Majorca - 25th to 29th May

This was a short family break to an island that I had long wanted to visit for its scenic beauty and to see Balearic Warbler. It was Tobias’s half-term break and so we had decided to head to the island for a four night stay. We booked the the entire holiday through British Airways for £3,000 which included return flights, Avis car hire and B&B accommodation at the Grand Soller Hotel. Soller was a beautiful village to stay in, located at the foot of the Serra de Tramuntana mountains, with easy access to the water front at Port de Soller via a tram and with a vibrant village life. We spent most evenings relaxing in the square in Soller watching the world go by, eating olives and drinking beer. From Soller we also went to Port de Soller on the tram for the day. Our car was mainly used to get to some of the birding sites and to some of the more out of the way (relatively speaking) destinations.

• 25th May (Day 1) – 09:35 BA flight from London Heathrow to Palma. We landed at 13:00 (Palma being one hour ahead of BST) and collected our car (which took a ridiculous amount of time) before driving one hour north-west to Soller arriving at15:30. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in Soller.
• 26th May (Day 2) – We were up early and drove north-east following the Ma-10 to Pollenca. Birded Valle de Boquer until 08:30 and then drove along the Cap de Formentor. After a brief stop to gather supplies for lunch we headed to the Parc Natural des'Albufera and birded here until 16:00 before heading back west along the Ma-13 back to Soller for the evening.
• 27th May – We had a lie in today and spent the day relaxing. The afternoon and early evening were spent at Port de Soller.
• 28th May – After a leisurely breakfast we headed north-east along the Ma-10 and birded the reservoir at Panta de Gorg Blau from 10:30 until 12:30 before heading to Port de Sa Calobra where we had a relaxed afternoon on the beach. We headed back at around 15:30 and relaxed in Soller for the  early evening.
• 29th May – Today was our final day and after checking out of our hotel at 12:00 we headed south-west along the Ma-10 to Deia for a bit of sightseeing. It was raining heavily and so we headed to Valldemossa before dropping south to Palma and an early arrival at the airport. Our 20:00 flight was delayed until 21:00 and we eventually landed at 22:30 and were home by 00:30.

25th May
We were up early and heading to Heathrow at 05:30 for our 09:35 British Airways flight to Palma, Majorca. The flight left on time and we landed at 13:00, one hour ahead of UK time. Our bags arrived quickly but as usual the process of hiring a car through Avis took a disproportiatant amount of time, why this is always so escapes me – if you have booked and paid for a car why cant you just walk to the counter get the keys and drive off. We spent 1.5 hours faffing around trying to get the car which we had prebooked and prepaid. Anyway, by 14:30 we were off and heading north from Palma towards our hotel in Soller. The drive went very smoothly and we were soon booking into the Grand Hotel Soller where ten minutes of scanning produced many Common Swift with small numbers of Pallid Swift, Booted Eagle, Cinereous Vulture and Serin. We unpacked our bags and headed to the Plaça Constitució where we soon found a café serving beer, olives, salads and ice-cream keeping us all happy and relaxed as we watched the old wooden trams, people and town life passing us by.

26th May
So today I was going to head out for my only potential tick of the trip. I was planning on heading out alone but Tobias and Sarah were keen to join me and so we headed out together at 05:30. Soller is not best located for the main site for Balearic Warbler at Valle de Boquer north of Porta de Pollenca and our sat nav said we would be there in around an hour. Following the sat nav we found ourselves winding along the beautiful mountain road of the Ma-10 through high altitude Evergreen Oak and Pine forests. I felt slightly tense as I wanted to simply get to site while Tobias felt very car sick as I wound the car around hair pin bends, Sarah tried her best to placate both Tobias and I. An impromptu toilets stop produced Cinereous Vulture, many Nightingale, Blue Tit, Blackcap and Firecrest. Pressing on, we eventually arrived at the entrance to the Valle de Boquer at around 08:00 and began our walk to the main area for Balearic Warbler. The first, spectacular section of the valley flanked by tall cliffs produced Sardinian Warbler, Stonechat, Booted Eagle, Raven, Zitting Cisticola and Spotted Flycatcher. Stopping at virtually every one of the abundant Sardinian Warbler I soon decided that I needed to hurry my steps and get further to the coast. Soon the habitat changed to a low coastal scrub known as garrigue and I felt I had at least reached the correct habitat. I quick play of my recording of Balearic Warbler and a Sylvia warbler briefly sang and then performed a display flight – Balearic Warbler! And Tobias and Sarah were quick to get onto this bird. The bird showed reasonably well and moved around us before vanishing back into the lower dense scrub of the garrigue. Sarah and Tobias decided it was time for breakfast (which consisted of left overs from yesterdays snacks) and so headed back to the car while I stayed out to get better views and photos of the warbler. After a bit of wandering around at the spectacular moth of the Valle de Boquer I came across two Balearic Warbler which showed exceptionally well down to around five metres and after getting my fill I headed back to the car to meet Sarah and Tobias. By now I was very hungry having been up for around four hours with no food intake. Breakfast was a banana and a slice of bread and then I suggested we head out onto the nearby Cap de Formentor.

Balearic Warbler, this recent split from Marmora's Warbler only breeds on the Balearic Islands and is subtly different from Marmora's having a whiter throat, buffy wash to the belly and flanks and a slightly different sing - Valle de Boquer, Porta de Pollenca

Balearic Warbler - Valle de Boquer, Porta de Pollenca

Balearic Warbler - Valle de Boquer, Porta de Pollenca

Balearic Warbler - Valle de Boquer, Porta de Pollenca

Balearic Warbler, male in song - Valle de Boquer, Porta de Pollenca

Mouth of Valle de Boquer, Porta de Pollenca showing short garrigue habitat 

favoured by Balearic Warbler

Sardinian Warbler - Valle de Boquer, Porta de Pollenca

Sardinian Warbler - Valle de Boquer, Porta de Pollenca

Sardinian Warbler, male in song - Valle de Boquer, Porta de Pollenca

Spotted Flycatcher of subspecies balearica.  This subspecies, along with tyrrenhica of Corsica and Sardinian, are paler, with less streaking on breast and shorter wings than other subspecies. They differ genetically, leading to suggestion that they might warrant species status, limited available evidence reveals no obvious differences in voice, and further study is required before any splits occur.

Driving the long winding road that extends east to the lighthouse at the tip of Cap de Formentor it was evident that the numbers of cars, cycles and tourists were increasing and our stops at scenic lay-bys became increasingly disturbed. Still, during these brief stops I recorded Blue Rock-thrush, Scopoli's Shearwater, Balearic Shearwater, Eleanora's Falcon and Sardinian Warbler which was sufficient to detract from the human traffic, but only just. At the headland, Tobias wanted an ice-cream so I spent a few minutes birding the headland area seeing much the same as previously. Still, it was a beautiful, if busy, spot. I suggested we beat a retreat and Sarah was keen to get some food having been largely deprived of breakfast and I suggested that it made sense to spend some time at Parc Natural des'Albufera rather than having to drive back at a later stage - the deal was done on the condition that we were allowed to visit a shop for food!

Scopoli's Shearwater -  Cap de Formentor

Yellow-legged Gull - Cap de Formentor

 Yellow-legged Gull - Cap de Formentor

Cap de Formentor

Driving the short distance south to Parc Natural des'Albufera, Tobias had fallen a sleep and I had my lunch of water and a banana. Sarah suggested that I go bird while she waited in the car with Tobias. While I wanted to bird the site, I really had only one main target species here, Moustached Warbler which I had not seen for maybe 30 odd years and so I was keen to catch-up with it again. Following the gen on eBird and the map of the site I soon found myself at a wooden viewing platform and obtaining glimpses of Moustached Warbler but I was not satisfied and so pushed on a little longer. I had great, overhead, views of Eleanora's Falcon as they caught dragonflies and also recorded Great Reed-warbler, Purple Gallinule, Cattle Egret, Sardinian Warbler, Cetti's Warbler, Zitting Cisticola, Red-crested Pochard as well as common wetland bird species. I decided to return to the first platform where eventually I had good views of a singing Moustached Warbler perched high on a reed stem. Wandering back, I bumped into Sarah and Tobias who had now surfaced and we spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the same route as I had earlier, Tobias keen to collect various bugs and Sarah enjoying the birds and the sunshine. We added Osprey, Common Tern and Common Reed-warbler to the list before deciding to head back to the hotel.

The return journey was along the Ma-13, a much faster and more direct route than the mornings journey and by 18:00 we were relaxing in the square in Soller with a beer and with me content with my birding day.

Parc Natural des'Albufera

Moustached Warbler - Parc Natural des'Albufera

Moustached Warbler - Parc Natural des'Albufera

Zitting Cisticola - Parc Natural des'Albufera

Moustached Warbler - Parc Natural des'Albufera

Cattle Egret - Parc Natural des'Albufera

Eleanora's Falcon- Parc Natural des'Albufera

Eleanora's Falcon- Parc Natural des'Albufera

Eleanora's Falcon- Parc Natural des'Albufera

Eleanora's Falcon- Parc Natural des'Albufera

Eleanora's Falcon (dark phase) - Parc Natural des'Albufera

27th May
Today we just relaxed and it was great. Sarah had a treatment in the spa in the hotel while I swam in the pool with Tobias and then at lunchtime we caught the tram to the Porta de Soller and had lunch along the beautiful seafront, played on the beach and drank wine. I saw little but added Audouin's Gull, a superb adult flying around the marina, to the trip list. We were back at Soller by 21:00 and enjoyed a moonlit dinner and more wine.

Porta de Soller

28th May
I decided to push my luck and suggested that we head to the reservoir at Panta de Gorg Blau for a couple of hours birding in the beautiful mountain scenery before doing whatever Sarah wanted. After breakfast, we headed to the reservoir and began by walking the west shore for a short way, Nightingale were abundant in the Holm Oak and we recorded Griffon Vulture, Black Vulture, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Common Kestrel and Spotted Flycatcher. But my main target was not here and seeing suitable habitat on the east side of the reservoir we diverted and concentrated our attention here. We recorded Common Crossbill and then I heard a soft 'tacking' call and there was my target, A superb male Moltoni's Warbler a species I had seen on Corsica and Sicily previously but not particularly well. I eventually saw three Moltoni's Warbler but none exceptionally well but I was satisfied. On the walk back to the car I added Tawny Pipit to the list and then we headed north to Sa Calobra along a winding mountain road thronged with tourist vehicles and coaches. Parking up we wandered to the heaving bay but enjoyed some time on the beach relaxing and playing in the waves before heading back to Soller for 16:30.

Griffon Vulture - Panta de Gorg Blau 

Cinereous Vulture - Panta de Gorg Blau 

Common Stonechat - Panta de Gorg Blau 

Spotted Flycatcher - Panta de Gorg Blau 

Moltoni's Warbler - Panta de Gorg Blau 

Moltoni's Warbler - Panta de Gorg Blau 

Moltoni's Warbler - Panta de Gorg Blau 

Panta de Gorg Blau

Sa Calobra

29th May
Today was our final day and after a swim and then checking out of our hotel at 12:00 we headed south-west along the Ma-10 to Deia for a bit of sightseeing. At Deia I recorded Cirl Bunting, a new species for the trip, and then it really started to rain so we beat a retreat to a small taverna for a sandwich and a red wine. Between rain we made a run for the car and decided to head to the airport early, we headed through Valldemossa before dropping south to Palma and arrived at the airport at 17:00. Our 20:00 flight was delayed until 21:00 and we eventually landed at 22:30, it seemed like the rain had followed us, we were home by 00:30.

Deia

Deia

Trip List

Total of 64 species with one tick (shown in bold).

Red-legged Partridge
Canada Goose
Common Shelduck
Red-crested Pochard
Gadwall
Mallard
Rock Dove
Common Woodpigeon
Eurasian Collared-dove
Pallid Swift
Common Swift
Western Water Rail
Purple Swamphen
Common Moorhen
Common Coot
Scopoli's Shearwater
Balearic Shearwater
Black-crowned Night-heron
Cattle Egret
Little Egret
Audouin's Gull
Yellow-legged Gull
Common Tern
Osprey
Griffon Vulture
Cinereous Vulture
Booted Eagle
Red Kite
Common Hoopoe
Common Kestrel
Eleonora's Falcon
Red-backed Shrike
Common Raven
Eurasian Blue Tit
Great Tit
Zitting Cisticola
Moustached Warbler
Common Reed-warbler
Great Reed-warbler
Northern House Martin
Barn Swallow
Eurasian Crag Martin
Cetti's Warbler
Long-tailed Tit
Eurasian Blackcap
Sardinian Warbler
Moltoni's Warbler
Balearic Warbler
Northern Wren
Spotless Starling
Eurasian Blackbird
Spotted Flycatcher
Common Nightingale
Common Stonechat
Common Firecrest
House Sparrow
Tawny Pipit
Western Yellow Wagtail
Common Chaffinch
European Greenfinch
Common Linnet
Red Crossbill
European Goldfinch
European Serin

16th-18th May - Martin Down and Pennington Marsh

The last couple of weeks have been manic at work with some very early starts for breeding bird surveys, late nights reviewing documents and getting the company ready for the new and extremely tedious General Data Protection Regulations which come into force later in May. However, I have managed to get out a little to protect my sanity.

Note - I added a number of sound recordings to this post linked to uploads at the Internet Bird Collection (IBC). With the subsequent transfer of data from IBC to the Macaulay Library the links to these became broken. I have therefore subsequently uploaded these sound files to eBird and the recordings can be viewed here for Martin Down and here for Pennington Marsh. I have retained the sonograms from these recordings on this post.

On the morning of 16th May I visited Marin Down on the north Hampshire and Wiltshire border to complete my Nightingale survey as organised by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, alas, there were no Nightingale. Martin Down has experienced a catastrophic fall in population from 24 singing males in 1980 to none now, there cannot have been a change in the extent of scrub, this is a National Nature Reserve and there has probably been an increase rather than a reduction in scrub cover. So surely this local and the national decline is linked to changes in the wintering grounds or something happening along the migration routes rather than localised habitat loss/change in the UK. Still, there were lots of Corn Bunting (at least 15 birds recorded) and the first Turtle Dove that I have seen in the UK for many years with at least six 'purring' birds. Here, also were an amazing density of Skylark and it was difficult to estimate the number of birds but my best guess was 30 birds in all. It was a little windy for butterflies and the only species I recorded was a single Green Hairstreak, my first of the year.

Corn Bunting - Martin Down, Hampshire

Corn Bunting - Martin Down, Hampshire

Turtle-dove - Martin Down, Hampshire

Green Hairstreak - Martin Down, Hampshire

Invertebrate surveys with Adam Wright on 17th May near to Fishbourne, Chichester area produced a few first spring records for me although we recorded nothing of great excitement. White-legged Damselfly, Beautiful Demoiselle, Banded Demoiselle and Hairy Hawker were nice species to see as always.

The hoverfly Platycheirus rosarum - Fishbourne, Chichester

The hoverfly Helophilus pendulus - Fishbourne, Chichester

The hoverfly Cheilosia albitarsus - Fishbourne, Chichester

The snipefly Rhagio scolopacea - Fishbourne, Chichester

On 18th May I had a short wander around Pennington Marsh, it was fairly quiet with the highlights being two male Ruff almost in summer plumage, 25 Dunlin, two Peregrine over the site, three Whimbrel, 15 Great-crested Grebe (this seemed to be a large number for a May visit) and two very late Wigeon. Numbers of migrant birds seem to be very low and I only recorded three Whitethroat and four Reed Warbler of the breeding species. Singles of Cuckoo and a Lesser Whitethroat seemed to be birds holding territory on site.

Reed Warbler - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Single song sequence of Reed Bunting - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire


Lesser Whitethroat - Pennington marsh, Hampshire


Sequence of Lesser Whitethroat song with a rattle to begin with followed by warbling notes - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Sequence of Lesser Whitethroat song starting with the rattle then a sequence of warbling notes and ending in a rattle - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

There were high numbers of Great-crested Grebe for a May visit - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

North-west China (Xinjiang) - 7th and 8th May (Day 17 and 18)

Awaking at 05:30 on 7th May I looked out of the hotel window to a scene of torrential rain, flooding and high winds. This did not bode well for our only day to Nanshan in the Tien Shan mountains – our only day here and my last day of the trip. Loading the bus at 06:00 we headed south from the city into the foothills and the rain turned to snow and as we approached our first birding site at around 1,500m this snow had reached near blizzard conditions. Our first target was Red-headed Bunting and I had seen images of this bird singing at this site in alpine meadows in beautiful sunny conditions – the weather we faced was a different kettle of fish altogether. Hopping out of the bus we were blasted by snow and a cold wind and optics quickly fogged. We birded this stretch of road for around an hour seeing small groups of finches and pipits moving south evidently trying to escape the conditions. Unperturbed were singing Sky Lark plus Water Pipit, Richard’s Pipit, Tawny Pipit and Northern Wheatear but I dipped the only tick that the group saw, a pair of Red-fronted Serin. We decided that the conditions were too grim to bird so retired to the bus for breakfast – the usual fair of bread and sweet coffee – before heading to a different area to bird. Passing along a minor road flocks of birds were in abundance but we didn’t really stop as we were heading to a key birding area. We did stop for a flock of Plain Mountain-finch beside the road and saw species such as Mistle Thrush and a possible Black-throated Thrush from the bus. Arriving at the main site some 30 minutes later conditions were so bad that we didn’t even get out of the bus to walk the trail and decided to leave for a slightly lower and more sheltered elevation. As we descended Barry spotted a redstart from the bus which he swiftly identified as an Eversmann’s Redstart, one of our key targets, but we could not relocate it after we had disembarked the bus. Driving further down the road I spotted another redstart from the bus we stopped and all piled out and there was a stunning male Blue-capped Redstart and then a male Eversmann’s Redstart quickly followed by a Black-throated Accentor all in the same clump of trees – three of our key tragets within a few minutes were seen. It soon became apparent that there were multiple birds of these species in a stretch of road of approximately 50m, these birds are normally higher in the woodlands at the site and far more difficult to see and it was clear that these birds had dropped to avoid the snow. We birded up and down the road and the numbers of these birds was incredible with 50+ of each being seen, at one point I watched 12 Black-throated Accentor feeding on the road together – Tang Jun says he normally only sees one or two of this species at the site and often struggles to see the two Redstart species. Along the road and passing overhead were also numerous Water Pipit, Tree Pipit and Godlewski’s Bunting while the bushes also held Hume’s Warbler. It was difficult to tear ourselves away from the number of birds that the scrub aloing the road held but we still had two further targets. Having seen large numbers of birds along the roadside as we headed to this area we decided to descend further and birded a village area on the way back to the Red-headed Bunting site. This produced hundreds of Pine Bunting around the village and in the fields with similar numbers of Plain Mountain-finch. Also here we recorded Red-tailed Rock-thrush, Red-tailed Shrike, Hoopoe, Horned Lark, Water Pipit, Northern Wheater and Common Stonechat of the subspecies maura. It was evident that we had dropped out of the area where the redstarts and accentors were frequenting as we saw none of these species here. Another brief look for the Red-headed Bunting drew a blank and we decided that the birds had probably descended lower to escape the snow.

After an hours lunchstop I was itching to get back into the field and with only two hours left I still wanted to see two target species. So we headed back to the main birding site and stopped in a layby. Here there were multiple Blue-capped Redstart, Eversmann’s Redstart, Black-throated Accentor and Godlewski’s Bunting which we enjoyed but our remaining target birds were not here. We headed to the main car park area, and as we approached Tang-Jun spotted a Red-mantled Rosefinch on the roadside so we leapt out of the car and quickly located two females and a male, as we watched these birds I heard a flock of serin calling and a scan produced a flock of around 25 Red-fronted Serin flying up the valley, fortunately they landed and we enjoyed reasonable, although a little distant views of these stunning little finches with their fire red foreheads. These were our two remaining targets and we had seen them within the space of a few minutes. Martin called a Rubythroat and I was amazed when I saw that it was a Himalayan Rubythroat, another new bird in the space of a few minutes and one that was not on my radar to see. There were two of these stunning birds feeding in the roadside scrub and ditches and we enjoyed good views. I had an hour before my taxi arrived to take me back to Urumqi and so we birded this area seeing more Eversmann’s Redstart, Blue-fronted Redstart and Black-throated Accentor - we were simply stunned at the number of birds present and it reminded me of a similar fall of birds that we experienced in Mongolia, see here.

At 17:00 my taxi arrived and I said goodbye to Barry, Martin, Ian, Andy D, Andy B and Volkert and drove the short distance to the airport with my local driver. We dropped out of the snow zone into rain and I arrived at the airport at just gone 18:00 for my 21:15 flight to Beijing. The lady at the check in desk informed me that the 21:15 flight had been delayed and instead managed to get me onto the 19:15 flight and by 23:00 I was in Beijing. My bags took an age to arrive and it was almost midnight by the time I left the airport. I transferred to the Eastern Airline Hotel arriving at 00:45 and enjoyed a very plush apartment room while repacking ready for my international flight tomorrow, I eventually crashed at around 02:00.

Male Eversmann's Redstart - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Male Blue-capped Redstart  - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Male Blue-capped Redstart - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Black-throated Accentor - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Pine Bunting - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Red-tailed Shrike - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Red-tailed Shrike - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Red-tailed Shrike - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Red-tailed Shrike (differenet bird to above) - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Eurasian Sparrowhawk - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

 Common Stonechat of subspecies maura - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Horned Lark of subspecies brandti - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Eurasian Hoopoe - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Rufous-tailed Rock-thrush - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Rufous-tailed Rock-thrush - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Isabelline Wheatear - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Godlewski's Bunting - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Black-throated Accentor - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Tree Pipit - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Red-mantled Rosefinch - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Eversmann's Redstart - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Himalayan Rubythroat - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Hamalayan Rubythroat - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Black-throated Accentor - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Black-throated Accentor - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Black Kite - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Andy B, Martin and Andy D enjoying the snow - Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

 Nanshan, Tien Shan Mountains

Conditions were blizzard like

Leaving Nanshan and heading back to the aiport at Urumqi

Rather sterile city scape of the new Urumqi. Most of the older buildings are being flattened to make way for these apartment blocks across the city

After a short sleep I was up at 06:00 on the 8th May and after a quick repack I was on the shuttlebus from the Eastern Airline Hotel in Beijing to the International Airport. I checked in then relaxed after some duty free shopping. My flight was delayed and we eventually departed at 11:45, 30 minutes late. Flying north-west we passed over Xinjiang and I thought of the Ground-jay’s below and then over Ullan Bataar where I had visited a little later this time last year. We headed over Russia and the Baltic before landing at Heathrow 15:15.

List of Birds Recorded in the South-east and North-west China

We recorded 322 species 34 of which were ticks for me (shown in bold). Bird of the trip for me was Cabot's Tragopan with Reeve's Pheasant, Chinese Crested Tern, Xingjiang ground-jay, Siberian Thrush, Himalayan Rubythroat, Eversmann’s Redstart and Blue-capped Redstart being up there.

Collared Partridge

Chinese Bamboo-partridge

Cabot's Tragopan

Koklass Pheasant

Elliot's Pheasant

Reeves's Pheasant

Common Pheasant

Silver Pheasant

White-headed Duck

Ruddy Shelduck

Mandarin Duck

Red-crested Pochard

Common Pochard

Tufted Duck

Garganey

Northern Shoveler

Falcated Duck

Gadwall

Eurasian Wigeon

Chinese Spot-billed Duck

Mallard

Northern Pintail

Common Teal

Little Grebe

Great Crested Grebe

Black-necked Grebe

Rock Dove

Hill Pigeon

Stock Dove

Oriental Turtle-dove

Eurasian Collared-dove

Eastern Spotted Dove

Laughing Dove

Grey Nightjar

White-throated Needletail

Edible-nest Swiftlet

Pacific Swift

House Swift

Common Swift

Greater Coucal

Lesser Coucal

Western Koel

Large Hawk-cuckoo

Oriental Cuckoo

Brown Crake

White-breasted Waterhen

Common Moorhen

Common Coot

Eurasian Spoonbill

Black-faced Spoonbill

Asian Crested Ibis

Eurasian Bittern

Black-crowned Night-heron

Green-backed Heron

Chinese Pond-heron

Cattle Egret

Grey Heron

Great White Egret

Little Egret

Chinese Egret

Great Cormorant

Pied Avocet

Black-winged Stilt

Grey Plover

Pacific Golden Plover

Little Ringed Plover

Kentish Plover

White-faced Plover

Lesser Sandplover

Greater Sandplover

Grey-headed Lapwing

Whimbrel

Little Curlew

Eurasian Curlew

Far Eastern Curlew

Bar-tailed Godwit

Black-tailed Godwit

Ruddy Turnstone

Great Knot

Red Knot

Broad-billed Sandpiper

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

Curlew Sandpiper

Long-toed Stint

Spoon-billed Sandpiper

Red-necked Stint

Sanderling

Dunlin

Asian Dowitcher

Common Snipe

Terek Sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

Green Sandpiper

Grey-tailed Tattler

Spotted Redshank

Common Greenshank

Common Redshank

Wood Sandpiper

Marsh Sandpiper

Saunders's Gull

Black-headed Gull

Black-tailed Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Arctic Herring Gull

Little Tern

Common Gull-billed Tern

Caspian Tern

Whiskered Tern

White-winged Tern

Common Tern

Chinese Crested Tern

Greater Crested Tern

Northern Boobook

Collared Owlet

Little Owl

Oriental Scops-owl

Osprey

Black Baza

Black Eagle

Booted Eagle

Eastern Marsh-harrier

Crested Goshawk

Chinese Sparrowhawk

Eurasian Sparrowhawk

Black Kite

Grey-faced Buzzard

Eurasian Buzzard

Long-legged Buzzard

Red-headed Trogon

Common Hoopoe

Oriental Dollarbird

Common Kingfisher

Black-capped Kingfisher

Great Barbet

Eurasian Wryneck

Speckled Piculet

Grey-capped Woodpecker

Great Spotted Woodpecker

White-winged Woodpecker

Pied Falconet

Common Kestrel

Red-footed Falcon

Merlin

Peregrine Falcon

Black-naped Oriole

White-browed Shrike-babbler

White-bellied Erpornis

Grey-chinned Minivet

Scarlet Minivet

Ashy Minivet

Brown-rumped Minivet

Black-winged Cuckooshrike

Black Drongo

Ashy Drongo

Hair-crested Drongo

Brown Shrike

Red-tailed Shrike

Isabelline Shrike

Long-tailed Shrike

Grey Treepie

Red-billed Blue Magpie

Asian Azure-winged Magpie

Plain-crowned Jay

Xinjiang Ground-jay

Eurasian Magpie

Common Raven

Carrion Crow

Collared Crow

Large-billed Crow

Sultan Tit

Yellow-bellied Tit

Azure Tit

Great Tit

Yellow-cheeked Tit

Chinese Penduline-tit

Hume's Lark

Horned Lark

Eurasian Skylark

Oriental Skylark

Crested Lark

Bearded Reedling

Zitting Cisticola

Yellow-bellied Prinia

Plain Prinia

Common Tailorbird

Sykes's Warbler

Black-browed Reed-warbler

Oriental Reed-warbler

Marsh Grassbird

Red-rumped Swallow

Barn Swallow

Collared Sand Martin

Chestnut Bulbul

Mountain Bulbul

Black Bulbul

Collared Finchbill

Red-whiskered Bulbul

Brown-breasted Bulbul

Light-vented Bulbul

Yellow-browed Warbler

Hume's Leaf-warbler

Pallas's Leaf-warbler

Dusky Warbler

White-spectacled Warbler

Alström's Warbler

Eastern Crowned Warbler

Chestnut-crowned Warbler

Pale-legged Leaf-warbler

Sakkalin Leaf-warbler

Hartert's Leaf-warbler

Rufous-faced Warbler

Brownish-flanked Bush-warbler

Korean Bush-warbler

Black-throated Tit

Silver-throated Tit

Lesser Whitethroat

Tarim Hill-warbler

Reed Parrotbill

Grey-headed Parrotbill

Short-tailed Parrotbill

Vinous-throated Parrotbill

Indochinese Yuhina

Black-chinned Yuhina

Japanese White-eye

Streak-breasted Scimitar-babbler

Grey-sided Scimitar-babbler

Rufous-capped Babbler

Dusky Fulvetta

Grey-cheeked Fulvetta

Chinese Hwamei

Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush

Grey Laughingthrush

White-browed Laughingthrush

Masked Laughingthrush

Black-throated Laughingthrush

Blue-crowned Laughingthrush

Brown Dipper

Common Starling

Purple-backed Starling

Black-collared Starling

White-shouldered Starling

Red-billed Starling

White-cheeked Starling

Crested Myna

White's Thrush

Siberian Thrush

Chinese Thrush

Mistle Thrush

Eurasian Blackbird

Chinese Blackbird

Japanese Thrush

Grey-backed Thrush

Pale Thrush

Dusky Thrush

Black-throated Thrush

Oriental Magpie-robin

Grey-streaked Flycatcher

Asian Brown Flycatcher

Small Niltava

Zappey's Flycatcher

Blue-and-white Flycatcher

Siberian Blue Robin

Rufous-tailed Robin

Bluethroat

Siberian Rubythroat

Himalayan Rubythroat

White-crowned Forktail

Spotted Forktail

Blue Whistling-thrush

Yellow-rumped Flycatcher

Green-backed Flycatcher

Narcissus Flycatcher

Mugimaki Flycatcher

Eversmann’s Redstart

Blue-capped Redstart

Plumbeous Water-redstart

Daurian Redstart

Chestnut-bellied Rock-thrush

Rufous-tailed Rock-thrush

Common Stonechat

Northern Wheatear

Desert Wheatear

Spotted Elachura

Fork-tailed Sunbird

Black-throated Accentor

White-rumped Munia

Scaly-breasted Munia

Saxaul Sparrow

House Sparrow

Russet Sparrow

Eurasian Tree Sparrow

Pechora Pipit

Tree Pipit

Olive-backed Pipit

Water Pipit

Richard's Pipit

Tawny Pipit

Grey Wagtail

Citrine Wagtail

Eastern Yellow Wagtail

White Wagtail

Chinese Grosbeak

Red-mantled Rosefinch

Plain Mountain-finch

Desert Finch

European Greenfinch

Oriental Greenfinch

Common Linnet

Red Crossbill

Red-fronted Serin

Eurasian Siskin

Chestnut-eared Bunting

Godlewski's Bunting

Pine Bunting

Ochre-rumped Bunting

Pallas’s Bunting

Yellow-breasted Bunting

Little Bunting

Black-faced Bunting

Yellow-browed Bunting

Tristram’s Bunting

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 13 - Dongzhai.
Day 14 – Dongzhai then fly Wuhan to Korlor.
Day 15 – Taklamakan Desert.
Day 16 – Taklamakan Desert then Urumqi.