesting profile - maybe a rather fat beak for the rest of the bird? Not sure why, but he looks distinctive - great picture!

Congrats on finding the "needle in a haystack" rufous-necked snowfinch - and getting a pic of the red neck! Looks like it's feeding a fledgling?

Thanks for sharing the pics!
 
Gretchen - that Brown-breasted Flycatcher does have a massive bill and cause confusion with Brown-chested Jungle Flycatcher, a species that has been reported for Sichuan. But the Jungle Flycatcher has more of a hook at the end of its bill and, as the photo shows, the Brown-breasted has that malar-stripe that gives it that moustached look. We took a bit of time to get clear photos so we could be sure of our ID.

For the last couple of weeks we've been up in N Sichuan - very close to the border with Chongqing. It's been very hot and steamy - living up to Chongqing's reputation as one of China's summer furnaces - so we're pleased that this summer project comes to an end tomorrow. However the birding has been interesting again - maybe not as exciting, tick-wise, as that which comes at the type of sites we visited during our earlier spring/summer trips - but a type which gives us an insight into one of the more neglected aspects of Sichuan ornithology - birding in normal rural areas.

Here are some pics from the last couple of weeks - a Chinese Sparrowhawk nest with a couple of lively young - a Grey-headed Woodpecker family (female + 2 imm) - a nice study of Yellow-rumped Flycatcher and a scene from the Battle of Britain as a Spitfire intercepts a lumbering German bomber (not really - just a LT Shrike after an Asian Barred Owlet).
 

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Excellent photo of the Grey-headed Woodpeckers!

Talking about Brown-chested Jungle Flycatchers - I found a male in full song at Emei Shan in 2007 and was then the only (published) record for Sichuan since Cheng reported a non-singing individual many many years before. I dare say it is an under-recorded species though given how elusive they are when not singing and the song is not particularly well-known (though very distinctive!).

James
 
Here's some recent info on Wolong from a China beginner.

A friend and I visited Wolong July 9-13. We hired a minivan and driver thru Sim's Cozy Cottage in Chengdu (600 RMB/day), and were well satisfied, as our driver was always ready right on time, even for 4Am starts to try and see the damn Snipe on Balangshan.
The last section of the road from Chengdu to Wolong was really rough, but there was no long delay and only one dicey section where the river had partially overflowed onto the road, creating a stretch of maybe 40cm deep water. At first our driver seemed reluctant to chance it, but after watching another minivan make it, he gave it a go and we were fine. On the way back, this section had been filled in (or the river was lower) but we passed through a freshly plowed section of landslide complete with a partially flattened sedan. So even though the trip out was 4 hours and 3 1/2 back, its easy to imagine a much longer trip at this time of year.

We stayed at the new place at the end of Wolong mentioned by Jim. Its a couple new concrete buildings on the left, with a "Hostelling International" sign on the ground. We paid 120 RMB a night which included a room for driver, and the food was good. There was a kilometer marking there, saying, I believe, 45KM 700m. The owner/proprietor spoke some English, and we told him we needed to find the trail to Wuyepeng, and he knew a university student speaking some English who would guide us there for 100 RMB, so we took that offer.

We went up Balangshan the first and third days, with Wuyipeng the middle day. The road to Balangshan wasn't bad although plenty of rocks and boulders to drive around. We would have REALLY struggled without our own vehicle, as our choice of birding locations was completely dictated by where the fog and rain was lightest, and it kept changing. And those tents at the top looked horrible. We did well on passerines, but were skunked on pheasants, despite a lot of time scanning open areas. On the second day up Balangshan the weather was somewhat better, but the snipe site at KM 94 was pretty foggy and we only heard them. Again no pheasants but a number of snow partridges and one distant Snowcock. A brilliant White tailed Rubythroat a few KM down the far side.

For the Wuyipeng area we didn't start at the power station but on a very steep muddy trail between two houses well before the power station, which joined the real trail after a few hundred meters. This trail was easy to follow except where it crossed a quite recent landslide. At the first crossing, the tail switch back to the right more or less in the middle of the slide. At the second crossing, we had to scramble up about fifteen feet of mud and broken saplings, then cross to the other side and hunt out the resume point of the trail. I think this would have been impossible pre-dawn. From there on it was fine. There was no one at the "lodge" and we birded the trail beyond the lodge. Birding was slow (another hot sunny afternoon in Wolong) but we had one female Tragopan with chicks, and a brilliant Barred Laughingthrush.

We tried trails in Sawan behind the big hotel and had one partial view of a female Golden Pheasant, but overall a very disappointing trip for pheasants - vegetation too high or lack of technique or bad luck.

Bob
 
Thanks Mile and James for the compliments on the Woody pic - today is our first day back home for a couple of weeks and first day I got to look at that pic on a good screen. We process many pix, out on our trips, with a laptop - which never gives the same result as using the home PC. That pic was taken with the Canon ef 70x300 zoom - a much lighter but cheaper lens than our Canon prime - but it's quite a piece of glass, that comes with a stabilizer. It has certainly given us some great results - for a very reasonable price.

James - I think that Jungle Flycatcher must be a missed species - we've seen another record for it at Emei. The problem with Emei is that with the greater number of tourists every year it becomes less attractive to bird, with a lot of birders now choosing to spend their time at Wawu - but there are still plenty of quieter locations, both inside and outside the ticketed section that can still give good birding.

Bob that report on your DIY Wolong/Balang trip is an object lesson in how to organize your own Sichuan birding trip. Sim's Cozy Garden Guesthouse and Sam's Guesthouse (these popular Chengdu hotels are simple to google) both have excellent travel experts who do a great job in finding travel solutions for the budget minded tourist. Next time I get a query on how to organise an independent Sichuan trip - Ill link them up with your post.
As for those Pheasants - they're traditionally easiest to see during spring but as the summer moves in they become more secretive and difficult to observe. We did Wolong/Balang last year during July and although we got our Golden Pheasants and Tragopans at Wuyipeng we also didn't get anything on Balang. This year during our two trips in May and June we were far luckier - but were again hampered by trying weather conditions.

Pics in this post - an example of 'making themselves difficult to see' Pheasant behavior - White-eared as you less often see them - hiding up a forest tree. One of our Tragopan Chicks from this year - let's hope this grows into a fantastic male. A Balang bird - Himalayan (White-tailed) Rubythroat - this year we ran into a lot of these. The well-documented location for these birds on the Rilong side of Balang is also a great site for White-browed Tit Warbler. And a bird that we heard a lot of this spring/summer in the Wolong area - and in fact in many parts of higher Sichuan with good bamboo cover - a what shall I now call it species - White-bellied Redstart/Chinese Shortwing.
 

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I may find myself in second week of August in Chengdu with no further planned itinerary. So I can go be a tourist in various places before flight home from Beijing. But if anyone could suggest a good practical (for solo traveler with no Mandarin) birding location in Sichuan or Yunnan for up to a week including travel time (not Wolong, Wawushan/Emeishan) I'd be very interested.

Bob
 
Hi Bob - if I were you I'd be looking at a trip up to the N Sichuan and the Ruo Er Gai Grasslands and nearby Baxi - lots of interesting species here including Black-necked Cranes and Blue-eared Pheasant (Baxi).
You'd need to get a bus to Rou Er Gai - they run from Chengdu (this will be a long whole day's journey) - and then its local transport to view Cranes and get to other grassland birding sites. Baxi is an alpine forest area that takes under an hour to reach from Ruo Er Gai town - in Baxi village there are very basic hotels, but the best place to stay if you can find it is the forestry protection station - that's a big building that you meet on the road about 2 to 3km before you get to the village. Here there are walks you can take into forest valley areas.
One of the advantage with these areas are - because of their elevation - they'll be far cooler than Chengdu and the Sichuan basin.

There are lots of reports on Ruo Er Gai which is sometimes written as Zoige - going back through this thread you'll find various pictures and comments on both areas.

The pic is of one of the common Ruo Er Gai species - Rock Sparrow
 

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Uhh China guy, can you explain what is in the bird's beak? Some larva? Do you know why it looks like there's another attached to its cheek? Bit odd looking.
 
Just caught up a little with this thread after a long absence - absolutely fabulous folks. Mouth watering descriptions and stunning photographs. Note to self: must get back here frequently.

Cheers, H.
 
Hi Gretchen - those larvae are good old maggots. Rock Sparrows like to live in quarries around Ruo Er Gai - and the locals like to use the quarries as rubbish dumps. Both flies and and our birds take advantage of this system. But not to worry if it wasn't for those nice orange maggots that well camouflaged bird would have totally disappeared into the background.

I'm afraid our close up pics reveal that a few birds have mucky bills - here's another bird that goes under the title of Sparrow - House Sparrow with a couple grass-seeds stuck onto that handsome black beak. we found this bird in a flock of around 40 at Wanglang during May - the first time we've seen this species there - another indication of House Sparrow range expansion within Sichuan. And another dirty beak - this time a male Collared Grosbeak that was found during June at the Hailuogou glacier park.

Thanks halftwo - great to hear you enjoy the thread.
 

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That Collared Grosbeak is a beauty - and judging by the veg on the branch it's perched on the forest there must be be pretty good too.

Cheers
Mike
 
mike - Hailuogou is a pretty good birding spot - we went there on the chance of repeating John and Jemi's sighting of Gould's Shortwing - but although we had the call, and location we couldn't entice any out!!!!
However there was load of other good stuff - which included very tame Spotted Laughers, Yellow-bellied Fantail, Golden Bush Robin, lots of Scaly-breasted Wren Babbler, Dark-breasted Rosefinch and Chestnut-headed Tesia. Roland was up there a week or so after us and got Streaked Barwing and White-browed Shortwing.

The big problem with this place is the tourist factor. They bus up - to see the glacier- some of nosiest groups I've ever encountered!!!! But these groups overnight outside the park and don't start to get onto those good birding paths until around 9.00, so by staying in park hotels there are a few hours of silent observation. Also there is some pathway that does not lead to the Glacier - which is tourist free.
To get cheap accommodation in the park you have to deal with the competing touts who are at the gate - we arranged rooms at 80RMB/night.

We didn't take so many pics in the park - but here's a nosy Hailuogou Tesia doing some human-spotting.
 

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Thanks for the background on Hai Lou Gou Sid.

Gould's Shortwing is very high on my wishlist. I'll be onto John & Jemi about that sharpish!

That's definitely the highest I've ever seen a tesia - they're usually so low I assume they have extra gravitational pull keeping them low.

Cheers
Mike
 
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