Crested Ibis site access (1 Viewer)

Does anyone know what the recent situation is with seeing the Crested Ibises at Yangxian?

Any logistical gen would be really helpful. Can we just turn up at the town?

Anything else nearby?

Hoping to go within a week or so.

Thanks,

Larry

It's been a long time since I've read any report of anyone going for the Ibis.

The best write-up I've seen (with tips on where to go and who to contact) is by Bjorn Anderson. But it's quite old (2004).

If you want to check it out, it's here:

http://www.club300.se/Files/TravelReports/Yang Xian,Shaanxi,China0408-BA.pdf

This report may also be of use:

http://www.birdlife.org/action/science/species/asia_strategy/pdf_downloads/wetlandsWO7.pdf

As may this Birding Asia report, which is more recent (please note, however, that this gives details of a reintroduction programme):

http://www.orientalbirdclub.org/publications/ba11pdfs/Xiao-Ping-CrestedIbis.pdf

Good luck!

Also, there is a BF posting that may be of use... I've re-printed it below for ease of viewing (apologies to the author, "dfiess", from San Francisco, for doing so):

Changqing Nature Reserve China: Crested Ibis

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

May 3-7, 2005

A little information for anyone looking for semi independant spots in China on a reasonable budget. Its a great spot, completely quiet even for May Holiday.

Changqing nature reserve is in the Qinling Mountains in southern Shaanxi province. The nearest city with rail service is Hanzhong, and from there it is an easy bus ride to Yang Xian, home to Changqing Reserve's main office and the nearby Crested Ibis Center. The center wants US $50 to enter, but we saw a couple Crested Ibis hanging out nearby in a field.

There is no public transportation service into the reserve, so you must arrange with reserve staff. The number is 86-916-822-6504 and email [email protected]. At the time there was a woman, whose name I have forgotten, who speaks English.

They will drive you from Yang Xian to Huayang, a village just outside of the reserve, where the accomodation is located. You have at your disposal a 4WD vehicle, driver and a guide (our guide was named "Jack", who spoke fair English).

The rates that they are asking are very steep for those of us working in China, but they will negotiate the entrance fee and accomodation. The guide fee and 4WD are set prices so if you have 3 or 4 people you can save money.

In addition to the birds we saw Golden Takin (a kind of wild yak?), Serow (a wild goat), and missed a Giant Panda by about 3 minutes (saw the poo though).

The highlights were the crested Ibis, the Pheasants, and apparently the first sighting of Mountain Hawk Eagle for the reserve.

Here's the list: 84 Species

Blk-crowned Night Heron
Chinese Pond Heron
Cattle Egret
Striated Heron
Little Egret
Grey Heron
Crested Ibis (saw two times; group of 5 and group of3)
Black Baza
Black-eared Kite
Besra [Sparrowhawk]
Chinese Goshawk
Mountain Hawk-eagle
Common Kestrel
European Hobby
Blood Pheasant
Temminck's Tragopan (unfortunately very brief but definitive look)
Ring-necked Pheasant
Golden Pheasant (several excellent looks)
White-breasted Waterhen
Eurasian Stilt
Little Ringed Plover
Oriental Plover
Wood Sandpiper
Common Sandpiper
Swinhoe's Snipe
(Common) Rock Pigeon
Oriental Turtle-dove
Large Hawk-Cuckoo
Indian Cuckoo
Oriental Cuckoo
Common Koel
Himalayan Swiftlet
Fork-tailed Swift
Crested Kingfisher
Common Kingfisher
Black-capped Kingfisher
Barn Swallow
Red-rumped Swallow
Asian House Martin
Grey Wagtail
Black-backed Wagtail
Long-tailed Minivet
Collared Finchbill
Brown-breasted Bulbul
Light-vented Bulbul
Long-tailed Shrike
Brown Dipper
Asian Magpie-Robin
Daurian Redstart
Plumbeous Redstart
Grey Bushchat
White-capped Water Redstart
Blue Rock Thrush
Streak-breasted Scimitar-babbler
Plain Laughing-thrush
Hwamei
White-collared Yuhina
Great Parrotbill
Spectacled Parrotbill
Vinous-throated Parrotbill
Yellowish-bellied Bush-warbler
Brownish-flanked Bush-warbler
Hume's Warbler
Chinese Leaf-Warbler
Bianchi's Warbler
Chestnut-crowned Warbler
Zitting Cisticola
Blue-&-white Flycatcher
Fujian Niltava
Grey-headed Flycatcher
Coal Tit
Yellow-bellied Tit
Great Tit
Japanese White-eye
Little Bunting
Vinaceous Rosefinch
Eurasian Tree Sparrow
Black Drongo
Eurasian Jay
Red-billed Blue Magpie
Eurasian Magpie
Spotted Nutcracker
Large-billed Crow
Pygmy Wren-babbler

Hi Larry - just be a tad careful with Changqing Nature Reserve in Yangxian County - since it seems that this is one of those reserves that they enforce a must have permit rule for foreigners.
We had a guest last year - whose father had tried to do the Yangxian trip a couple of years back without the permit - and had been detained a few hours by the local police!!!!

Sometimes, at Chinese nature reserves, as independent birders these permits can be complicated to obtain - so for an ensured without too many problems visit the best bet is to contact the reserve, or an allied guiding agency and find out what are the present rules - and how to get the necessary permit and permissions.
However just now - it seems that the reserve website is offline - www.cqpanda.com/english/index.htm
Hopefully that email address that Shi Jin has given still works!!!!!

We have a similar site in Sichuan - Laojunshan Nature Reserve, the Sichuan Hill Partridge location - where, for foreigners they charge, in relation to our other Sichuan birding areas, an arm and a leg. You also have to hire a "guide."

We know from experience how frustrating it can be if you are in one of these areas and 'mid-birding" have to suddenly bend plans to comply with these rules. We have the advantage of speaking good Chinese and are usually able to negotiate our way out of the more frustrating situations - for others it can be more complicated!!!!

Good luck with the trip
Sid

Sid's right to urge caution.

I travelled all the way to Nonggang in Guangxi a few years ago, on the understanding I would be allowed to enter the reserve, only to be refused (being told to go back to the provincial capital, a three day there and back trip, is a polite way of saying bugger off). It was around the time of the discovery of their babbler, so of course I have a conspiracy theory with regard to the reason for the last minute U turn..

Anyhow, back to the Crested Ibis. Bjorn Anderson, the chap whose report I linked you to, failed at his first attempt to get there. It took weeks to organsise, and was going to cost him an arm and a leg only for them to pull the plug at the last moment, for no apparent reason.

The following year he tried again, this time it was "no problem". Bjorn's reports gives full details of both attempts (the latter being successful).

Larry

One clarification

You don't need to go into Changqing to see the Ibis - the roost site near the town is not a reserve, so as long as you are free to go to the town, as posted above, you should be OK to walk about.

Changqing is a lovely reserve, but as a panda reserve access is pretty controlled - the same with Foping Reserve (on the way to Yangxian by road from Xian). However you can stay in Foping town and there is a back way to the reserve from somewhere nearby (sorry not to be more specific).

Other goodies at Changqing include Fulvous and Spectacled Parrotbills and Green Shrike Babbler from memory

The road from Xian also goes through the Qingling Shan mountains incuding a spectacular gorge and another reserve called Zhouzhi on the northern slope (no idea about staying here - sorry)

Cheers
Mike

Thank you all very much for your help. The reserve itself sounds interesting (the 2 parrotbills and Golden Pheasant of particular interest to me!). I might have to find out how much visiting it would cost.

Mike, do you think you could somehow send us that mud map of the ibis roost site outside the reserve, in case we can get to just turn up and look for them without any hassles?

Hi Larry,
If you were going on to bird Sichuan you'd also have great chance to get the Pheasant and Parrotbills.
The Jiuzhaigou area of Sichuan is best for getting easy Spectacled Parrotbill - just a couple of bus-stops inside the park is Reed Lake - listen for Parrotbill Chatter and that's probably your birds.
Outside the park - aboout 10km's on the main-road towards Songpan there's also a large reedy wetland with some boardwalks - sure our Spectacled Parrotbill can also be found in there and no super expensive JZ ticket needed!!!!!

As For Golden Pheasant - lots of places but sometimes bloody hard to see. One of the easier places is Tangjiahe - which is also in N Sichuan, but transport out there may be difficult and would probably mean hiring your own transport at Pingwu (there used to be tourist bus services - but this place is till recovering post-quake). This reserve also has Przewalski's Parrotbill close to an area where Chinese Monal have been seen.

Another great Golden Pheasant site is Wuyipeng/Wolong - and relatively easy to reach from Chengdu. The Golden pheasants are often seen while walking the slope to Wuyipeng ridge - and on our last visit about 3 weeks ago we also got Fulvous Parrotbill in the Bamboo on the ridge - looking up any reports on this location and you'll get a pretty tasty list of birds.

However the best Fulvous Parrotbill location is Wawu Mountain - about 4 hours from Chengdu. You find them in Bamboo sea on the very top - the other fairly easy Parrots up here include, Brown, Three-toed and Great. Grey-hooded is also seen but this one can prove more difficult. Also a great list for this place - Emei Liocichla is not so difficult in the area around the bottom of the cable-car and Lady A pheasant on the access road from the bottom gate - but on our last visit during the weekend they weren't letting private cars up during the weekend - a winter reg until April - ice on the road - we had no desire to go up on a tourist bus so walked and birded the bottom.
A good tip with any Chinese park/tourist site - try not to visit during a weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best of Luck
Sid

I think that Sid is trying to convince you that the best birding in China is in Sichuan ;-)

And he's right!

For me, the best 5 day birding trip in China is:

Day 1 and 2 - Wolong
Day 3 Balang Shan
Day 4 Mengbi Shan
Day 5 Tibetan Plateau

If you have 7 days, then add Wawu.

As far as the Ibises are concerned, I haven't been and have no plans to go.

Cheers.

Thanks for the suggestion guys, and I really wish we did have time to fit some Sichuan sites in on our way home. We had originally planned it vaguely for early this summer, when we thought we'd be having a slightly longer trip :-C

We totally loved going to Emei Shan in winter, much earlier on in our current trip. Here's a link to our visit to Sichuan. We missed lots of the birds that you mention though, and I so hope we can come back one day.

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=100901&page=2

Larry Wheatland said:

... when we thought we'd be having a slightly longer trip ...

Click to expand...

You heading back to Europe soon then? Which route - back over north or the adventurous southern route ()

Crested Ibis will soon-maybe this year-be reintroduced to Dongzhai NR,the site of Reeves's Pheasant.

Hi,

I went on the 'official' trip to Changqing in early April 2007. It was expensive, but well organised, giving me a great opportunity to see rural China and of course great birds. Add to that getting within a couple of metres of a panda - wow!

The Crested Ibis were outside the reserve, a couple of miles up the hill before the village (Huayang?). I got the impression that there was a daily public bus service from Yangxian.

Bird list:
From 8/4/07 to 14/4/07 ~ Changqing NR, Yangxian area and Hanzhong ~ 95 seen
Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis)
Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)
Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)
Crested Ibis (Nipponia nippon)
Northern Goshawk (Accipiter gentilis)
Upland Buzzard (Buteo hemilasius)
Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos)
Eurasian Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)
Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)
Chinese Bamboo-Partridge (Bambusicola thoracica)
Blood Pheasant (Ithaginis cruentus)
Ring-necked Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus)
Golden Pheasant (Chrysolophus pictus)
Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius)
Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia)
Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus)
Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola)
Rock Pigeon (Columba livia)
Oriental Turtle-Dove (Streptopelia orientalis)
Crested Kingfisher (Megaceryle lugubris)
Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops)
Crimson-breasted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos cathpharius)
Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major)
Grey-faced Woodpecker (Picus canus)
Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia)
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
Red-rumped Swallow (Cecropis daurica)
White Wagtail (Motacilla alba)
Citrine Wagtail (Motacilla citreola)
Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea)
Long-tailed Minivet (Pericrocotus ethologus)
Collared Finchbill (Spizixos semitorques)
Brown-breasted Bulbul (Pycnonotus xanthorrhous)
Light-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus sinensis)
Goldcrest (Regulus regulus)
Eurasian Blackbird (Turdus merula)
Eyebrowed Thrush (Turdus obscurus)
Dusky Thrush (Turdus naumanni)
Brownish-flanked Bush-Warbler (Cettia fortipes)
Tickell's Leaf-Warbler (Phylloscopus affinis)
Chinese Leaf-Warbler (Phylloscopus yunnanensis)
Hume's Warbler (Phylloscopus humei)
Large-billed Leaf-Warbler (Phylloscopus magnirostris)
Eastern Crowned Leaf-Warbler (Phylloscopus coronatus)
Blyth's Leaf-Warbler (Phylloscopus reguloides)
Golden-spectacled Warbler (Seicercus burkii)
Chestnut-crowned Warbler (Seicercus castaniceps)
Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher (Culicicapa ceylonensis)
Hodgson's Redstart (Phoenicurus hodgsoni)
Daurian Redstart (Phoenicurus auroreus)
White-capped Redstart (Chaimarrornis leucocephalus)
Plumbeous Redstart (Rhyacornis fuliginosus)
White-crowned Forktail (Enicurus leschenaulti)
Grey Bushchat (Saxicola ferrea)
White-throated Laughingthrush (Garrulax albogularis)
Greater Necklaced Laughingthrush (Garrulax pectoralis)
Moustached Laughingthrush (Garrulax cineraceus)
Hwamei (Garrulax canorus)
White-browed Laughingthrush (Garrulax sannio)
Elliot's Laughingthrush (Garrulax elliotii)
Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babbler (Pomatorhinus ruficollis)
Red-billed Leiothrix (Leiothrix lutea)
Golden-breasted Fulvetta (Alcippe chrysotis)
Streak-throated Fulvetta (Alcippe cinereiceps)
White-collared Yuhina (Yuhina diademata)
Spectacled Parrotbill (Paradoxornis conspicillatus)
Vinous-throated Parrotbill (Paradoxornis webbianus)
Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus)
Black-throated Tit (Aegithalos concinnus)
Sooty Tit (Aegithalos fuliginosus)
Marsh Tit (Poecile palustris)
Pere David's Tit (Poecile davidi)
Rufous-vented Tit (Periparus rubidiventris)
Yellow-bellied Tit (Pardaliparus venustulus)
Grey-crested Tit (Lophophanes dichrous)
Great Tit (Parus major)
Green-backed Tit (Parus monticolus)
Eurasian Treecreeper (Certhia familiaris)
Fire-capped Tit (Cephalopyrus flammiceps)
Gould's Sunbird (Aethopyga gouldiae)
Japanese White-eye (Zosterops japonicus)
Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius)
Blue Magpie (Urocissa erythrorhyncha)
Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica)
Eurasian Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes)
Large-billed Crow (Corvus macrorhynchos)
Red-billed Starling (Sturnus sericeus)
Russet Sparrow (Passer rutilans)
Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus)
Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla)
Oriental Greenfinch (Carduelis sinica)
Meadow Bunting (Emberiza cioides)
Chestnut-eared Bunting (Emberiza fucata)
Yellow-throated Bunting (Emberiza elegans)

Julian

Thanks everyone. Julian do you mind saying how much your tour cost and who you booked it with?

Thanks especially for the Huayang info, that may yet save the day!

Heading off there soon so only a couple of days left if anybody's got any more gen.

Larry Wheatland said:

Thanks everyone. Julian do you mind saying how much your tour cost and who you booked it with?

Thanks especially for the Huayang info, that may yet save the day!

Heading off there soon so only a couple of days left if anybody's got any more gen.

Click to expand...

Larry,

In booked the trip through www.cqpanda.com/english/ . It cost approximately 8000 RMB for a 7 day tour including food, accommodation, guide, driver and transport from and to Hanzhong airport.

Added a couple of pictures to wet your appetite

Julian

Thought I'd better report that we saw the ibises today, and bonus Long-billed Plover. We just turned up on the bus and birded the river without going into town.

full report here

A friend and I did a do-it-yourself bird trip to China and wanted to include the Crested Ibis. We had contacted the Changqing Reserve, but their prices were really high no matter what we did to reduce costs on accommodation, guiding, etc. It seems that any package must have included about a US $200 entry fee per person.

Anyway, we arrived in Xian by train from Xining (18 hours in a hard seat - trains delayed due to flooding), and one of the taxi touts with good English said he knew about the Crested Ibis and could arrange a taxi. Next day after doing the Terracotta Warriors, we stopped in at the guys office to arrange a trip for the following AM, without knowing too much more than Larry's report and the fact that they roosted near the vlllage. So our deal was to try and do it in one day, but we would stay overnight if necessary in Huayang.

We left Xian at 5AM. Our driver said he knew where you could see them near Yang Xian. We told him "no zoos" but sure enough as we got near the "Crested Ibis Center" we saw a huge aviary. We were a little suspicious that any "wild" ibises near hear might be of questionable origin, so we backtracked north a bit to where we had seen the turnoff for the reserve and followed that road. After about 15KM we found a very wary Crested Ibis (pink, almost no gray) feeding along a small river next to the road. Mission accomplished, we went back to Yang Xian for lunch and to try to book a plane out of Xian for the next day. My guess is that there are enough ibises now that getting one on a day trip out of Xian is a good bet, but I'm not sure we could have duplicated Larry's feat of doing it with public transport.