The Pull of the Far East...(19 July)

OK, so tonight I leave for the Far East once more; so after a month at home in Ecuador (where I managed to pick up a lifer Stygian Owl-see below-despite almost no birding through illness), I am heading back to the Orient, though this time to "new shores": Sulawesi and Halmahera in Indonesia. 

As I never really finished off my China blogging (because of illness), here are some highlights from my final time in China in June...

We spent the end of the China tour in the vast, under-populated, province of Qinghai. In just a few days there we racked up a total of six different snowfinches (Blanford's, Henri's, White-rumped, Black-winged, Rufous-necked, and Pere David's Snowfinches), including all six in one morning! Along with this stellar cast, we picked up Qinghai's most famous avian resident: Przevalski's Rosefinch, which is in its own family of the same name. The short scrubby slope where it was found also yielded Brown Accentor and Robin Accentors. 

Up near Rubber Mountains Pass we found a nesting pair of White-winged Redstart, while on the Gobi Desert-like plains of Chaka beyond, we found the striking Mongolian Ground-Jay, which was as interesting in flight as it was on the ground, with its spectacular pied wing pattern. These flats also yielded double figures of Pallas's Sandgrouse one morning, as party after party passed low overhead. A little further afield, on the far side of Chaka, we birded a craggy valley, which was exceptional for partridges, producing three different species: Przevalski's, Tibetan and Daurian Partridges, as well as Wallcreeper, a spanking breeding male Pine Bunting, and a solitary Himalayan Snowcock. Back on the Tibetan Plateau we admired Bar-headed Geese in good numbers, a Tibetan Fox terrorising a pika colony, and a roadside Little Owl that had chosen to nest in a road sign.

We returned to the city of Xining for a final night, afterwhich John, Ken, and I (who were heading out on later flights), birded a mountain overlooking the city (Beishan). This was a superb morning's birding, with nearly half a dozen or so Pale Rosefinches found around the deserted farm buildings, lots of Ring-necked Pheasants "crowed" from the hillsides, and Meadow Buntings seemed to pop up from every bush, (a lifebird no less). We also came upon a couple of pairs of Pere David's Laughingthrushes too. A great time to end my recent tour of China. I am already missing the food of both Sichuan (which is rightly world famous), and Qinghai (which is strangely not famous at all), and, of course, the birds; I hope I am back again next spring!

Reports to come from Asia again, very soon...

City Life....ECUADOR (13-14 July)

I went into the doctors late last week expecting to pick up a prescription for some pills, and then leave. However, I went in with a gall bladder and came out without one, (plus some pills of course)! This was a little unexpected, and so my weekend of heavy work planned in prep. for my upcoming trip to Indonesia had to be abandoned for "rest" (=boredom). Luckily, some UK birders changed the face of my weekend when they walked into Quito's botanical gardens, and noticed a large brown shape sitting prominently, which turned out to be none other than a STYGIAN OWL! Luckily for me they were not the only ones in the park that day, and noticing a man with a birding t-shirt on, they informed him of the owl. This happened to be resident birder Roger Ahlman, who then put the word out online. Ironically, I heard from Andrew Spencer (who had picked up Roger's post), who was in Colorado at the time! The modern web of information! No matter though, news that there was a Stygian Owl sitting in the open, ten minutes from my "sickbed" was too much to bare; I mean, how can a birder rest knowing of this news! I soon got in contact with fellow Tropical Birder and good friend Jose Illanes and we were soon racing towards the park, with one pair of bins to share between the three of us (Jose, his girlfriend Cathy, and me), as there had been little time to gather things in the ensuing panic. 

As we entered the well-manicured gardens I relayed the directions to Jose, who quickly declared "I've got it!" And there it sat all day long, while birders turned up to pay their respects, locals played football noisily in the park alongside, and children came to get their faces painted in full view of this very unconcerned owl! 

Then I bumped into first the finders of the owl, who had news of an even rarer find: an American Pygmy-Kingfisher in the gardens too (totally bizarre in the highlands of Quito at 2800m, as this is normally an Amazonian species), and I soon found myself watching this handsome little kingfisher with Roger Ahlman. It had been a strange and bizarre day, with one lifer, and one very unexpected vagrant kingfisher.

I returned there today with Iain Campbell, and although he said the kingfisher was around, in my short visit (due to recuperation duties I have right now), I did not see it. However, the owl was sitting pretty and was even more open than yesterday, much to my pleasure and many local people's too, who enjoyed the use of our binoculars and seeing the photos of the bird on our camera screens. A weekend, and week to remember for so many reasons!

Jiuzhaigou Part II...CHINA (3rd June)

After some long hikes, and some frustrations the day before within this popular, well-regulated, park, our man on the ground Frank, (a legend in his own lifetime by virtue of the phenomenal food provided by him throughout the tour, whether it be in or out of the field; AND his ability to negotiate around some of the trickiest issues when birding in China-i.e. roadblock and the like), rustled up a private vehicle for us within Jiuzhaigou for the day. This led to my best day of birding of birding within the park in all my 6 visits to the area. We started by heading up to the highest point within the park, Long Lake (3150m/10,300ft). Although this area is very popular among tourists, for the amazing views over this scenic lake, which is surrounded by peaks capped with white tops, and draped on their lower slopes by tall pine forests, the first buses were not due until later, and so we enjoyed some time alone (bar some staff setting up their stalls for the day). However, before we had even reached the end of the road, which terminates at the lake, a large blue shape at the road verge, caused us to call the bus to sudden halt: Blue Eared-Pheasant. In the ensuing panic to get the bus manoeuvred into position so all could see the bird well enough, the bus driver backed the vehicle into a stone wall! Amazingly, the driver merely laughed at this, his pride a little crumpled like the bumper, and then re-positioned the vehicle. Unfortunately  by that point the bird had retreated back into the pines, so we got out and surveyed the grassy slope, in the forlorn hope of finding it again, only to witness the bird scamper out from cover and cross a broad, open patch of grass in full view of all of us!

Once we reached Long Lake, several attempts were needed to persuade the shy Snowy-cheeked (Sukatschev's) Laughingthrush to show to us, the third individual tried with remarkable success for a notoriously shy bird. We got it just in time before the first large batch of tourists arrived for the day, which was our queue to leave for lower elevations....This largely meant a revisit to the "Robin Valley" on the hunt for the elusive, though handsome, Rufous-headed Robin. This bird has currently just one known breeding site, (this narrow valley), which boasts only around 4-5 territories. The bird's presence was quickly confirmed though, through its rich, almost nightingale-like song, but over several hours we got only frustration as a few glimpsed the bird, but none with full satisfaction. Finally, after lunch and not a lot else, we went for a walk deeper into the woods, where, amazingly, a male hopped onto an open trail in front of us, and allowed us all more than respectable views as it remained there for a few treasured minutes!

Our next stop was a scenic one within the Rize Valley - at Pearl Shoales - an absolutely dramatic set of interlinked cascades, many of which have tall trees growing out of the water within them. We weaved our way past the Buddhist prayers flags, and joined the crowds admiring a very special landscape indeed, where we were sidetracked by the odd bird too, such as White-throated Dipper, White-capped Dipper, and even a male Rufous-bellied Niltava just off the official trail.

Finally, we rounded out the day with Maroon-backed Accentor, a group of Three-banded Rosefinches, and the odd male Vinaceous Rosefinch at the Primeval Forest.

 The next day we were to traverse the Tibetan Plateau en-route to the Tibetan town of Maerkang. A long, though bird-packed day...

The Long March...CHINA (2nd June)

This was the first of two days for us in Jiuzhaigou National Park, in northern Sichuan. This park, designated as both a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a World Biosphere Reserve, consists of a number of dramatic valleys dotted with Tibetan villages, which lend to its name "Valley of Nine Villages". As a birder, traveling to this park presents its own challenges: the park does not open until 07.00am (well after dawn), and your movements within the park are restricted by having to use the large park buses. Although, us birders, do get frustrated by these rules, it is hard not to see why they are necessary, when they can get over a million visitors in a single year. Still, the valley remains poorly known to western tourists, strangely, in spite of its extraordinary beauty, it is rare to see western tourists in the park, which are outnumbered massively by Chinese, Japanese and Korean tourists.

Our regular way of getting around the park rules, is to track down a local driver who will drop us off at places between the official bus stops, or take us up to some of the official areas before the first park buses, and tourists, arrive. This has worked well over the past 5 years for us, but came unraveled on this day, when our man on the ground, Frank, simply could not find anyone willing to do this. (Although, while he was looking we did find a Spectacled Fulvetta beside the large LCD screen at the park entrance!). What this meant for us was, we had to undertake our very own "Long March", and head 4km up the road to a narrow valley where we'd hoped to find the park's rarest bird: Rufous-headed Robin. As we walked up towards the "Robin Valley" we managed to find some interesting birds though: more Daurian Redstarts (one of which was actually hopping along the high-tech ticket barrier as we entered the park); our first angry Sooty Tits (an endemic species); and an aggressive  Chinese Nuthatch, which took particular exception to hearing another nuthatch in its territory.

After spending considerable time in the narrow valley searching for the elusive Rufous-headed Robin, only a few of us who were positioned at the front of the line, (Dixie and I, mainly), got a good look (or indeed any look) at the robin, and so we vowed to return the next day. So, we dropped down lower in the valley and walked around one of the myriad scenic lakes in the valley, where we found several parties of the endemic Spectacled Parrotbill hiding in the reeds, and, finally, found a Pere David's Laughingthrush on the dry scrubby hillside above our hotel in the town, to round out the day later on.

While we had endured some frustrations, (the long march, the robin etc.), we had added some key new birds, and I relished another day, and more challenges, in Jiuzhaigou to come the next day...

REAL Pheasants...CHINA (1st June)

Leaving Chengdu at the crack of dawn we hunkered down in the van, and prepared for the Long Drive north into Tibetan country. Our destination was to be the bustling tourist Mecca of Jiuzhaigou, although we planned some stops en-route. Lunch in Songpan, one of the key stop off places on Mao's famous Long March, was interesting for the variety of Yak elements on offer to eat, such as these rows of Yak testicles for sale. For the group at least, they remained unsold!

After lunch we began scouring the agricultural fields which were being toiled in by many a Tibetan going about their daily business. Accompanying them were a fair number of Ring-necked (Common) Pheasants, here in their native home looking more appealing than some other places I have seen them over the years.

Finally, we rose up to the pass, Gong Gang Ling, where a passing flock alerted us to the presence of a pair of Crested Tit-Warblers foraging within the tall spruce trees. Down lower, near ground level, Chinese White-browed Rosefinches, a cerulean-backed male Himalayan Bluetail, and a blue-and-orange Slaty-backed Flycatcher provided an eye-catching supporting cast to avian events. As ever a merry band of leaf-warblers was also present, with Buff-barred, Greenish, and Sichuan Leaf-Warblers all present that chilly afternoon.

At the end of the day we checked into our Jiuzhaigou hotel, and readied ourselves for our first foray into the park of the same name the next day...

Back to Chengdu...CHINA (31st May)

A final morning was spent on the mountain, mixing it up between the upper and lower slopes of Longcanggou. We began lower down in an area where a new road penetrates through pines and mixed broadleaf trees. We hit another flock there which, like a few days earlier, held Red-tailed Minla and male Ultramarine Flycatcher. Likewise we also saw another Slaty Bunting, although this time a female. A new addition to the mobbing flock of passerines attracted to my Collared Owlet tape was a Chestnut-crowned Warbler, one of the few from this group (seicercus warblers) that are easily identified on sight, rather than the need for sound.

Higher up the road, we, again, bumped into a small group of Temminck's Tragopan chicks scuttling off the side of the road, but, best of all, found a Little Forktail foraging alongside a small waterfall. Over a field lunch prepared meticulously by Frank, our man in Sichuan, which comprised of Chinese noodles, seasoned with chili oil, sesame oil and Chinese vinegar, we were visited by a pair of Great Parrotbills, and a confiding Brown Bush-Warbler sang alongside.

Next stop Chengdu, then on to Gong Gang Ling and Jiuzhaigou...

Tragopanlets...CHINA (29-30 May)

Two further, full, days were spent birding the slopes of Longcanggou, south of Chengdu, in Sichuan province. This site has risen to more prominence in recent years as a stand-in site for the now closed Wawu Shan. So, where birders would search for bush-warblers, parrotbills, and a host of regional specialities (e.g. Emei Leaf-Warbler, Emei Liocichla etc.) on neighbouring Wawu Mountain, now Longcanggou has adopted the mantle.

The first of these days dawned wet, and surprisingly chilly for the southern shans, with the best activity coming from late in the morning onwards into the afternoon. A migrant male Tiger Shrike was found lurking in the forest, and we caught up with the odd Great Parrotbill, in exactly the place it wasn't the day before, but was the year before! In the afternoon, after a male Chinese Blue Flycatcher required some "going in" to extract views of it from within the thick bamboo; I noted a new road that had built through a mix of broadleaf and coniferous trees, ironically, as part of a re-forestation programme. 

This looked promising and so we walked down, flanked by conifer plantations on the one side and the rich and varied greens of a broadleaf woodland in springtime, on the other. The conifers produced the first blood though, with the high-pitched song of a male Slaty Bunting giving its position away to us. Further down the road, we adopted the well-worn tactic of playing the recording of a Collared Owlet to try and stir up the various passerines (songbirds) calling in the area. This worked best on this occasion than at any other time on the trip, (which never yielded the owl though). Long-tailed Minivets and Yellow-browed Tits were typically quick to react, rising to the tops of the trees and calling angrily. However, then the same canopy area was quickly alive with other, less predictable, visitors:  a lone Green Shrike-Babbler appeared just before a pair of Red-tailed Minla (a shock lifer for me) popped up too, closely followed by a Blue-winged Minla too, and then, the biggest surprise of all, an ivory-and-cerulean blue male Ultramarine Flycatcher! Late in the day we did a bit of crosscountry to access a narrow, in-forest river, where we finally all got cracking looks at a Pygmy Cupwing (formerly Pygmy Wren-Babbler), a species which had been toying with us all day long.

For our final, full, day we again decided to hike up to the upper slopes. A short stop lower down though quickly produced a hoped-for, though never guaranteed, pair of Golden Parrotbill, the bird that the term cute was created for. Driving on up the road further, we again came across some Temminck's Tragopan chicks crossing the road, one of which lingered for just enough time to hear the sound of my camera shutter working overtime. Reaching the marsh at nearly 2450m, we quickly realised that the cloud had not yet descended and visibility was atypically good for the place, and therefore quickly pushed on further in the hope of finding a pair of Sichuan Treecreepers which I had found on my scouting trip to the site a year earlier. The treecreeper remained un-found; even after a treecreeper was found in the same area, it turned out to be the more widespread Hodgson's Treecreeper, though still a new trip bird for us. We lunched in the area, in the hope the rarer treecreeper might appear, taking in instant rice, a singing, and scoped, Large Hawk-Cuckoo, and a Black-faced Laughingthrush as we did so. Then we turned about face and began to head down, when the unmistakable trill of a Sichuan Treecreeper reached our ears. A little duel ensued before the bird teed itself on a near dead fir tree. It was a great achievement  as I had missed it on my actual tour there last year, at this very same spot, and made the five-mile round hike worthwhile. We descended, picking up a pair of Brown Parrotbills around the marsh as we did so...

We just had one, final, morning left at Longcanggou, before we would have to head back to Sichuan's capital, and move deep in Tibetan country...