Longcanggou Again

We left slightly later this morning as my plan was to drive up the last half in daylight and be able to hear what birds were singing. This turned out to be a good move when we had the first of several views of Emei Shan Liocichla – not an easy bird at all, now Wawu Shan is closed. But on this mountain it was really rather common and spread over quite an altitudinal range. We then spent the rest of the morning searching for parrotbills, and boy we tried really, really hard without a sniff. 

Grey-hooded Parrotbill

Ironically, we had a pair of Grey-hooded Parrotbills (the rarest of the lot here) taking food into what must have been their nest – so the couple of people who missed it yesterday clawed this mega back! A few bursts of owlet at various places eventually got us a pair of rather sexy Golden-breasted Fulvettas and we got a bunch of birds we’d already seen and I put this slow day down to the weather which was overcast to start and then we had low cloud and mist for the rest of the day, with steady rain all afternoon. 

White-collared Yuhina - a common bird here

A small flock of Grey-headed Bullfinches was also noteworthy from this morning as well and gave great views perched in the conifers. As did a Russet Bush-warbler that came running into the tape like a mouse and perched up a few times and sang back to us in the rain. A couple of bizarre sightings today as well, with a flyover Amur Falcon (yes really) and a Black-capped Kingfisher perched beside the road at around 1700m. Amongst others today we got Eurasian Nuthatch, Aberrant Bush-warbler, Red-billed Leiothrix, Grey-hooded Fulvetta, White-collared Yuhina, Verditer Flycatcher, and another calling Red-winged Laughingthrush. So you see, a slow day in my book but quite a few goodies seen.