Welcome to Birdquest

SOUTHEAST CHINA

Birdquest's Southeast China birding tour offers a compelling birdwatching experience. Our Southeast China tour is effectively in two parts, the first concentrates on coastal wetlands and features the endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Chinese Crested Tern, the second moves on to the forests of the interior in search of Cabot's Tragopan, Courtois's Laughingthrush and many other good birds.

Sunday 28th April - Thursday 9th May 2013
(12 days)

Leader: to be confirmed

Group Size Limit: 9

Tour Category: Easy for the most part, occasionally Moderate

The amazing Cabot's Tragopan will be the focus of our birding at the spectacular Wuyishan (Pete Morris)

The huge and varied country that is China boasts an incredible bird list of over 1300 species. Since 1984, Birdquest has developed a series of comprehensive tours to find a vast majority of the endemics and specialities, but in a country that is so large, and with so many scattered specialities, there’s always more to see. This itinerary, to the southeast of the country, targets some rare and poorly known waterbirds on the coast, and some stunning endemics at forest sites inland. The bird list will not be high, but the quality contained within it certainly will be!

Every now and then, an ornithological discovery is made that excites the entire world birding fraternity, and one such event was the discovery of Chinese Crested Tern breeding in Taiwan in 2000. Prior to that there had been just three records in recent times, and the species was feared to be close to extinction. Whilst the breeding grounds on remote rocks off the Matsu Islands are hard to get to, and the timing of the terns’ breeding inconvenient to tie-in with a visit to Taiwan, seeing the species on the Chinese coast has been relatively straightforward in recent years. With such a window of opportunity (and there’s no guarantee that the terns will be gettable for long!) now is the time to go and see this critically endangered species. Another equally exciting and critically endangered species is the very special Spoon-billed Sandpiper which has plummeted in numbers alarmingly in recent years, and the Yellow Sea is a major staging area for this species. Much of the area is under threat from reclamation, but in the Shanghai area, there are still extensive mud flats where on a good day one can see double figure numbers of this rare species, many of which will be in splendid summer plumage at this time of year. These two species will form the focus of our coastal birding for the first few days of the tour, but a number of other interesting species are also likely including delightful Saunders’s Gulls, a superb array of shorebirds including Great Knot and the recently discovered Swinhoe’s (or White-faced) Plover and the localized endemic Reed Parrotbill.

Having fully explored the coastal areas, the second half of the tour will see us flying to Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi province, from where we will explore two contrasting areas: the rich mountains of Wuyishan in north-western Fujian province and the rural areas surrounding Wuyuan which is situated in the northeast corner of Jiangxi. In Wuyishan, we will explore the road to Huangang Shan where our prime target will be the unbelievable Cabot’s Tragopan which is still relatively common and easy to see in this area. The supporting cast is good too with other possibilities including the ultra-elusive Elliot’s Pheasant, the skulking White-necklaced (or Rickett’s Hill) Partridge, Hartert’s and Kloss’s Leaf Warblers, White-spectacled Warbler, Russet and Brown Bush-Warblers, the colourful Fujian Niltava, Spotted Wren-Babbler and the localized Grey-hooded Fulvetta. In the rural villages around Wuyuan, our main prize will be the beautiful and critically endangered Courtois’s (or Blue-crowned) Laughingthrush, whilst nearby we should be able to find the scarce Pied Falconet and the localized Swinhoe’s Minivet.

Birdquest has unrivalled experience in China, having operated a long series of tours there since 1984.

(Note: The above is a summary of the tour. For more information please download the detailed, day-by-day itinerary. The button is at the top right of the page.)

Accommodation & Road Transport: The hotels are of normal Birdquest standard, though the guest house at Wuyishan is simple but clean and comfortable. Road transport is by small coach, minibus or cars. Roads are generally of a good quality.

Walking: The walking effort is mostly easy, but there will be one or two harder walks on the mudflats where some walking through mud will be required in order to get close to the shorebirds and terns.

Climate: Generally cool to warm (occasionally hot in the lowlands) with sunny spells interspersed with overcast conditions, especially in the mountains. Some rain is likely and it may be heavy at times.

Bird Photography: Opportunities are worthwhile.

Part-Tour Option: It is possible to take just the Shanghai and Fuzhou section of this tour (with arrangements ending at Fuzhou airport on the morning of Day 5). Please contact us for further information.

Tour Price: (provisional): $4080 Shanghai/Nanchang. Price includes all transportation (including Shanghai-Fuzhou and Fuzhou-Shanghai-Nanchang flights), all accommodations, all meals, bottled water, some drinks, all excursions, all entrance fees, all tips for local drivers/guides and for accommodations/restaurants, leader services.

Single Room Supplement: (provisional): $428.

Deposit: 10% of the tour price (excluding any single supplement).

Air Travel To & From The Tour: Our in-house IATA ticket agency can arrange your air travel in connection with the tour from a departure point anywhere in the world, or you may arrange your own air travel if you prefer. We can tailor-make your itinerary to your personal requirements, so if you would like to travel in advance of the tour (and spend a night in an hotel so you will feel fresh when the tour starts), or return later than the end of the tour, or make a side trip to some other destination, or travel business class rather than economy, we will be happy to assist. Please contact us about your air travel requirements.

We can arrange internal flights inside China for anyone needing only those flights.

The critically endangered Courtois's Laughingthrush was only rediscovered in 2000 (Pete Morris)

Four Chinese Crested Terns stand alongside a darker Greater Crested Tern. The whole of the known world population, just a handful of birds, use the Min Jiang Estuary (Pete Morris)

The splendid Spoon-billed Sandpiper is now in catostrophic decline. Indeed the areas where we will look for it are under threat of reclamation in the near future (Pete Morris)

Superb Saunders's Gulls are a regular feature on the coast (Pete Morris)

A typical wader roost scene with a Great Knot just left of centre. This species is also in decline as so much important staging habitat has been lost along the Yellow Sea coast (Pete Morris)

We should have an excellent chance of finding the localized Pied Falconet (Pete Morris)

Real wild Mandarin Ducks should be on the agenda (Pete Morris)

The recently discovered Swinhoes's (or White-faced) Plover is common on the coast. The jury is still out on whether or not it is a good species (Pete Morris)

One of the rarest birds in the world, we have an excellent chance of finding Chinese Crested Tern (Pete Morris)

Swinhoes's (or White-faced) Plover lose their white-faced appearance through the breeding season (Pete Morris)

Red-billed Starling is a regular feature (Pete Morris)

Migrants are an attractive feature on the coast at this time of year and may include species such as Narcissus Flycatcher (Pete Morris)

... Rufous-tailed (or Swinhoe's) Robin (Pete Morris)

... and Tristram's Bunting (Pete Morris)

Many interesting warblers occur at Wuyishan, including Brown Bush-Warbler (Pete Morris)

... White-spectacled Warbler (here of the yellow-spectacled intermedius form) (Pete Morris)

... Kloss's Leaf Warbler (part of the White-tailed Leaf-Warbler complex) (Pete Morris)

... and Hartert's Leaf Warbler (part of the Blyth's Leaf-Warbler complex) (Pete Morris)

The attractive Yellow-cheeked Tit should also be seen (Pete Morris)

... as should the localized Chestnut Bulbul (Pete Morris)

... and Collared Finchbill (Pete Morris)

In open country around Wuyi we'll come across a number of interesting species such as Grey-faced (or Grey-headed) Woodpecker (Pete Morris)

... and the scarce Long-billed Plover (Pete Morris)

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