Qinghai & Xinjiang Tour

Just had a few days at home before returning to China and the start of our 'alternative' Tibet tour. Funny how months and months of anticipation leading up to a particular tour and all the excitement that it brings can come crashing down around your ankles for a while. You see our flight in to Beijing had to be re-routed to Tinjiang (where?) due to bad weather and we had to sit on the runway for three and a half hours waiting for clearance at another stab at landing where we should be. Anyway, we got to Beijing with just under an hour to go before our flight to Xining was due to depart and basically after a long immigration queue and getting hassle at the x-ray machines we made it to the gate with about a minute to spare. What a stressful day this was turning out to be. Upon arrival in Xining our luggage was not as lucky as we were and remained behind in Beijing.  We finally reached the hotel around 11pm and crashed out straight away.

Sichuan - The End...

Our superb Sichuan tour ended with great views of Crested Ibis at the nest and I even enjoyed this troop of Golden Snub-nosed Monkeys..!

Crested Ibis

Golden Snub-nosed Monkey

Nearing the End

We returned to Baxi forest early this morning, but hopes weren’t high as there was a steady drizzle with some mist that kept on rising from the valley below. So upon arrival we had a coffee and the rain eased so we staked out the usual spot for about 20 minutes before Simon spotted a Blue Eared-Pheasant feeding further down the valley and upon further investigation thee was a pair present. They were feeding totally unconcerned in an open area and everyone had great views of this beautiful bird. Can’t tell you what a relief this was!

Blue Eared-Pheasants

So after breakfast we drove lower and walked along the road and into the forest, seeing a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers before a Chinese Nuthatch was found. This little beauty came quite low to check us out and we were able to watch it for a good 20 minutes. 

Chinese Nuthatch

We meandered around the forest for a while, seeing several White-browed Rosefinches, Slaty-backed Flycatcher, Yellow-streaked Warbler, Godlewski’s Bunting and other previously seen species. So we drove back up the road and some of us walked around the hillside and scrub covered valleys for any sign of a partridge, but without much luck. But there was a pair of Eurasian Wrynecks, Streaked and Pink-rumped Rosefinches and White-browed Tit present. 

Grey-headed Bullfinches

So leaving here we drove towards our next hotel, stopping for a picnic lunch on the plateau. Here we had a small flock of Twite, Ground-Tit, and White-rumped Snowfinch before heading off. 

Our last stop before reaching Chuanzhusi was to locate Siberian Rubythroat, which we did in spectacular fashion and had much closer views than usual.

The Tibetan Plateau

Just as the sun began to peek over the distant hills we were in place for our Blue Eared-Pheasant vigil at Baxi Forest. It really was rather cool and as we sipped coffee, watched numerous Black-eared Kites flying around. There was also a Twite perched on telegraph wires behind us, our first Slaty-backed Flycatcher, Sichuan Tit, a few Daurian Jackdaws flying over, both Chestnut & Kessler’s Thrushes, and a very obliging male Severtzov’s Tit-warbler continuously bringing food to its nest nearby. However, no pheasants were forthcoming so we drove down the valley and walked into the forest at a particular spot I like. We hadn’t walked very far when I heard the distinctive call of Sukatschev’s (Snowy-cheeked) Laughingthrush and in no time at all it appeared on the slope in front of us and showed quite well. There was also quite a few Grey-headed Bullfinches posing nicely, and later on a Gansu Leaf-warbler called and came in very close to inspect us. Driving back to Ruoergai and we saw a pair of Tibetan (Chinese) Grey Shrikes along the road and were treated to superb views. Wow!

A distant photo of the shrike..

Leaving here we drove back up the hill, this time hearing a Blue Eared-Pheasant – so we will be back tomorrow! Then we set off towards Flower Lake. We drove across the plateau, and made our first stop when several displaying Oriental Skylarks were seen and as we searched the area saw a pair of close Ground-tits. The next stop was when several Himalayan Griffons were seen beside a carcass, and amazingly there were 4 Cinereous (Black) Vultures present. As we scanned the area, we came across both White-rumped and Rufous-necked Snowfinches as well amongst a colony of Black-lipped Pika.

Black Vulture with a Himalayan Griffon

We eventually reached Flower Lake and hopped aboard the bus that takes you down to the boardwalk and lake – and I was hoping for a few more unusual birds here as it is migration time. Well, we were not to be disappointed as we made several great finds, scarce Sichuan birds and new birds for the Zoothera tour list. A Common/Eurasian Teal was a new list addition but not that spectacular, an Eastern Marsh Harrier was spotted by Alan, then Simon spotted the first of two Whooper Swans present, a Temminck’s Stint was also a first for this tour, followed by a Grey-headed Lapwing and a couple of Northern Lapwings. Wow again!

Plenty of more expected birds were around such as Ferruginous Duck and Red-crested Pochards amongst commoner wildfowl, White-winged Tern, Brown-headed Gull, but at least five different Eurasian Bitterns were seen, some Black-necked Cranes are always noteworthy. But we had to wait for quite a while before securing decent views of Tibetan Lark, a pair of which were present from the boardwalk.

Tibetan Plateau

This is the day everyone truly looks forward to as we travel up onto the Tibetan Plateau, not only for the fantastic scenery but some great birds of course! We left Maerkang at 5.30am and drove for around an hour and a half through wooded river valleys until we reached a small ‘restaurant’ for some omelette and noodle breakfast. Some of the guys birded outside and found a pair of Hodgson’s Redstart feeding around a log pile.

Hodgson's Redstart

Continuing on we checked out a nice looking river where Alan had a pair of Mandarin Ducks fly past. As the road wound ever upwards we saw our first Common Pheasants, plenty of Kessler’s Thrushes and some Eurasian Cuckoos on the telegraph wires. 

White-browed Tit

Chinese Fulvetta

A nice scrub covered hillside above the treeline gave us Godlewski’s Bunting, Pere David’s (Plain) Laughingthrush, Chinese Fulvetta, a pair of cracking White-browed Tits, whilst nearby a pair of Severtzov’s Tit-warblers showed very close to us. A Lammergeier, Golden Eagle, and several Himalayan Griffons flew over. A Dusky Warbler showed well, but a Greenish Warbler was something of a surprise in the low scuba.

White-browed (Severtzov's) Tit-warbler

And then we were on the plateau and a wide open vista of broad grassland and rolling hills where we saw many new birds. There were Black-necked Cranes, Upland Buzzards, 3 Sakers,  2 Black Storks, Ruddy Shelduck, Little Owl, Eurasian Cuckoo, Eurasian Hoopoe, Azure-winged Magpie, Horned Lark, Oriental Skylark, Tibetan Wagtail, Brown Shrike, White-rumped and Rufous-necked Snowfinches and some distant Ground-tits.

Black-necked Crane

With storm clouds getting closer a flock of Asian House and Pale Martins flew low over the road and we ended the journey in driving rain. Lovely!

Mengbishan

Spent the day amidst the fine pine-clad mountain slopes of Mengbishan. Having already nailed Koklass Pheasant we didn’t need an early start and instead enjoyed the luxury of a 6am departure from the hotel. Upon arrival the sun was just creeping over the horizon but it took quite a while for the birds to get active. In fact for the next couple of hours we didn’t really see much at all, so when a couple of birders said they had seen ‘the jay’ higher up the road we drove straight there. Well, there was nothing at all here and no sign of any jays, which are usually tape responsive.

So we decided to drive above the treeline and see if any Rosefinches were around. A good move as it turned out as we had Chinese Beautiful, Chinese White-browed, Pink-rumped and 3 female and a cracking male Streaked Rosefinch. 

Streaked Rosefinch

Back down in the forest we began walking along the road from a point about a kilometre below the treeline and it was still quiet. However, Peter B then found us a pair of Crested Tit-warblers feeding quietly in some roadside trees and we were able to watch them for a good quarter of an hour. What a bird!

Crested Tit-warbler

Continuing on for another 2 kilometres and seeing Hodgson’s Treecreeper and all of a sudden Peter B again picked up a large bird flying through the trees and a quick burst from the ipod resulted in 3 Sichuan Jays flying right towards us and perching right in front of us. A huge relief for all of us as things weren’t looking too promising.

Poor shot of Sichuan Jay

Our picnic lunch was taken up above the treeline and a great move as it turned out, because we had 3 Severtzov’s (Chinese) Grouse flying past us and into the forest below – a great result! A pair of Verreaux’s Monal-partridges were also called in as well.

Verreaux's Monal-Partridge

We spent the rest of the afternoon following a trail which was very quiet before driving back to the hotel for an early finish.

Rilong - Mengbishan

A spot of pre-breakfast birding above Rilong began at 6.30am but it was quite strange how quiet the hillsides and small forest patches were. With our first Grey-crested Tit and Grey-faced Woodpecker being seen we returned to the hotel for breakfast (luxury!) before setting out on the 5 hour drive to Mengbi Shan, passing through scenically spectacular river valleys and quaint Tibetan-style villages along the way and at one of which we enjoyed a delicious lunch.

The view from Mengbishan Pass

Tibetan Prayer Flags

It was mid afternoon by the time we made it to the mountain and in bright sunshine there wasn’t much singing at all, but around the pass we had Beautiful and Pink-rumped Rosefinches, Kessler’s Thrush, and Peter B spotted a Hog Badger feeding on the hillside above us. Down in the forest we walked along the road, seeing Northern Goshawk, male Himalayan Bluetail, Chinese White-browed Rosefinch, Goldcrest, Grey-crested and Rufous-vented Tits, and a White-winged Grosbeak. Rather worryingly, there were no jays….