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Any review of the birding aspects of this province must be coloured by the tragic earthquake of May 12th 2008, when 80,000 people were killed, and many more injured. The scale of the tragedy puts the frivolities of birding into perspective. Landlocked Sichuan Province has long been one of the most popular Chinese destinations for overseas birders. Although the basin around the provincial capital, Chengdu, is polluted and heavily built-up, the mountains at the edge of the Tibetan Plateau are only a few hours drive to the west. Here there are species that would be familiar to those who have birded elsewhere in the Himalayas, as well as many of China’s fifty-or-so endemic bird species. Clear blue skies, snowcapped mountains and ethnic Tibetan culture all add to the excitement of a visit. The bird tour companies began exploratory trips to Sichuan in the 1980s. Twenty years on, a typical three-week programme has evolved into visits to isolated peaks such as Emei Shan and Wawu Shan, a visit to Wolong/Balangshan, a visit to the Tibetan Plateau through Rouergai and on to scenically outstanding Jiuzhaigou. Emei Shan (“Shan” is mountain in Chinese) has a well-developed tourist infrastructure. There are plenty of places to stay at different levels of the mountain. Fit and keen birders can walk from the base (around 600m) to the summit at 3,000m, or descend the many stone steps. Emei can also be tackled by birding around different levels, for example near mid-level Wannian Temple (cable car access to 1,020m) or from Leidongping/Jieyin Hall beneath the summit (at the end of the road at 2,500m). Wawu Shan is about three hours drive southwest from Leidongping at Emei. Wawu is famous as the place of discovery of Sichuan Treecreeper. It has a remarkable summit plateau habitat of bamboo beneath fir trees, although it is very wet and misty in May and June. No fewer than eight species of parrotbill have been seen at Wawu Shan. It is probably easier to see Grey-hooded Parrotbill and Emei Liochichla here than at Emei Shan. Wolong was close to the epicentre of the tragic May 12th 2008 earthquake, and there was loss of life at both the Panda Research Centre and at Shawan village. One can only hope that recovery will continue to progress. Jiuzhaigou is a famous, scenically beautiful and hugely popular National Nature Reserve (NNR), still open for business year-round. It is located in the Min Shan, an area with many Chinese endemics. Sought-after birds here include Sooty Tit, Spectacled Parrotbill, Snowy-cheeked Laughingthrush and Rufous-headed Robin. These birds may also been seen at the less-visited Wanglang National Nature Reserve, which has a common border with Jiuzhaigou. Tangjiahe NNR, a good site to see mammals such as Takin, as well as endemic Golden Pheasant and Slaty Bunting, is nearby. Although the earthquake has affected a vast area at the centre of commonly-birded areas of Sichuan, it should be remembered that Sichuan is a huge province with many new site discoveries to be made. These days there are local Chinese birdwatching groups such as the Chengdu Birdwatching Society (www.scbirds.org) and Mianyang Bird Society who are exploring the many ornithologically little-known corners of the province. |
John & Jemi Holmes
johnjemi@netvigator.com
Chengdu Bird Watching Society
WebsiteCDBWS is active throughout Sichuan Province and in other parts of western China...
Mianyang Love Bird Association
E-mail: rlee@yahoo.cn or rlee@foxmail.com Contact Mr. Li Peng
Huanglong National Nature Reserve
WebsiteSatellite View
Biodiversity is very rich in the Reserve. Tall arbors and shrubs, vines, herbs and moss constitute a harmonious picture...
Jiuzhaigou National Nature Reserve
WebsiteSatellite View
The Reserve is not only rich in plants but also in animal species, among which there are rare species such as giant pandas, golden monkeys, Takins, lesser pandas, otters and swans...
Wanglang Nature Reserve
WebsiteSatellite View
Wanglang Nature Reserve, established in 1963 by the Sichuan Forestry Bureau, is located in the Minshan Mountains in some of China's most important panda habitat...
Wolong National Nature Reserve
WebsiteSatellite View;
In the Reserve there are over 50 species of animals and 300 species of birds. The number of giant pandas here approximately accounts for one tenth of the total, and therefore Wolong National Nature Reserve is also identified as homeland of giant pandas...
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1991 [February] - Mike Kilburn - Emei Shan
ReportIts a Buddhist holy mountain in Central Sichuan Province with good primary and secondary forest, deep river gorges as well as rhododendrons, and firs towards the summit. Patches of forest have been cleared for farming below Wannian Si. This arable land holds some birds and is easier going than the forest...
2001 [June] - Ron Hoff
ReportMy wife, Dollyann Myers, and I joined our friends Frank Bills and his wife, Sharon Bostick, for a 4 week birding trip to the province of Sichuan in the central southern part of the People`s Republic of China. We arranged the tour through the China Golden Bridge Travel Sichuan Company. Our contact there was Luo Kaiyue gbtlky@mail.sc.cninfo.net who goes by the English name of Joshua. Joshua is the person who arranges all the logistics for the Birdquest tours to China, so he is very familiar with the proper locations to go to and which hotels to use, etc...
2003 [July] - Frank E Rheindt
Report...into some open areas with dwarf-like bamboo, where I saw Brown Parrotbills, Dark-rumped Rosefinches, Golden Bush-Robins, White-winged Grosbeaks and otherwordly Great Parrotbills, besides the tireless Spotted Bush-Warbler singing from distant shrub...
2005 [April] - Edward C Hall
ReportDuring the course of an OAT tour of China, I took every opportunity to break away for birding. Following are some suggestions as to where others might productively visit. These suggestions reflect, of course, the time of year that I was there and may not be as applicable to other seasons...
2005 [July] - Björn Anderson - Emei Shan
ReportYet another short trip to this famous birdy mountain. My initial target for the extended weekend was to do more exciting birding than Emei, but as it turned out those plans failed with short notice. Emeishan has the advantage that it is easy to get to, no permits are required, and no local transport needs to be prearranged. The choice was therefore fairly easy and I still had a couple of target birds to connect with. Moustached Laughingthrush and Green Shrike-Babbler, both being fairly widespread across China, but still not so frequently recorded, especially the former. I decided to spend as much time as possible at mid to low altitudes and eventually tallied a good selection of typical Emei species...
2005 [May] - Mark Van Beirs
Report...The Bird of the Trip was without any doubt the fabulous Lady Amherst’s Pheasant that we saw so well in its bamboo-choked forest. Other highlights included Severtzov’s Grouse, Snow Partridge, Tibetan Snowcock, Blood Pheasant, Temminck’s Tragopan, White Eared and Blue Eared Pheasants, Black-necked Crane, White-tailed Rubythroat, Rufous-headed Robin, Firethroat, Grandala, Severtzov’s Tit-Warbler, Three-toed, Grey-hooded and Fulvous Parrotbills, Sukatschev’s, Giant and Red-winged Laughingthrushes, Black-browed, White-browed and Père David’s Tits, Przevalski’s Nuthatch, Sichuan Jay and Hume’s Groundpecker. Quality mammals included Alpine Musk Deer and Chinese Goral...
2006 [April] - Tang Jun
Report...Steve and Diane arrival at Chengdu via Seoul very late, and drive to Huan Hua Hotel where just located at the gate of Huan Hua Park, the park is the start of birding for Sichuan area. Mr. & Mrs. Rose like the hotel as they saw Mrs. Gould’s Sunbird just in the yard of the hotel on the way to breakfast the next morning...
2006 [June] - Remco Hofland
ReportHighlights: Chinese Bamboo-Partridge, Tibetan Snowcock, Snow Partridge, Lady Amherst's, Golden, Blood, Koklass & White Eared-Pheasant, Chinese Grouse, Chinese Monal; Emei Liocichla, Rusty, Elliott's, Black-faced, White-browed, Giant, Spotted, Moustached, Red-winged & White-throated Laughingthrush, Chinese Babax and Hwamei; 8 species of parrotbill, Purple Cochoa, Firethroat, 14 species of Phylloscopus warbler, Crested Tit-warbler, 8 species of rosefinch (incl stunners like Vinaceous and Three-banded) and Crimson-browed Finch. Personal top-3 (RH): Purple Cochoa, Tibetan Snowcock, Snow Partridge...
2006 [June] - Sam Woods
ReportChina is a truly fascinating part of Asia – for birding, and also for its interesting history and unique culture. This tour took in some great scenery from the wide open, grassy plains of the Tibetan Plateau to the hulking, snow-capped mountain peaks around Balang Shan. Along with the great scenery there were obviously some great birds – not least among these some beautiful Asian Pheasants that are always a big draw for many birders visiting this exciting birding region...
2007 [July] - Vincent van der Spek - Sichuan & Qing Hai
ReportPhoto-rich report
2007 [June] - Keith Barnes
ReportThis was an abbreviated version of our regular central China tour, cut down to 15 days as that was all the time the participants had available. The itinerary differed slightly from our regular trip and given that it was six days shorter than usual we were extremely happy with the 260 species we scored on tour, this was only 13 birds shy of the 3 week total from 2006...
2009 [June] - Keith Barnes
ReportThis was our most successful ever Sichuan trip to date, finishing off with 307 bird species for the tour, including almost all of the major Central Chinese specialties, but it was also one of the toughest. We had to deal with some major obstacles and challenges to travelling through this, simply one of the most beautiful and spectacular parts of the world! Most of the participants had been to Bhutan, in it’s own right gobsmackingly gorgeous, and all had to admit that while Bhutan was more interesting culturally, Sichuan took the cake for physical beauty...
2010 [June] - Keith Barnes
ReportThe breathtaking Blue-eared Pheasant standing in the open for everyone on one of the last days of the tour was an undoubted highlight; while others may say that the sheer numbers of the rare and reclusive Lady Amherst's Pheasants seen several times earlier in the tour were much better. We recorded 13 species of Phasianidae on this tour including eight pheasants! We also had some luck with rarer non-endemic species, such as the incredible Saker Falcon that we found with chicks at a nest! Another major favourite was the regal Black- necked Cranes, we saw 17 of these elegant birds foraging unconcernedly near the side of the road, and were able to watch them at our leisure...
2010 [June] - Sam Woods
ReportNot only did we do well in terms of pheasant species, but the views were spectacular of almost all of them, from the male Golden Pheasant that lingered on an open trail at Wuyipeng, to the flurry of nine Lady Amherst’s Pheasants that were seen during one incredible day, gracing the road up Wawu Shan’s quiet mountain road, to the male Temminck’s Tragopan that used an open breeze block by the road up Wawu as a calling post in the early morning mist, allowing us to admire his intricate patterning through our well-trained scope! As if that was not enough we should also mention the surprise Silver Pheasant that shocked us near the base of Emei Shan early on the tour; and we should not forget the pair of Chinese Monals feeding quietly in a flower-sprinkled alpine meadow up on Balang Shan; or the marvelous pair of Blue Eared-Pheasants that showed up in the spruce- cloaked slopes of Baxi...
2010 [May] - Henk Hendriks
Report...The hillside behind the deserted Wolong Grand Hotel is sometimes referred to as Sawan. The specialties are Golden Pheasant and Slaty Bunting but a nice selection of more common species can also be observed in the general area...
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Birding Pal
InformationLocal birders willing to show visiting birders around their area...
China Birding Tour
Tour OperatorChina Birding is a travel company based in China, Chengdu and Tibet.We do tailor made itineraries for any bird watchers who have an interest in the birds of China: Qinghaai, Sichuan, Yunnan and Tibet. We have the experience. We can do tour arrangements for individuals or for for birding travel companys visiting China. We can arrange all your hotels, travel and guiding...
Sunbirds
Tour OperatorSichuan province, right in the heart of the Middle Kingdom, is a fabulously bird-rich region, home to the bulk of China's endemic birds and the majority of its Giant Pandas...
Wings
Tour OperatorSichuan province, right in the heart of the Middle Kingdom, is a fabulously bird-rich region home to the bulk of China's endemic birds (and the majority of its Giant Pandas!). On this new tour we'll concentrate on seeing the endemic and near-endemic species as well as sampling the superb food, genuine hospitality and dramatic scenery for which the region is rightly famous...
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