South-east China - 30th April (Day 10)

We awoke once again to thick fog at the summit of Emeifeng but today without the wind or the rain which was somewhat of a relief. While packing bags Andy D was doing a little birding around the grounds of the accommodation and located a singing Hartert’s Leaf-warbler which eventually showed moderately well from the balcony of our rooms albeit that It was difficult to make out any colour in the foggy conditions. Andy D then found a singing White-spectacled Warbler just outside of our rooms which also showed well albeit in the fog. We loaded the bags onto the bus and headed down hill checking for Cabot’s Tragopan as we went. Being a holiday for the Chinese there were far more cars on the road and after a brief search we decided to have breakfast and get on the road towards Wuyuan, a drive of around eight hours.

Our accommodation in the fog clad Emeifeng Mountain

Song of Hartert's Leaf-warbler - Emeifeng Mountain

Hartert's Leaf-warbler showing near constant oscillating nature of song

Song of White-spectacled Warbler - Emeifeng Mountain

We arrived in Wuyuan at 15:30 and immediately visited a site for Blue-crowned Laughingthrush to the north of Wuyuan and just off the road to Qiukou at Meitian Zhou. We approached the site through small arable fields of rape, rocket, chilli and tobacco to a small island linked to the ‘mainland’ by a footbridge. Unfortunately, due to the recent heavy rains the footbridge was partly flooded and the last 50m or so was impassable so we viewed the island from the end of the bridge. Very quickly we picked up a small group of five Blue-crowned Laughingthrush feeding high up in the trees and while the views were a little distant we enjoyed reasonable views of these very rare laughingthrush. Blue-crowned Laughingthrush is Critically Endangered currently being known only from around Wuyuan, close to R Le’an, here stands of tall trees which are required for nesting remain. The total number of birds in this area is estimated to be 250–280 individuals.

Blue-crowned Laughingthrush - Meitian Zhou, Wuyuan

Swollen backwater of the Duanshen River - Meitian Zhou, Wuyuan

Watching Blue-crowned Laughingthrush in mature trees across the river

Graffiti on the underpass at Meitian Zhou reflected local scenes where Blue-crowned Laughingthrush featured heavily

We birded the general area for a short while seeing Brown-rumped Minivet, Grey-capped Woodpecker, Red-billed Blue Magpie, Plain-capped Jay and Masked Laughingthrush. We finished the day with a drive to the village of Xiao Qi which I had last visited on 11th November 2016 and headed to the top of one of the local restaurants. Here, we enjoyed views of up to five Pied Falconet showing very well and eating various butterflies and dragonflies. We ordered some beers and enjoyed the views from the roof and these fantastic little birds before heading to our hotel in Wuyuan.

Chinese Blackbird - Wuyuan

Red-billed Blue Magpie - Wuyuan

Masked Laughingthrush - Wuyuan

Oriental Turtle-dove - Wuyuan

Pied Falconet - Xiao Qi 

The crew at Xiao Qi, from left to right, Andy D, myself, Martin, Volkert, Ian, Barry and Andy B

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 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.

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.

South-east China - 28th April (Day 8)

We spent the entire day in dark, damp and drizzly conditions at Emeifeng today with the main targets being Elliot's Pheasant and Cabot's Tragopan. Elliot's Pheasant is, on paper, the most difficult species at Emeifeng and so we spent the morning looking for it although, having seen this previously at Emeifeng, my desire was to be looking for Cabot's Tragopan. Still, I stayed with the group and after breakfast at the lower edge of the forest and some birding here seeing Rufous-faced Warbler, Yellow-cheeked Tit, Black-throated Tit. and Masked Laughingthrush we did a couple of drives up and down the road for the pheasant but with no luck, we did see Chinese Bamboo Partridge and Silver Pheasant but little else. We then spent the rest of the day birding the mid-altitude zones seeing a moderate range of species including Red-headed Trogon, Great Barbet, Chestnut-bellied Rock-thrush, Indochinese Yuhina, Black-chinned Yuhina, Chestnut Bulbul, Black Bulbul, Rufous-faced Warbler, Golden-crowned Warbler, Speckled Piculet, White-bellied Erpornis, Grey-chinned Minivet and Sultan Tit. A male and two female Koklas Pheasant showed moderately well but briefly on the forested slope below the road and a single male was flushed from the road by the vehicle. A small gully produced a singing Spotted Elachura which showed very well as it crept about in the brash overhanging the stream that ran through its territory. Best of all though, a flyby thrush that Andy D thought may have been a Siberian Thrush seemed to land deep in the forest alongside the road. We scanned for a while then applied a little playback and Martin soon picked up a stunning male Siberian Thrush. The bird was feeding in the leaf litter deep in the undergrowth alongside the road giving good views until it flew and perched in full view allowing us all to study the slatey black plumage with pristine white supercilium - a stunning species.

The day was drawing to a close and so we headed up hill to the Tragopan zone and as we entered the prime area the driver spotted a male on one of the slopes above the road, some of those in the front of the bus had brief views of the bird but Ian, Barry and I failed to get onto the bird through the windows of the vehicle which were partly steamed and covered with rain - all I saw was a stone dislodged by the bird tumble down the slope. Rather annoyed by this, we headed back to the lodge for food and beer.

Chinese Bamboo Partridge - Emeifeng Mountain

Juvenile Black-cheeked Tit - Emeifeng Mountain

Yellow-cheeked Tit - Emeifeng Mountain

Yellow-cheeked Tit - Emeifeng Mountain

Rhododendron - Emeifeng Mountain

Rhododendron - Emeifeng Mountain

Mist covered hillside - Emeifeng Mountain

Chestnut-bellied Rock-thrush - Emeifeng Mountain

Sultan Tit - Emeifeng Mountain

Rather monotonous call of Sultan Tit - Emeifeng Mountain

Spotted Elachura. The species is the sole member of the recently recognised family Elachuridae - Emeifeng Mountain

This is the remarkable, high pitched, song of Spotted Elachura - Emeifeng Mountain

Grab of a section of Spotted Elachura song showing the simple song structure delivered at between 5.5 and 5.9 KHz

Indochinese Yuhina - Emeifeng Mountain

Montane forest at Emeifeng Mountain

Birding the montane forest at Emeifeng Mountain

Siberian Thrush, this superb bird is a first summer male with the retained wing feathers being browner than the body. This was one of the highlights of the trip for me - Emeifeng Mountain

Black Bulbul - 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 9 - 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.

South-east China - 27th April (Day 7)

As Fuzhou Forest Park did not open early we had a relative lie-in and were up at 05:30. We headed to the park gate and despite trying to bribe the park guard were not allowed to drive into the park, the first couple of kilometres of which allows vehicle access. So, after a quick breakfast, we walked the first part of the park passing 'Bird Paradise' which appeared well stocked with cage birds and to the start of the trail. We birded the same section of trail as yesterday, up some very steep concrete steps for several kilometres - our legs certainly paid for this for the next few days. The highlight of the morning was a pair of Collared Partrridge with at least three chicks which we watched foraging in a gulley along the trail. We also reciorded Chestnut Bulbul, Black Bulbul, Grey-sided Scimitar-babbler, Grey-cheeked (Huet's) Fulvetta, Collard Owlet, Scarlet Minivet, Fork-tailed Sunbird, Greater Necklaced Laughingthrush, Red-billed Blue Magpie, Grey Treepie, Grey-headed Parrotbill and a couple of escaped species Grey Laughingthrush and Black-throated Laugingthrush. Come 10:00 we headed down and begun the five hour drive to Emeifeng departing at 11:00.

Surely one of the best Bulbuls, the stonking Chestnut Bulbul - Fuzhou Forest Park

 Chestnut Bulbul, stonking bird but monotonous song - Fuzhou Forest Park

Large Wood-shrike - Fuzhou Forest Park

Collared Finchbill - Fuzhou Forest Park

Collared Finchbill - Fuzhou Forest Park

Grey-sided Scimitar-babbler - Fuzhou Forest Park

 
A duetting pair of Grey-sided Scimitar-babbler - Fuzhou Forest Park

Female Scarlet Minivet - Fuzhou Forest Park

Female Scarlet Minivet - Fuzhou Forest Park

Fork-tailed Sunbird - Fuzhou Forest Park

Fork-tailed Sunbird - Fuzhou Forest Park

Grey Treepie - Fuzhou Forest Park

Collared Owlet, this is the rear of the head which is remarkable as it looks like a pair of fierce eyes with a large bill which must look pretty scary for any potential predator - Fuzhou Forest Park

Collared Owlet, this is the frontal view and at times it was difficult to appreciate which way round the bird was facing given how convincing the rear of the head was - Fuzhou Forest Park

Song of Grey-cheeked (Huet's) Fulvetta with Black-throated Tit in background - Fuzhou Forest Park

Song of Black-throated Laughingthrush - Fuzhou Forest Park


Song of Grey-headed Parrotbill - Fuzhou Forest Park

Much of the drive to Emeifeng was on highway and after four hours we branched off to Shangsheng where we stopped for supplies for the next few days. On the river from the road leading from the town to Emeifeng three Brown Dipper were seen from the bus as were Plumbeous Water-redstart and White-crowned Forktail. Entering the lower slopes of Emeifeng at around 17:15 we began a slow drive up-hill. Soon after entering the forest we came across a pair of Chinese Bamboo Partridge feeding next to the road and which gave prolonged and close views. Thereafter, we saw little else. Reaching the Tragopan zone higher up the mountain we drove slowly, carefully scanning the roadsides, suddenly a female Cabot's Tragopan appeared in the headlights no more than 5m from the car and while views were brief, and under poor light conditions, the bird was so close that most of the features could be seen. We arrived at our accommodation, the Garden Inn, at the top of the road in the dark with foggy and wet conditions developing. I was last at Emeifeng on 14th November 2016 and was looking forward to a return visit with my main hope being to get good views of Cabot's Tragopan, a species we had failed to see last time. The Garden Lodge was even more run down than I remembered from my first visit with beds very damp and mouldy and generally low levels of cleanliness and upkeep, but located amongst prime habitat at 1,500m. We settled down with a basic meal but at least the beers were cold and we looked forward to birding the mountain tomorrow.

Birding in the Fuzhou Forest Park consisted of walking these steep steps for much of our two sessions here, our legs paid the price for several days after

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 8 - Emeifeng Mountain.
Day 9 - 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.