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Message: <blockquote data-quote="sichuan jiujiu" data-source="post: 1627260" data-attributes="member: 79196">My experience with the Plain Laughingthrush is that you get to see it quite easily from the distance: a row of bushes or just an overgrown old fence on the wide grassland (e.g. Zoige/Ruoergai) and you can be sure that it will be there. But it is not so easy to get a closer view or even a good picture of it, as it is quite shy and hides promptly, if there is something coming closer.This weekend I have been to Mt. Tiantai. This mountain still belongs to the Chengdu municipal area but closely borders Bifengxia of Ya'an. It was developed into a tourist attraction about 10 years ago and has gained major importance since the earthquake last year, when the other mountain sites near Chengdu were closed down or not accessible.Although it was weekend - what means that there were a lot of screaming Chengdu tourists with their honking cars - it was possible to get to some nice places where I found some great birds:Black-chinned Yuhina tamely showed up three times in big flocks with up to 50 birds. They took a bath in the waterfall! In the lower part I saw a small flock of Hwamei, jumping in-between abandoned tea plants. And, two Scaly-breasted Wren-babblers were this weekend’s highlight, as I didn't expect to find them so close to the Sichuan Basin.However, this time I only could make out one little Forktail, one of the four Forktails you usually can find on Mt Tiantai (little, slaty-backed, spotted and white-crowned).Unfortunately it was cloudy throughout and sometimes raining, so I haven't had the chance to make any good picture which I could post now.There still is one bird I couldn’t identify yet. It seems to be everywhere at the moment - I also saw it last week on the rolling hills of the beginning Qionglai Mountain Range west of Chongzhou (belongs to Chengdu): It is moving in bigger flocks high underneath the canopy, is quite noisy and flicks around nervously. I couldn't get a good glimpse of it right now: against the sky and with their quick moving. From what I could see so far, it just looked pretty much like Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher. But from call and behaviour that's hardly possible. Again, they were a little bit too big for Grey-cheeked Fulvettas. So I hope the next time I can get a half-decent picture of them in order to have something to post.</blockquote>

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