Sichuan Birding (14 Viewers)

For anyone as naive as I was about VPNs, I received this in an off-line response to my post last week:
"Technically illegal in China, although all my university students when I was teaching used a VPN. A Party leader told me once that the government didn't really care what I did on the internet as long as I didn't share it with the general public...."
So (duh), obviously the vendors have no servers in China, and that's not necessary for them to function.

Anyway, of course neither I nor BirdForum would promote such a nefarious practice...

Hi Benny - sorry for delay in reply, I've just come back from a scouting trip.
As for Emei - if you've not already seen it there's a little info on my website -
http://sichuanbirding.cloudaccess.net/sichuan-birding-sites/32-emei-mountain.html
I've always visited the site with my own transport so really know just about nothing on using the park bus service. But I do know they don't make any stops apart from picking you up at the bottom and taking you to the top.
It's going to be very crowded - but there are still a few places that maybe less crowded. When at the top bus-stop walk down and get into the area called the ski slope - around here a lot of bamboo/rhododendron for stuff like Chestnut-headed Tesia, Chinese Wren Babbler, Red-winged Laughingthrush, Bianchi's Warbler, Yellowish-bellied and Abberant Bush Warblers. A little lower down there was a new road cut into the forest that made an extra loop to the top - last year it was still unfinished and made a good birding track with Sichuan Treecreeper, Black-faced Laughingthrush, Darjeeling/Crimson-breasted Woodpecker, Rufous-vented/Grey Crested Tits, Buff-barred and Sichuan Leaf Warblers and a lot more. On the very top there's an old monorail track - but access, the site has been blocked off, involves some furtive fence climbing. Here a lot of Bamboo with star birds being Chestnut-crowned Bushwarbler and Grey-hooded Parrotbill.
I'm afraid the two tracks which you can get to on the summit access road are only easily available if you have your own vehicle - The first is around 7km up the mountain from the point marked on my website's Emei sketch map as 'park-gate - start of access road to summit area.' If you were really determined you could walk it - but the bus traffic to the summit is pretty horrendous. However rewards are good - Emei Liocichla, Golden Parrotbill, Sichuan Bush Warbler, Emei Leaf Warbler.
Otherwise its walking on the main paths - the birds are pretty habituated to the crowds - but crowd noise can make it difficult to hear any bird song. If you walked down from the top you may eventually lose the masses -but that would mean hiking two days on the mountain with one night in one of the monasteries.

Dujiangyan is pretty good for birding. My last guest had a morning there a few days ago, and on Lingyan Mountain, which is very close to some of the main 'irrigation site' tourist attractions, we quickly picked up Grey-winged Blackbird, Great Barbet, Dusky Fulvetta, Black-streaked Scimitar Babbler and heard several Golden Pheasant. In the Agricultural University grounds we found Swinhoe's Minivet. Much of the tourist area will contain the type of habitat that gives decent birding - also watch out for Tiger Shrike, Brown-breasted Flycatcher and Rufous-faced Warbler. If you get the chance to go to the new Panda Center in Dujiangyan the birding in this area could be quite interesting.

As for local guides - all that I know have been long booked but it might be worth contacting Chengdu Birdwatching Society (listed as CBS in birdingpal).

Best of luck
Sid

Thank you Owen for the tip. And thank you Sid for the info, much appreciated!

Latest information about Labahe NNR

Just came back from Labahe NNR a few days ago, and got some latest information about it. The Labahe NNR will be open for tourists 1st May 2016, half of the road inside the park is done, another half just half finished, very basic concrete road.

The boardwalk on altitude 2400m area is broken, it used to be the best birding place in the park, but now it's kind of dangerous to walk on it. When we were there a few days ago we got 12 Giant Panda feces on the boardwalk, seems like long time ago the Giant Panda enjoyed walking and eating on it when the park was closed !

Manager of the park said they will rebuilt the boardwalk before 1st Oct 2016, the national day holiday.

The cable car not finish yet, they claim that will finish before 1st Oct, 2017. The first cable car station will be built on altitude 2700m area.

pic 1 the finished good road
pic 2 half finished basic concrete road
pic 3 broken boardwalk
pic 4 Giant Panda feces
pic 5 the under construction cable car station on top of the mountain

Flower Lake_odd gull?

Some nice birds at Flower Lake today (13 May 16) including the 'mystery' gull attached (Common or Mew?)

Temminck's Stint
Dunlin
Whiskered and White-winged Terns
Common Kingfisher
Tibetan Lark
Citrine and Yellow Wagtails X10s

Just back from a 15 day trip with a crew that was made up of the well known birders - Andy Mears, Chris Gooddie, Gavin Maclean and Troy Shortell. A lot of good birds with a couple of star highlights.

Blackthroat - one possibly two males seen in the same area that Summer Wong recorded them last year - http://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=3229856&postcount=1

Blue-fronted Robin - great views of a singing bird in the Moxi area. At least 3 birds were singing at the site

Other interesting birds - Sichuan Jay at 3 sites - Baxi/Jiuzhaigou.
A pair of Pink-tailed Finches were easy to find at Ruoergai - where we also found a nesting Isabelline Wheatear. 2 pairs of Monal at Balang. Himalayan Forest Thrush found both at Longcanggou and Balang. A single Black-bibbed Tit outside the park at Jiuzhaigou.

Site news - despite the development, Longcanggou is still open and gives good birds - but it's very muddy when going up to the top of the track.

Attached is a sound recording of the Blackthroat, with an excited Andy Mears chipping in at the end of the cut.

Zoothera thrush?

Last week we saw this thrush near Baxi near forested slope. We initially thought it was a Chinese Song Thrush but I think the wing-bar would have made it a Zoothera and not a Turdus thrush.

Probably one of the 'newly'-created species formerly known as Plain-backed?

Tom

I'd have thought Long-tailed, a zoothera indeed, Tom. Upper side wing bars and that heavy rear cheek patch... Nice shots.
Andy

Thanks for the 'heads-up' Andy, a fantastic trip, our guide was on 'top-form' and we saw some great birds and my first 'wild' wolves in forest near Baxi.

I've posted some phyllosc pics from Longcanggou, Summer ID'd Claudia's, Emei and possibly Eastern Crowned in the area but I'm not sure if these are all the same species.

Would welcome some discussion, and will probably post some more when I get some 'spare' time....

Cheers,

Tom

Hi Tom,
The thrush obviously is Long-tailed. Note that half-moon pattern behind the cheeks. Also - on the flight photo - it appears to have white in the outer tail feathers - a mark that distinguishes it from Chinese Thrush. However this is not always very conspicuous.
Referring the Phyllos: ID is much easier if putting together ALL available information: Behavior, voice as well as plumage. To make an 100%ID on the basis of photographs only seems quite questionable to me. Apart from the shape of supercilium, colour of rump and the features of the crown-stripe I wouldn't give to much weight on general plumage features: There seems to be too much variation (fresh-worn, light conditions, the position the bird hold its head or wings etc).
Also, in a vivid bird flock containing a good number of Phyllo species, it is quite inevitable to confuse some of the birds while taking photographs.

Claudia's has a very distinctive song and even more obvious, it does the typical wing flicking on only one side.
Emei Leaf Warbler is a bit bulkier and so its behavior appears heavier, not as swift as the smaller Phyllos, and you'll barely see it hovering or feeding from underneath the foliage. Additionally it has this unmistakable mega-trill.
Eastern-crowned has yellowish undertail coverts and a wedge-shaped supercilium that is broader at rear.
Large-billed has a strong supercilium that points downward at rear. Also it lacks a crown-stripe on its quite dark cap.
Kloss's has quite similar features as Claudia's but does not do the wing thing. Also it has a quite high pitched whistle song.

My guess:
1. Emei or Large billed (head-crown not really visible on picture)
2.-5. Kloss's or Claudia's

Regards,
Roland

Just came back yesterday as well, and found the Phyllos at Longcang Gou quite easy this time - compared with Jiuzhaigou or northern Sichuan. There still were some quite confusing mixtures of Phyllos, with possibly still a few on passage...

Here a few of my memory pictures:
In Zoige at Flower Lake attended a nice performance of Great Bittern. Luckily the reeds were still low, so could see its head sticking out while droning.

In Dujiangyan a Northern Boobook showed well in the morning after not turning up the previous night.

The Tibetan Snowcock is so well camouflaged that it takes some time to identify him against the rocks.

And last but not least Tibetan Larks were displaying loudly and glamorously in the wetlands of Zoige.

Tom Tarrant said:

Thanks for the 'heads-up' Andy, a fantastic trip, our guide was on 'top-form' and we saw some great birds and my first 'wild' wolves in forest near Baxi.

I've posted some phyllosc pics from Longcanggou, Summer ID'd Claudia's, Emei and possibly Eastern Crowned in the area but I'm not sure if these are all the same species.

Would welcome some discussion, and will probably post some more when I get some 'spare' time....

Cheers,

Tom

Click to expand...

I would say on plumage alone they are unidentifiable unfortunately. Telling apart Claudia's, Kloss's and Emei without vocalising and in the field is something that is not very possible. However, photo three shows the bird flicking both wings at the same time - a trait shown by Kloss's and Emei, whereas Claudia's (and the whole 'Blyth's complex') flicks each wing alternately.
To me, Emei Leaf Warbler has a slightly narrower supercilium, particularly in front of the eye (see photos on OBI for comparison). If this feature holds, then photo 3 would be Kloss's (and the rest would be Kloss's or Claudia's).

Kloss's only occurs in sub-tropical, mid-elevation forests, so south of Chengdu, then to the east and north to Tang Jia He and Shaanxi province (much like the lower elevation Sulphur-breasted, and the much scarcer White-spectacled Warbler - which requires a much better quality of forest in central China).
Large-billed Leaf Warbler can be discounted by the drabber plumage, only having weak wing-bars and slightly mottled earcoverts, which is so distinct in the field.

James

Blandford's Rosefinch?

Recently back from a superb 17 days in Sichuan with Roland. We found this male Rosefinch on 13th May on the slopes of Balangshan, which we think looks good for Blandford's Rosefinch - any thoughts?

Cheers,

Tom

Female flycatcher from Longanggou

Took this flycatcher pic along the Longcanggou 'parrotbill' road fairly close to the new 'under-construction' panda resort. (Apologies for the poor-quality!) It was about 30m up a deciduous-tree in very poor light. There was a Chestnut-headed Tesia along the creek nearby.
We thought at the time that it might be a female Slaty-blue (I believe Summer has seen them here before) but some of the plumage features look inconsistent to me. It appears to have a dark-rump with white above. Maybe a juvenile male?

Any takers?
Tom

Tom Tarrant said:

Took this flycatcher pic along the Longcanggou 'parrotbill' road fairly close to the new 'under-construction' panda resort. (Apologies for the poor-quality!) It was about 30m up a deciduous-tree in very poor light. There was a Chestnut-headed Tesia along the creek nearby.
We thought at the time that it might be a female Slaty-blue (I believe Summer has seen them here before) but some of the plumage features look inconsistent to me. It appears to have a dark-rump with white above. Maybe a juvenile male?

Any takers?
Tom

Click to expand...

Lots with much greater expertise than me on the thread, but FWIW, I would rule out Slaty-blue female because that should have a rufous tail. I think it's probably a female Slaty-backed.

Cheers, Ian

proregulus said:

Recently back from a superb 17 days in Sichuan with Roland. We found this male Rosefinch on 13th May on the slopes of Balangshan, which we think looks good for Blandford's Rosefinch - any thoughts?

Cheers,

Tom

Click to expand...

Here two links to Blanford's Rosefinch pics. Note the white shoulder patch and the scaly under-tail coverts. Also the cone-shaped bill might help to confirm this ID:
http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?p=7&Bird_ID=1965&Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1&Location=
http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/blanford039s-rosefinch-carpodacus-rubescens/adult-male-feeding-ground-0

Tom Tarrant said:

Took this flycatcher pic along the Longcanggou 'parrotbill' road fairly close to the new 'under-construction' panda resort. (Apologies for the poor-quality!) It was about 30m up a deciduous-tree in very poor light. There was a Chestnut-headed Tesia along the creek nearby.
We thought at the time that it might be a female Slaty-blue (I believe Summer has seen them here before) but some of the plumage features look inconsistent to me. It appears to have a dark-rump with white above. Maybe a juvenile male?

Any takers?
Tom

Click to expand...

What about a female Rufous-gorgetted Flycatcher?
The image of the female is missing in the McKinnon field guide. That's why nobody thinks of Rufous-gorgetted. This species is very common in the higher parts of Longcanggou.

And never think of Flycatchers have to be in dense forest: Yesterday we found a Yellow-rumped Flycatcher on the grassland of Zoige!

Cheers,
Roland

re: Female flycatcher from Longanggou

Well-done Roland, I think you've 'nailed' it...female Rufous-gorgetted for sure!
They were very common throughout the area, (as were Slaty-backed Ian), but I did get a female Slaty-backed very close to this bird (...again, apologies for poor-quality of the image!)

Thanks again guys,

Tom

Nice one, thanks Roland! You nailed it regarding the field guide. I did think about Rufous-gorgetted female, looked at the guide, saw no female and assumed (without looking at the text) it was not sexually dimorphic.

Ian

sichuan jiujiu said:

Here two links to Blanford's Rosefinch pics. Note the white shoulder patch and the scaly under-tail coverts. Also the cone-shaped bill might help to confirm this ID:
http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?p=7&Bird_ID=1965&Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1&Location=
http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/blanford039s-rosefinch-carpodacus-rubescens/adult-male-feeding-ground-0

Click to expand...

Hi Roland,

Correct, Blanford's Rosefinch. With such non-descript plumage you whittle down the possibilities to just this and Common Rosefinch really, and the darker, less scarlet plumage, very pointed bill and scaly undertail-coverts are all diagnostic.

The flycatcher, yes, Rufous-gorgetted - nice tail pattern.

James