Western Sichuan, 16th -25th May 2025 - Part 3

East of Ruoergai the grassland plateau breaks up into an area of wooded valleys, not far away, some the most picturesque parts of this landscape form the National Park at Jiuzhaigou. 

Daybreak near Ba Xi Forest

We began our birding with the valley closest to Ruoergai along the S 445 road, known as “Ba Xi Forest”. I had read of birders visiting the area but hadn’t actually been there before, and neither had any of my companions.  After a bit of faffing around (sorry, “diligent exploration”) we found the right track into what looked like suitable habitat. 

After viewing Snowy-cheeked Laughingthrushes, Black Woodpecker and White-cheeked Nuthatch - among other things - we bumped into a local guide with a foreign birder. So we were more confident we were in the right place.  

Farmsteads, Ba Xi Valley

Snowy-cheeked Laughingthrush

Black Woodpecker

Marmots

Later, a grinning local on a scooter yelled “Bird-Watching !” in English at me. 

Meanwhile, the livestock viewed us impassively.

Domesticated Yak, Ba Xi

Domesticated Yak, or "Dzo", Ba Xi

Brown Shrike, Ba Xi

Yak herder, with the Yaks very attentive to her

The local guides we bumped into on our journey had been generous with site information and news of sightings, so we were never short of ideas about places to go.

Further east we birded lower-elevation habitat near the roadside, and settled for two nights (22nd and 23rd May) in Qiuji Town, at this comfortable and new hotel.

Hotel in Qiuji Town

East of Qiuji Town, the road rose again, via a couple of logging checkpoints to a pass at nearly 4,000 metres.  This mountain road proved to be productive for pheasants, especially at dawn and dusk -

Blood Pheasant, s 445 road

Blue Eared Pheasants

Blue Eared Pheasants

Meconopsis integrifolia

Chestnut-throated Monal Partridge

Chestnut-throated Monal Partridge

- and it was along this road, twenty minutes drive from our hotel, that we finally connected with Sichuan Wood Owl.

"Sichuan Wood Owl" 

(I am aware that scientific spoilsports have re-lumped the former “Sichuan Wood Owl/Pere Davids Owl” with Ural Owl - but I am ignoring them.) 

Chinese Grouse - Ba Xi valley

White-cheeked Nuthatch - Ba Xi forest

Tibetan Siskin (male)

On the day we left (May 24th) we had a drive through the scenic hills, enjoying the road engineering and scenery in Jiuzhai County....

The car was returned at Chuanzhushi (near Songpan), and one of the garage people drove us to the High Speed Rail Terminal - 

It was less than two hours to Chengdu, no wonder that the train was so popular !

Thanks again to my companions for their enthusiasm and great company throughout the trip.

Western Sichuan 16th to 25th May - Part 2

The new highway to Sichuan’s Tibetan Grasslands opens this summer. As we drove north from Maerkang we could admire it at a distance. But even the older road is smooth and straight, and we made Ruoergai in good time.

I last visited Ruoergai twenty years ago. It has developed out of all recognition since then.  From the old place with a “Rough Outpost” feeling, we found ourselves for two nights in a gleaming hotel with Kenny G elevator music. 

The Yak Herder lifestyle does not seem to have changed much, though.

White-rumped Snowfinch

We stopped at a viewpoint in the early morning and added Rock Sparrow, Tibetan Ground Tit and White-rumped Snowfinch to the trip list.  Then the search was on to find hillsides with some scrubby bush cover in the hope of a bit more variety.  

We found more birds, but not every one provided a photo opportunity. Tibetan Partridges remained distant, but Yellow-streaked Warbler and White-browed Tit were more obliging. 

Partridges in view !

An Iris - but which one ?

Yellow-streaked Warbler

White-browed Tit

A distant Fox and a single Sika Deer were added to the mammal list.

In 2005 the road north out of Ruoergai cut through open pastures. Now, as a sign of increased domestic tourism, the same road (G 213) passes a succession of Tourist Attractions, presented as natural features of various kinds. Day-trippers were feeding Brown-headed Gulls in one of the Coach Car Parks. We managed to take a fork east of these and viewed Saker Falcon and our only Wolf of the trip. Sheep and Yak dotted the overgrazed hills.

Wolf

Saker Falcon

Little Owl

Tibetan Herdsman

On the way back, we had good views of a Lammergeier in flight, as well as Himalayan Griffon Vultures and a single Black Vulture feasting on dead sheep. 

Himalayan Griffon and Black Vulture

Back near the hotel, a patch of damp meadow held a few species, including breeding Ruddy Shelduck..

Ruddy Shelduck

East of the grasslands the road passes through wooded valleys and warmer farmland - our last 

birding of the trip would be there....

Seabirding off northeast Taiwan, 20th to 24th March 2025 - Part II

March 21st - Shen'ao Port

An early morning taxi delivered us from Rui Fang to Shen’ao Fishing Port, northeast of Taipei City.

Our boat for the day was a relatively luxurious cruiser for anglers. A tasty seafood congee was provided, and the coffee percolator was kept primed !

The weather was warming up and clear and sunny. This made for good viewing conditions, but there were far fewer birds around than we had seen in the gloom off Fen Niao Lin the previous day.

 This one of several Brown Boobies seen.

Our “Bird of the Day” was a “Stage 2” Short-tailed Albatross (Phoebastria albatrus) that passed quite  close to the boat early on.

For the rest of the day we contented ourselves with trying to photograph the pods of Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) and Pantropical Spotted Dolphins (Stella attenuata) seen surfacing in the calm, blue waters of the west Pacific Ocean. 

Jemi got most of the best shots with the 7D2 and 100-400 zoom.

Most of my photos, however, featured mysterious, distant fins and tail flukes which I lacked the experience to confidently identify.

False Killer Whales (Pseudorca crassidens) - when identifiable - were the pick of the cetaceans seen. 

We enjoyed the scenery of Taiwan's Northeast Coast National Scenic Area, this is the lighthouse at Cape Bitou. 

March 22nd -Shen'ao Port

Another comfortable cruiser, and more bright sunshine.  Flying flocks of what I took to be migrating passerines turned out to be large groups of Taiwanese Racing Pigeons, flying far out to sea.  “What a quaint hobby !” I said to our hosts.  They corrected me politely  “The popularity of Pigeon Racing is due to gambling !”

Great Crested Tern - (Thalasseus bergii)

Peregrines are celebrated for nesting on geologically outstanding cliffs near Shen’ao Harbour, and one evening we all made time to photograph them.

March 24th - Fen Niao Lin

After a very welcome rest day we returned south to Suao and Fen Niao Lin and the “Hoi An No.1” , the boat we had used on the first day.  

Fen Niao Lin Port's resident Brown Booby

In much warmer and finer weather than on the 20th, our hardworking Taiwanese hosts still managed to “chum up” a flurry of Streaked Shearwaters (Calonectris leucomelas) in good light. 

Back at Fen Niao Lin harbour we had a round of “Farewells” and a photo of some of the participants......

Then everybody dispersed. The local photographers and birders headed home, our Taiwanese organisers had some post-chumming cleaning up to do.  

We visitors returned to our accommodation thinking of homeward flights the following day. 

Thanks again to to Hiroyuki and Shoko TANOI for news of the trips, and to everyone else for their good humour and good company.