China: Birds and Culture Apr 16—May 01, 2011
Posted by Dion Hobcroft
Dion Hobcroft
Dion Hobcroft has been working for VENT since 2001. He has led many tours to Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Bhutan, India, Southwest Pacific, Philippines, Cambodia, Th...Related Trips
Our inaugural China Birds and Culture tour was very successful in showcasing several of the amazing historical and archaeological sites of this complex country. We were also successful in seeing a good variety of birds including some of the rarest and most spectacular in the world. Amongst the great birds we encountered were Swan Goose; Tundra and Taiga bean-goose; Mandarin Duck; Golden Pheasant; Amur Falcon; Crested Ibis; Great Bustard; Siberian, White-naped, Hooded, and Red-crowned cranes; Long-billed Plover; Chinese Gray Shrike; Japanese Waxwing; Chinese Penduline-Tit; and the endemic Slaty, Yellow-browed, and the critically endangered Jankowski's buntings.
We began our tour in Beijing with a visit to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Between taking many "happy snaps" of different statues, bronzes, and palaces, and learning about three boiled bricks and armies of eunuch servants and concubines, we viewed some of the exquisite garments of the royal family on display in a small museum wing. We even managed a couple of interesting birds including our first Great Spotted Woodpecker and a couple of surprise Red-billed Starlings.
The next morning at the Summer Palace, a beautiful pair of Mandarin Ducks gave us great views, as did some obliging Gray-capped Pygmy Woodpeckers, while an Osprey was a good record. We continued on to the Ming Tombs where, on the walkway of giant rock-sculpted animals, we found a flock of passage migrant Naumann's Thrush and enjoyed a couple of raptors, including a female Northern Harrier and a Gray-faced Buzzard.
On our last full day in Beijing we spent the morning at Yeyahu (translated as Wild Duck Lake). We enjoyed some excellent birding here with Swan Goose, Bewick's Swan, Falcated Duck, Red-crested Pochard, Ring-necked Pheasant, Pied Harrier, Eastern Marsh Harrier, Merlin, Pallas's Leaf-Warbler, and Little, Yellow-throated, and Pallas's Reed buntings amongst the birds sighted well.
The afternoon was spent at the Badaling section of the Great Wall. Walking away from the "great crowd," we enjoyed a few good birds like Godlewski's Bunting while people stretched their legs and walked as far as they wished in the allotted time. Just as we were leaving, we enjoyed a great stroke of fortune when a small flock of six Japanese Waxwings perched for us and we had a great view of this scarce and elusive species.
Our flight to Xian the next morning went smoothly and we made our visit to the Terracotta Warriors in the afternoon. It was a major highlight to see the enormous detail in the life-size army of thousands of warriors and horses fired in a kiln more than two thousand years ago to accompany the emperor Qin Shi Huang into the afterlife. Local farmers discovered this site by chance in 1974. It is well-protected and displayed for the many nationalities from around the globe that visit this World Heritage Site.
We made the drive to Yangxian and were ensconced into our three-star hotel, a typical accommodation set up in rural China. The next day, under beautiful conditions, we hiked into the remote villages where the world's only population of the Crested Ibis survives and nests. We were shown three active nests, and the Crested Ibis in breeding plumage looked quite dinosaur-like. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch in the home of a local lady before hiring a local taxi driver to ferry our group back to the bus. The surrounding woods were alive with birds, including nesting Gray-faced Woodpecker, Brownish-flanked Bush-Warbler, Black-throated Tit, Collared Finchbill, Brown-breasted Bulbul, Daurian Redstart, Olive-backed Pipit, Dusky Thrush, and Common Rosefinch. In the afternoon we birded the nearby river and this was very productive. We had great views of more Crested Ibis, a Eurasian Spoonbill, an excellent Crested Kingfisher, dapper Gray-headed Lapwings, and the scarce Long-billed Plover amongst a bunch of shorebirds.
The next day was taken up with the long drive to the remote Tangjiahe Reserve. Highlight birds included Brown Dipper, and Plumbeous and White-capped Redstarts, while Ben was lucky enough to see the rare Collared Crow. Tangjiahe proved to be a beautiful, remote location where we could enjoy roadside birding in some delightful woodlands and gorge habitats. We were lucky with mammals here and had fabulous views of the bizarre takin—a musk-ox-like goat antelope with golden fur that looks like a "bee-stung moose."
Undoubtedly, the avian highlight was watching two male Golden Pheasants displaying to a female, running around her and blocking her path while having dropped their golden capes. We watched this performance for several minutes—truly sensational and very fortuitous. Amongst the other great sightings were Golden Eagle, a Besra eating a Collared Finchbill, Mountain Hawk-Eagle, Asian Barred Owlet, Long-tailed Minivet, Gray-backed Shrike, Yellow-bellied Tit, Chinese Leaf-Warbler, Yellow-streaked Warbler, Rufous-faced Warbler, White-crowned Forktail, Elliot's Laughingthrush, Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babbler, Red-billed Leiothrix, Mrs. Gould's Sunbird, Citrine Wagtail, and Slaty Bunting. A Reeve's muntjac was another fortuitous mammal sighting.
Concern about catching our early afternoon flight from Chengdu impelled me to change the itinerary to leave Tangjiahe early and make the drive through to Chengdu in the afternoon prior to our flight. This gave us the chance to visit the Chengdu Panda Breeding Centre. Watching five giant panda cubs rumbling in the morning was another highlight for many folks on the tour (many a zoo director's dream, I'm sure!). We also had a great view of a pair of Chinese Grosbeaks.
So it was back to Beijing and then on to Wulan Hot and Baicheng for our final leg of the tour. We enjoyed excellent weather here for our four-night stay in Inner Mongolia and Jilin provinces. We made a visit to wetlands at Momoge. We were in luck with the migration and enjoyed Taiga Bean-Goose, Greater White-fronted Goose, Siberian Crane, White-naped Crane, Common Crane, Hooded Crane, Northern Lapwing, Marsh Sandpiper, Daurian Jackdaw, and Western Yellow Wagtail all in fine plumage and giving excellent views.
The next day we visited Tumuge—a reserve that protects a rare remnant of native grassland and steppe habitats. While bird diversity is low here, it holds some fantastic species. We had excellent scope views of two male and a female Jankowski's Bunting—a bird that is struggling to survive. The spectacular Mongolian Lark was another highlight, and several pairs of Eurasian Curlew were holding breeding territories. After a walk we found a party of more than 18 Great Bustards and enjoyed a great scope session with this enormous bird. A Little Owl was a good sighting while we filled the bus with fuel!
Xianghai Reserve is a wetland reserve of international importance. This year it suffered from reduced water levels, but the birding was still excellent. Amongst the 15 species of waterfowl we found Taiga and Tundra bean-goose, Swan Goose, Whooper and Bewick's swans, and Garganey. Steppe Eagle was new for the list, and Red-crowned Crane and White-naped Crane gave amazing views, the former species nesting. Oriental Pratincole, Eurasian Hoopoe, Mongolian Gull, the scarce Chinese Gray Shrike, Red-flanked Bluetail, and Meadow and Common Reed buntings were all seen well.
On our last full day we decided to revisit Momoge. The spectacle of a thousand Siberian Cranes was amazing, with cranes stretched as far as the eye could see. We also hit a migration passage in a narrow band of trees with dozens of buntings of five species, including many of the scarce Yellow-browed Bunting, plus some dapper Brambling. A dashing male Amur Falcon was well-appreciated. We finished our tour with wonderful views of Spotted Redshank and Pied Avocet.
This wonderful inaugural tour combined great sites of historical importance with remote and splendid nature reserves. Our Chinese guides, including Joe, Derek, and Sally, and excellent drivers, plus staff from the wildlife reserves including Ma in Tangjiahe and Li in Xianghai, made our tour a great success.
Tai Hola!