We spent all day birding the Dongzhai area, mainly in the nature reserve. We commenced the day in the Reeve's Phesasant hide at 06:00. Our walk to the hide produced three fly-over
Asian Crested Ibis which were seen rather too briefly. Settling into the hide which cost 50 yuan per person, we watched the comings and goings of
Vinous-breasted Parrotbill and
White-rumped Munia and had an intimate window into the world of
Oriental Turtle-dove which were feeding on the grain put out for the pheasants. Everything seemed very quiet and there was little to be seen. Then, at around 07:00 a stunning male
Reeve's Pheasant wandered through the clearing in front of the hide, displayed a little and then disappeared back into the forest. The display consisted of the bird standing on top of a rock and flapping its wings loudly in a similar manner to Common Pheasant in the UK. The sound generated is fairly loud and at close range almost sounds like the thudding of a Chinook helicopter. What an amazing bird with a beautiful golden plumage, scaled black with a rich rufous breast spotted white, a black and white head pattern and a stunning 2m long tail. Leaving the hide we birded down the track back to the vehicle getting brief views of a
Mugimaki Flycatcher as it sung from the tree tops. We then headed to Linshang where Birdquest and others have seen Reeve's Pheasant and Fairy Pitta but the situation at the site seems to have changed with no access for our vehicle and only golf buggies ferrying people to a temple so we abandoned and headed back to the nature reserve where we birded a steep forested trail until lunchtime seeing relatively little but for
Yellow-rumped Fycatcher,
Yellow-browed Warbler,
Yellow-bellied Tit,
Japanese White-eye,
Black-thoated Tit and
Olive-backed Pipit. We headed back to the hotel for lunch and had our first siesta of the trip in the heat of the day.
Male Reeve's Pheasant - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Male Reeve's Pheasant - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Male Reeve's Pheasant - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Male Reeve's Pheasant - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Male Reeve's Pheasant - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Vinous-breasted Parrotbill - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Oriental Turtle-dove - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Demoiselle species - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Collared Crow in the rice paddies outside of Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Incense - Linshang
Siberian Weasel - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Speckled Piculet - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Fritillary species - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Apollo species - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Admiral species - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Admiral species - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Yellow-rumped Flycatcher - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Great Tit of subspecies artatus - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
After our siesta we birded a little outside the hotel where
Azure-winged Magpie and
Brown-rumped Minivet showed well. We then spent a little while driving the rice paddies outside of the reserve looking for Asian Crested Ibis but with no luck and so we headed back into the forest and back to the pheasant hide. We watched the love life of
Oriental Turtle-dove from the hide but had no luck with the pheasant, we decided to leave by 16:00 to look for the final remaining target of the site - Fairy Pitta. We headed onto a branch of the trail that we had birded in the morning chasing a reported Fairy Pitta but we had no luck and saw little but for
Oriental Scop's-owl in a pot erected for nesting birds and heard Reeve's Pheasant displaying very close by. We decided it was probably a little early in the year for the Fairy Pitta as the species is a migrant arriving in early May and we felt we were probably just a little too early for the bird. After dinner we did a little half hearted owling and we saw distant
Northern Boobook and heard at least five others. After dinner we crashed at around 22:00 ready for our final few hours birding in the morning in this part of China.
Asian Azure-winged Magpie - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Black-throated Tit - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Brown-rumped Minivet - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Oriental Turtle-dove - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Blue Whistling-thrush - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
In the Reeve's Pheasant hide - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
In the Reeve's Pheasant hide - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Birding in the Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Oriental Scops-owl - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Song of Yellow-rumped Flycatcher - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Song of Western Koel - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Calls of flock of Brown-rumped Minivet - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Calls of Northern Boobook - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
Amazing chorus of Cicada recorded at around midday - Dongzhai Nature Reserve
