Mengbi Shan

Well we drove up onto the mountain and as it slowly began to get light the clouds seemed to be lifting and the day actually dawned fine. I tried my favourite spot for Koklass Pheasant and immediately got a response from way up on the hill above us, but I persisted for quite some time without the bird moving at all and in fact it seemed to go further away. Another was calling from down the road so we walked downhill but had a negative response so didn’t loiter and walked back up towards the bus. A few bursts from the ipod resulted in silence, but then a Blood Pheasant began calling nearby, with some further calling birds also not too far away. As we settled down to try and get close views of them a flurry of wings right next to us turned out to be a male Koklass Pheasant flying right over us and landing next to us on the slope above the road. I must admit I was stunned and had silently resigned us to dipping this bird...... So yes I was stunned by this miracle and everyone had superb looks at this obviously confused male strutting across the mossy forest floor above us. I wanted to clench my fist and pump the air but remained outwardly calm, with the thought that my camera was still on the bus dampening my ardour a little!

Blood Pheasant

Then we had somewhere in the region of 9 or 10 Blood Pheasants rushing around the forest above us, and crossing the road, standing in the middle of the road looking dumb and we even watched one bird rushing back across the road, up the slope and calling back to me from a tree stump right above us. Wow! There was literally a ‘transfusion of Blood Pheasants’ – a collective noun we made up for the show we had just witnessed. I can’t tell you how relieved I felt in that moment, but there’s always another pressure bird to find on a Sichuan tour. So up we drove to my nuthatch spot and had the best picnic breakfast so far, with everyone more than satisfied with the near-gourmet offerings. Afterwards we hung around waiting to see if any nuthatches would have the good grace to give themselves up easily – well no is the answer. 

Three-banded Rosefinch

Possibly even better was a bird perched right at the top of a conifer giving a call I didn’t recognise, and having worked hard on learning the calls I was most excited! Well, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I raised my bins and it turned out to be a male Three-banded Rosefinch – HOLY COW!!  I usually get a bit animated when its something good and probably made some incoherent and inherently unprofessional shout involving a blasphemous statement but who cares? Then a female appeared and an immature male as well, and they kept flying over the road and then returned moments later to land in the trees right above us. Oh yes baby!! 

Mengbishan Pass - in the rain!

From here we drove up higher and it was at this point that the weather deteriorated a little and we had some light drizzle which didn’t really hamper our birding as we had a covey of 5 Verreaux’s Monal-partridges (isn’t Chestnut-throated partridge a better name?) running along the side of the road, some Pink-rumped and White-browed Rosefinches, Himalayan Bluetail and others. But the weather got worse and we decided to drive up to the summit and wait it out, but all I can say is the coffee was the highlight. So we drove down several kilometres and huddled around a fire and ate noodles in a room that is used by the roadworkers. A very surreal hour was spent, listening to Monty Python and 80’s music (oh yes it was Ernie – the Fastest Milkman in the West) and having the tastiest noodles in the world – whilst the heavens opened outside. 

White-browed Fulvetta

Grey-headed Bullfinch

But the weather abated and we were able to walk a lovely little trail that often turns up some odd birds. At the start we had a male Daurian Redstart and male Slaty-backed Flycatcher around the Tibetan prayer flags, and then found our one and only Slaty-blue Flycatcher. A White-browed Fulvetta came into the owlet-call and was a nice surprise amongst the numerous phylloscs and Rufous-vented and Sichuan Tits – it looks nothing like the usual races I’m more familiar with and its got a dark eye…?!. In fact it was quite productive along here and it would have been nice to get a view on one of the several Chinese Song Thrushes singing away, but it was not to be. 

Tiger Shrike

As we returned to the coach, John spotted a shrike in the meadow which turned out to be a cracking Tiger Shrike in full breeding plumage. A real scorcher of a bird and something to definitely get excited about. Our last session along a quiet valley gave us great looks at White-throated Dipper, lots of Elliotts Laughingthrushes, but not much else so we headed to the hotel in good time for our evening meal.

Prayer Flags at Mengbi Shan

Tibetan Prayer Wheels at Mengbi Shan

Rilong to Mengbi Shan

We had the luxury of a 6am breakfast in the restaurant before checking out a few sites close to Rilong, and which turned out to be an extremely pleasant few hours. Around some conifers we saw Goldcrest, Bar-tailed Treecreeper, plenty of warblers, and best of all a pair of superb Crested Tit-warblers that gave very nice views. 

Streaked Rosefinch (female)

Along the road we saw several Common Rosefinches, as well as a single Streaked Rosefinch that literally dwarfed its commoner cousins and was clearly a third bigger again. With the sun shining and wonderful scenery as always in Sichuan we set off on our Black-browed Tit hunt which was only successful for Trevor and I, and I have no idea why the pair we saw shot off down the slope never to be seen again. 

Rufous-bellied Woodpeckers

So we left on the 5 hour drive to Mengbi Shan, passing through quaint Tibetan-style villages along the way and at one of which we enjoyed a delicious lunch. 

Mengbi Shan

It was mid afternoon by the time we made it to the mountain and in bright sunshine there wasn’t much singing at all, so we made the best of it with nice views of White-browed and Pink-rumped Rosefinches, Rufous-vented Tits, White-bellied Redstart and our first Collared Grosbeaks. 

Collared Grosbeak

As we watched a pair of these huge birds at least 3 Sichuan Jays emerged from the slope below us and clambered around the conifers, at one stage being chased off by the grosbeaks. 

Sichuan Jays

Unbelievable! I spent two whole days last year searching this site for these very special endemics, and we had nailed them within the first half an hour of arriving here. In fact we enjoyed repeated views of them for a long time before they flew up the hill and out of sight. 

So a great start to our time on Mengbi Shan and with a whole day tomorrow I’m hoping we can do quite well….Weather permitting…

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!