Mengbishan

Well today was definitely a day of two halves with the morning bringing us many of the key target species for the area. I already knew that Sichuan Jay had proven elusive to some other groups prior to our arrival, so I wasn’t confident with that species at all – and yes we failed to see it here. 

However, our day got off to a cracking start with a Koklass Pheasant crossing the road and then walking across a clearing not too far away from us. Oh and we also saw a couple of Blood Pheasants at the same spot, before scoping a singing Long-tailed Thrush. We tried to drive up above the treeline but the top of the mountain was covered in low cloud so we headed lower and what a good move this was as we found a close singing Three-banded Rosefinch that posed nicely at the top of the roadside conifers. 

Three-banded Rosefinch

It’s a bird I always worry about finding so this was a great relief. And shortly after a Przevalski’s Nuthatch did the same thing and called back at us from some close trees. Excellent.

Przevalski's Nuthatch

So by now the weather had cleared and we enjoyed clear blue skies, so drove up above the treeline and found plenty of Chinese Beautiful and some Pink-rumped Rosefinches, but its interesting to note there weren’t any Streaked Rosefinches present like yesterday. We again saw Verreaux’s Monal-Partridge, but this time there was a pair of Sichuan Tits, a pair of cracking White-browed Tit-Warblers and Ivan found us a female Crimson-browed Finch.

White-browed Tit-Warbler

Once were were finished here we walked down along the road into the forest but it was exceedingly quiet, as it proved to be all afternoon. A singing Long-tailed Thrush flew past us but the remainder of the day until 5pm when we left was a washout. There were just a lack of birds, either calling or on view. It was devoid of birdlife in the forest. So it was with much relief that we headed back to the hotel..! Must admit I was disappointed we couldn't find the jay or even a Crested Tit-Warbler today, but we still have chances later in the trip....

Balangshan to Mengbishan

For a travelling day we did quite well with a bunch of good birds found along the way. 

The spectacular scenery of Balangshan this morning

Our route took us above the mist and low cloud

We even had breakfast in the hotel at 6am before setting off up into the mist enshrouded slopes of Balangshan, travelling through the new tunnel that saved us a lot of time and making our first stop above Rilong. 

We birded this road....

Here, we walked down the road and in the lovely morning sunshine found lots of Pink-rumped Rosefinches, as well as our first Sichuan Tit and Tibetan Serin. 

Sichuan Tit

Other roadside birds here included Black-browed Tit, Hume’s Leaf Warbler, Grey-headed Bullfinch, Sichuan Leaf Warbler and others. Our route took us through spectacular deep-sided river valleys and gorges and birds seen en-route included Black-capped Kingfisher, Grey-backed Shrikes, Eurasian Crag Martins, and near a small town a flock of Salim Ali’s Swifts flew around.

Black-browed Tit

Our next stop overlooking a fast-flowing river and tall crags all around was noteworthy as we enjoyed scope views of the usually tricky Black-streaked Scimitar-Babbler, a pair of which were calling back at my iPod for several minutes. We also located a Wallcreeper, Hodgson’s Redstart and had a pair of Hill Pigeons whizzed past us.

Our driver was obviously on a mission today and we reached our usual lunch stop at a small restaurant pretty much on time despite having to travel a lot further than in previous years. And we made Mengbishan Pass around 3.30pm only to find dark grey skies converging and the distant sound of thunder rapidly approaching. However, not to be perturbed we made the best of things and almost immediately found a flock that contained our first Streaked Rosefinches in company with Chinese Beautiful and Chinese White-browed Rosefinches. They flew away all too quickly but we managed to relocate the Streaked Rosefinches again a short while later. Unbelievably we also found several Verreaux’s Monal-Partridges quite easily and saw at least 3 Blood Pheasants quietly feeding out in the open. We drove lower after this but unfortunately the bad weather closed in around us and we had heavy snow and sleet, which curtailed any further birding and we could only hope the situation improves tomorrow.

Balangshan Does it Again

We woke to clear skies and after our 5am departure we reached the tunnel area by 6.15am where we had a fantastic view of the alpine meadows, and snow capped peaks all around. Setting up the scope I quickly found a group of White Eared-Pheasants feeding on the hillside above, followed by a Koklass Pheasant calling from a large rock above the road. Not a bad start. Then a magnificent male Chinese Monal appeared on the skyline and everyone lapped up the scope views, but the best was yet to come. All of a sudden it flew across the hillside towards us, landing directly above us. Wow! It called repeatedly before flying straight down towards us and beyond into the meadow below. It was out of sight but I quietly crawled down and waited and amazingly it walked out into the open. Holy cow! 

Chinese Monal

This stunning vision strutted his stuff and paraded right in front of me as I remained motionless before climbing up into a conifer where it called again and again before flying off down into the valley. This was undoubtedly the best views I’ve experienced over the past 6 tours here. I can tell you breakfast tasted fantastic after this!

Then we walked along the road and what a good move this was as, first of all a pair of rare Sharpe’s Rosefinches appeared on the bank next to us (good call Daniel) and then a Golden Bush-Robin flew up into the top of a conifer and began to sing. 

Golden Bush-Robin

The rare Sharpe's Rosefinch

Moving around the tunnel area there were several Common and Dark-breasted Rosefinches present, but I was particularly pleased to finally get Dark-rumped Rosefinch on my Sichuan list and a flyby Lammergeier is always a crowd pleaser. 

Dark-breasted Rosefinch

Dark-rumped Rosefinch

We even got some views of a calling Verreaux’s Monal-Partridge way below us, but it disappeared before everyone could get onto it. Before jumping into the coach we saw a pair of Snow Pigeons flying across the hillside and a pair of Chinese White-browed Rosefinches. Moving lower down the mountain and things were slow with really not much in the way of birdsong, which is surprising for this time of year. We spent several hours getting very little, apart from a pair of White-throated Redstarts and a pair of Collared Grosbeaks, until eventually I called in a Chestnut-crowned Bush-Warbler and it proved to be very responsive and was too close to get a decent photo. Shortly after this I spotted a Blood Pheasant crossing a clearing and with a bit of manoeuvring everyone managed to get a view of a pair feeding quietly in the forest.

Chestnut-crowned Bush-Warbler - uncropped image

Collared Grosbeaks

White-throated Redstart

We took lunch up at the tunnel, where there were a lot more Snow Pigeons feeding on the hillside before we drove higher up the mountain. There were flocks of Grandalas flying around, Red-billed Chough and our first Alpine Marmots were particularly pleasing to Steve. 

Grandala again...

We’d done particularly well here and had almost cleaned up but the one blot was Sichuan Forest Thrush that had managed to elude us so far. So we tried an area we’d heard one yesterday and after a while we were treated to stunning views in a bare tree – not only a classy bird but it’s a Zoothera thrush…… 

Sichuan Forest Thrush

Oh and our first Greenish Warbler was here as well.  And that was our most excellent day over and we returned to the hotel early and enjoyed a bit of r&r.

Balangshan - The Chicken capital of China..!

What a great day’s birding to celebrate Steve H’s milestone birthday this was. It started inauspiciously enough with heavy rain just before we boarded the coach and as we drove higher my intended destination of the tunnel area was blanketed in dense mist, so I decided to go even higher. This was a good move as the weather was clearer in places, although low cloud swept in from time to time and then there was the snow. Oh yes it snowed alright and we birded the morning in a winter wonderland where some great birds were seen by us.

Some pretty amazing scenery from Balangshan this morning

The guys 'enjoying' breakfast in the snow..

First up was a pair of Tibetan Snowcocks running towards us and stopping about 10 metres away where they called and called, looking all around before slowly walking away. 

Tibetan Snowcocks in the mist

We had already had the usual sighting of a bird high above the road on a ridge, so this was a special treat. In the mist we saw Rosy Pipits, Rufous-breasted Accentor and then a pair of Grandala flew in literally 2 metres away from us and lingered for a long time. Even in the mist the male’s iridescent blue stood out. 

Grandala in the snow

Driving higher up we eventually connected with a group of 4 Snow Partridges just above the road but in the mist you couldn’t really pick up any colour or detail on the birds, so we continued higher and connected with half a dozen Red-fronted Rosefinches feeding amongst the snow covered rocks below us. We’d also seen Lammergeier, a flock of Yellow-billed Choughs, Blue-fronted Redstart, a pair of Brandt’s Mountain-Finches giving stunning views on the road, several Plain Mountain-Finches and several Alpine Accentors, one of which almost walked over one of our group’s shoes! 

Alpine Accentor

Brandt's Mountain-Finch

With the weather improving we had great scope views of the Snow Partridges and this time you could see colour, feather detail – the works. Brilliant! One final stop as we descended the mountain proved to be worthwhile with a Chinese Rubythroat (a recent split from White-tailed Rubythroat) singing from the top of a rock, a pair of Alpine Leaf-Warblers and a Kessler’s Thrush. When the question was asked “what’s that wren-like thing”, well you guessed it – it was a Eurasian Wren!

Alpine Leaf Warbler

With all of our targets reached from the higher levels we drove back down to the tunnel, where thick mist still blanketed the area. Both Blood Pheasant and Verreaux’s Monal-Partridge called in the gloom but were unsurprisingly unresponsive so we drove lower. All of a sudden the mist and low cloud cleared and birds began to sing, so we made the best of it and nailed Himalayan Bluetail, Blue-fronted and White-throated Redstarts, Chinese Fulvetta, Rufous-vented Tit, both Collared and White-winged Grosbeaks and several Himalayan Griffons. 

However, all of the previously mentioned species paled into insignificance when a stunning male Temminck’s Tragopan suddenly appeared beside the road and ran across a clearing directly opposite us. So we walked up the slope a little and I quietly played the call when amazingly it reappeared and ran across the clearing in front of us. Then it ran back again, walked around behind some leafless bushes, walked back in front of us, and then back again. All of this was just a few metres away from our astonished faces – much too close to photograph really but who’s grumbling? Still I managed to get these uncropped images to remember this special treat. 

Temminck's Tragopan - wow!!

With that in the bag how could you top that? Well you can’t but there’s more birds to find and a Giant Laughingthrush posed nicely at the top of a tree a short while later before we headed back to the tunnel area for our picnic lunch. More mist and low cloud descended just when we thought the day was going to brighten up so, once again, we drove lower. However, bird activity was practically zero despite our best efforts with a female Chinese White-browed Rosefinch the only new bird over the next couple of hours so we drove right down to the bottom of the valley where a quick search produced the promised Chinese Babax to end the day on a good note and we arrived back at the hotel for an early finish. What a day! We toasted the tragopan with a Wolf Berry spirit that really hit the mark and enjoyed yet another excellent dinner!

Erlangshan at it's Best... Again!!

It felt like a good omen for today when we had a Grey Nightjar right beside our coach just before first light. And then we began our drive for Lady Amherst Pheasant along the Old Erlang Road, which took a couple of attempts but eventually everyone had views of an immature male and a couple of females at various points along the road. A Koklass Pheasant frozen at the side of the road was a first for me here and definitely a surprise.  With the sun hitting the lower slopes there was more bird activity and when an unfamiliar song emanated from the slope above us I recorded the call and played it back. What appeared after a lengthy battle was like a bolt out of the blue. A fulvetta appeared which I assumed would be White-browed Fulvetta, but the narrower white supercilium, prominent black line above it and the rich chestnut crown leading onto the forecrown meant it was a Rusty-capped Fulvetta – a pretty scarce bird in Sichuan. 

Another perfect day in Sichuan

Following this we had our picnic breakfast and walked for about an hour, with Pink-rumped Rosefinch being the best bird, although several Elegant Buntings, Slaty-backed Flycatcher and a pair of Streak-breasted Scimitar-babblers were rather nice as well. Suddenly a Firethroat began calling and this individual proved to be very confiding and over the next ten minutes we were treated to an amazing encounter with this much-wanted species. And what a stunner it is..! Meanwhile, overhead 3 Black Bazas and a Himalayan Buzzard were seen, plus we also had Grey Bushchat, Daurian Redstart and other common species.

This stunning Firethroat posed brilliantly today

Moving higher we encountered more and more Spotted Nutcrackers, and in fact I have never seen so many here. A walk into the conifer forest got us some great views of White-browed Fulvettas, Grey-crested Tit, Black-browed Bushtit, and other previously seen species. Following this we spent some time around the abandoned buildings where a female Russet Sparrow, Grey-headed Bullfinch and White-winged Grosbeak were present. And our first Rosy Pipit was spotted by Jeff as we drove higher.

Rufous-breasted Accentor

Long-tailed Rosefinch

Following our noodle lunch we walked up into the alpine pastures but found things to be very quiet and the only real bird of note was our first Rufous-breasted Accentor, so we drove lower and had really nice views of Long-tailed Rosefinch of the henrici race – a potential future split.