Sichuan 5-14Apr12

From JS

http://s1110.photobucket.com/albums/h452/laujiasheng/Sichuan/

Having failed in our previous 2 attempts to visit Sichuan (cancelled in 2007 and substituted by Perth in 2011) and taking more than 3 weeks to arrange the concluded trip, my family, finally, visited Sichuan and Jiuzhaigou. Intended as a sightseeing trip, we only covered one site from the usual birding route, which is, not coincidentally, the "paradise-like" (a bit of exaggeration but the waterways are clearly more beautiful than Bishan Park's) Jiuzhaigou.

Unfortunately, we dipped on Jiuzhaigou's famed resident, the Rufous-Headed Robin. Actually, when we were there, we were just thankful that we were neither washed-out by the weather or chinese crowd; seeing any bird was a real bonus then. Still, we had the fortune to see a singing Sooty Tit, the gorgeous-looking endemic Pere David's Tit and count the number of toes of the Three-Toed Woodpecker. More birding-oriented, I glimpsed the large Black Woodpecker and a couple of Spectacled Parrotbill flushed by Chinese trying to photograph themselves in the tall dry "wheat-like" grass. Aforementioned species are specialties of Jiuzhaigou that birders would try to find or dip.

Covering Yingxiu 2008 Earthquake Memorial Site and Diexihaizi of Wenchuan, Mounigou of Huanglong Scenic Area, Taoping Qiang Village of Maoxian, Mt Xiling and Mt Qingcheng (Back Mountain) of Chengdu, Hailuogou of Moxi, Shixianghu (Rock Elephant Lake) and Bifengxia Panda Research and Breeding Centre of Ya'an, we saw a wide array of scenery and elevation. Although off the normal birding route, these places are still forested and provided a couple of lifers. For a starter, we had a pair of the brightly-colored Temminck's Tragopan at the Qiang Village (but in a cage) and saw the cook trying to catch a "flying" chicken for our lunch.

For a non-birder, those were certainly highlights and birds. However, these sights were just disappointing; for the rest of our trip, we didn't see another Tragopan again. To summarise our trip, it is better to do it like the Malaysian Government's report card format.

Laughingthrush (+Liocichla): 2/17 (White-Browed and Elliot's)

Pheasant/Partridge/Grouse: 1/18 (Common Pheasant) - Heard the Tibetan Snowcock and saw its footprints... Additionally, we heard several other unidentified birds. Oh well.

Parrotbill: 2/12 (Spectacled and Ashy-Throated) - Our sole consolation is finding a pair of Black-Throated Parrotbill of the poliotis race, which may be Sichuan's first record...

Woodpecker: 4/12 (Rufous-Bellied, Great Spotted, Three-Toed and Black)

Raptor: 5?/23 (Black Kite, Eurasian/Chinese Sparrowhawk and Northern/Crested Goshawk)

Fulvetta: 3/9 (Grey-Cheeked, Grey-Hooded and Gold-Fronted) - Seeing the rare endemic Gold-Fronted Fulvetta at Mt Qingcheng in a mega birdwave was really unexpected. My brother and I were scouting the road ahead when I stopped to phished out a birdwave into view. Putting my bins on it simply stopped me from going any further and got me to take out my long lens from my bag. Unfortunately, it stayed no longer than the time taken for a family to disturb the birds. What a tick!

Warbler: 8/39 (Emei Leaf, Chinese Leaf, Sichuan Leaf, Alpine Leaf, Sulphur-Breasted, Marten's, Brownish-Flanked Bush and Aberrant Bush)

Rose/Snow/Mountain Finch: 0/20 - Being in the "world capital" for rose/snow/mountain finch, that's probably as rare as a Giant Pitta in Panti.

Tit: 9/14 (Green-Backed, Great, Sichuan, Pere David's, Rufous-Vented, Yellow-Bellied, Black-Throated, Sootyand Fire-Capped)

Treecreeper: 1/3 (Bar-Tailed)

Flycatcher: 1/13 (Rufous-Gorgeted)

Robin: 1/8 (Himalayan Bluetail)

Redstart: 5/9 (Blue-Fronted, Daurian, White-Capped Water, Plumbeous and White-Throated)

Other noteworthy species: White-Throated Dipper (Mounigou - DL only), Alpine Accentor (Moxi to Erlang - JS only), Rufous-Chested Accentor (Moxi to Erlang - JS only), Snow Pigeon (Diexihaizi - JS only)