Chengdu Bird guiding – [email protected] - Chengdu, Sichuan, the gateway to Tibet - to see more travel pics of Sichuan go to my travel blog at - http://chengdutravel.blogspot.com/
To see more of our birding pics go to - http://sichuanbirds.blogspot.com/
Well at last we got a half decent pic of this one - Speckled Piculet. On a few occasions we could hear gentle tapping sounds coming out of the thick forest scrub - but only once did we eyeball this super tiny woodpecker - and even then Meggie was only able to get one pic as the bird worked its way from branch to branch.
Over the last period of time we've been very busy - but last week finally got the chance to go out on a trip. Since we haven't got any guests at the moment - this seemed a good time to check out some promising locations - one of these being a mountain top monastery located close to the Western Sichuan town of Luding.
This is the kind of habitat found around the monastery. Formerly people lived in this area - above the 2,000m mark - terraced fields being used for farming - but around 15 years ago the farmers were moved away in a reforestation project. However trees were never planted - and the mainly deciduous scrub has started to mature into a woodland. Higher up the vegetation turns into alpine conifer forest and lower down closer to town there are still areas of farmed terraces and scrubby grassland (goat herder country) - which makes for a lot of varied habitat types.
The path up to the Monastery is rather steep to say the least, but at the bottom, locals told us it took just 2/3 hours to climb. After our first 3 hours of muscle testing ascent, that path just kept on going and going - there was no sign of any sort of habitation, which must tell us about the fitness of mountain folk and how out of shape we are!!!! It actually took us a good 6 hours before we got to the end-point - the monastery buildings - by which time our tired and sore bodies were starting to ignore our commands to keep on walking. It was an easy decision to overnight up on the mountain – in a rather simple monastery bedroom. No electric up here!!!
Yellow-browed Tit - a rather nondescript bird with a small crest. As you can see - any yellow brow - isn't too easy to spot in the field. These birds were coming through in fast moving flocks - the density of the scrub making them difficult to pick up and follow.
Although this maybe isn't the best time of year to watch this type of locality - we got some interesting stuff. Down at the bottom in farmland - we got some real goodies like Ashy-throated Parrotbill, White-browed Rosefinch, White-browed Fulvetta, Rusty-capped Fulvetta (We had to chase off two lads with catapults who were about to start firing into a small flock of this bird) - together with lots of commoner birds such as Brown -breasted Bulbul and Russet Sparrow.
As we climbed the mountain the birds of course changed and in those woodland paths we stated to pick up flocks of Streak-throated Fulvetta, Collared Yuhina and Streak-breasted Scimitar Babblers - but watching in this type of habitat can be tough at this time of year. However we did get some brief but stunning glimpses of one pearler of a bird - Collared Grossbeak. It’s good to see this one is still around - since, because of the male's brilliant orange/yellow black plumage - it’s favorite prey for the trappers who sell them off as cage-birds.
Another bird we're not so accustomed with - was a small olive-brown thrush - which we saw flying on several occasions from scrub patch to scrub patch. This must have been Chinese Thrush – but weren’t able to eyeball one on the ground.
On top of the Mountain - a whole army of Nutcrackers and a poor Mountain Hawk Eagle - who got a right going over from a couple of crows.
There are Pheasants in this area - we heard poachers during the night shooting at roosting birds they were lighting up with torches. The reforestation projects mean that Pheasant habitat is increasing - but this also brings the hunters out, who sell their birds to local restaurants and hotels. They hunt with home-made guns - which are usually muzzle loaders.
The locals talked about long tailed pheasant being lower down - which must be Lady Amherst's, Silver and Common and Short tailed higher up - which must be Blood and maybe Monal.
Streak-throated Fulvetta - it's kind of hard to see any streaks on our Western Sichuan birds!!! Again one of those birds that often skulks about in the darker nether regions.
Although we didn’t get a bag-full of species - the walk and views during the trek made this a great couple of days of birding. But 72 hours afterwards - my old legs are still telling me - we don't fancy doing that walk on a daily basis!!!!
To see more of our birding pics go to - http://sichuanbirds.blogspot.com/
Well at last we got a half decent pic of this one - Speckled Piculet. On a few occasions we could hear gentle tapping sounds coming out of the thick forest scrub - but only once did we eyeball this super tiny woodpecker - and even then Meggie was only able to get one pic as the bird worked its way from branch to branch.
Over the last period of time we've been very busy - but last week finally got the chance to go out on a trip. Since we haven't got any guests at the moment - this seemed a good time to check out some promising locations - one of these being a mountain top monastery located close to the Western Sichuan town of Luding.
This is the kind of habitat found around the monastery. Formerly people lived in this area - above the 2,000m mark - terraced fields being used for farming - but around 15 years ago the farmers were moved away in a reforestation project. However trees were never planted - and the mainly deciduous scrub has started to mature into a woodland. Higher up the vegetation turns into alpine conifer forest and lower down closer to town there are still areas of farmed terraces and scrubby grassland (goat herder country) - which makes for a lot of varied habitat types.
The path up to the Monastery is rather steep to say the least, but at the bottom, locals told us it took just 2/3 hours to climb. After our first 3 hours of muscle testing ascent, that path just kept on going and going - there was no sign of any sort of habitation, which must tell us about the fitness of mountain folk and how out of shape we are!!!! It actually took us a good 6 hours before we got to the end-point - the monastery buildings - by which time our tired and sore bodies were starting to ignore our commands to keep on walking. It was an easy decision to overnight up on the mountain – in a rather simple monastery bedroom. No electric up here!!!
Yellow-browed Tit - a rather nondescript bird with a small crest. As you can see - any yellow brow - isn't too easy to spot in the field. These birds were coming through in fast moving flocks - the density of the scrub making them difficult to pick up and follow.
Although this maybe isn't the best time of year to watch this type of locality - we got some interesting stuff. Down at the bottom in farmland - we got some real goodies like Ashy-throated Parrotbill, White-browed Rosefinch, White-browed Fulvetta, Rusty-capped Fulvetta (We had to chase off two lads with catapults who were about to start firing into a small flock of this bird) - together with lots of commoner birds such as Brown -breasted Bulbul and Russet Sparrow.
As we climbed the mountain the birds of course changed and in those woodland paths we stated to pick up flocks of Streak-throated Fulvetta, Collared Yuhina and Streak-breasted Scimitar Babblers - but watching in this type of habitat can be tough at this time of year. However we did get some brief but stunning glimpses of one pearler of a bird - Collared Grossbeak. It’s good to see this one is still around - since, because of the male's brilliant orange/yellow black plumage - it’s favorite prey for the trappers who sell them off as cage-birds.
Another bird we're not so accustomed with - was a small olive-brown thrush - which we saw flying on several occasions from scrub patch to scrub patch. This must have been Chinese Thrush – but weren’t able to eyeball one on the ground.
On top of the Mountain - a whole army of Nutcrackers and a poor Mountain Hawk Eagle - who got a right going over from a couple of crows.
There are Pheasants in this area - we heard poachers during the night shooting at roosting birds they were lighting up with torches. The reforestation projects mean that Pheasant habitat is increasing - but this also brings the hunters out, who sell their birds to local restaurants and hotels. They hunt with home-made guns - which are usually muzzle loaders.
The locals talked about long tailed pheasant being lower down - which must be Lady Amherst's, Silver and Common and Short tailed higher up - which must be Blood and maybe Monal.
Streak-throated Fulvetta - it's kind of hard to see any streaks on our Western Sichuan birds!!! Again one of those birds that often skulks about in the darker nether regions.
Although we didn’t get a bag-full of species - the walk and views during the trek made this a great couple of days of birding. But 72 hours afterwards - my old legs are still telling me - we don't fancy doing that walk on a daily basis!!!!
