China: Wuyuan - Emei Feng

We returned to the Xinjiang River early doors and gave it one last shot at Short-tailed Parrotbill. It was a beautiful clear, sunny day and there was much more birdsong and activity but alas no parrotbills. We only had a short time here before our 6 hour drive to Emei Feng so walked quickly to the bamboo area but all we had to show for our efforts were a flock of Grey-chinned Minivets and a flock of Black-throated Bushtits. So we returned to the coach, had a picnic breakfast during which a group of Scaly-sided Mergansers flew over the bridge.

We then spent most of the day driving to Emei Feng, arriving at 4.00pm and drove slowly around the fields and bamboo area with the best bird being a male Silver Pheasant, plus a few Mandarin Ducks and Collared Finchbills. But we were all excited for our full day on the mountain tomorrow.

China: Wuyuan

Today was just one of those days that thankfully doesn’t happen very often. We had a light drizzle until 1.00pm which hampered our birding considerably. We visited another site where I have seen Short-tailed Parrotbill in the past but we had no such luck today and, in fact, bird activity was very low. We began just after 7.00am with a very grey and overcast dawn and a Steijneger’s Stonechat and Crested Kingfisher, whilst a flock of Grey-headed Parrotbills just about gave us the slip as they moved across the top of a hill above us. We tried numerous spots here for the parrotbill without getting any response and didn’t see many birds at all. During short breaks in the weather we saw Chinese Bamboo-Partridge, very brief Chinese Hwamei and Grey-sided Scimitar-Babbler, a few flocks of Huet’s Fulvetta, White-crowned Forktail and that was about it. At 10.30am we left and headed back to the Pied Falconet site where we had lunch but no falconet. Afterwards a few snickers bars were consumed and whilst enjoying our chocolate a cute little Pied Falconet appeared at the top of a tall tree right in front of us. What a little beauty and a bird I wouldn’t have been too pleased to dip on! Buoyed by our success (well sort of!) we set out to a forest where Steven had seen Asian Stubtail in the past. It was a nice area of mature, deciduous forest beside a sluggish river where Mandarin Ducks loafed. In the field across the river a flock of Greater and a few Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrushes were scoped, an Eastern Buzzard flew over and a White-crowned Forktail picked its way along the bank. We heard an Asian Stubtail late in the day as we walked back to the coach but it failed to show and by now the light was fading and it was time to call it  day....

China: Wuyuan - Xinjiang River

Well thankfully there wasn’t any wind and we had a cracking morning’s birding – in fact far better than I could have anticipated. We drove to the Xinjiang River at 6.30am arriving shortly after 7.00am and as Steven prepared our field breakfast we stood on the bridge and scanned the surrounding area. Initially we had to content ourselves with a flock of 6 Yellow-browed Buntings feeding below us – outrageous! And then the ‘Boonmeister’ picked up the key target for this morning, a cracking Scaly-sided Merganser feeding far upriver. 

Scaly-sided Merganser by Steven An

As we kept looking a few more birds were seen, but all females and we wanted a drake! So after a great breakfast we walked up the side of the river and got much closer to the mergansers, including at least 4 drakes. We had great scope views although not close enough for decent photos, but we were all extremely happy to have got THE bird so easily. And there were quite a few Mandarin Ducks along the river, as well as Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker, Plumbeous Water-Redstart, Vinous-throated Parrotbill, Masked Laughingthrush, Eurasian Jay, Grey Treepie, Olive-backed Pipits, Collared Finchbill and Chestnut Bulbul. 

Collared Finchbills

Masked Laughingthrush

After hearing a flock moving in a nearby valley we took a narrow trail to try and get a look but it was very frustrating, apart from brief looks at a Fork-tailed Sunbird we heard quite a few new trip birds including a Collared Owlet. So we returned to the road and had more mergansers (we counted 15 in total), and then some of the group got on a calling Chinese Hwamei. A little further along and a Grey-sided Scimitar-Babbler showed briefly, but a pair of Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babblers showed very well. Walking back to the bridge, Derek spotted a pair of Long-billed Plovers before we had a coffee break.

Then we walked along the other side of the river into a narrow, enclosed valley. A few drops of rain didn’t deter us and in the shelter of some dense bushes and bamboo we had our first looks at the common Huet’s Fulvetta with a large flock feeding right beside to us in the bushes. Then a group of Greater Necklaced Laughingthrushes came in close for a look at us, along with a few Grey Treepies. A Dusky Fulvetta sang back at my iPod and perched out in the open, along with a Rufous-capped Babbler, Pallas’s Warbler and a couple of Grey Treepies. 

As we watched the fulvettas, one of those magical moments that happen once in a blue moon, well... happened. My most wanted bird suddenly popped up and showed to some of the group - but not me. The almost, near-mythical  Moustached Laughingthrush was there in the dense bamboo being seen by, well by all of the group except me. I was off to one side and didn't want to move for fear of spooking this crippler. Oh you just have to look at the pictures in the field guide to see how stunning it is. It's image is seared into my brain from some near misses in the past and by drooling over photos of the beast from other lucky, lucky observers. It's extremely skulking, usually silent at this time of year, very shy and not seen that often by visiting tour groups. Derek was doing a grand job getting everyone on it but my heart was sinking fast. So what would you do huh? I couldn't move and I only hoped the birds would move a little in my direction..... Fortunately they did (it was a pair) and gave crippling views for the next 20 minutes within 5 - 6 metres of us, even circling us and showing (eventually) incredibly well. So well in fact that I managed to fire off a few shots...

Moustached Laughingthrush - oh yes baby...!

We were also searching for Short-tailed Parrotbill and kept trying but had no luck (where are they..?) but it was now around 1.30pm so returned to the bus and drove into town for a quick noodle lunch. Then we headed to the Pied Falconet stakeout but the weather had deteriorated and it was a ‘no show’ from them in the poor weather, although a White-crowned Forktail was a little compensation. And that was our day.

China: Poyang Hu - Wuyuan

At breakfast we watched some starlings outside the restaurant, along with Daurian Redstart, Black-faced Bunting and a Red-flanked Bluetail, whilst some White-rumped Munias were seen in the hotel grounds. We then drove a couple of hours to a strip of woodland amidst some stubble fields where we spent the next half an hour trying to get views of Yellow-browed Bunting, which eventually fell to everyone. Yellow-throated (Elegant) Buntings were numerous here and we’d now brought out bunting tally up to 12 species. 

Elegant (Yellow-throated) Bunting

There were lots of Black-faced and some Rustic & Little Buntings here as well, along with 6+ Red-flanked Bluetails, Brambling and Scaly-breasted Munia. Flocks of Taiga Bean Geese were out in the fields, along with our first Black-winged Stilts. Moving on from here to Nanjishan, another area of the vast Poyang Hu Reserve and we saw huge numbers of birds it was incredible. Just driving along we saw 30+ Eurasian Bitterns, and also roadside Buff-bellied and Red-throated Pipits. Lagoons along the road held hundreds of Greylag Geese, Trumpeter Swans, several Swan Geese, Ferruginous Duck and other common waterfowl. 

Swan Goose

Tundra Swan and Greylags

Tundra Swans

After lunch we checked out the huge lake behind the town and we were all in agreement it was “amazeballs”. There must have been almost a thousand Whiskered Terns here, with some still retaining their breeding plumage, plus a couple of White-winged Terns were spotted as well. Two Siberian Cranes were present, along with a flock of Bar-tailed Godwits, a flock of Pied Avocets, hundreds of Spotted Redshanks, Mongolian Gull, hundreds of Black-headed Gulls, another flock of Swan Geese and incredibly 360 Oriental Storks. But by now it was after 3.00pm and we had a 350km drive to Wuyuan so we drove back the same way, stopping a few times to check the ducks and get one last look at Swan Geese before finally ending a cracking days birding Gromit.

China: Poyang Hu

Still had the strong winds and a little rain today and the birding proved to be a struggle really. But we still saw 4 species of crane: Common, Hooded, White-naped and a family of Siberian this morning – so not too shabby. 

Hooded Cranes

With the wind making birding difficult we had to persevere and our first stop saw a few of us walking across some stubble fields where we put up a Japanese Quail, along with numerous Little and Black-faced Buntings, I mean hundreds of them and it really was quite a spectacle. A flock of over 30 Chinese Penduline-Tits was also pretty impressive here as well. We also saw more Buff-bellied Pipits, Oriental Greenfinch and lots of Eurasian Skylarks, plus our first Richard’s Pipit on the track as well. Around an abandoned building we stopped the bus when a flock of Chinese Grosbeaks was seen and further scrutiny revealed White-browed and Masked Laughingthrushes, Brown Crake and yet more buntings. Our next stop to view a large congregation of White-cheeked Starlings also revealed some Red-billed Starlings, Bramblings, more grosbeaks, Red-flanked Bluetail and a Brown-flanked Bush-Warbler. We had lunch in the nearby city that consisted of burgers, fries and ice-cream before checking out some fields where a Collared Crow had been reported. Unfortunately no crows and the only new bird was a pair of Ruddy Shelducks, but some Black-collared Starlings were new for a few of the group who had missed them earlier in the trip.