Before heading out into the field today we headed to a local eatery and enjoyed steamed dumplings and dumpling soup for breakfast. We then headed to an area of forest to the south of Wuyuan known as Kengkou which I had last visited on
11th November 2016. We birded the forest trail here until around 10:30. The highlight, and main target, was a flock of three
Short-tailed Parrotfinch which I had failed to see last visit. These fantastic little birds eventually showed down to around five metres as they moved hyperactively through the understorey and fed upon bamboo stems. The forest was fairly dense scrub and bamboo and the birding was fairly tough going but in our time here we recorded
Grey-cheeked (Fujian) Fulvetta,
Dusky Fulvetta,
Rufous-capped Babbler,
Rufous-tailed Robin in song,
Pale-legged Leaf-warbler and
Chestnut Bulbul. Heading out of the forest towards the bridge
over the Le'an River we spent some time scanning here but recorded little but for
Plain Prinia and
Brown Crake, the water levels were exceedingly high and hence there was no riverine gravel to check for Long-billed Plover and much of the riparian scrub was flooded.
Short-tailed Parrotbill - Kengkou, Wuyuan
Short-billed Parrotbill - Kengkou, Wuyuan
Short-billed Parrotfinch calls
- Kengkou, Wuyuan
Searching for Short-billed Parrotbill in the bamboo
Chinese Pond Heron - Kengkou, Wuyuan
Red-rumped Swallow - Kengkou, Wuyuan
Red-rumped Swallow - Kengkou, Wuyuan
Dusky Fulvetta song - Kengkou, Wuyuan
Chinese Hwamei song - Kengkou, Wuyuan
Black-throated Tit - Kengkou, Wuyuan
Rufous-tailed Robin - Kengkou, Wuyuan
Brown Crake - Kengkou, Wuyuan
Kengkou, Wuyuan
Kengkou, Wuyuan
The River Li'an at Kengkou, Wuyuan
We headed towards the small village of Haikou to the south-west of Wuyuan where we had lunch at a local restaurant before heading to their rooftop. Here, a party of around 25
Blue-crowned Laughingthrush showed exceptionally well from the roof-top hide where six Chinese photographers had gathered with their large lenses to photograph these birds. We enjoyed a few hours on the roof top watching the birds foraging in their chosen tree and saw birds socialising, nest building and a single bird seemed to be incubating in a Ginkgo tree. It was great to see these rare birds at such close range and to experience their part of their day to day lives. At 50 yuan per head the house was clearly making some reasonable money from these birds which can only be a good thing for awareness of the species and bird conservation in general.
Blue-crowned Laughingthrush - Haikou, Wuyuan
Blue-crowned Laughingthrush - Haikou, Wuyuan
Blue-crowned Laughingthrush - Haikou, Wuyuan
Blue-crowned Laughingthrush - Haikou, Wuyuan
Blue-crowned Laughingthrush - Haikou, Wuyuan
Blue-crowned Laughingthrush - Haikou, Wuyuan
Blue-crowned Laughingthrush - Haikou, Wuyuan
Blue-crowned Laughingthrush - Haikou, Wuyuan
Blue-crowned Laughingthrush on nest in Ginkgo biloba tree- Haikou, Wuyuan
We spent the remaining couple of hours driving back to the hotel and birding a short forested track outside of Wuyuan but saw little but for
Plain-crowned Jay,
Brown Shrike and
Grey-cheeked (Fujian) Fulvetta. With the rain starting to fall once more we headed for our hotel and were back by 16:45 in time for a productive faff before dinner at 19:00.
Brown Shrike of subspecies cristatus - Wuyuan
Links to Other Days of the Trip (Click to View)
Day 1 and 2 – International flight and Dongtai.
Day 3 - Dongtai.
Day 4 – Dongtai and Magic Wood.
Day 5 - Nanhui then fly to Fuzhou.
Day 6 - Shanutan Island and Fuzhou Forest Park.
Day 7 - Fuzhou Forest Park then Emeifeng Mountain.
Day 8 - Emeifeng Mountain.
Day 9 - Emeifeng Mountain.
Day 10 - Emeifeng Mountain then Wuyuan.
Day 12 – Drive Wuyuan to Dongzhai.
Day 13 - Dongzhai.
Day 14 – Dongzhai then fly Wuhan to Korlor.
Day 15 – Taklamakan Desert.
Day 16 – Taklamakan Desert then Urumqi.
Day 17 and 18 – Nanshan in the Tien Shan Mountains then fly Beijing. International flight.
