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Message: <blockquote data-quote="china guy" data-source="post: 1624526" data-attributes="member: 6819">Just been having a few hectic days getting all sorts of stuff done - which included a day at Bi Feng Xia Panda Center (near Ya'an - about 160 km west of Chengdu) - where, as we've already shown, the birding can be interesting.Marmot - we hope you're feeling better - we also nearly had a hospital visit - Meggie slipped over in a hotel shower and came out looking like she'd gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson. However all the damage was superficial - and luckily it all worked out fineI've seen that with the fish - in the river just by our apartment - one lot of folk putting them in another lot catching them up again for the dinner table!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!At Bi Feng Xia - there's been a Grey Laughingthrush reported on the Chinese forums. Normally this is a bird for the very south of Sichuan - so I'm wondering if this is single bird whether this can also be a release - or an escape from the zoo that also lies in the gorge. In the posts there's no mention to how many birds there are - during our last two trips we haven't been able to find it or them!!!!!!!!!!As for Plain Laughinthrush  - that's another bird that's not very well captured in the MacK plates - but then again it's a difficult bird to illustrate, since on first sight it don't look the typical Laugher.I've included a pic of one from our Plain Laugher hotspot - Northern Sichuan around Rou Er Gai and the JZ areas.During this last trip again lots of Forktails - and a nice flock of Grey-headed Parrotbills. We always see this bird when we haven't got a camera handy - the most amazing sighting being in a built up area within Chengdu - a flock of about 30 were giving great views while they fed in a small park garden. But don't go expecting this as a regular Chengdu bird!!!!Yesterday we actually got a pic of these Parrotbills - its pretty rubbish - but we finally nailed it onto a camera-card!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!That Parrotbill flock was flying about with Black-headed Sibia - but our guests were more interested in other stuff hanging from the trees. No that's not a Panda RIP pic - its just one of the center's captive animals taking a nap. It was actually pretty high up - at least 30ft - there are some good trees in the area.</blockquote>

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