Thursday 30 January 2020

Baihualing - second morning

We visited Hide No 33 this morning, that’s the famous Scarlet Finch hide. It’s a walk of approx. 800m down into the valley and boy what a morning we had from 8am – 1.30pm with stand-out highlights being 2 female Scarlet Finches that were almost the first birds we saw, a superb and stonking White’s Thrush and a pair of Slender-billed Scimitar-Babblers

Scarlet Finch (female)




Slender-billed Scimitar-Babbler

Again, the sheer number, variety and volume of birds was breath-taking.


  1. Banded Bay Cuckoo
  2. 2 Great Barbet
  3. 3 Greater Yellownape
  4. 1 Bay Woodpecker
  5. 30+ Long-tailed Broadbills
  6. 3 White-bellied Erpornis
  7. 1 Bronzed Drongo
  8. 4 Yellow-cheeked Tits
  9. 2+ green-backed Tits
  10. 24+ Striated Bulbuls
  11. 5+ Mountain Bulbuls
  12. 1 Buff-barred Warbler
  13. 1 Sichuan Leaf Warbler
  14. 2 Slender-billed Scimitar-Babbler
  15. 2 Grey-throated Babbler
  16. 5+ Rufous-capped Babbler
  17. 2 Golden Babbler
  18. 30+ Yunnan Fulvetta 
  19. 2 Blue-winged Laughingthrush
  20. 45+ Red-tailed Laughingthrush
  21. 50+ Blue-winged Minla
  22. 7+ Scarlet-faced Liocichla
  23. 12+ Rusty-fronted Barwing
  24. 35+ Silver-eared Mesia
  25. 5 Black-headed Sibia
  26. 11+ Beautiful Sibia
  27. 5 Whiskered Yuhina
  28. 35+ Oriental White-eye
  29. 6+ Chestnut-vented Nuthatch
  30. 1 White’s Thrush
  31. 7 Black-breasted Thrush
  32. 12+ Grey-winged Blackbird
  33. 2 Rufous-bellied Niltava
  34. 1 Small Niltava
  35. 5+ Large Niltava
  36. 4 Himalayan Bluetail
  37. 1 Blue Whistling Thrush
  38. 2+ Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher
  39. 2 Chestnut-bellied Rock-Thrush
  40. 2 Scarlet Finch


Bath time for Blue-winged Minla and Japanese White-eyes

Blue-winged Laughingthrush

Golden Babbler

Great Barbet

Greater Yellownape

Grey-winged Blackbird

Himalayan Bluetail

Mountain Bulbul

Red-tailed Laughingthrushes

Rufous-bellied Niltava

Rusty-capped Fulvetta


Silver-eared Mesia

Small Niltava



Scaly Thrush

Monday 27 January 2020

Baihualing - First Afternoon

The more secluded hide in the afternoon produced a number of widespread species but seeing the ‘new’ Himalayan Thrush so well was a real privilege and not something that many people get to observe as good as this.





Himalayan Thrush


Hide No 27:

  1. 3 Wedge-tailed Green-Pigeon
  2. 2 Great Barbet
  3. 2 Golden-throated Barbet
  4. 2 White-bellied Erpornis
  5. 1 Ashy Drongo
  6. 2 Green-backed Tit
  7. 2 Yellow-cheeked Tit
  8. 3 Buff-barred Warbler
  9. Ashy-throated Warbler
  10. 1 Chestnut-crowned Warbler
  11. 2 Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babblers
  12. 2 Grey-throated Babbler
  13. 5 Rufous-capped Babbler
  14. 1 Golden Babbler
  15. 8+ Rusty-capped Fulvetta
  16. 20+ Yunnan Fulvetta 
  17. 15+ Red-tailed Laughingthrush
  18. 7+ Blue-winged Minla
  19. 7+ Bar-throated Minla
  20. 13+ Red-tailed Minla
  21. 5 Rusty-fronted Barwing
  22. 8+ Black-headed Sibia
  23. 20+ Beautiful Sibia
  24. 3 Whiskered Yuhina
  25. 4 Chestnut-vented Nuthatch
  26. 1 Himalayan Thrush
  27. 1 Long-tailed Thrush
  28. 2 Himalayan Bluetail
  29. 3 Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher
  30. 3 Large Niltava

Bar-throated Minla

Great Barbet

Golden-throated Barbet

Grey-throated Babbler

Himalayan Bluetail





Long-tailed Thrush



Red-tailed Laughingthrush

Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher

Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babbler

Wedge-tailed Green-Pigeon

Whiskered Yuhina

White-bellied Erpornis

Yunnan Fulvetta

Walking between hides after a field lunch was rather productive with Himalayan Griffon, 2 Bonelli’s EaglesDavison’sHume’s and Sichuan Leaf-Warblers and a flock of Black Bulbuls.

Friday 24 January 2020

Baihualing - First Morning....

We visited two hides and spent the whole of the day up on the mountain. See the below list of birds seen at each hide, but its difficult to describe the excitement of seeing so many birds at each location as the views are so good and everything is so close. For instance, if you’ve seen Great Barbet before then you know it’s a great bird but to see it here at such close quarters with the light so perfect is a whole new experience. So when a gang of Red-tailed Laughingthrushes comes in to feed, and that’s a bird everyone wants to see, the excitement is palpable amongst the group. Seeing Slender-billed Scimitar-Babbler anywhere is tough, but at a feeding station here, well you just couldn’t imagine the mind-blowing views! The same with Mountain Bamboo-Partridge….

Red-tailed Laughingthrush

Slender-billed Scimitar-Babbler


Mountain Bamboo-Partridge


Hide No 35:

  1. 3 Rufous-throated Partridge
  2. 4 Mountain Bamboo-Partridge
  3. 1 Great Barbet
  4. 8+ Ashy Drongo
  5. 6+ Crested Finchbill
  6. 9 Red-vented Bulbul
  7. 10+ Flavescent Bulbul
  8. 2 Hill Prinia
  9. 4 Black-streaked Scimitar-Babblers
  10. 2 Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babblers
  11. 1 Slender-billed Scimitar-Babbler
  12. Rufous-capped Babbler
  13. 10+ Rusty-capped Fulvetta
  14. 15+ Yunnan Fulvetta
  15. 5+ Blue-winged Laughingthrush
  16. 3 Scaly Laughingthrush
  17. 6+ Assam Laughingthrush
  18. 12+ Red-tailed Laughingthrush
  19. 3+ Blue-winged Minla
  20. 5 Scarlet-faced Liocichla
  21. 9+ Rusty-fronted Barwing
  22. 8 Red-billed Leiothrix
  23. 14+ Black-headed Sibia
  24. 10+ Beautiful Sibia
  25. 3 Whiskered Yuhina
  26. 1 Long-tailed Thrush
  27. 10+ Black-breasted Thrush
  28. 10+ Grey-winged Blackbird
  29. 1 Eyebrowed Thrush
  30. 1 Himalayan Shortwing
  31. 1 Himalayan Bluetail
  32. 1 Golden Bush-Robin
  33. 2 Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher
  34. 3 Large Niltava
  35. 1 Chestnut-bellied Rock-Thrush
  36. 2 Grey Bushchat
  37. Mrs Gould’s Sunbird

Rufous-throated Partridge
Ashy Drongo

Crested Finchbill

Black-streaked Scimitar-Babbler

Blue-winged Laughingthrush

Assam Laughingthrush

Blue-winged Minla

Scalet-faced Liocichla

Rusty-fronted Barwing

Grey-winged Blackbird

Large Niltava

Long-tailed Thrush

Black-breasted Thrush

Eye-browed Thrush

Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher

Chestnut-bellied Rock-Thrush

Golden Bush-Robin