The Day of the Panda

We took just over an hour to drive up to the parking place in Loncanggou Forest Park, and it was a long and bumpy journey. But our 5am departure was worth it, as we found ourselves in bush-warbler heaven – well for some of us anyway! But when you consider we had Aberrant, Grey-sided, Brown and Yellowish-bellied Bush-warblers this morning, followed by Russet and Brownish-flanked in the afternoon then, yes, it was quite good! However, bird of the day was not a bird at all, but after only walking uphill for maybe ten minutes we were eye-balling a wonderful Red Panda sat in a Rhododendron tree. 

Red Panda

How unbelievable was this and even I was excited at this ‘non-bird’…. Anyway, continuing higher we took the whole morning to get from 2400m up to around 2800m and the highest point of the trail, which passed through fantastic habitat with wide valleys choked in bushes and bamboo. We got cracking on our warblers as well today with several Sichuan Leaf-warblers, followed by Ashy-throated and Buff-barred Warblers. 

Sichuan Leaf-warbler

At one bamboo choked gulley we had a lovely Grey-hooded Fulvetta and also got views of White-bellied Redstart as well. At the marsh at the top of the pass we had amazing encounter with a Spotted Bush-warbler, whilst Brown Parrotbill only showed briefly. 

Longcanggou - great habitat

A Red-winged Laughingthrush was a good find, amongst the commoner Black-faced and Elliott’s Laughingthrushes. Also seen during our walk up to the top were Lesser, Oriental and Common Hawk Cuckoo and it made a change to actually see them rather than just hear their noise.

Spotted Bush-warbler

Driving down around 3pm we made an urgent stop when we spotted something beside the road, and unbelievably it was a female Temminck’s Tragopan with 4 young chicks walking up the bank beside us. Wow! 

Temminck's Tragopan (female)

Then we walked a side path and had a great hour with, first of all, an unexpected White-browed Bush-robin, followed by a flurry of activity prompted by my owlet tape. A cracking male Gould’s Sunbird came in to investigate, along with Short-billed Minivet, several warblers, a pair of Yellow-browed Tits and some other common species. So that was our day, apart from seeing both Grey-backed and Long-tailed Shrikes and a convoy of White-throated Needletails overhead. Both Collared and Oriental Scops-owls were calling tonight, but not responsive.

Longcanggou - Arrival

We left Emei Shan early and drove a couple of hours to Ya’an where at a nice little site we quickly scored with several flocks of Ashy-throated Parrotbills, Swinhoe’s Minivet, Brown-breasted and Yellow-rumped Flycatchers, plus a few other common species. Then after lunch at a lovely outdoor restaurant along the river we drove to the ‘new’ site of Longcanggou and drove up the mountain. This is the  substitute site for Labahe and Wawu Shan, both of which are closed for the time being. I find it exciting visiting a new place and getting to grips with the tricky warblers, and was pleasantly surprised to find Kloss’s and Emei Leaf-warblers relatively common – as, of course, Claudia’s was as well. A Yellow-bellied Tit was new for us, and being a Chinese endemic all the more special. 

Chinese Blue Flycatcher - being held by Per Alstrom!

But when we came round a corner and found Per Alstrom holding a beautiful male Chinese Blue Flycatcher – well that was something else! He is mist-netting here and taking blood samples for dna research and gave us some very useful info which I hope to use tomorrow. Anyway, we continued walking uphill over the 1700m mark, getting Bianchi’s Warbler. Further up we had  our first raptors, Crested Goshawk, Oriental Honey Buzzard and even a Rufous-winged Buzzard carrying a snake up through the fir trees. With Large Hawk and Lesser Cuckoos calling in the distance and great habitat, things were looking good for tomorrow...

Sichuan - The Beginnning...

Well the Great Fire Wall of China has stopped posts for some time now, but here goes the story of my Sichuan tour so far......

We eventually arrived at a sunny Chengdu airport after a long flight from London via Hong Kong. Cathay Pacific were excellent as always, but must admit I’m really sick of airline food right now! Anyway, we got picked up and transferred to a lovely hotel and soon after walked down the street to the local park. It’s a nice little spot here and we quickly picked up a pair of Yellow-billed (Chinese) Grosbeaks feeding on the floor of one quiet little side trail. 

Chinese Grosbeak

A Chinese Blackbird was then picked up and we spent a little time noting down the structural differences which surely prove this is a good split from its European cousin! A flock of Black-throated Tits was nice, as was a Plumbeous Water-redstart, but not as good as an immature Red-billed Starling feeding along one of the drainage channels. We also enjoyed the antics of several White-browed Laughingthrushes here, and it is a species that is far easier here than elsewhere. So with that done we walked back to the hotel to get ready for our first experience of the excellent local cuisine.

The following morning we drove down to Emei Shan where the plan was to stay at the base of the mountain to pick up some low elevation species. 

Chinese Hwamei

We had Rufous-faced Warbler, at least 11 Chinese Hwamei, Slaty-backed Forktail, a brief Fork-tailed Sunbird, more Vinous-throated Parrotbills, Red-billed Blue Magpie, Brownish-flanked Bush-warbler, White-capped River-chat, and a flock of Pacific & House Swifts were joined by a Himalayan Swiftlet. 

Slaty-backed Forktail

But I won't make the mistake of coming here again as there's far too many people - something it shares with Jiuzhaigou, but more of that later.

Time to go!

Our last day in Canada and with an evening flight we still had a few hours to get some goodies this morning. I was wondering how it would pan out to be honest, as we decided not to go to the tip as the weather was hot and still and I thought some of the commoner breeding species we hadn’t seen yet might just have arrived. So we kick-started things at the Marsh Boardwalk which was actuall pretty dead apart from some American Black Terns flying over. 

Solitary Sandpiper

But as we returned to the car park Keith saw some movement below the tower and it turned out to be a Solitary Sandpiper – nice! And how about this? Right in front of our car was an immature male Blue Grosbeak -  a true rarity here and oh how good it felt to finally find something of note here!!!

Blue Grosbeak

 So we went down to the Visitor Centre to relay our find and then walked along the Woodland Trail where Eastern Wood Pewee and Great Crested Flycatcher were new for our list, and we had a roosting Eastern Screech-owl and bucket-loads of warblers. With reports of a Grey-cheeked Thrush in Tilden Woods, just across the car park we decided on one final bash before leaving, but only found this Wood Thrush.

Wood Thrush

 So with an hour to spare we drove up to Hillman Marsh and enjoyed a nice, easy session looking at the waders before it was time to head back to Toronto and our flight home. I must say we’d had a great time here in Canada and it really was great fun just to go out birding without the pressure of having to find this or that for a change.

Anyway, next on the agenda is Sichuan….