Erlang Shan

Well what a day today was and after all the worry I felt overnight about whether the police would let us through to the old Erlang Shan road, let’s just say I shouldn’t have worried. We got through the checkpoint no problem and were driving along just after dawn, and very quickly had a female Lady Amherst Pheasant scuttling across the road in front of us. A cracking male showed all too briefly, but just as we were killing the engine to wait for it to reappear a car appeared behind us beeping its horn for us to get out of the middle of the road! I had to ask if anyone had walked under a ladder or run over a black cat recently because how bad was that timing? Anyway, we drove up into the conifers and then had decent views of an immature male Lady Amherst Pheasant right in front of us. The relief I felt was almost tangible! 

Firethroat

As luck would have it there was a grassy verge for us to park on and have breakfast, during which a Chinese Leaf-warbler started singing from the top of some nearby conifers, offering good looks. As we munched on jam sandwiches I heard a Firethroat singing just a little further up the road. Now this is THE bird everyone wants to see, so the pressure was on. It was singing from a small stand of conifers right beside the road and it proved very frustrating as we just couldn’t see it, but after 10 minutes or so of hard searching Jenny came up trumps with just about the only window you could see it through the conifers. After a frantic bit of time when everyone jostled for position, we’d all got it. Phew! Unbelievably another one came in to sing in some bushes close by and we could hear two others singing nearby…! Over the next hour we had repeated views of birds singing from 15 feet up in the trees, but always behind a few pine needles as the pictures can testify to! 

Barred Laughingthrush

As we watched this cracker a pair of Barred Laughingthrushes began calling and came in to check us out – I was more excited to see them than the fiery-one! What views we had of this notorious skulker in the roadside bushes and then crossing the road and singing back from above us. With Yellow-streaked Warblers singing all around and Godlewski’s Buntings by the bucket load it was just a shame we had to leave. Driving down a calling Black-streaked Scimitar-babbler was just too hard to resist and we had brief views, along with Chinese Babax and Brown-breasted Bulbuls as well. But we had to leave at 9.30am for the oh so long drive to our next hotel at Rilong. 

Well we arrived at 8pm…! So a long drive, made more complicated by a landslide that blocked the road for ages and two lengthy police checkpoints to negotiate. The scenery, however, was outstanding as we drove along valleys beside fast-flowing rivers with tall mountains all around. And we had a few birds, such as Himalayan Griffons, Daurian Redstarts, White-throated Dipper, Oriental Turtle-dove, Red Collared-dove, Hill Pigeons and others. We thoroughly enjoyed a beer and decent meal tonight but I felt ever so slightly guilty about breaking the news of our 4.30am departure for the mighty Balang Shan tomorrow……

The Great Parrotbill Hunt

A final morning on Longcanggou in search of the magically vanished parrotbills actually scored some success, as Granville found a Great Parrotbill as we walked back to the waiting minibus which some of us got brief looks at. I don’t know why, but it was a single bird and it disappeared off down the valley below us, not responding to the tape or being in a group as they often are. Prior to that we had enjoyed a relatively successful time with Kevin finding a male Temminck’s Tragopan that unfortunately did not hang around for the rest of us.

Grey-hooded Fulvetta

A fine male Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher was new and we had a few flocks of previous seen species, White-throated Needletails flying over, a Spotted Laughingthrush flew across the path and perched up for us, Emei Shan Liocichla showed quite well, and a Crimson-breasted Woodpecker was seen. Leaving here we drove down the mountain, stopping to get Marten’s Warbler and further views of Emei Leaf-warbler. A Chestnut-flanked White-eye was spotted by Russell as well before we headed on to pastures new and a five hour drive to our next overnight stop. The route passed through spectacular scenery and we realised just how ‘big’ this country is! A random roadside stop for a quick leg-stretch proved to be a good move, with Russet Sparrow and Godlewski’s Bunting being found.

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.

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...