SICHUAN, CHINA 1-15 JUNE 2019 (4)

Sichuan Wapiti at Labahe, 9 June

On the morning of 9 June, we drove east back towards Chengdu, but then diverged south towards the montane sites of Labahe, Erlangshan and Longcanggou.
 
Labahe is a scenic area that has fairly recently re-opened to the public after being off-limits for several years. There is a fine four-star hotel beside a river and a road up the mountain accessible by park bus. After lunch, we took the bus to the top of the mountain, and then got the cable-car even higher – up to 3500 metres. Unfortunately, the peak was covered in a rain cloud; it was cold and wet and visibility was severely limited. At the upper station we found a female Golden Bush Robin and a singing Spotted Bush Warbler, but there was no sign of Summer's main target species, the Sichuan Treecreeper, a bird which was only described in 1995. The idea was mooted to walk down the steps that ran parallel to the cables, but I was not keen, so we caught the cable car back down to the lower station and walked down the road from there. The habitat here was mainly birch woodland with an understorey of bamboo. Aberrant Bush Warblers were common and there were a number of Phylloscs including Claudia’s, Large-billed Leaf, Sichuan Leaf, Ashy-throated and Bianchi’s Warblers. We had brief views of a Fulvous Parrotbill. Other birds of note were four Stripe-throated Yuhinas, several Fire-capped Tits and four Mrs Gould’s Sunbirds. In the evening, I went for a stroll along the river opposite the hotel and saw Brown Dipper along with White-capped and Plumbeous Water Redstarts. What I assumed to be a Sambar Deer grazed on hillside not far from the hotel, but I have since been informed by Jose R Castello that it was in fact a Sichuan Wapiti Cervus canadensis macneilli.
 
On the morning of the 10th, we headed back up the mountain, taking a couple of trails off the main road in the upper-middle section of the mountain. In one area we heard a couple of singing Blue-fronted Robins but I only managed an inadequate glimpse of one of them. Temminck’s Tragopans were more obliging and we had excellent views of at least three of them.  Back at the main road, we had good views of a male Lady Amherst’s Pheasant. Along another quiet trail, we found the endemic Pere David’s Tit, as well as a pair of Yellow-bellied Flowerpeckers. Flycatchers in the area consisted of Verditer, Dark-sided, Ferruginous and Slaty-backed.
 
We hitched  a lift up to the cable car station  and decided to walk a little way up the steps parallel to the cables. Here, we had good views of a male Golden Bush Robin and c. 200 metres up the steps, Summer found a Sichuan Treecreeper which also provided excellent views as it foraged on tree trunks, presumably collecting food for its young. Walking back downhill, we turned up a Firethroat and four Fulvous Parrotbills.

Temminck's Tragopan at Labahe, 10 June

Aberrant Bush Warbler at Labahe, 10 June

Pere David's Tit at Labahe, 10 June

Sichuan Treecreeper at Labahe, 10 June

Ferruginous Flycatcher at Labahe, 10 June

Fire-capped Tit at Labahe, 10 June

Claudia's Leaf Warbler at Labahe, 10 June

The morning of the 12th was wet and cloudy, so we decided not to explore the other side of Erlangshan as we had planned but head straight to Longcanggou. We arrived there at 8.30 am and drove up a picturesque steep-sided  valley different to the main area usually visited by birders. There were a number of new birds for the trip, including at least 11 White-throated Needletails, a Himalayan Swiftlet, three Black Bazas, a juvenile Crested Honey Buzzard, several Hair-crested Drongos, several Buffy Laughingthrushes, a White-backed Woodpecker, a Chinese Blue Flycatcher and singing  Alstrom’s, Kloss’s  and Emei Leaf Warblers.
 
We checked into our hotel just outside the park. Four Ashy-throated Parrotbills were in the bushes near the buildings. Later in the afternoon, we went to the lower level of the main birding valley in search of Sichuan Bush Warbler. We heard  it singing  readily enough, but it took a while for us to get semi-decent views of the bird itself.
 
Longcanggou is basically a wide forested valley between 1400 and 2400 metres in elevation.  One side of the river is a scenic area open to the public; the other side is off-limits to the general public and the access gates are usually locked. Birding groups can make special arrangements to access this private area. The road, rough in places but passable, goes through dense mixed forest up into more open forest and to an area of bamboo forest (although there is bamboo all along the road). The upper area houses  a Panda re-introduction scheme and is inaccessible to everyone.
 
We spent 13th & 14th June walking up and down the road, largely between the upper and middle sections. Highlights were Golden Parrotbills on both days, and two Brown Parrotbills on 13th. Disappointingly, however, we heard Great Parrotbill on both days, but did not see it, and  were unable to link up with Grey-hooded and Three-toed Parrotbills at all. We heard three Emei Shan Liocichlas on 12th but did not see any of them.
 
Longcanggou is known for its rainfall. The 13th was clear but it rained all day on 14th and on the morning of the 15th. This was insufficient to curtail our birdwatching but it did mean that I didn’t use my camera on those days. On 14th, in the early morning, we explored a rough, dead-end track off to the left eight kilometres before the Panda base. This track (and the adjacent main access road) proved very good for Temminck’s Tragopans. We had a total of six males, four females and six chicks there. Nearer the summit, in the enveloping mist, we eventually had a decent view of an inquisitive Emei Shan Liocichla. The final rare endemic of the day was a Golden-fronted Fulvetta found by Summer in the public section of the scenic area in the late afternoon.
 
On the morning of 15th, again in the rain, we walked the road down the valley we had visited on 12th. Additional species we found were ten Black-chinned Yuhinas and a Little Forktail. We then drove back to Chengdu airport so I could get my afternoon flight back to Hong Kong.