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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Sichuan Birding (5 Viewers)

I'm also in the yes please brigade - have just sent my Email.

And on the subjects of Sichuan carnivores - I've recently been sorting Fox pictures from Ruoergai - got both Red and Tibetan there this year.

Pic 1 is of Red Fox

pic 2 is rather blown up shot of Tibetan Fox - much smaller ears and differently shaped head - this guy also has a Pika.
 

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Gripped!!!!

Tibetan Fox on my wanted list, what a shape, drawn to it ever since I saw it on Attenborough, great stuff Sid!

You'll like the Cat stuff, should heighten the drive to go and find a Snow Leopard, not far away with some inspiring shots!

Thanks James!
 
while sorting out pictures I found an image of a pika taken in Bamei in September. Maybe an interesting species for one of you?

The other pictures are all from Qingcheng Shan. Cold weather and snow drove the Bush Robin and other birds, such as Chinese Thrush or fulvettas down to the bottom of the mountain.
As I mentioned a few post before, the high speed train from Chengdu reaches this place now in 40 min, and I guess, under better weather conditions it may see a lot more visitors than ever before.

That dead Scops Owl (I hope my ID is correct) was found just next to a village on the upper part of the mountain. Since it was so close to the settlement, it was probably killed by some superstitious villagers.

The Little Forktail - Qingcheng Shan always is a good place for all the 4 Sichuan forktail species - sat down on a Mayong table and observed the ongoing game on the neighbored table.
 

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Very nice, well sad as well. I'll leave the Pika for James, the Owl looks like a Collared Scops, but looks large, is that a child holding it?
 
sichuan jiujiu/Mark:

I was astonished last week, when two 11-12 year old students (girl, boy, unrelated) I teach independently and immediately ID'd a reference to Monty Python in a lesson.

They said they had watched all their parents' DVDs many times.

A continuity of culture ?
 
Danjing Shan warbler

Hi China guy,

I discovered this thread and your blogs this summer and I’m really glad I did; very interesting and informative.
I’ve been to Sichuan a few times before, and I’m fascinated by the natural history, landscapes and culture, and I’ve learnt a lot from what you’ve written. When I’m over and I get chance to get out into the countryside I bring my camera and take pictures of whatever wildlife is of interest (usually plants or invertebrates since most birds are off before I can get close enough, or require me to stand still making me a sitting duck for mosquitoes).

This summer one of the places I visited a couple of times was Danjing Shan near Pengzhou. It’s a foothill of the big mountains in western Sichuan, and as I get the impression is the case with a lot of these foothills, has a paved path up to the top though subtropical forest interspersed with temples, shops, restaurants and tearooms frequented by locals.

One time I managed to take the below poor shots of this warbler sat in a tree above the path. There aren’t enough details for me to identify it to the species level, but I thought you or somebody else on the thread would be able to do it.

Looking forward to reading more of your posts

Ed
 

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Hi Mike,

Try these ones

Ed
 

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Well done for identifying that it’s a yellow-bellied tit from these blurry pics, especially since it’s a juvenile. Nice that it’s endemic to China.
 
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I’ve got another couple of unidentified bad pics from this summer. I took the photos of this bird on Emei Shan in mist. I daren’t suggest a family this time after my previous attempt...
 

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This is a juvenile Brown Breasted Flycatcher. I remember seeing one at Emei during a spring visit over 10 years ago.

Cheers
Mike
 
Apropos blurry pictures. :)

I got one from my recent holidays in Vietnam. Got it at Guc Puong National park, and really couldn't get an ID of it. Guess it is not in the China bird guide (Mc Kinnon).

Anybody able to make something out of this pic?

Thx
 

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Appears t be a Brown Shrike.

Brown-breasted Flycatcher breeds at Emei Shan, I remember seeing recently fledged birds there a few years ago, and last year at Wawu Shan.

Worth keeping an eye out for Brown-chested Jungle Flycatchers at Emei Shan, they were back there last year I've been told.

James
 
Hi there - we're on Hainan at the moment - but my computer has a Sichuan pic - from June -of Brown-breasted Flycatcher from Sawan Village. This is how the adult version looks.
 

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Yeah, I think I got a bigger flock of those flycatchers last summer in Moxi, too.
Here in Vietnam i only could spot one flycathcer of the Musciacapa sub-family (dark-sided), thought they would be here in masses....

Thanks for the Brown Shrike ID. I was pretty sure it was a shrike, before i talked to one of the local bird guides of the park, and he said: "no brown shrike, look at the bill". So I abandoned this idea,...
Indeed, the bunting-like bill puzzled me anyway.

Cheers
Roland
 
And thank you for identifying the Brown-breasted Flycatcher. I noticed that in my MacKinnon book it shows the species as being resident in China, but Wikipedia says it migrates to southern Asia, and indeed there are photographs online from places like Sri Lanka. Are some members of the species migratory while others over-winter in China, or is there an error somewhere?
 
Hi Dahe - the greater part of winter Sichuan is too cold for many specialist insect eaters and we won't see Flycatchers until they return on spring passage. About the only flying insect eater we can see in our part of the world during the winter are Sand Martins that form large flocks over rivers. I was watching them about 2 weeks back at Leshan - and a pair of Pallas's Gull made a fly by.

However wintering Flycatchers are found in South China - but it takes around a couple of thousand kl to get from our Sichuan breeding sites to wintering areas.
Here over the last week in Hainan I've seen Flycatchers - here's a photo of female Hainan Blue (at least I'm going for that over Chinese Blue).

Hey Roland did the bill on your bird really look like it does in the picture?????
 

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