Longcanggou in the Rain

Driving back into Loncanggou in a steady drizzle I was hoping that once the sun rose the weather would get better – but it didn’t. Parking at our spot the rain was still falling, so a nice cup of coffee was a good idea, but it still kept raining. So we are waiting in the bus for an improvement in the weather and having to talk over an incessantly singing Sichuan Bush-Warbler that is only 2 metres away – what a loud song. 

Sichuan Bush-Warbler

Well, the rain tuned to drizzle and conditions were ok for a walk along a side trail but birding was rather slow although a Brown Bullfinch was a big surprise, as was an Eurasian Woodcock and Ultramarine Flycatcher – all new records for this tour. 

A poor shot of a Brown Bullfinch

Apart from a few commoner species there wasn’t much else and the drizzle seemed to be getting heavier so approaching the bus a Buffy Laughingthrush calls and eventually at least 5 birds sneak past us at reasonably close range, although not everyone gets on to them in time. And so the rain gets heavier and heavier, which prompts us to drive lower and check out a new trail. Here, we just have a thick mist to contend with and begin with a nice Brown Dipper and Plumbeous Water Redstart. Heading along the trail a White-tailed Robin calls but never really shows itself apart from a few brief flybys. Several large congregations of birds come into the owlet call and include Chestnut-crowned Warbler, Blue-winged Minla and David’s Fulvetta for a few of the group. After maybe an hour here the rain begins again so we decide to return to the lodge for lunch and a chance to dry out.

Collared Finchbill

Yellow-throated Bunting

 As we eat lunch the rain gets heavier and I fear the worst but amazingly all of a sudden the weather breaks and prompts a quick check of the adjacent fields. I call in our first and much-wanted Yellow-throated Bunting and boy does it perform, singing back at us form the nearby conifers and power lines. Some Russet Sparrows are a catch up bird for some and a quick change of plan brings the bus to us and we hop on board, but not before a Forest Wagtail begins calling in a tall tree behind us. 

Black Baza

The drive up into Longcanggou goes quickly and we see a pair of Black Baza on telegraph wires, and we follow our favourite trail and how different it is here with plenty of birds singing and some blue sky overhead. Our target endemic this afternoon is Slaty Bunting and we get a fine male fly in to check us out but it quickly disappears, but then Tracey spots it perched up in a tree and we are treated to amazing scope views. Following this we walk further and see plenty of commoner species including another pair of Ultramarine Flycatchers, with a few Japanese White-eyes being new for the trip. 

Slaty Bunting - female. Finally a decent photo!

The trail meanders through excellent forest and we find a female Slaty Bunting below us, plus a fine male Snowy-browed Flycatcher as well. Further along we see a male Crimson-breasted Woodpecker found by Paul and a short while later we get stellar views of a Pygmy Wren-Babbler along a small stream. 

Pygmy Wren-Babbler

This one scolds us from the open bank, on top of moss-covered logs and remains in view for several minutes. Superb! There are also lots of Yellow-bellied, Yellow-browed and Green-backed Tits and Short-billed Minivets along the trail, and oh how can you beat an Emei Leaf Warbler calling from the ground at my ipod – what views! 

Emei Leaf-Warbler

So following a nice longish walk it is a relief to get back to the bus and sit down. A quick stop along the road on the way back produces a flock of 10 Brown Bullfinches, Grey Bushchat, Grey-backed Shrike and Buff-throated Warbler. So I think we managed to save the day despite the inclement weather – fingers crossed for tomorrows Tragopan quest.

Longcanggou - Parrotbill Heaven...!

Waking blurry eyed after a poor night’s sleep and it’s onto the coach for 5.30am and we drive up into the hills full of excitement of course. The dirt road is very uneven, with large rocks and potholes carefully hidden by a greasy layer of mud. In fact the road is terrible and the coach ‘grounds’ several times before we make it to our destination. Yet we begin birding in good heart and get a brief look at a singing Yellowish-bellied Bush-Warbler, a flyover Speckled Woodpigeon, and then a pair of Himalayan Cuckoos perch high above us to get the ball rolling. By taking a side track we avoid any traffic and pick up a string of key birds as we walk through excellent undisturbed habitat with plenty of bamboo and mature, moss-encrusted trees proving ideal for our first major sighting of the day as a pair of soon-to-be-split Spotted Laughingthrushes sing at us. What a bird this is and our admiring audience is suitably impressed. 

Spotted Laughingthrush

And then a female Temminck’s Tragopan bursts out of the hillside above us and flies across to a denser patch of forest and promptly disappears. The track meanders from here along the base of a vast swathe of bamboo which is conducive to our sightings of several Brown and Three-toed Parrotbills feeding at different spots along our route. I was very pleased to get the latter species as it has proved tough these past couple of years. 

Three-toed Parrotbill

As the track peters out we also nail a pair of hulking Great Parrotbills as well, and they crash through the bamboo and fly in front of us to gaze angrily at me and my ipod. What cool birds they are, full of character and attitude! 

Great Parrotbill

At this same spot two Brown Bush-Warblers are singing their weird song from different territories and give us nice views, as does Aberrant Bush-Warbler, which comes in so very close to take a look at us, plus a Buff-throated Warbler puts in an appearance as well. 

Aberrant Bush-Warbler

There are also a few Elliot’s Laughingthrushes and some Emei Shan Liocichlas tease us with brief views, but as we return to the coach a pair fly into a nearby bush and hang around long enough for everyone to have very decent views indeed. 

Golden-breasted Fulvetta

Vinaceous Rosefinch

Other goodies noted on this walk are Mrs Gould’s Sunbird, Red-tailed Minla, the cute Grey-hooded Fulvetta, stunning Golden-breasted Fulvettas, Besra, White-throated Needletail, Himalayan Swiftlet, Yellow-browed, Green-backed and Coal Tits, a singing Chinese Leaf-Warbler, Red-billed Leiothrix, numerous White-collared Yuhinas, White-bellied Redstart, Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher, Olive-backed Pipit and some fine male Vinaceous Rosefinches. 

So by now it is past midday and we have a picnic lunch, seeing Slaty-blue Flycatcher and Fire-capped Tit nearby, then decide to walk along the main track in search of Golden Parrotbill. 

Well it doesn’t take long and I call in a small group of these delightful birds for crippling views as they zip around the bamboo in front of us. A flurry of activity brings us Claudia’s Leaf-Warbler, Large-billed Leaf-Warbler, and several other common birds, with a calling Lesser Cuckoo perched up in the distance as well. Driving higher the road is really muddy and we try walking for a bit but to be frank, it isn’t fun so decide to drive on a bit more (if we can) and we eventually reach the Shangri-La of higher altitude bamboo forest. We decide to try our luck at finding Grey-hooded Parrotbill and it takes us all of two minutes trying before a pair fly down a big slope and start to feed right over the road. 

Grey-hooded Parrotbill

What a result and we follow them for several minutes before they retreat back into the safety of the impenetrable haven. So that is five species of parrotbill today – unbelievable. There is also our second Darjeeling Woodpecker for the day giving much better views than the earlier sighting, and a pair of Grey-crested Tits here as well.

A bumpy drive to a lower elevations is curtailed when we get stuck in the mud, but all is not lost as the recently split Sichuan Bush-Warbler starts to call behind us. Out we jump and are treated to what can only be described as crippling views as first it skulks along the floor at the edge of the track before flying up onto a bare branch at eye level. Wow! The small patch of forest then reverberates to the song of Emei Leaf-Warbler and after a bit of manoeuvring we have the bird right above our heads singing away. 

Emei Leaf-Warbler

It is quite mobile and circles us several times before a different ‘phyllosc’ puts in an appearance, and this one is Kloss’s Leaf-Warbler. Also here are singing Grey-crowned and Martens’s Warblers, but we only manage to glimpse the latter species. So we drive back to the lodge for a well earned early finish, but there’s still time to find Russet Sparrow and Red-billed Starling in the surrounding area despite the constant drizzle.

   

Sichuan - here we go again....!

Following a 10 hour overnight direct flight with British Airways we eventually landed at Chengdu around 11am and then headed to a nearby restaurant for our first Sichuan lunch. Then, in a break from our traditional visit to one of the city parks and an overnight stop in Chengdu, we drive south-west for some two hours to Ya’an and visit a narrows strip of woodland bordered by a river and a quant, rustic village. We are targeting some species that are unlikely during the rest of the tour and it is rather pleasing to see a pair of Ashy-throated Parrotbills very close to our coach, as well as a Japanese Tit. There is a rickety old bridge across a river here but it leads to a spot I visit very year and in no time at all we are enjoying point-blank views of a Brown-flanked Bush-Warbler posturing at us from some nearby bamboo. There is also a pair of Yellow-rumped Flycatchers, with the male being particularly sexy, whilst a pair of Rufous-capped Babblers, Asian Paradise-Flycatcher, Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher, Rufous-faced Warbler and a flock of Black-throated Bushtits all put in an appearance. I was particularly keen to find Swinhoe’s Minivet and after a couple of flybys we spot a perched bird at head height in the nearby trees. A brief Chinese Sparrowhawk, equally brief Black-naped Oriole, several White-browed Laughingthrushes and a soaring Oriental Honey Buzzard complete the picture here before it’s time to head back to the coach and drive to Longcanggou – our base for the next 4 nights.

Once we leave the freeway the road winds down into a valley before going up the other side where the habitat becomes better. We stop at a bend overlooking a river where Brown Dipper, Blue Whistling-Thrush and Slaty-backed Forktail are seen. A Sulphur-breasted Warbler gives great views at eye-level, as does the endemic Yellow-bellied Tit, but best of all is a cracking Chinese Blue Flycatcher perched in the bamboo below us. The views are a little obstructed but the bird remains on its perch for several minutes allowing everyone plenty of time to manoeuvre and get better and better views. The only other time I’ve scored this bird on a Sichuan trip was when we came across Per Alstrom holding one he had just mist-netted!

This is our lodge at Longcanggou - a pretty comfortable base for 4 nights.

So from here it is just a short drive to a nice lodge and with bags thrown into our rooms we still have time to find Long-tailed and Grey-backed Shrikes, Brown-breasted Bulbul and Grey-headed Woodpecker, with our showers interrupted by a Large Hawk-Cuckoo perched in the open. Not a bad start and can’t wait for tomorrow.

SE China - The Last Day

Our final morning’s birding was a relatively relaxed affair after yesterday’s long and tiring day, although we did walk quite a way along the forest trails. We picked up Rufous Woodpecker and White-bellied Erpornis, which were both new for the trip amongst good congregations of birds agitated by the owlet call and brought our trip list up to 267 species seen, including some very special and exceedingly rare birds. 

Rufous Woodpecker

There were many Fork-tailed Sunbirds, the most showy Huet’s Fulvettas of the tour, Mountain, Black and Chestnut Bulbuls, Japanese Tit, and both Scarlet and Grey-chinned Minivets amongst others. 

Fork-tailed Sunbird

Huet's Fulvetta

We also heard more White-necklaced Partridges in the distance but all too soon we had to leave and return to the hotel to pack and prepare for the short flight back to Shanghai. Upon arrival we checked in to the airport hotel and enjoyed a few cold beers and then flew back to the UK, USA and Australia the following morning. Now on to Sichuan.......