Balangshan (again)

We left ever so early this morning in light rain which I feared had fallen as snow on the mountain, but this wasn’t apparent until later as we drove over the pass in darkness. By the time we’d gotten to the Wood Snipe display area we had thick mist and steady rain – not conducive to lekking snipe. So we headed down to a quiet little trail after driving the road up and down for a bit to see if any pheasants were loitering on the verges. After a little battle a few of the group managed views of a female Golden Pheasant but the males only called back and didn’t budge an inch form their songposts way down the slope. But we did find several Chinese Fulvettas along here and heard White-browed Bush-robin and Firethroat. 

Driving up I hoped the weather would clear so we stopped along the way for breakfast before continuing ever upwards in our search for more ‘chickens’. We finally reached a likely looking area and started to scan the surrounding scree slopes and high peaks all around. Flocks of Brandt’s Mountain-finches buzzed past us, whilst a few Plain Mountain-finches were around for comparison, and there were a few stonking Grandalas present which were far more confiding than yesterdays birds. 

Grandala

We quickly got on a pair of Snow Partridges high up the slope above us and watched them scuttle a little closer before stopping on a mossy boulder and calling back to the ipod. It took longer but we’d been hearing Tibetan Snowcock for ages before Granville spotted one perched on the skyline about half a kilometre away. 

Tibetan Snowcock - in the distance!

As we admired this bird I spotted another two birds a lot closer and we spent quite a while soaking up the scope views – with one bird, presumably the male, calling from a boulder and giving walk away views. So we were on a roll, a chicken roll…. See what I did there..? Anyway, sort of buoyed by our success we headed higher to my stakeout for Red-fronted Rosefinch but as we pulled up at the spot it had snowed quite a lot and we found ourselves in low cloud with drizzle. Nice huh! So I couldn’t believe my eyes when I noticed some movement in the gloom and found a male Red-fronted Rosefinch feeding close by. In fact there was a pair present and we actually had decent views of these huge rosefinches, with several Alpine Accentors around as well.

Alpine Leaf-warbler

 Then we drove lower and parked up by the tunnel where we bumped into Per Alstrom again, and it was nice to enjoy scope views of a Hog Badger that John picked up as it fed on the hillside above us. Quite an extraordinary looking animal and one I’ve wanted to see for years. We spent a pleasant hour in the area notching Alpine Leaf-warbler, Dark-breasted Rosefinch, a very close Wallcreeper, a raucous gang of Giant Laughingthrushes, 2 Lammergeiers and Chinese White-browed Rosefinch.

Wallcreeper

So we left here and headed back over the pass before dropping down to an area of bushes beside the road where we enjoyed great views of 3 Blood Pheasants, the male calling back at us from a large boulder. A major bird for Trevor and with smiles all round we walked back to the waiting coach, having also notched up a pair of Pink-rumped Rosefinches as well. 

Balang Shan

Balang Shan is undoubtedly my favourite site on this tour, but it can frustrate as well as exhilarate in equal measure and we had both today. A 4.30am departure wasn’t early enough to get us to the Wood Snipe lek in time so we continued down the mountain and checked out a few sites, at one of which we heard a couple of Golden Pheasants. So we drove up to the regular spot for Chinese Monal and began scanning and within minutes Russell had one in his scope which was not in the regular area and we were able to look across the valley and more or less down on it. What a bird and in fact we had two more males above us a little later. Frustratingly to begin with we only heard White Eared-Pheasant but when a few Verreaux’s Monal-partridges began calling we walked along the road and within a very short time had a pair calling back at us from close below the road. 

Verreuax's Monal-partridge

In fact this was my best views ever and they remained in that same spot, some 40 yards away for ages. But then they walked up the hill towards us and paused in a nice open area to get photos without branches or twigs across them for a change before crossing the road in front of us and creeping up the slope behind where the male continued to call. Unbelievable! 

Love the scenery on Balang Shan

After this exceptional sighting we walked back to the monal-viewing spot and walked down the road, finding our first Chinese White-browed Rosefinch along the way, plus White-winged Grosbeak and plenty of Common Rosefinches as well. I just mentioned to Kevin we should check all the white-looking rocks in case they were pheasants when one moved and it was indeed a White Eared Pheasant! Excellent! 

White Eared-Pheasant

Walking down the road with a fantastic view of snow-capped mountains and pine clad ridges as far as the eye could see, we had another Spotted Bush-warbler, Claudia’s, Sichuan Leaf, Buff-barred, and Large-billed Leaf-warblers, Elliott’s Laughingthrush, and met up with some French/Belgian birders who showed us a Musk Deer in the distance in return for the bush-warbler! We particularly enjoyed a couple of low flying Lammergeiers that gave outstanding views. 

Lammergeier

Around the next bend is a spot I usually get Blood Pheasant and sure enough it responded quickly and was seen crossing a grassy glade on the slope above but then sneakily crossed the road way off to our left. The same spot also had Grey-headed Bullfinch and a Maroon-backed Accentor singing from the top of a conifer. So from here we drove lower and followed a trail beside a fast-flowing river which was choc-full of various warblers – I’ve never seen so many in one place actually and they were all feeding very low down – I took this Large-billed Leaf-warbler there. 

Large-billed Leaf-warbler

The trail passed through moss-encrusted forest and looked fantastic, but by now it was mid-morning and a little late for any pheasants. But we did find a Fujian Niltava, which is a little higher than I would have expected, along with Slaty-backed Flycatcher and Grey-crested Tit. From here we drove higher on our continuing ‘chicken hunt’ ie our quest for Snow Partridge and Tibetan Snowcock which drew a blank due to low cloud obscuring most of the mountain! But we did hear the former species a little later. 

The other side of Balang Shan Pass

Once we crossed the pass we were met by clear blue skies for a while and managed to scan the scree slopes where plenty of Rosy Pipits, Plain Mountain-finches, a brief Brandt’s Mountain-finch, superb Grandalas, Red-billed and Alpine Choughs were present. 

Driving lower when the cloud descended and we had a lovely Himalayan Rubythroat singing from on top of a small bush, several Rufous-breasted Accentors, and Alpine Leaf-warbler all in the same area. 

Himalayan Rubythroat

We finished up not far from Rilong scanning a cliff where several Hill Pigeons were scoped, and amazingly a couple of Snow Pigeons were also here too. The Wallcreepers weren’t at home this evening but White-throated Redstart was ample compensation before we returned to the hotel a bit earlier than usual!

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.