Leaving Emei Feng...

Our final morning on Emei Feng was spent with clear blue skies and sunshine, which was something of a surprise after a stormy night. 

Emei Feng in the sunshine for a change....

We followed the Tragopan Trail again and had a brief sighting of a male Cabot’s Tragopan flying out of a tree, as well as a female with 4 chicks walking up a wooded slope. After breakfast we birded our way down the mountain and I was particularly pleased to finally get Kloss’s Leaf-Warbler performing extremely well and singing from several exposed perches right next to us. 

Kloss's Leaf Warbler

In fact the song was incredibly varied and it seemed to mimic some random 'phllosc' songs that i tried playing... Mmmm   

Mountain Bulbul was quite common here.....

There was also two Collared Owlets at separate locations that pulled in Blyth’s Shrike-Babblers, Indochinese and Black-chinned Yuhinas, Yellow-cheeked Tits and Mountain Bulbuls amongst other species. 

Collared Owlets - spot the difference....

In glorious weather we enjoyed views of many previously seen species, with Crested Serpent-Eagle, Greater Necklaced Laughingthrush and Sulphur-breasted Warbler being new for the tour.

Lunch was taken in Taining before we set off on the 5 hour drive towards the next birding hotspot of the Minjiang Estuary.

Emei Feng

Set off down the mountain in search of galliformes at 5am but only managed in seeing a few Silver Pheasants feeding on a slope above the road. So we turned around and drove back up as I was very keen to find Spotted Elachura (formerly Spotted Wren-babbler), a monotypic family following a recent taxonomic change. 

Emei Feng

The weather was much better today, definitely clearer and there was plenty of birdsong in the valley below, but a strong wind wasn’t helpful. Anyway, after playing the call at a few promising gulleys we had decided to walk back to the bus as a heavy shower hit us, but just then the Elachura began calling and eventually everyone had what can only be described as mind-blowing views as it sang below us. 

Spotted Elachura

We then spent the next couple of hours along one particular semi-sheltered stretch of road as birds kept appearing and we scored with Bay Woodpecker, Lesser Cuckoo, Great Barbet and White-crowned Forktail, as well as getting fine views of Chestnut-crowned and Rufous-faced Warblers again. We walked further up the road after breakfast and came across another flock of Black-chinned Yuhinas, along with Yellow-cheeked Tit and our first Mountain Bulbul.

Black-chinned Yuhina

Then we drove right up as far as we could and walked up to the top of the mountain some 3 kilometres away seeing a female Chestnut-bellied Rock-Thrush along the way. Despite the mist we enjoyed fine views of Buff-throated Warbler and a few close Brown Bush-Warblers, as well as great looks and our best views ever of White-spectacled Warbler again. 

Brown Bush-Warbler was confiding today...

White-spectacled Warbler..... With yellow spectacles....

At a small wood at the summit we found a flock of Indochinese Yuhinas, Rufous-capped Babblers and a pair of Chestnut Bulbuls. So we walked back down to the bus and after lunch wandered down the road, finding a pair of lovely Blyth’s Shrike-Babblers that gave repeated close views. With the mist descending we decided to walk the next stretch of road that is particularly favoured by tragopans but only found another Silver Pheasant, but this one was up a tree!

Blyth's Shrike-Babbler (male)

It was about now that heavy rain set in and curtailed our birding for an hour, so we sat on the bus to wait it out. At 3.30pm we decided to drive lower in search of Elliot’s Pheasant once more. A good move as the weather was better down here and after some searching and staking out known feeding sites we stumbled across a female Elliot’s Pheasant that almost eluded us had it not been for some clever work by Mike. We also saw 20+ Mandarin Ducks, a flock of Black-throated Bushtits, Slaty-backed Forktail, Brown Dipper and Striated Heron before reaching our usual restaurant for dinner. The journey up the mountain in the dark resulted in two owls flying across the road. The first was large and could well have been Brown Wood Owl and the second smaller bird was a scops-owl species, but neither could be relocated or were calling and in the strong winds what would you expect right?

Emei Feng - The Tragopan Quest....

Up and out at 5.30am to be greeted by a thick mist, which is particularly encouraging when looking for pheasants so we did a ‘chicken run’ down the mountain. We picked up more Chinese Bamboo-Partridges pretty quickly, followed  by a couple fine male Silver Pheasants strolling along the road in front of us and a Spotted Forktail, but alas no tragopans. So we drove back up to the hotel and had breakfast, during which we found a migrant Arctic Warbler looking very sorry for itself in a small bush and a couple of White-spectacled Warblers of the ‘intermedius’ race with yellow spectacles. 

Birding in the mist on Emei Feng...

Then we followed a nice trail for several kilometres but with thick mist making viewing difficult things didn’t look too promising, but within ten minutes a fantastic male Cabot’s Tragopan was seen sauntering along the path in front of us. Even in these conditions the views were very nice indeed and can't tell you what a relief it was to nail this sucker so quickly.

Atmospheric pics of Cabot's Tragopan in the mist....

We continued on and came across another three tragopans, with one bird feeding in a tree above the trail and two others walking in front of us – and even the mist lifted slightly. 

Another tragopan...

Other birds were few and far between but we did see Buffy Laughingthrush, Small Niltava, Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babbler, Grey-chinned Minivet and even more Huet’s Fulvettas. The rest of the morning was spent walking down the mountain but our effort was hampered by the mist which didn’t seem like lifting, There wasn’t much bird song at all and it was quite frustrating, with just a heard only Pygmy Wren-Babbler and several flocks of Black-chinned Yuhinas to show for our efforts. Driving lower we had lunch at the roadside and managed to see a pair of Yellow-cheeked Tits and a flock of handsome Indochinese Yuhinas.

Indochinese Yuhina - not in the mist....!

The early afternoon period was spent at lower altitudes but despite the mist clearing all we saw was a soaring Crested Goshawk being mobbed by a Chinese Sparrowhawk, a few Chestnut Bulbuls and a Rufous-faced Warbler. So we then made another concerted effort to find Elliott’s Pheasant and checked various sites to no avail. However, as luck would have it, sometime later we found a fantastic male standing at the edge of an open area allowing most of the group some fine views. What a bird this is and one of the ‘most-wanted’ species of the entire tour. The same area also held several Mandarin Ducks, White-breasted Waterhen, another Chinese Sparrowhawk perched on telegraph wires, Asian Barred Owlet, Dollarbird and White-crowned Forktail. And that was our day and we enjoyed a nice dinner in the nearby village before driving back up the mountain to the hotel in pouring rain. Nice!