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Sichuan Birding (3 Viewers)

Although Sichuan and Wolong are most known panda places, apparently no Western tourist ever saw a giant panda in the wild there.


Happily for me, this is not true. Back in 1994, Neil Bostock, Simon Cook, Rod Martins and myself made a three-month trip to parts of southern and western China. We spent three weeks in Wolong alone. Both Simon and I saw Giant Pandas at Wuyipeng, where George Schaller studied the species in the wild. Apparently no one had been up there for several months. We saw panda shit on the trail nearly every day and could even smell them around. In addition to Simon and my sightings, Neil and I spent a good hour or so listening to one munching bamboo without being able to see it! We eventually gave up and headed down the trail. Some hours later, on the return, there was reasonably fresh panda poo on the trail close to where we had sat.

Nonetheless, the implication that panda is very unlikely to be seen in the wild at Wolong is, I am sure, sadly still true.
 
Thanks for the replies, china guy and jurek. We are flexible on how much time, from 2-3 weeks. We would fly into Chengdu the last week of June. We are birders so the focus of the trip is birding, although seeing giant panda and other wildlife would be a terrific bonus. We don't expect to see a wild giant panda although I'll follow up on jurek's post and check into wildgiantpanda.com. We would prefer to go with local birding companies and guides. We don't have unlimited funds but are not on a tight budget either. We've checked on the internet for Sichuan birding but have not found many companies offering birding tours for about 14-20 days. One company (China Birding Tour) has not replied to any of our email inquiries. Maybe you have some recommendations and additional information? Thanks!
 
Hi Trogon - I've sent you a private message, which should be sitting in your inbox.

On a general note with regard to trip planning - Foping does make a decent combination with Sichuan - and even without going after Giant panda some Sichuan visitors are getting their drivers, when up in N Sichuan, to make a detour into Shaanxi to include those areas close to Foping that hold Crested Ibis. Most of the other birds easily found at Foping will also be seen in Sichuan.
However the big question with regard to Pandas at Foping is how good is July????

July is a wet month in Sichuan, where as the summer progresses rain and humidity can be real problem at some birding sites. Therefore it could could be an idea to contemplate an itinerary that goes west on to the Sichuan part of the Tibetan Plateau - where high altitude alpine climate makes for much easier conditions - and even consider overland trips into Qinghai or Yunnan.

This year Roland drove from Sichuan to Qinghai - Chengdu to Kangding out into the far west on the Tibet road that goes through Ganzi, Between Ganzi and Dege there's a road that splits off into Qinghai to Yushu - the whole journey taking you through some breathtaking scenery and brilliant birding habitat. When in Qinghai you're relatively close to the Tibetan Bunting site and a lot of other exciting birds and mammals. This kind of trip could then either head north to the Koko Nor wetlands and then Xining with a flight back to the city from where you make your final departure - or plan for a more time consuming drive back to Chengdu.
Last year - during the July/august period we did an overland trip, on the high plateau, to Yunnan. Again great birding - and no weather problems what so ever!!!!!!!!!!

And a final note on Giant Panda watching - there is one Sichuan reserve, Wanglang, that offers guided Panda spotting - but here you're far less likely to get your animal. The park itself only talks about a 20% chamce. A shame we can't all be as lucky as Guy at wolong. I wonder if Pandas were easier to find in 1994????? During the 90's there were huge logging projects that stripped away large areas of primary forest and panda habitat. luckily this kind of exploitation has now been largely stopped - but it means that populations are more isolated in their pockets of habitat. The other problem with knowing whats going on with our Sichuan pandas is accessing population numbers. A few years back we talked to a researcher who told us that survey methods were very hap-hazard - and when population estimates were made the figures had to be sent to Beijing for "approval." Apparently these desk jockeys had the power to change the numbers - even though they hadn't had anything to do with the field work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If this was indeed the case - I hope things have changed.
 
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Gripping Guy. I remember Neil telling me about that story, superb. I remember hearing almost equally gripping stories from a couple of others who have been fortunate to see Giant Panda in Sichuan (notably Wanglang in the 80's).

July would be a terrible time to search for panda at Foping because it would be 1, wet, and 2, the pandas will have gone up to higher elevations making it either not feasible or a full day walk each day to get to the require elevation and habitat - which isn't easy and requires incredible stamina (I went to one such area last year for Takin - probably the second hardest walk of my life!).

There area couple of local companies worth looking at - google them as they have websites.

Cheers,

James
 
Congratulations GMK, I didn't know anybody who saw pandas recently in Sichuan.

You may also check mammalwatching.com and section Other People's trip reports about pandas. http://www.mammalwatching.com/Palearctic/palearctchina.html Some people saw pandas at least in May, together with Firethroat. But wild panda requires fitness, money and some luck - otherwise breeding centre at Chengdu has nice photo-friendly exhibits.
 
We have Giant Pandas in many parts of Sichuan, But their populations are small and the habitat where they're found is remote and difficult. What we don't have in Sichuan is a site like Foping where organized Giant panda watching can give you excellent chances of seeing the animal.

But if you were super lucky you could bump into one without any special effort.
I remembered an incident that was reported in 2005 and found a small article on it through google -

IT certainly makes a change from the usual call for firemen to get a cat out of a tree.
But the crew were still stunned to find a giant panda panda, stuck up a tree amid people's gardens.
Zoological experts fired an anaesthetic into it and asked the firefighters to lower it from the branches.
After the successful operation, vets then examined the female wild panda to make sure it was unhurt by its adventure.
It's still a mystery why the protected animal wandered into a residential area of Dujiangyan in Sichuan Province, southwest China Southwest China at the weekend.
She took flight up a tree when people chased her. Experts from the Wolong Giant Panda Protection and Research Centre co-ordinated the delicate rescue.
They said the panda is about 10 years old and in good health but they're trying to find where she came from


We also heard of recent sighting on the road around Baxi when Taxi drivers took pics of a roadside Panda with their Mobile phones.
In 2006 we were just two days away from a winter sighting of Giant Panda wondering close to the road at Gengda - which is close to Wolong. But one of these days we'll get lucky and hopefully turn up at the right place and right time!!!!!!!!
 
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I friend of mine was running into a Giant Panda on the Jiajin Shan road (Ya'an - Baoxing - Xiaojin) a few years ago. It was a rainy late afternoon in November when he saw the panda crossing the road. An emergency brake helped to freeze at least the tail of it - through a rainy front window...

June to August is really wet and the bamboo undergrowth is full of leeches and other nice animals which force you not to come unprepared.
 
I'm afraid a couple of weeks back - during heavy rain storms - we had a Wolong Giant Panda tragedy. The body of a Panda was found washed up in the river at Yinxiu. That's the area at the mouth of the river valley when you head off the motorway - onto that heavily earthquake damaged road - on the way to Wolong.
That rain caused a lot of flooding and landslide - but last weekend, on a trip up to Wawu with a group of HK birders, there wasn't that much visible damage.

That trip to Wawu gave me my first Brown Bullfinches for the location - on the first day we got five birds - and on my way out of the park on the second day I found two birds.

Another interesting observation from a week back - at a river location in South Chengdu - was a pair of Black-collared Starlings. I recorded a pair at the same site just over a year ago and immediately put them down to the phenomena of bird release for a better karma. The HK birders told me a few species have established themselves in HK due to either release or cage escape - maybe these Starlings have done the same?

The photos -
1 those two Brown Bullfinches at Wawu - nice to have a record shot of them

2 female Fujian Niltava - see that nice white belly and vent that should distinguish it from Rufous-bellied female (more rufous undersides). My bird also shows a spot of iridescent blue on the crown area - something not mentioned in the books. No pictures of the female of this species at OBC images - so difficult to find out if this is a regular feature.

3 Kloss's Leaf Warbler at the bottom of Wawu - this bird, part of a pair, is ID'ed on plumage. These birds responded equally well to recordings of both Kloss's and Claudia's and, seen at the same site as the Fujian Niltava, were even excited by an MP3 of that bird's call. Problem was that because of the incredible racket being kicked up by a vast army of Cicadas - it was impossible to hear their calls!!!!!!!!!!!! Good ID points on this bird is that nice yellow eyestripe (it also had a yellow crown stripe), the yellow streaking on breast and that nice white undertail (Kloss's is a split from White-tailed Leaf Warbler). Although it doesn't show here - the bird also had a yellow vent.
 

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HI Sid

Any pix of female Rufous-bellied Niltava from a comparable angle. Its never been accepted from Hong Kong, but has been claimed a couple of times

Cheers
Mike
 
No sorry Mike - and to be totally honest my ID'ing of that Niltava is a conclusion based on reading the text books rather than a mass of field experience with this family. The apparent whiter belly on my bird is my main evidence. This bird was interested in my Fujian call - but again I couldn't hear any response because of the Cicada racket.
If you go into OBC images James has a distant shot of Rufous-bellied Female at neighboring Emei - and there are other pics females that suggest that my bird more closely follows the Mackinnon description of a bird with a whiter belly.
And there your honor lies the main evidence of may case - which isn't that fantastically strong!!!!!!

My collection of difficult to ID Niltava pics include -

1 - a male bird from JZ that I reckon stands a decent chance of being Rufous-bellied. Those splashes of iridescent blue on the wings, upper-tail/back and that on the crown suggest this species. Also the belly seems quite rufous-red although the OBC pics of Fujian males also show quite rufous bellies.

2- and a female I took up in NE Sichuan - that must be Vivid Niltava. Note the white neck spot (present on the other side as well) - something not described in field guides.

PS mike - your name came up during the weekend - I was with Michelle and Peter Wong at Wawu.
 

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Oh well it is in some ways reassuring to know that I haven't been imagining how difficult this is.

Interested to hear how you got on at Wawu - Peter and Michelle are among our top photographers.

Cheers
Mike
 
Fujian female should show white undertail-coverts, which your bird does, the belly generally appears slightly paler though is a little variable - presumably age-related also.

I would expect most/all niltava at Jiuzhaigou to be Rufous-bellied, isn't it too far north for Fujian there? I always thought Fujian was a sub-tropical bird - I haven't even seen it at Wolong, where Rufous-bellied is very common.

Must say Sid, you're a better man than me! I find Claudia's LW to be variable in colouration and am unable to tell the two apart based purely on morphology - having looked at specimens the white in the tail is not a feature I could use.

Well done with the bullfinch - I haven't seen them at Wawu since 2007.

Cheers,

J
 
Must say Sid, you're a better man than me! I find Claudia's LW to be variable in colouration and am unable to tell the two apart based purely on morphology - having looked at specimens the white in the tail is not a feature I could use.
Yes you're dead correct James - always rely on calls. Here's a recording of Kloss's I took 3 days ago in the western area of the Wawu range (Jinjing). The bird was much plainer than the bird in my photograph - but the song is a bit of a give away.
The noise in the background is the driving track turning into a river - but still a lot of good birds in this part of Wawu - and not one tourist in sight!!!!!!!
 

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This post is written from Chengdu Mother and Child Hospital - my best tick of the season turned up 3 days ago. At 3.7kg, with a dark hairy crest, and the kind of prominent tackle that indicates that this is a male of the species - the young gent pictured in this post - has been named Saker after that glorious Falcon we so enjoy watching up on the grasslands. In fact I had to rush back from Ruoergai to get home in time for all the delivery excitement - but not before being lucky enough to watch two wild Sakers in full glorious flight. Lets hope this is a sign that this little boy can hope for a future life of individual freedom - and a childhood where it can still enjoy Sichuan nature at its wild, unspoilt best.

And on the subject of unspoilt nature - I have some more calls from the last trip to the West of Wawu area.
Wawu park this year has been more affected by new development and a an increase in tourists. The birds are still there - but more habitat is being destroyed - and greater numbers of tourists groups can make quiet, enjoyable birding a challenge. I'm afraid this site is going the same way as Emei Shan and Jiuzhaigou - there's even a plan to build the park road in a big one-way circle - a couple of weeks back dumper trucks and diggers were hard at work on the left fork, near the gate, that goes past the temple - they were dumping spoil from the digging on the verges on the main park access road, burying bird rich vegetation and scrub, even knocking down a few smaller native trees, in mounds of mud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hence our interest in exploring the west of Wawu area and exploring an alternative site for those who enjoy birding away from the madding crowd.

This last trip was the second time I've taken guests to this site - and although the weather gave us some severe problems we manged many of those species we'd expect at the main Wawu site. Grey-hooded Parrotbill were easy during our April vist and during this last trip Golden Parrotbill were plentiful in the lower sections. We've also had Great, Three-toed, Brown and Ashy-throated - the only major Wawu Parrot we're missing is Fulvous. Temminck's Tragopan were also relatively easy, with heavy rain they were standing out on the track - but we've only had Lady A and Silver Pheasant during early spring.
Within this area - where there's plantation at the bottom levels and areas of primary pine at the top (partly logged in the 90's) - gives us much the same kind of habitat found on Wawu - but you're able to get into all that transition vegetation, which you pass over in the cable-car at Wawu, where the sub-tropical rises in into sub-alpine. Lots of bamboo - but I'm afraid the logging has left fragmented areas of primary forest. Animals found in this area include Takin, Red Panda and there have been sightings of Giant Panda. During April we got great views of Asian Black Bear (one of these fantastic animals was recently shot dead by the Police on the top of Wawu because it taken to visiting the top hotel kitchen!!!!!!).
There is decent accommodation just before you get to forestry protection station which marks the entrance to the forest park - but a vehicle is extremely useful since there's a lot of track and it takes at least a 15km before you get up into higher areas.
And I've not to see a tourist at this site - which does make for pleasant birding - and a feeling that you're really visiting wild China.

Here are some calls from this last trip - made just over a week ago

White-browed Shortwing - at the mid section just above a point on the road where it becomes near impossible to drive (you hear the rain- we had some difficult weather). We got nano-second glimpses of 3 birds. Other singers around this point and lower include - lots of Marten's Warbler and Omei Liocichla - we also got a single Chestnut-headed Tesia. The recording of Kloss's Leaf Warbler from my last post comes from here.

Brown Bush Warbler - one of the truly special Sichuan calls. This bird is far easier here than the top of Wawu - Russet, Aberrant and Yellowish-bellied Bush warbler are all present - the search will be on for Chestnut-crowned and Grey-sided.

A nice duet - Great Parrotbill and Spotted Laughingthrush. Just before a down-pour created a mini flash flood. Black-faced and Red-winged are here - and we saw a sorry looking Rusty Laugher in a cage at the bottom village.
 

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Congratulations to you & Meggie.....I must admit I wasn't aware as for the past couple of months I have not spent much time on here due to health problems.

What a wonderful name.
 
Many congratulations.

Here's one to wet the baby's headB :)

D
 
More congratulations to both of you! Amazing you can still think of bird sites and recordings ... hope all three of you are well.
 
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