Sichuan Birding (2 Viewers)

I've just got back from 3 days with an ecological survey team from Sichuan University and Monash University, Victoria Australia.
Previous to my meeting with them they'd been to the very south of Sichuan, close to the Yunnan border - around a 100km SE of Xichang. Part of my task was to confirm some ID's of photos that Dr. Wendy Wright and Dr. Steb Fisher had taken. Some great birds down there - some which don't appear on the normal type of Sichuan trip list. With the warm weather this area enjoys during this time of year, an interesting winter birding destination - within striking distance of the Black-necked Crane wintering site just over the Yunnan border at Dashanboa. Certainly under-birded with a possibility for some good discoveries.

Thanks to Wendy and Steb I can show some of their photos.

1 - the best bird first - Brown-winged Parrotbill. Only three pics - all Yunnan shots - of this bird at OBI, two coming from John and Jemmi.Their pic here - http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?p=2&Bird_ID=1462&Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1 - shows the same strange bill coloration - a broad black strip on top of the upper mandible - as the pictured bird

2 - Crested Finchbill - I've only seen this bird in Yunnan, good to see it's also still to be found in Sichuan.

3 - Grey-breasted Prinia - another bird we've never seen in our normal Sichuan haunts

Wow, all very handsome birds and apparently exciting finds - thanks for sharing!

Pale iris is interesting - the birds from southern Sichuan are a different race from Tengchong, Yunnan. I have some pics of the Sichuan birds of my own, from Lijiang, so will check those out to see if the iris is the same.
Should be a few Biet's Laughers lurking in that area...

BTW - Not exactly within Sichuan, but keep a look out for an exciting press-release this week!

Cheers

J

ah, finally, the press release of what I was alluding to has been released...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/16112187

I'm looking forward to next June already!

J

Blackthroat

After my own failed but extremely memorable, targeted Blackthroat searches at Taibai Shan, Baishuijiang, Baihe, Tangjiahe and Jiuzhaiguo over the past eight years, I must say there is a sense of relief that it is proven it actually does breed in the area.

See you in Foping!

jocko

Gosh, visited Qinling just this year!

Many thanks for contacting Wendy and Steb and for them allowing us to use their photo of the Brown winged Parrotbill

That's indeed a good news. Too bad we were just few days late to see the Blackthroat in Sichuan University early this year.

In my opinion there definitely must be a bigger bird population of Blackthroat, Rufous-headed Robin, Streaked Barwing etc. around in Sichuan. The only thing is that there is hardly nobody looking for them in other places.
Everybody always goes to the same spots (e.g. Jiuzhaigou, Emei Shan, Wawu Shan etc). (What I, of course, also would do, if I want to see a bird which was previously recorded in one of those places and don't have enough time to walk around in not-birded areas.)

And second, there is still not enough data and info exisiting on many rare birds anyway.

BUT: Why did the Blackthroat show up in the Sichuan University this spring?
Because people frequently go there and watch birds!!! Probably it has been passing Chengdu since many centuries without anybody noticing it...
An active network of birder watchers and bird friends still is not really existing (but at least steadily growing) and birdwatching amongst the masses is very uncommon.

Surely, birds like Rufous-headed Robin or Blackthroat seem to strongly rely on a certain habitat which is perfectly (or maybe only) featured e.g. in Jiuzhaigou or Wanglang.
But this doesn't automatically mean that there are no other spots where they might show up, especially on migration...


Below's a picture of a small area with great low-altitude forest (near Ya'an) which also looks promising to find some good and rare birds. Might be interesting to frequently visit this place in the future.

And two more pics of birds it was nice to see in Bifengxia (near Ya'an) yesterday.

Blue-fronted Redstart is really a perfect altitude migrant. In Summer you can see in up to 5000m, and in winter it comes close to Chengdu.
Hwamei: with all these captive Hwamei around in my close neighbourhood (must be hundreds) it really feels good to see this quite tame but loud bird in the wild.


Good luck for the next year for all those who want to find more Blackthroats...

roland

sichuan jiujiu said:

In my opinion there definitely must be a bigger bird population of Blackthroat, Rufous-headed Robin, Streaked Barwing etc. around in Sichuan. The only thing is that there is hardly nobody looking for them in other places.
Everybody always goes to the same spots (e.g. Jiuzhaigou, Emei Shan, Wawu Shan etc). (What I, of course, also would do, if I want to see a bird which was previously recorded in one of those places and don't have enough time to walk around in not-birded areas.)

And second, there is still not enough data and info exisiting on many rare birds anyway.

BUT: Why did the Blackthroat show up in the Sichuan University this spring?
Because people frequently go there and watch birds!!! Probably it has been passing Chengdu since many centuries without anybody noticing it...
An active network of birder watchers and bird friends still is not really existing (but at least steadily growing) and birdwatching amongst the masses is very uncommon.

Surely, birds like Rufous-headed Robin or Blackthroat seem to strongly rely on a certain habitat which is perfectly (or maybe only) featured e.g. in Jiuzhaigou or Wanglang.
But this doesn't automatically mean that there are no other spots where they might show up, especially on migration...

roland

Click to expand...

Hi Roland,

I'm not sure how big the population will be of either luscinia...

The Streaked Barwing is a different kettle of fish, as it is known from many sites, and seems to require a few old-growth trees to remain (Laojunshan, Emei Shan, Erlang, Labahe being classic examples), but appears to have disappeared from areas without these trees (extralimital sites, ie Fansipan region in NW Vietnam, lack of recent N, E Yunnan records).

Undoubtedly there will be other areas where Blackthroat and Rufous-headed Robin occur, but I still feel that, particularly the latter, the population is dangerously low. Several people (birders and researchers) have surveyed northern Sichuan relatively extensively in the past 30 years compared to other areas of Asia without pulling out much in the way of either, most notably keen and meticulous sound recordists such as Per Alstrom (who found the Blackthroat populations during a two-month stint exploring many areas this year), he surveyed Sichuan and Shaanxi extensively in the 80's and 90's without finding either of them.
What I find worrying is that they both have very distinct songs, and sing regularly, at all times of the day, yet still haven't been detected. Just look at Jiuzhaigou - the RHR is only known from 3 tiny localities, and appears to have disappeared from one (presumably because of over-grazing around the dwarf willows), yet there is plenty of what I assume to be sub-optimal habitat, so it must be really sensitive to habitat alteration - I've even noticed a shift in the core area for them in one valley in the past 8 years as the willows have grown.

One area that would be particularly of interest to try is the beautiful valleys 2+ hours towards Baxi from Jiuzhaigou, beyond a known Blackthroat (Baihe), I tried them earlier this year but it was in the heat of the day, I certainly plan on trying again there next year, particularly now a bit more about its habits and habitats - the song is too distinctive to miss and the habitat is similar to the areas where the Blackthroat occurs in Foping.

Regards,

James

Hi James,

Surely, there shouldn't be too high expectations on the population of either bird...

James Eaton said:

....
One area that would be particularly of interest to try is the beautiful valleys 2+ hours towards Baxi from Jiuzhaigou, ...

Click to expand...

I also have been thinking about a small road for a couple of years. Coming from Baxi it turns off behind the pass on the JZG side and near a township called Dalu. It should lead via a scenic spot called 'Shenxian Pool' to JZG directly. A short glimpse from the junction into the valley looked quite promising. However it seems that there has been huge logging going on during the 80's, so not sure whether it's worth it...
see attachment: a google maps image from this area shows clear-cut areas.


below there's another image from Bifeng Gorge last thursday: A member of the Pallas' discoveries:Pallas's Squirrel. The red belly is remarkably red... Also its size, I guess it was about 25-30cm without tail.
Unfortunately they trap squirrels in order to sell it to tourists at the park entrance. What they sold there as well was a dead female Lady Amherst Pheasant. Unfortunately I was too upset to make a picture at first.|=@|

Saker, Meggie and me wish all of you out there in birding internet land a Merry Christmas.
We've just come back from a week with Mike - MKinHK who writes the Hong Kong thread - and his wife Carrie. A week that gave us a couple of Red Pandas at Labahe, plenty of good birds and a lot of seasonal snow at Balang pass, which, over the clouds, in clear winter skies, at 4000m, was quite magnificent.
This trip also marked Saker's introduction to high altitude travel - a problem free 4,500m and only 4.5 months old is pretty good going!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reading the latest posts on the thread its interesting to catch up on the discussion between Roland and James.

On the Streaked Barwing - its interesting to note that this last trip started at Emei where Mike told me during his first (winter) visit in the 90's had recorded Streaked Barwing at the base of the mountain. I can also remember reading another 90's Emei report where Barwing are listed in the area just up from the "hotel town." However recent records seem very sparse - and its interesting to note that although many large trees have been saved the under scrub in many of these lower areas seems to have been disappearing due to "park gardening" type developments (weeding-up and replanting). Luckily many species can still survive in these managed habitats - but Barwing seems to have taken a hit.

As for RH Robin - here's a 2001 Bird life article on distribution http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/userfiles/file/Species/AsRDBPDFs/species/luscrufi.pdf
There was a recent report from one of the major tour-groups of hearing a singing bird at Wanglang (The Birdlife article has a 1985 record for Wanglang) - worth keeping your ears open if you get to visit this park. The Foping area has a 1905 recording of two collected birds.

Blackthroat - I can remember reading an old report of, if my memory serves me right, an April trip on Wawu claiming this species together with a photo (photo wasn't shown)!!!!! I've always been curious if this was a good record and, if so, whether that photo, which pre-dates the April Chengdu pic by a good few years, could be found????? Unfortunately I can't even find the report any more - so ends that piece of detective work!

When I get a bit more time (Meggie's pulling at my ear to go out and shop for our Christmas dinner) - I'll post up a list of our trip - which included one new Sichuan lifer (deather) for me - a dead Striated Heron at the bottom of Emei.

But here are a couple of pics -
1 - our Christmas pic - closest we could get to Santa. That red dwarf figure, disguised as one of Santa's helpers. is Saker at Labahe; his first snow.

2 - A rubbish dump Red Panda that was found among Red-billed Blue Magpies and Large-billed Crows feeding on kitchen garbage - skulking away through chalet accommodation at Labahe. Even though it's the worst pic I've ever put up of a Red Panda - this is about one of the craziest recordings I've made of this animal.

And finally a call recorded from the base of Emei - where we couldn't get to see our bird.The only species we can come up with is Purple Cochoa - confirmation from those more experienced with this call would be most appreciated.
EDIT - James Eaton corrected this call to Black-headed Sibia - the call is now marked up as this species

Sid,

You've got yourself a Black-headed Sibia there... (a species regular in southern Sichuan, with a record from Wawu).

That Red Panda is crazy!

Cheers

J

Sid,

I remember reading that Blackthroat report, and also a report of Rufous-headed Robin from Baxi just a couple of years ago.

There is also that crazy record from some of the Hong Kong gang of the male Blackthroat grounded during a storm on migration behind Wolong village, sat under the same bush for a few hours - that must have been brilliant!

I would assume the barwing still occurs in the beautiful forested gullies just outside Emei town, where the road cuts through - traffic has always been a bit too heavy for me to get out and have a look though unfortunately.
I've only seen Purple Cochoa at Emei around Xianfeng - though in the winter I guess it would drop to c1000m.

Cheers,

James

ps - my prediction for a Blackthroat breeding site is Tangjiahe, I would be very surprised if they were not there due to the large extent of bamboo (and a certain parrotbill, Golden Monkeys and plenty of Takin).

Thanks James for the Sibia help - we also see them at Bifeng and Qingcheng.

In a book on the biodiversity of Tangjiahe I have a species list that's been made up for the park - I'm pretty sure Blackthroat and RH Robin are both included on that - I'll take a look when I get back to my books in our other home outside Chengdu.

Good to see that Saker took to the high altitude....think I would enjoy it wrapped up like that and being carried around

All the best to all of you.

Isn't Saker getting big!

A happy Christmas and New Year to you all.

D

Tangjiahe

Tangjiahe indeed has a lot of bamboo and I agree with James, Blackthroat must be there. However, I have been there twice and spent quite a few hours trawling with the BT tape with no result, so I believe it is pretty rare even in top quality habbo.

TJH is really superb. One of the local guards/guides/rangers/ex-hunters that accompanied us up on the mountain had found a sleeping Giant Panda on a huge rock visible from the old hut (a new one has been built a few hundred m down the slope)...

Saludos,
Jocko

James Eaton said:

Sid,

I remember reading that Blackthroat report, and also a report of Rufous-headed Robin from Baxi just a couple of years ago.

There is also that crazy record from some of the Hong Kong gang of the male Blackthroat grounded during a storm on migration behind Wolong village, sat under the same bush for a few hours - that must have been brilliant!

I would assume the barwing still occurs in the beautiful forested gullies just outside Emei town, where the road cuts through - traffic has always been a bit too heavy for me to get out and have a look though unfortunately.
I've only seen Purple Cochoa at Emei around Xianfeng - though in the winter I guess it would drop to c1000m.

Cheers,

James

ps - my prediction for a Blackthroat breeding site is Tangjiahe, I would be very surprised if they were not there due to the large extent of bamboo (and a certain parrotbill, Golden Monkeys and plenty of Takin).

Click to expand...

For Blackthroat fans - here's a Christmas present from a Santa called Per Alstrom and the guys at Xeno-canto
http://www.xeno-canto.org/asia/browse.php?query=blackthroat&species_nr=

Nice Christmas Celebration!!! A great news from the west. Hope to hear some good news for the new year as well. B