Chengdu Birding – [email protected] - Chengdu, Sichuan, the gateway to Tibet
What's this?
Well this last weekend we intended to give a guest, who had limited Sichuan birding time, an express tour around Wawu Shan – and indeed, at the start of our trip, everything seemed to be going swimmingly. A smooth airport pick-up, a night time motorway charge to Emei, where we found a clean and cheap hotel at the ungodly hour of 1 in the morning- all seemed to bode well for the next day. And indeed, come the morning, watching at lower elevations brought us the kind of birds we expected to see – nothing spectacular – but we very quickly got, among other ticks, Chinese Bamboo Partridge, Hwamei, Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler , a glimpse of a White-crowned Forktail and the usual abundance of Black Bulbul.
With their beautiful plumage - flocks of Long-tailed Minivets can be a spectacular birding sight.
The drive up to Wawu also gave roadside birds – the view down into the luxuriant forest green often being enlivened by vivid flashes of reds and yellows as flocks of migrating Long-tailed Minivet noisily flitted between tree-tops. Even the valley streams – that were quite high due to overnight rain – satisfied our needs by providing some good views of Brown Dipper.
Everything was set-up for good watching when we arrived at Wawu – even the weather was behaving itself - and then…………………
“Sorry the park is closed today – the road has been blocked by a landslide.”
The overnight rain had put a spanner in the works – and we had to quickly mend a damaged birding tour!
We had two main options – we could either go back to Emei – but a Saturday here is full of noisy, intrusive tourist groups, plus a hefty entrance fee to get into the park proper - we felt a far better choice was to make another rush, this time to Laba He. By Using a short-cut we could still get in a bit of evening watching.
Well sometimes luck favors the bold – or maybe there was a smack of divine intervention – and just before we got to the Laba He gate my wife shouts “huge bird” – and sure enough a majestic Golden Eagle soars over us with a mate in distant attendance. A minute or two after that spectacular sight, as we turn round to drive, a new shout –“tiny strange bird on the road – what is that?” What we spotted must rank as one of the most peculiar birds I’ve ever seen – a male Yellow-legged Buttonquail. This bird has the strangest of walks – one leg slowly raised after the other, giving a slow-motion effect all while the body quivers as if the bird was shivering. I suppose in the bird’s usual underbrush habitat this kind of movement can give an extra element of stealth and camouflage – but while crossing a bare tarmac road it looked like something out of Monty Python’s ministry of silly walks!!!!
By the way even with a pic it was very difficult to identify this bird from the plates in A Field Guide to the Birds of China – I got my definite id from a photo at OBC.
The bird from Monty Python - a Yellow-legged Buttonquail
There were no problems getting into Laba He, and finding accommodation - and the next morning we were well set for birding. And what a day it turned out to be, with birding highlights that included – Spotted and Black-headed Laughingthrushes that were mixed in with the usual Eliot’s – a face to face encounter with Great Parrotbill while latter we could look down onto a large flock of Brown Parrotbill racing through a great sea of Bamboo. Once again we found Lady Amherst's Pheasant – even if they were female and our guest only got the briefest of glimpses – but at least he got some good views of Golden-breasted Fulveta.
However I think the top spot of this trip had four legs rather than wings – we got to see a Red Panda. We were told that a Red panda had been spotted on the track we were walking – but so far we only saw – and heard – the usual Short-tailed Macaques. But a slight movement of branches that I luckily picked up in the corner of my eye – brought a big bushy tail that more that gave away its owner – my first ever wild Panda. Okay this wasn’t a Giant Panda – but Red Panda is listed as endangered and in 1999 the IUCN estimated a population fewer than 2,500 – although other estimates have put populations quite a bit higher than this. However, arguments over population counts to one side – these lovely animals are very rare, and anyone who has viewed them should themselves very lucky indeed! To see more pics of our Panda encounter go to –
http://chengdutravel.blogspot.com/2008/10/finding-panda.html
It was easier to get pics of the Pandas rear end than it's face - but anyways that's a nice bottom!!!
A funny story to end this entry concerns our French guest – who was an engineering consultant on a short business trip in China. He was of course totally enthralled to view the Panda – but had a bit of a dilemma – how could he go back to France and tell his nature loving wife he had seen this incredible animal – surely she would kill him through jealousy!!!!
If he does keep his panda a domestic secret – but wifey gets to read this blog – well, JP quick, you better go an’ hide!!!!!!!!!!
PS Marmot - I'm sorry we didn't bump into any Blue-winged Minla - being locked out of Wawu put paid to that. But always another time.
What's this?
Well this last weekend we intended to give a guest, who had limited Sichuan birding time, an express tour around Wawu Shan – and indeed, at the start of our trip, everything seemed to be going swimmingly. A smooth airport pick-up, a night time motorway charge to Emei, where we found a clean and cheap hotel at the ungodly hour of 1 in the morning- all seemed to bode well for the next day. And indeed, come the morning, watching at lower elevations brought us the kind of birds we expected to see – nothing spectacular – but we very quickly got, among other ticks, Chinese Bamboo Partridge, Hwamei, Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler , a glimpse of a White-crowned Forktail and the usual abundance of Black Bulbul.
With their beautiful plumage - flocks of Long-tailed Minivets can be a spectacular birding sight.
The drive up to Wawu also gave roadside birds – the view down into the luxuriant forest green often being enlivened by vivid flashes of reds and yellows as flocks of migrating Long-tailed Minivet noisily flitted between tree-tops. Even the valley streams – that were quite high due to overnight rain – satisfied our needs by providing some good views of Brown Dipper.
Everything was set-up for good watching when we arrived at Wawu – even the weather was behaving itself - and then…………………
“Sorry the park is closed today – the road has been blocked by a landslide.”
The overnight rain had put a spanner in the works – and we had to quickly mend a damaged birding tour!
We had two main options – we could either go back to Emei – but a Saturday here is full of noisy, intrusive tourist groups, plus a hefty entrance fee to get into the park proper - we felt a far better choice was to make another rush, this time to Laba He. By Using a short-cut we could still get in a bit of evening watching.
Well sometimes luck favors the bold – or maybe there was a smack of divine intervention – and just before we got to the Laba He gate my wife shouts “huge bird” – and sure enough a majestic Golden Eagle soars over us with a mate in distant attendance. A minute or two after that spectacular sight, as we turn round to drive, a new shout –“tiny strange bird on the road – what is that?” What we spotted must rank as one of the most peculiar birds I’ve ever seen – a male Yellow-legged Buttonquail. This bird has the strangest of walks – one leg slowly raised after the other, giving a slow-motion effect all while the body quivers as if the bird was shivering. I suppose in the bird’s usual underbrush habitat this kind of movement can give an extra element of stealth and camouflage – but while crossing a bare tarmac road it looked like something out of Monty Python’s ministry of silly walks!!!!
By the way even with a pic it was very difficult to identify this bird from the plates in A Field Guide to the Birds of China – I got my definite id from a photo at OBC.
The bird from Monty Python - a Yellow-legged Buttonquail
There were no problems getting into Laba He, and finding accommodation - and the next morning we were well set for birding. And what a day it turned out to be, with birding highlights that included – Spotted and Black-headed Laughingthrushes that were mixed in with the usual Eliot’s – a face to face encounter with Great Parrotbill while latter we could look down onto a large flock of Brown Parrotbill racing through a great sea of Bamboo. Once again we found Lady Amherst's Pheasant – even if they were female and our guest only got the briefest of glimpses – but at least he got some good views of Golden-breasted Fulveta.
However I think the top spot of this trip had four legs rather than wings – we got to see a Red Panda. We were told that a Red panda had been spotted on the track we were walking – but so far we only saw – and heard – the usual Short-tailed Macaques. But a slight movement of branches that I luckily picked up in the corner of my eye – brought a big bushy tail that more that gave away its owner – my first ever wild Panda. Okay this wasn’t a Giant Panda – but Red Panda is listed as endangered and in 1999 the IUCN estimated a population fewer than 2,500 – although other estimates have put populations quite a bit higher than this. However, arguments over population counts to one side – these lovely animals are very rare, and anyone who has viewed them should themselves very lucky indeed! To see more pics of our Panda encounter go to –
http://chengdutravel.blogspot.com/2008/10/finding-panda.html
It was easier to get pics of the Pandas rear end than it's face - but anyways that's a nice bottom!!!
A funny story to end this entry concerns our French guest – who was an engineering consultant on a short business trip in China. He was of course totally enthralled to view the Panda – but had a bit of a dilemma – how could he go back to France and tell his nature loving wife he had seen this incredible animal – surely she would kill him through jealousy!!!!
If he does keep his panda a domestic secret – but wifey gets to read this blog – well, JP quick, you better go an’ hide!!!!!!!!!!
PS Marmot - I'm sorry we didn't bump into any Blue-winged Minla - being locked out of Wawu put paid to that. But always another time.
