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Sichuan Birding (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter china guy
- Start date
Owen Krout
Well-known member
The book looks like a really good idea, Sid! I can see it being an introduction not only to children but a lot of adults as well.
Hi Sid,
Yes, I can confirm it is the Luoji Shan near Xichang. The bird was feeding on Bergenia flowers not far from the tourist path at 3700m. Even my wife, who isn’t particularly into bird watching, was really thrilled to see it. I’ll send coordinates and date of sighting to the email address on your guiding website. Thanks very much for following up about it. I may have opportunity to revisit Luoji Shan this summer, and while I have no idea regarding the chances of seeing the species again, I will keep my eyes peeled.
The book is very nice, I hope it’s successful. I’m also interested in buying a copy if there is a reprint.
Glad to hear of the initiative of setting up hides, does sound a good way for locals to benefit from ecotourism. While normally I like to explore on foot when I’m watching wildlife, I might be tempted to stump up the money as I’ve never managed to get good views of any of those stunning Chinese pheasants.
Ed
Yes, I can confirm it is the Luoji Shan near Xichang. The bird was feeding on Bergenia flowers not far from the tourist path at 3700m. Even my wife, who isn’t particularly into bird watching, was really thrilled to see it. I’ll send coordinates and date of sighting to the email address on your guiding website. Thanks very much for following up about it. I may have opportunity to revisit Luoji Shan this summer, and while I have no idea regarding the chances of seeing the species again, I will keep my eyes peeled.
The book is very nice, I hope it’s successful. I’m also interested in buying a copy if there is a reprint.
Glad to hear of the initiative of setting up hides, does sound a good way for locals to benefit from ecotourism. While normally I like to explore on foot when I’m watching wildlife, I might be tempted to stump up the money as I’ve never managed to get good views of any of those stunning Chinese pheasants.
Ed
PS. A question that's useful for myself and perhaps others who also don't know that much about birding in Sichuan. Is there any formal collation of records in Sichuan/China of bird/mammal sightings for the purposes of deriving distributions, monitoring change and other study? So when I get chance to do a little birding, any point in submitting observations, and if so, to who?
Owen Krout
Well-known member
Hello Dahe,
Although currently rather spotty for China in general, it would be a good citizen science contribution to submit regular observations to eBird at ebird.org If you are not familiar with them it is a database, open to all researchers, which is maintained by Cornell University's Laboratory of Ornithology. Free to use for all it is an easy way to keep a well organized life list which can easily be sorted into different regions and using common names in several different languages including Chinese in addition to scientific names. Generally thought of in terms of Western Hemisphere birds, I know that they are currently working hard to make their resources more accessible and more widely known and used in China. There will be representatives coming to China this year to establish cooperation with Chinese universities and organizations.
Although currently rather spotty for China in general, it would be a good citizen science contribution to submit regular observations to eBird at ebird.org If you are not familiar with them it is a database, open to all researchers, which is maintained by Cornell University's Laboratory of Ornithology. Free to use for all it is an easy way to keep a well organized life list which can easily be sorted into different regions and using common names in several different languages including Chinese in addition to scientific names. Generally thought of in terms of Western Hemisphere birds, I know that they are currently working hard to make their resources more accessible and more widely known and used in China. There will be representatives coming to China this year to establish cooperation with Chinese universities and organizations.
Hi Owen,
I’ve now registered for eBird and it does seem a great way to collect global bird data. The ability to keep your own list and break it down by region, and see what others are observing etc makes it fun and useful resource for the birder too. As I’m only an occasional birder I mentally note what I have or haven’t seen, but it’s getting increasingly difficult to keep track, so I can see myself really getting into eBird. I’ve just added my first rather modest record, a Eurasian Robin in my garden...
Thanks for the info
Ed
I’ve now registered for eBird and it does seem a great way to collect global bird data. The ability to keep your own list and break it down by region, and see what others are observing etc makes it fun and useful resource for the birder too. As I’m only an occasional birder I mentally note what I have or haven’t seen, but it’s getting increasingly difficult to keep track, so I can see myself really getting into eBird. I’ve just added my first rather modest record, a Eurasian Robin in my garden...
Thanks for the info
Ed
china guy
A taff living in Sichuan
A few hours after writing my last post I flew off to Sri Lanka on a family holiday - a lot warmer out here than winter-time Dujiangyan - hence the delay in replying!!!!
Yes Mike the Reeve's were coming to corn - you had to wait in the hide from 13.00 and the birds only started to show up at 17.00 - so it was a long cold wait. Not much else - just some Hwamei and a Pere David's Rock Squirrel.
As for the Ed's Question about a formal collection of records - there certainly isn't a system like we have in the UK with county recorders and rarity committees - but there a handful of dedicated local ornithologists who have a deep interest in making sure new provincial records like the Sunbird go into print. But I only know this from my personal contact with these guys - I'm afraid my own study, and knowledge of provincial lists and records are pretty paltry!!!!
And on the subject of Ebird - Ian Davies the Ebird Project Coordinator will be in China this summer - I think part of the mission will be focused on awarding Owen a gold-medal for his dedicated campaign in pushing the Ebird message - and attempting to get lazy b#@*"!s like me to get the proverbial finger out and do something useful with our recordings.
Edit - forgot to answer Mike's question over the availability of the books - I'm pretty sure there will be a reprint and will find out how to get the book when I get back home
Yes Mike the Reeve's were coming to corn - you had to wait in the hide from 13.00 and the birds only started to show up at 17.00 - so it was a long cold wait. Not much else - just some Hwamei and a Pere David's Rock Squirrel.
As for the Ed's Question about a formal collection of records - there certainly isn't a system like we have in the UK with county recorders and rarity committees - but there a handful of dedicated local ornithologists who have a deep interest in making sure new provincial records like the Sunbird go into print. But I only know this from my personal contact with these guys - I'm afraid my own study, and knowledge of provincial lists and records are pretty paltry!!!!
And on the subject of Ebird - Ian Davies the Ebird Project Coordinator will be in China this summer - I think part of the mission will be focused on awarding Owen a gold-medal for his dedicated campaign in pushing the Ebird message - and attempting to get lazy b#@*"!s like me to get the proverbial finger out and do something useful with our recordings.
Edit - forgot to answer Mike's question over the availability of the books - I'm pretty sure there will be a reprint and will find out how to get the book when I get back home
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I recently found another nice eBird feature which has given me an objective for when I am next in Sichuan. It has a ‘Target Species’ function which lists the species you haven’t recorded for an area (e.g. Sichuan) in order of the frequency that those birds are recorded (approximately commoner to rarer species). Near the top of my Sichuan target list are Sichuan Leaf Warbler, Large-billed Leaf Warbler, Large Hawk-Cuckoo and Brownish-flanked Bush-Warbler, birds which until now I didn’t even realise were common in Sichuan.
Now there are several distinctive and common bird calls that I’ve heard countless times in Sichuan. Actually I really like to hear them as I associate them with mountains and forests, and being out and about doing a bit of birding etc, but frustratingly I’ve never managed to work out what made them. Once I even spent some time trying to find the calls on Xeno Canto by systematically going through Sichuan species before giving up when I realised how long it’d take. Tantalisingly the calls were often in the background of recordings of other species!
So my first thoughts were to look up these top target species on Xeno Canto and sure enough, it is these birds that make the calls so familiar to birders in Sichuan. That is, apart from the Sichuan Leaf Warbler, whose song I guess I must have heard before but I don’t find easy to recognise. Nevertheless I shall be trying to see all four species this summer, finding just how easy it is to locate them using their calls.
Now there are several distinctive and common bird calls that I’ve heard countless times in Sichuan. Actually I really like to hear them as I associate them with mountains and forests, and being out and about doing a bit of birding etc, but frustratingly I’ve never managed to work out what made them. Once I even spent some time trying to find the calls on Xeno Canto by systematically going through Sichuan species before giving up when I realised how long it’d take. Tantalisingly the calls were often in the background of recordings of other species!
So my first thoughts were to look up these top target species on Xeno Canto and sure enough, it is these birds that make the calls so familiar to birders in Sichuan. That is, apart from the Sichuan Leaf Warbler, whose song I guess I must have heard before but I don’t find easy to recognise. Nevertheless I shall be trying to see all four species this summer, finding just how easy it is to locate them using their calls.
sichuan jiujiu
A Birder for Sichuan
Hi Ed,
Here's one of your target birds! You possibly have heard it a trillion times so far - without getting to see it!
Good fun with it! I've heard it yesterday in Dujiangyan. That means it already is getting into territorial claims, for you don't hear this in winter.
Roland
Here's one of your target birds! You possibly have heard it a trillion times so far - without getting to see it!
Good fun with it! I've heard it yesterday in Dujiangyan. That means it already is getting into territorial claims, for you don't hear this in winter.
Roland
Roland,
I have heard that call a trillion times, but I never get fed up of it. I can't hear it without thinking of verdant forests and mountains. I expect visually recognising the bird will be very difficult for me, but I hope to catch one in the act of calling to give me a definitive ID. Glad to hear that individuals are already staking out their territories - must be a species that heralds the coming of spring.
Ed
I have heard that call a trillion times, but I never get fed up of it. I can't hear it without thinking of verdant forests and mountains. I expect visually recognising the bird will be very difficult for me, but I hope to catch one in the act of calling to give me a definitive ID. Glad to hear that individuals are already staking out their territories - must be a species that heralds the coming of spring.
Ed
sichuan jiujiu
A Birder for Sichuan
Indeed spring is coming. Finally sunshine in Dujiangyan with temperatures reaching the 20C mark.
You may hear this bird probably right a few steps away from your door... if there's a little bit of grassy green around.
Looking forward to my visit in early-May with guide Summer Wong and a couple of good friends, hope to get the 'Ultimate Chicken', other pretty 'Chooks' and heaps of singing migrants etc.
I'm intending to make Ebird-lists for each location visited but am a bit apprehensive of the 'broadband' coverage in Sichuan, is it better to record as 'offline' lists whilst in the birding areas and just upload them via wifi when I get to a metropolitan area?
Tom
I'm intending to make Ebird-lists for each location visited but am a bit apprehensive of the 'broadband' coverage in Sichuan, is it better to record as 'offline' lists whilst in the birding areas and just upload them via wifi when I get to a metropolitan area?
Tom
Jeff Hopkins
Just another...observer
When I went to Sichuan a few years ago, the Chinese government had "turned off" the internet in all of the Tibetan areas. I don't know if that's still the case.
But given their recent behavior, it wouldn't surprise me if you couldn't get internet anywhere but the Chengdu Basin.
But given their recent behavior, it wouldn't surprise me if you couldn't get internet anywhere but the Chengdu Basin.
sichuan jiujiu
A Birder for Sichuan
Internet is now available either through mobile phone signal or through wifi in hotels all over Sichuan. The problem is that you need a VPN tunnel to get through to (almost all) foreign sites, for these are more or less blocked or loading speed is so slow that they practically don't load.
Balang Shan is the only place where mobile phone coverage is quite "poriferous".
Balang Shan is the only place where mobile phone coverage is quite "poriferous".
tapaculo
Mildly Obsessed
Thanks for the tip. This may be too "techie" for this forum but, you can you mention a VPN tunnel service that can be used in China? None of the highly-rated apps that I've started investigating (ExpressVPN, AirVPN, VyprVPN) list the PRC as a country where they have servers. (Or is that a given, and not an obstacle?)
Xiexie nin!
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china guy
A taff living in Sichuan
Have been busy for last couple months with mammal trips - mainly focused on cats.
Here's a report on a recent trip from Richard Webb - he also gives a summary of birds seen on last page with Black-necked Crane, Blue Eared Pheasant, Chinese Grouse and Tawny Fish Owl. But the main subject matter concerns our records of Chinese Desert/Pallas's Cat and Golden Snub-nosed Monkey.
http://mammalwatching.com/Palearctic/Otherreports/RW%20Sichuan%202016.pdf
However had had some time for birding and have just come home from a fantastic week with a photography guest where we managed eyeball to eyeball contact with both Temminck's Trag and the Monal. Hopefully the pics from this trip will soon be available for posting. Attached is another juicy pic, by Michael Turner Caine - Reeve's Pheasant from my winter Dongzhai trip
As for the VPN question - two most popular China VPN's are Astrill and Witopia with Strong and Ninja also having users. However the censors were giving VPN's a hard time around Chinese New Year, but my mine are working tolerably well at the moment.
Here's a report on a recent trip from Richard Webb - he also gives a summary of birds seen on last page with Black-necked Crane, Blue Eared Pheasant, Chinese Grouse and Tawny Fish Owl. But the main subject matter concerns our records of Chinese Desert/Pallas's Cat and Golden Snub-nosed Monkey.
http://mammalwatching.com/Palearctic/Otherreports/RW%20Sichuan%202016.pdf
However had had some time for birding and have just come home from a fantastic week with a photography guest where we managed eyeball to eyeball contact with both Temminck's Trag and the Monal. Hopefully the pics from this trip will soon be available for posting. Attached is another juicy pic, by Michael Turner Caine - Reeve's Pheasant from my winter Dongzhai trip
As for the VPN question - two most popular China VPN's are Astrill and Witopia with Strong and Ninja also having users. However the censors were giving VPN's a hard time around Chinese New Year, but my mine are working tolerably well at the moment.
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china guy
A taff living in Sichuan
Benny Voorn
Member
Heyall,
I am going with my wife (a fervent non-birder) to Sichuan starting on the 29th of april until the 14 th of may.
Since this is our first time in China and there is so much to do and see I tried to make a program in which we both will have some highlights. We will start in Chengdu, then go to Emei Shan on the 3th, then to Dujianyan from the 6 until the 13th and finishing in Chengdu again.
I found some good info about all the places, also about birds. I will just see what I can find. Would be happy to see some regular species and perhaps a few specialities. It seems there is not so much info on Dujianyan? Ofcourse it is maybe not the most obvious place to go to on a birdingtrip, but I hope the combination with culture and nature will work out for both of us. Any tips, ideas, guides etc there are welcomed
I know Sid lives there somewhere, but reallize it is high season in birdingtrips.... Maybe you have a few hours to spare, or know some local enthousiast that can help?
Further on: after some troubles with cancellations and hotels at Emei Shan that suddenly did not exist anymore (all through booking.com) we found a hotel halfway up the mountain, near the parking place for Wannian temple. No one at the hotel speaks english and since we are going in the first week of may I have some worries. We will go by train from Chengdu to Emei Shan City I guess. But then... can we get up the mountain to the hotel? I read in some birders report that taxi's are not allowed and also that it is extra crowded because of the first week of may? The hotel we go to seems great (called Mount Emei Feng Lin Yue Hotel) but can we get there :/
I must say I live to go independant, went to several places in the world... but this gives me a bit more than average worries.
Kind regards, Benny
I am going with my wife (a fervent non-birder) to Sichuan starting on the 29th of april until the 14 th of may.
Since this is our first time in China and there is so much to do and see I tried to make a program in which we both will have some highlights. We will start in Chengdu, then go to Emei Shan on the 3th, then to Dujianyan from the 6 until the 13th and finishing in Chengdu again.
I found some good info about all the places, also about birds. I will just see what I can find. Would be happy to see some regular species and perhaps a few specialities. It seems there is not so much info on Dujianyan? Ofcourse it is maybe not the most obvious place to go to on a birdingtrip, but I hope the combination with culture and nature will work out for both of us. Any tips, ideas, guides etc there are welcomed
I know Sid lives there somewhere, but reallize it is high season in birdingtrips.... Maybe you have a few hours to spare, or know some local enthousiast that can help?
Further on: after some troubles with cancellations and hotels at Emei Shan that suddenly did not exist anymore (all through booking.com) we found a hotel halfway up the mountain, near the parking place for Wannian temple. No one at the hotel speaks english and since we are going in the first week of may I have some worries. We will go by train from Chengdu to Emei Shan City I guess. But then... can we get up the mountain to the hotel? I read in some birders report that taxi's are not allowed and also that it is extra crowded because of the first week of may? The hotel we go to seems great (called Mount Emei Feng Lin Yue Hotel) but can we get there :/
I must say I live to go independant, went to several places in the world... but this gives me a bit more than average worries.
Kind regards, Benny
Benny Voorn
Member
The hotel issue has been solved. I choose a hotel near the busstation.
Owen Krout
Well-known member
I am not making a recommendation here, just sharing something I ran across while looking for something else.
For a possible guide you might try checking out some of the people listed here:
http://www.birdingpal.org/China.htm
For a possible guide you might try checking out some of the people listed here:
http://www.birdingpal.org/China.htm
