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

Sichuan Birding (3 Viewers)

Today we ran into our Macaques again - and were struck by an interesting pattern to their behavior. No big movements in trees - the usual sign these animal are about - they were foraging the forest floor - in an almost silent manner apart from making a call that sounded almost identical to Blood Partridge. Are these apes on a Pheasant hunt - trying to get a flock of Blood Pheasant to respond? We waited in the scrub until the lead monkey showed itself - and then a warning bark, to the rest of the troop, and that was the last we saw of them. The Macaques here are very wild - not like some of the near feral populations we have at other tourist sites.
The only contact we had with Game-birds were tracks in the snow. But the warm temperatures are melting the last of the snow - and that was causing landslides on the opposite side of the river valley we were walking. The birding was done against a background noise of crashing rock and stone.
Good birds today were more Three-banded Rosefinch and Three-toed Parrotbill, we heard plenty of Barred Laughingthrush but didn't lay eyes on one, even though they were responding to calls from the MP3, a couple of Crested Goshawk, lots of Pere David's Tit in flocks and Grey-hooded and White-browed Fulvetta.
Pics are of a teeth baring Macaque seen through thick scrub, Pere David's Tit, Pheasant tracks in the snow and a bad pic of a good bird from a couple of days back - White-browed Tit Warbler.
 

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Hi Gretchen - both Jiujiu's and my pics are taken in an area - Moxi/Minya Konka - just on the edge of the Tibetan plateau, 5 hours drive from Chengdu. The biggest mountains here go over 7000m and are the highest east of the Himalayas. On the top peaks there are glaciers, and during the winter snow often falls at the lower altitudes.

Thanks for helping on this - I've pulled up a Sichuan map once or twice in reading your entries, but my personal experiences are just Chengdu and Chongqing, and most of my Sichuan geography is poor.

Today we ran into our Macaques again - and were struck by an interesting pattern to their behavior. No big movements in trees - the usual sign these animal are about - they were foraging the forest floor - in an almost silent manner apart from making a call that sounded almost identical to Blood Partridge. Are these apes on a Pheasant hunt - trying to get a flock of Blood Pheasant to respond? We waited in the scrub until the lead monkey showed itself - and then a warning bark, to the rest of the troop, and that was the last we saw of them.

Quite interesting! Wonder if people who know apes would be surprised.

Very informative reports, and great pics (I wouldn't want to mess with that macaque).

cheers, Gretchen
 
Hey Gretchen - those Chongqing folk are now independent of Sichuan - must be something to do with their hotpot, much spicier than even the Chengdu variety!!!!!
And those Pheasant call imitating Macaques - well, vocalizations of these apes that would make great PHD research fodder for some energetic young zoologist.

Today - our last at this location - was definitely Meggie's day.
We felt good this morning - we were ready for altitude - as in hiking up beyond the 4000m mark in search of Monal and Snowcock. To help us with our quest we went to find the 'Pheasant man' who lives in the forest protection station at the top of the Moxi/kangding road. This guy is wealth of info and can tell you all about local chickens. After our Pheasant lesson he guided us up through labyrinth of dense forest - to lead us to a Yak path that would take us to good Monal and Snowcock locations.
Apart from his Pheasant knowledge this guy is truly amazing - he's 71 - and as we climbed he talked and talked while marking our trail with marks on the trees and branches - we puffed and panted, using every once of energy to keep up!!!!!!
At the Yak path - a distinct track that ascends up onto the high grassland beyond the treeline - we were left to make our own way.
We were told it would take 3 hours of walking to reach our destination - but always take the local walking time estimates with a pinch of salt. If they can make it in 3 hours - then 5 would be comfortable time-scale for us. However we had started late - and to give some time at the top we had to push ourselves - and actually got to our goal with 4 hours of heart pounding effort.
On the way up we bumped into our Monal - heard but not seen. I played a call - which brought an alarm call - and that was the end of the Monal!!!!
To get these birds you need very early morning or late evening - which is difficult at this location.
When we finally got to the top of our hike I collapsed like a lump of lard - but Meggie was made of far sterner stuff she was going to find her Chicken - and went marching off!!!!!
Half an hour latter - a call and a Tibetan Snowcock came flying around the corner - with a very determined Chinese lady in pursuit!!!!!!
Today's pics - well of course we have Snowcocks, we're glad we've got that flying shot - don't see many of them, and a Brandt's Mountain Finch - we found a mutant Brandt's today with a crest - and mustn't forget a picture of our victorious high-altitude photographer!!!!!
 

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Hey Gretchen - those Chongqing folk are now independent of Sichuan - must be something to do with their hotpot, much spicier than even the Chengdu variety!!!!!

Oops! Well, it was Sichuan when I visited it ... guess I've never quite gotten over thinking of it that way - but I won't win any Chongqing friends that way ;) (And I have literally cried over the hotpot in both cities, so I can't say which is hotter :-O )

Sounds like you guys really were working hard! Congratulations on getting the snowcock and surviving the trip (actually Meggie's beaming face doesn't betray any hard work ;) )
 
I had to camp overnight at the top of a hill to get Sclater's Monal in the Gaoligongshan - also with a knarled old guy who was more than twice my age, carried twice as much, twice as fast, but at least we did get views of the Monal - a kilometre away and a blurred flyover, but tickable nonetheless.

Actualy the old guy Lao Li was something special. after we came down we camped at about 1000m. During the night the pack horses wandered away up hill so Lao Li marched off to find them. About an hour later the ground rumbled and the horses hammered down the slope and through the camp closely followed by Lao Li whooping and yelling!

I also marched up over 1,000m from the hotel at Wolong to hear but not see Chinese Monal and then take so long coming down we had to be rescued by the hotel staff with torches about an hour after dark.

Terrific pix of the Tibetan Snowcock! - and great to get the Moupinia - first pic I've seen of this bird. And gripped by David's Tit - another reason for coming back one day.

Cheers
Mike
 
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Hey China Guy!
Did you also see the Grandalas on that Mountain (West Side of Minya Konka)?
Last December I counted about 1500 of them in one huge flock.

Apart Himalayan Griffon and Lammergeier, there sometimes also show up Cinereous Vultures - mostly in pairs.
 

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Wow, I'd never even seen pics of the grandalas before - very lovely! (so many Chinese birds for me to learn about still...) How wonderful to find a grandala bush ;)
 
Nawww - we chickened out of the Grandalas this year - the road was still pretty icy and there's that one stretch - on the west side - where they knock ice-slabs off the road with hammers!!!!!!
Cinereous Vultures - we had many sightings of distant specks a few we could ID as Griffon, but apart from the Lammergeier, the vultures were sticking to other parts of the mountain.

And those old men in the mountains - around Wolong, we used to run into Bee-farmers who were over 80 - they were also incredibly fit, trekking up and down the mountains tending their hives. I've wondered why younger versions of these guys aren't the core of Chinese long distance athletics - or competing in the Tour de France????

On the way home we did the west side of the Old Erlang Road again and saw a couple of Lady A Pheasant. We then stayed two nights at Bai Sha He - a Panda Reserve that's can be accessed from a road very close to the town of Tianquan (Certhia tianquanensis = Sichuan Treecreeper). Again cold, still a little snow on the reserve roads - almost no birds - but stunning scenery.
One interesting tick was White-backed Woodpecker - we've put up a pic that illustrate the main ID points.
But our birds weren't totally finished - the last leg home we got lots of ducks on the river at Qionglai (around 60k from Chengdu) - Pintail, Shoveler, Gadwall, White-eyed Pochard, Tufted Duck, Common Teal, a single Falcated Duck - and a couple of Crested Kingfisher.
The pictures are of the White-backed Woodpecker, a Chesnut-vented Nuthatch, a Winter Wren that must be szetschuanus - these birds live very high, can be seen above 4000m in the breeding season and are only seen low during the winter - and dabbling duck where there's a Flacated rear-end to be spotted with the Pintails.

And Mike you're dead right about the explosion of interest in birds with the Chinese - Meggies going through the local birding blogs right now - Long-tailed Duck and Scaup not far down the road in Deyang - pictures of a Solitary Snipe up on Xiling Mountain just a couple of hours from Chengdu - and a Firethroat location somewhere on the Eastern Edge of the Plateau quite close to Kangding. Lots to watch - but just at the moment we'll stay low while the worst of the Chinese New Year traffic whizzes around.
 

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Happy Chinese new year - everybody.
I should have posted a pic of Tiger Shrike - but I think this Black-faced Laugher trying to call in the spring is a bit more appropriate!!!!!!
 

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Haha - a TIGER shrike - wish I had one to post - I'm a tiger!

Happy new year to you guys, and to other readers from me too.

(looking for emoticon that looks like fireworks and not finding it...) :D:D:D

And yes, calling in spring is a good idea for Spring Festival.
 
Here's a Tiger Shrike from a few months past - not so festive as the Laugher.
 

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The Black-faced Laughingthrush... that - I first thought - was the bird I saw in Lhasa two weeks ago. But a brief view in the bird guide and a bit more patience with the binoculars and I got its real identity:
Brown-cheeked Laughingthrush. This bird seems to be quite rstricted locally: only around Lhasa and the northern part of the Himalayas. But it is one of the commonest birds to see there - at least in Winter.
 

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However, the commonest two birds I was happy to see during my stay in Lhasa were the 1. Brown Accentor - a few weeks ago I got some nice pics of it at Minya Konka and was absolutely excited. Now I feel a little bit embarrassed about my excitement. Too many Brown accentors in Lhasa...
2. The Ruddy Shelduck. Only a little bit of water (see image of the "Lhasa Nature Reserve") seems to be enough to give this big duck a reason to spend the winter. There were thousends of them on the Lhasa River and the JarlungTsangpo (Bramaputra).

Pics:
1. Ruddy Shelduck
2. Wetland Nature Reserve in Lhasa
3. Another picture shows Bar-headed Geese in flight. Together with the Ruddy Shelduck they populate the winter waters around Lhasa.
 

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Yeah, I also was surprised to see this bird every day. Just some bushes... and it was sure to show up. However, bushes are not so common in this dry and almost desert-like environment.
Here another pic. But, taken in the shadow, not so good quality.
 

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Here is another image of a bird that has a very small habitat range and is regarded as near-threatened species: Tibetan Eared-Pheasent.
These pheasants were very tame: They tried to steal our bread out of our hands while we had picnic! (Maybe "tame" is the wrong word. "aggressive robbers" would fit much more).

I don't think this is only because of the custom of the locals to feed these birds around monasteries. A much more important reason is the remaining of their habitat: You find them all concentrated around monasteries. These are places were trees (in this case juniper forest) traditionally have not been logged (at least partly) and where a tiny spot of natural environment still remains (see image of the hill side). Of course these birds do rely on people's respect and food...
Unfortunately, at this monastery you find about a few hundered goats 'being released' (a Buddhist custom) and living in freedom - freedom to eat the few remaining bushes and seedlings!!! The whole slope is about to change into a clay/sand desert. A pity for the pheasants!!!
 

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Tame birds like those Tibetan Eared-pheasants are fantastic - but can create special problems. In my youth I spent 2 and a half years on the Falkland Islands - as a shepherd - and sometimes I got to ride on the inter-island aircraft that put down on some of the remoter islands. On some of these Islands they still had a small brown thrush like bird called Tussock Bird - that was so fantastically tame, that on most of the Falklands it was wiped out by cats and pretty much anything else it decided to eyeball at zero range. But at their last, cat free outposts of survival they still displayed incredible acts of tameness - in fact so tame and inquisitive that it wasn't unknown for them to board the aircraft with the other passengers!!!! Before take off we had to do a Tussock Bird Check to make sure we weren't carry any of these rare birds off towards the larger islands and feline danger!!!!! Lets hope the Tibetans keep up their friendly traditions towards the pheasants - and won't be tempted into catching a few of these chickens for the weekend roast!!!!!

On the Topic of abnormal birds - here's a pic of the Brandt's Mountain Finch with a crest we found at Moxi - that bird must have flown too close to some nuclear reactor!!!!!!! Better put up a beauty against that beast - Grey-headed Bullfinch on the snowy east side of the old Erlang Road.
 

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Jiujiu - I'm really sad that I wasn't watching birds and didn't know about the Tibetan Eared Pheasant when we visited there - certainly an interesting bird! It's funny how we tend to take bushes for granted, but they struggle in some places. There's not a lot of flora for the birds up on the world's rooftop.

China Guy - was this the crested BMF you mentioned before, or have you seen several? The bullfinch does deserve the "beauty" title!

Very funny having to do a "Tussock Bird Check" before take-off. Too bad that we can't enjoy those kinds of friendly birds much anymore (still some like that in New Zealand?)
 
That is the "crested" Brandt's I talked about before - inspired by this bizarre bird, some joker send me the flying-dino pic (no names mentioned Mr. Firtree) - but I'm resiting the temptation of adding pterodactyl to my Sichuan tick list!!!!!!

As for any possible evolutionary success with regard to Crested Brandt's becoming a new species - well, assuming these birds are male, I've made made a couple of portraits of our crested friend against a normal 'hunk' Brandt's - now it's up to ladies to choose the most handsome and desirable of the two - and we'll see if there are any Crested genes passed down to future generations!!!!!

On the subject of Dinos and the prehistoric world up at 4000m - well the last pic is of a fossil rock just a couple of kilometers further up the road from where we took the Brandt's pictures - a sight that proves that the now top of the world was once at the bottom of some ocean. Apparently the Himalayas rise by 5mm every year - so the mountains around Minya Konka must also be on the move!!!
 

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