South-east China - 3rd May (Day 13)

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

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 11 - Wuyuan.

Day 12 – Drive Wuyuan to 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.

South-east China - 29th April (Day 9)

We spent the entire day birding up and down the road at Emeifeng and, similarly, spent most of the day birding in rain or fog or both the conditions were pretty grim and the birding, in general, was fairly unproductive. The bus went down the road to try for Elliot’s Pheasant at the lower elevations while I decided to stay up the hill on my own and try for Cabot’s Tragopan. Cabot’s Tragopan was one of the main reasons I wanted to return to Emeifeng having dipped the species last time I was here in November 2016. I was dropped off at 05:30 and slowly birded up and down a short stretch of road in pretty much constant fog and rain. I saw little but was focusing my attention on the road rather than in the bushes. I followed a pair of Spotted Forktail down the road for a short way, they showed very well as they fed on the roadside in the gloom. On my second pass down the road a female Cabot’s Tragopan leaped from the ground layer vegetation 15m in front of me and ran across the road giving close but brief views. It was not until my fourth pass down the road at around 07:00 that I eventually came across a male Cabot’s Tragopan which came from vegetation only 10m from me and ran down the road and leaped into the forest alongside the road. I thought that would be all I would see of this bird but I played a recording and almost immediately the bird responded. I found a suitable location looking downslope and played the recording again. The Tragopan poked its head from behind a rock showing ita vivid red facial skin and the beautiful orange head plumes that form a V on the rear of the head. As the bird slowly moved around, through the undergrowth, I caught glimpses of the birds beautiful plumage, the upperparts being rich coppery brown densely populated with large buff blotches and with soft buff underparts. I heard a vehicle and below I could see that it was our bus with the others aboard. As they approached I waved them down and indicated that they needed to be queit and careful as they approached. Over the next 30 minutes or so we all obtained views of this stunning pheasant species but only Andy B managed to obtain decent photographs – this was definitely one of the most stunning birds I have seen. Oh, and the others had managed to see four Elliots Pheasant before coming back up the hill.

Cabot's Tragopan, digiscoped by Andy Bunting. More of Andy's photo's can be seen on his Flickr site here - Emeifeng Mountain

Spotted Forktail - Emeifeng Mountain

After breakfast we birded the trail which runs off the end of the main road and beyond the accommodation. It was thick fog with intermittent rain and the birding was fairly slow going but we encountered a few small feeding flocks mainly lead by Indochinese Yuhina and we recorded White-browed Shrike-babbler of the subspecies ricketti and a possible split as Grey-breasted Shrike-babbler, and Small Niltava new for the trip as well as Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush, Grey-cheeked Fulvetta (subspecies huetii), Streak-breasted Scimitar-babbler and Chestnut-crowned Warbler.

Butterfly species - Emeifeng Mountain

Moth species - Emeifeng Mountain

Chestnut-crowned Warbler - Emeifeng Mountain

After a welcome lunch of noodles and a chance to change out of wet clothes we headed downhill and birded a lower section of road, it was still raining and we saw relatively little. Red-rumped Swallow, House Swift and Pacific Swift fed overhead and we enjoyed the spectacular forest clad hillsides with wisps of water vapour rising from the valley bottoms. It looked dryer downhill and so we descended to the rice paddies and small holdings below. On the way down we flushed a male Elliot’s Pheasant which I saw briefly from the car so it was good to catch-up with this species for the trip. We birded this habitat in the hope of picking up a few buntings and other migrants. We recorded Little Bunting, White-rumped Munia, Oriental Turtle-dove, Chinese Hwamei, Masked Laughingthrush and White-crowned Forktail but little else and it was still raining. It was now 16:30 and we headed back up the mountain hoping to see more pheasants but in the couple of hours we spent we saw nothing but for a female Chesnut-bellied Rock-thrush near to the top. We retired for dinner and very welcome beers before crashing at 21:00.

Forest cladding the hillside of Emeifeng Mountain

Forest cladding the hillside of Emeifeng Mountain

Forest cladding the hillside of Emeifeng Mountain

The group in the rain on Emeifeng Mountain with, from left to right myself, Martin, Barry, Andy D, Ian, Volkert and Andy B

White-rumped Munia - Emeifeng Mountain

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 10 - Emeifeng Mountain then Wuyuan.
Day 11 - 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.

Western Ghats - 5th December (Day 11)

After clearing up in the Munnar area yesterday we headed off to Periyar Tiger Reserve a little earlier than planned and so by 06:30 we were on the road for the 90 kilometre journey with some birding on route. Our first stop was in an area of scrub and forest along the roadside on the Theni Bodimettu Road at an elevation of 790m the view was fantastic and it was still relatively cool at this time. We had a couple of target birds here and the first soon appeared when Jijo played a recording and a pair of smart Yellow-throated Bulbul flew in and proceeded to circle us. Next, a Grey-headed Bulbul, our second target, flew in and perched for all to see, its green plumage contrasting with its blue grey tail making for a distinctive appearance in flight. Also here were Loten’s Sunbird and White-rumped Munia. We continued the descent and near to the small village of Munthal we made another stop. It was far hotter here and we were now at an altitude of 420m and birded an area of acacia dominated scrub. We quickly found a Grey-bellied Cuckoo a species that breeds in the Himalayas and is a winter visitor to the area. A Pitta called from the scrub and playback soon produced stunning views of a superb pair of Indian Pitta perched at head height in the acacia scrub. Also here were a pair of Blue-faced Malkoha, Black-headed Cuckooshrike, Jungle Prinia, Oriental Honey Buzzard and Booted Eagle (both pale and dark phase). Travelling south-west through flat plains and through the town of Uttamapalayam it was a relief to see that we would be climbing once more into the hills and the relative cool to reach Periyar Tiger Reserve. We arrived at the Abad Forest Hotel in Kumily at lunchtime, checked in and had our now familiar buffet lunch of various delicious curries.

The hills at sunrise wast of Munnar

The hills at sunrise west of Munnar with a branch of the Anayirankal Dam

The town of Pooparra

The spectacular Theni Bodimettu Road

Nilgiri Jewel Fourring Ypthima striata on the Theni Bodimettu Road

Yellow-throated Bulbul, listed as Vulnerable and found only in Southern India - Theni 

Bodimettu Road

Loten's Sunbird - Theni Bodimettu Road

Grey-headed Bulbul, endemic to the Western Ghats - Theni Bodimettu Road

White-rumped Munia - Theni Bodimettu Road

Booted Eagle (pale phase) - Theni Bodimettu Road

Black-headed Cuckooshrike- Theni Bodimettu Road

Indian Pitta - Theni Bodimettu Road

Indian Pitta - Theni Bodimettu Road

Indian Pitta - Theni Bodimettu Road

We were out in the field again by 15:00 and headed for the Periyar Tiger Reserve entrance where we donned leach socks and were joined by two forest guards for our afternoon walk. The first bird was an actively calling Green Warbler (see recording below) which showed moderately well in the canopy. Next we took in a tree containing two Oriental Scop’s Owl well disguised high amongst the foliage of their chosen tree. We spent the rest of the afternoon in a small valley within the reserve at 900 metres. Here we recorded a number of new species. Flocks of Malabar Parakeet and Plum-headed Parakeet raced through the canopy. Grey-fronted Green Pigeons gave their rather peculiar rising and falling whistling songs from the treetops and Southern Hill Myna dominated the soundscape with their various rising and falling whistled calls. I spent a fair bit of time trying to get views of a small family party of Rufous Babbler but they were pretty elusive - I love Babblers, they have great character. As the sun began to set we positioned ourselves within the bottom end of the valley, a mixed group of Racket-tailed Drongo and the stunning White-bellied Treepie appeared and soon after, just as the light was dying, our main target, a flock of six of the endemic Wynadd Laughingthrush appeared. These birds perched in a low tree preening before going to their night time roost. We headed back to the hotel room and did the days log over a cold beer in our rooms (it is not permitted to drink alcohol in the hotel restaurant) before heading for dinner.

Coffee beans drying in the sun at Periyar Tiger Reserve

Oriental Scops-owl of subspecies rufipennis - Periyar Tiger Reserve

Brugmansia suaveolens, native to South America but widely naturalised - Periyar Tiger Reserve

Lady collecting wood - Periyar Tiger Reserve

 Periyar Tiger Reserve

Entrance to part of the Periyar Tiger Reserve

We spent the evening birding this small valley in the Periyar Tiger Reserve seeing many new species

White-cheeked Barbet - Periyar Tiger Reserve

Malabar Parakeet, confined to South-west India - Periyar Tiger Reserve

Malabar Parakeet, male - Periyar Tiger Reserve

Malabar Parakeet, female - Periyar Tiger Reserve

Green Warbler winters primariliy in the Western Ghats and on Sri Lanka, it appears to be more arboreal than Greenish Warbler - Periyar Tiger Reserve

Southern Hill Myna, confined to South-west India and Sri Lanka - Periyar Tiger Reserve

Rufous Babbler, endemic to South-west India- Periyar Tiger Reserve

 Birding at Periyar Tiger Reserve

The stunning White-bellied Treepie, endemic to the Western Ghats - Periyar Tiger Reserve

Right at the last few minutes of daylight and beyond the limits of a decent image this group of Wynadd Laughingthrush -  - Periyar Tiger Reserve

Here is the distinctive 'zilip' call of a Green Warbler recorded this afternoon at Periyar Tiger Reserve. The recording has a number of calls while the sonogram shows a single one of these calls. The pitch of the call ranges from around 3.8kHz to 7.8kHz (much as Greenish Warbler) but has at least four distinct elements to the call making it sound lesss clean and crucially the final note is distinct being upward inflected  ('zilip' and not 'chee-wee') finishing at around 6.3 kHz (downward inflected and finishing at 3.8kHz in Greenish Warbler). A recording and sonogram of Greenish Warbler can be heard/seen at the end of this post here.

This is a family party of Rufous Babbler active in the under scrub mainly foraging and interacting.



Links to Other Days of the Trip (Click to View)

• Day 1 – International flight from London Heathrow.
• Day 2 – Landed Chennai then flight to Port Blair. Birding on Andaman Islands PM.
• Day 3 – Andaman Islands.
• Day 4 – Andaman Islands.
• Day 5 – Andaman Islands.
• Day 6 – Travel day from Port Blair (Andaman Islands) to Ooty (Western Ghats). 
• Day 7 – Birding Ooty then on to Mudumalai. 
• Day 8 – Birding Mudumalai then drive back to Ooty.
• Day 9 – Birding Ooty and then drive to Munnar.
• Day 10 – Birding Munnar area.
• Day 12 – Periyar Tiger Reserve. 
• Day 13 – Drive from Kumily to Thattekkad.
• Day 14 – Thattekkad area. 
• Day 15 – Thattekkad area then travel to Chennai.
• Day 16 -  International flight.