SICHUAN 2007

 

“‘Kwai kan, kwai kan’, Mr He, driver of vehicle number one, gesticulated frantically, pointing behind us and shouting to ‘Look quickly, look quickly’.  We did as required, interrupted our picnic lunch and whipped around and there, gingerly picking it’s was across the mud pool that WAS the road was a gorgeous Red Panda.  Smack in the middle of the almost impassable highway it also paused, looked at us and then continued its tentative, mud-free progress.  This fantastic beast, the third such Red Panda we’ve seen on the four Sunbird Sichuan tours, was the undoubted mammalian highlight of the entire trip – though we also spotted a herd of 23 magnificent Takin, a (swimming!)  Tibetan Fox and a frantically fleeing porcupine to mention but a few of the critter competition.

 

Our Red Panda encounter occurred mid-slope on the mighty Balangshan Pass, in the world renown Wolong Panda Reserve.  Here, surrounded by large scale road works, we even managed to find a few birds.  The hoped-for Chinese Monals were well gone, frightened, no-doubt, by the workmen who were in the process of blasting a tunnel through their hillside.  What was equally disappointing was the fact that, despite a couple of 03:00 starts, slow progress through the road works meant that we never made it to the ‘Wood Snipe hillside’ anywhere near the required dawn time slot.  Nevertheless Wolong did produce as respectable number of its most prized avian jewels.  Some of us will undoubtedly long remember the immaculate Grandalas high on the pass, the long-time co-operative Tibetan Snowcocks, the pair of Snow Partridges trudging in the snow that clearly didn’t want to leave, the entertaining, roadside Brandt’s Mountain Finch and Red-fronted Rosefinches.  

 

Lower down this mighty 4500 metre pass we lured out an obliging party of three Chestnut-throated Partridges, umpteen Giant Laughingthrushes and spotted impressive numbers of White Eared Pheasants.  Three of us stayed out later one evening and were even treated to stupendous views of a male Firethroat.  All these birds, some superb mountain and forest scenery, equally delightful alpine meadows replete with a profusion of flowers including global rarities such as Slipper and Spider Orchids almost compensated for the horrors of the road.

 

However, Wolong wasn’t our first port of call.  We’d all flown in to Chengdu, Sichuan’s bustling provincial capital, and had driven south from there.  I’d started to write that ‘apart from a brief sojourn around some beautiful gardens in down town Chengdu the birding had started in earnest at Emei Shan where we’d been treated to a decent raptor fest right outside our one of our most comfortable hotels’.  But then I dug in to my notes and remembered the gargantuan ‘Chinese’ Blackbirds, the hyperactive Rufous-faced Warblers, the vociferous White-browed Laughingthrushes and the myriad busy parties of both Black-throated Tits and Vinous-throated Parrotbills.  Du Fu’s Cottage provided a nice start and one that was followed by a comfortable night in one of Chengdu’s best hotels.

 

Back to Emei Shan where were the aforementioned raptor fest produced up to five Black Bazas, a pair of tumbling Oriental Honey-buzzards, a couple of displaying Chinese Sparrowhawks and even a Rufous-winged Buzzard (the latter perhaps only the second ever record for Sichuan!)  Elsewhere near the base of this, one of China's five sacred Buddhist mountains, we found Swinhoe’s Minivet, two species of forktail, both Spot- and Streak-breasted Scimitar-babblers and that fabulous songster, the Hwamei.  And then of course there was the Collared Scops Owl in the car park not far from the hotel.  Several of us even explored the hotel’s hot spring pool complex.

 

As on all of the previous Sunbird Sichuan tours we spent time at four different areas, at four different elevations on Emei Shan.  The sites we explored on this mighty peak ranged from altitudes of 500 metres near the base to over 3000 metres close to the summit and enabled us to effectively sample the mountain's rich avifauna.  We explored the base where we obviously started and finished; the summit where, despite the ever present low cloud, highlights included Spotted Bush Warbler at almost zero feet; Streak-throated Fulvetta, Grey-headed Bullfinch, Golden and our first White-browed Bush Robins.  On route to the summit we’d also found Plain-tailed and Ogilvie-Grant’s Leaf Warbler, three species of cuckoo, two very elusive Ashy-throated Parrotbills, a fine male Yellow-throated Bunting and innumerable others.

 

Descending from the Summit we spent part of the following afternoon digging out a couple specialities near our two night base at Leidongping – a pair of Darjeeling Woodpeckers and a fine male Slaty Bunting.  The following day we had a full 12 hours to negotiate the seven kilometre, 300 metre descent down the steep, stepped trail to the monastery Xixiangchi and there were so many birds on route that we used virtually all of our allotted time to do the walk.  Numerous stops – we watched a remarkably cooperative White-browed Shortwing and scoured several active mixed species feeding flocks that contained, among others, Ashy-throated Warblers and Grey-crested Tits.  Later we spent time searching for specialities such as Yellowish-bellied Bush Warbler and the demure Chestnut-headed Tesia and it was during one such ‘bamboo watch’ that we encountered our first gem-like Golden Parrotbills.  Close to our destination we were blessed with fine looks at a couple of fabulous Red-winged Laughingthrushes and heard a distant Emei Shan Liocichla.  All too soon however it was time to return to Leidongping – that same 300 metre ascent and the same seven kilometre trek (but this time up hill) beckoned.  A daunting task for sure though one of the slimmest among us took the sensible option and was carried!

 

Changing the itinerary (we did this several times on this year’s rain drenched, mud bath of a tour) meant we only spent a few hours around the temple at Wannian – just enough time to find the area’s two premier avian specialities - the Chinese endemic breeding glaucicomans form of Blue-throated Flycatcher and a vociferous Dusky Fulvetta.  We then returned to the hardship of the luxury of our hotel at the mountain’s base.

 

The following day we headed back to Chengdu (just for the night) before continuing up to the world famous Wolong National Nature Reserve the next day.  If we thought that the forest scenery at Emei Shan had been impressive it sure was fabulous at Wolong.  Gorgeous, old-growth forests filled the valleys while spectacularly jagged mountain peaks and rolling, flower-filled meadows dominated the higher elevations.  The rich biota almost compensated for the horrendous road conditions we were to encounter.  We’d planned to spend four days here but the horrendous road works mentioned earlier put paid to this and we settled for one day less.  This increased freedom allowed us to spend two days on the Zhe Gu Shan Pass where, effectively replaced by a tunnel, the traffic-free road over this pass is a perfect birding road enabling quiet, trouble-free access to a variety of altitudes.  We had a great time here with ornithological highlights including Chestnut-throated, Blood (elusive and not seen by everyone) and White Eared Pheasants, a fantastic Black Woodpecker performance, good numbers of confiding redstarts with nest building White-throated’s perhaps being the best.  A gorgeous little Przewalsky’s Nuthatch appeared as if it had come in from miles down the forested hillside to greet us, while the Songar and Rufous-vented Tits put on equally admirable shows.  Additional Zhe Gu Shan highlights included Bar-tailed Treecreeper, an elusive pair of White-browed Tit-warblers and a couple of additional phylloscopus warblers.

 

Sadly we all missed the roadside Eurasian Eagle Owl seen by the Chinese staff occupants of the temporarily debilitated second vehicle as they headed on to the Tibetan Plateau proper.  Up on the Plateau we’re normally in the rain shadow, and, to a degree, this was true of this year’s tour.  Parties of majestic Common Ravens checked us out, as did Black Kites of the distinctive lineatus Black-eared form, while Himalayan Griffons seemed to trail us in an ominous fashion.  We mused that perhaps the vultures knew there were further road blockages ahead or that the altitude might cause some of us to suffer more than it actually did.

 

Moving on we couldn’t find Sichuan Jay at Paul’s first site (nor sadly at his second, third or fourth) but a party of inquisitive White-browed Tit-warblers and several Daurian Jackdaws offered some compensation.  We reached Hongyuan earlier than ever, had a tasty evening meal and retired early.  The same early-to-bed routine ensued at Ruoergai the following day by which time we’d also added a good number of the Plateau’s premier avian specialities - Black-necked Crane, Saker Falcon, White-browed Tit, three species of snowfinch and Pink-rumped Rosefinch to our burgeoning list.  And who could forget the thousands upon thousands of feral yaks!  The Ba Xi road, the minor road linking Ruoergai with Jiuzhaigou National Park, also gave up a few of its jewels – a couple of aptly named Plain and then a superb pair of Snowy-cheeked Laughingthrushes, two Long-tailed Thrushes and a well spotted Wallcreeper.  And then it was on to the ‘wonderland’ that is Jiuzhaigou National Park.

 

Its easy to see why Jiuzhaigou receives an immense three million visitors a year, the scenery is truly spectacular with charming babbling brooks, myriad multicoloured lakes, some spectacular waterfalls all with a back drop of forest clad, massive mountains.  Stunning.  And what’s more the forests hold some truly world class birds.  We spent much of our first morning in the Primeval Forest where a couple of Sichuan Treecreepers, China's most recently described endemic, performed well, as did an impressive number of Maroon-backed Accentors.  From there most of us went to Reed Lake where a fabulous party of Spectacled Parrotbills, an elusive Fujian Niltava and equally recalcitrant Chinese Nuthatch awaited.  We spent much of the morning of our second day walking up the Pearl Shoal Waterfall Valley where one of us obtained views of a male niltava.  We all got wet, horribly wet and, other than a bolting porcupine some of us saw very, very little.  Tired, wet and dejected we headed prematurely back to the comfort of our hotel.  We explored the 'Helipad hillside' just outside the National Park on our final morning at Jiuzhaigou and here several singing Indian Blue Robins, a vociferous Barred Laughingthrush, Chinese Thrush, three Sooty Tits and a Green Shrike-babbler we all welcome.  All too soon however it was time to start our journey back to Chengdu.

 

The drive was uneventful, no shorter than expected but thankfully no longer either.  Five hours, via some of the tour’s most spectacular mountain scenery, to Maoxian.  We spent the night there before another drive of four hours or more back to Chengdu the following morning.

 

Historically remote and difficult to access Sichuan is still blessed with rich and varied ecosystems ranging from subtropical lowlands at the base of Emei Shan through cool temperate forests to alpine grasslands on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau.  Equally importantly Sichuan is the heart of China’s astonishingly rich ‘endemic zone’ and harbours about two-thirds of China’s endemic birds.  Sichuan offers what I firmly believe is the very best birding in the whole of China.

 

Despite the poor weather and the rigours of the massive road works at Wolong the tour had been a success…we'd failed to find a few of the region’s specialities but had experienced some truly memorable scenic drives though spectacular gorges and over impressive passes.  Many of us will long remember the hillsides full of fluttering prayer flags and the tremendous hospitality we'd been shown throughout.  As always the list of highlights goes on and on…”  Paul Holt.

 

 

Bird List:

 

Taxonomy, nomenclature and order mostly follow those used in the preferred regional field guide, A Field Guide to the Birds of China.  MacKinnon, J. and Phillipps, K.  (2000).  Oxford University Press.

 

Key to the status codes:

 

Column 1     =  total number of days that the species was recorded

Column 2     =  maximum daily count for that particular species

H                 =  denotes a species that was heard but was not seen

(H)               =  denotes a species that was heard more often than it was seen

I                  =  denotes a species that was introduced to Taiwan

 

No leader or participant only species are included on this list.  Only species that were seen, or heard, by the leader and at least one participant are included.

 

Globally threatened species as defined by BirdLife International (2004) Threatened birds of the world 2004 CD-Rom Cambridge, U.K. BirdLife International are identified as follows -

EN = Endangered; VU = Vulnerable; NT = Near-threatened.

 

Chinese endemics and endemic breeders are also highlighted.

 

Snow Partridge

1

9

 

Lerwa lerwa

Tibetan Snowcock

1

4

 

Tetraogallus tibetanus

Chestnut-throated Partridge (Endem.)

3

7

(H)

Tetraophasis obscurus

Chinese Bamboo Partridge

3

4

H

Bambusicola thoracica

Blood Pheasant

2

4

(H)

Ithaginis cruentus

White Eared Pheasant (Endem.)

4

18

 

Crossoptilon crossoptilon

Common Pheasant              

4

6

 

Phasianus colchicus

Chinese Grouse (Endem.)(NT)

1

1

H

Tetrastes sewerzowi

Ruddy Shelduck               

1

3

 

Tadorna ferruginea

Mallard                       

3

11

 

Anas platyrhynchos

Ferruginous Pochard (NT)

1

2

 

Aythya nyroca

Darjeeling Woodpecker

3

2

 

Dendrocopos darjellensis

Great Spotted Woodpecker     

2

2

 

Dendrocopos major

Black Woodpecker

2

1

 

Dryocopus martius

Grey-headed Woodpecker        

4

3

 

Picus canus

Great Barbet

3

1

(H)

Megalaima virens

Eurasian Hoopoe              

1

5

 

Upupa epops

Common Kingfisher            

4

2

 

Alcedo meninting

Large Hawk Cuckoo            

12

3

(H)

Hierococcyx sparverioides

Common Cuckoo                 

11

13

(H)

Cuculus canorus

Oriental Cuckoo              

3

4

(H)

Cuculus saturatus

Lesser Cuckoo                

12

3

(H)

Cuculus poliocephalus

Asian Koel

2

1

H

Eudynamys scolopacea

Himalayan Swiftlet

6

50

 

Collocalia brevirostris

White-throated Needletail    

2

6

 

Hirundapus caudacutus

Fork-tailed Swift                

7

100

 

Apus pacificus

House Swift

3

4

 

Apus affinis

Collared Scops Owl           

1

1

 

Otus bakkamoena

Asian Barred Owlet

1

1

H

Glaucidium cuculoides

Little Owl

1

4

 

Athene noctua

Brown Hawk Owl               

1

1

H

Ninox [scutulata] japonica

Rock Pigeon

8

50

 

Columba livia

Snow Pigeon

2

4

 

Columba leuconota

Speckled Wood Pigeon

4

20

 

Columba hodgsonii

Oriental Turtle Dove         

2

2

 

Streptopelia orientalis

Spotted Dove                 

4

10

 

Streptopelia chinensis

Red Collared Dove              

3

5

 

Streptopelia tranquebarica

Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon

1

1

H

Treron sphenura

Black-necked Crane   (VU)

2

64

 

Grus nigricollis

White-breasted Waterhen      

1

2

 

Amaurornis phoenicurus

Common Redshank              

2

5

 

Tringa totanus

Brown-headed Gull

1

30

 

Larus brunnicephalus

Common Tern                  

1

10

 

Sterna hirundo

Black Baza

3

5

 

Aviceda leuphotes

Oriental Honey-buzzard        

3

2

 

Pernis ptilorhyncus

Black Kite

4

60

 

Milvus migrans lineatus

Lammergeier

2

1

 

Gypaetus barbatus

Himalayan Griffon

7

70

 

Gyps himalayensis

Cinereous Vulture (NT)

1

1

 

Aegypius monachus

Chinese Sparrowhawk              

3

3

 

Accipiter soloensis

Besra

1

1

 

Accipiter virgatus

Eurasian Sparrowhawk         

1

1

 

Accipiter nisus

Rufous-winged Buzzard

1

1

 

Butastur liventer

Grey-faced Buzzard           

1

1

 

Butastur indicus

Himalayan Buzzard               

6

1

 

Buteo [buteo] burmanicus

Upland Buzzard                

2

50

 

Buteo hemilasius

Mountain Hawk Eagle

2

2

 

Spizaetus nipalensis

Common Kestrel             

1

1

 

Falco tinnunculus

Eurasian Hobby               

1

1

 

Falco subbuteo

Saker Falcon (EN)

1

3

 

Falco cherrug

Little Egret                  

3

30

 

Egretta garzetta

Cattle Egret                 

1

2

 

Bubulcus ibis