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CHINA IN WINTER

A Crane Quest

Birdquest's China in Winter birding tour is very different from the norm when it comes to Chinese birdwatching trips, concentrating on the wintering migrants and many interesting resident birds of the eastern and southwestern regions of the country. Our China in Winter tour explores the Beijing region, Yancheng on the Yellow Sea, Fuzhou (for Spoon-billed Sandpiper), fabulous Poyang Lake (the last stronghold of the Siberian Crane) and Caohai in Guizhou (Black-necked Cranes).

Sunday 10th November - Saturday 23rd November 2013
(14 days)

Guizhou Post-Tour Extension to Wednesday 27th November (4 days)

Leader: Hannu Jännes

Group Size Limit: 12

Tour Category: Easy for the most part, occasionally Moderate

There is a special magic about cranes, and the ultimate 'cranequest' means travelling to the winter wetlands of China in search of the huge Black-necked Crane (above), the critically endangered Siberian Crane and most of the other Palearctic species (Mark Beaman)

A tour which is definitely something completely different! This exciting Birdquest offers the chance to visit some little-known parts of China and see some extremely rare birds whilst experiencing the delights of early 21st century Chinese travel, including some excellent food, chopsticks and fiery Chinese liquor, elegant city dwellers, smiling peasants and, probably, some of the last cormorant fishermen in the country.

The tour provides a wonderful opportunity to see the superb winter wetlands of China and their many exciting specialities, including some of the world’s most endangered waterbirds, and also a series of exciting endemic and near-endemic forest and scrubland species.

We will begin our ‘cranequest’ through the Middle Kingdom at Beijing, where we will search for Siberian Accentors, Chinese Hill Warblers, Père David’s Laughingthrushes and Yellow-bellied Tits in the shadow of the Great Wall.

Next we travel to the flat, marshy lowlands of the Yancheng reserve on the coast of the Yellow Sea where the incomparable Red-crowned Crane (Asia’s rarest crane) winters in hundreds to escape the icy conditions in its Manchurian and Siberian breeding grounds, and a place where the rare Saunders’s Gull and the impressive Reed Parrotbill are permanent residents, where Baikal Teals and Relict Gulls winter, and even the critically endangered Baer’s Pochard can sometimes be found.

From Yancheng we head still further south, first to the economic capital Shanghai and then to Fuzhou district in Fujian province. The critically endangered and much-sought-after Spoon-billed Sandpiper has recently been found to winter here on a regular basis, so this is now a key venue on a winter trip to China. We will also be able to watch the endangered Black-faced Spoonbill here and more wintering gulls.

After travelling inland to Jiangxi province, we will first visit the flatlands of the Yangtze valley, where the relatively mild weather during the coldest months creates favourable wintering grounds for countless birds from northern Asia. Only in recent years, following discoveries by China’s tiny band of ornithologists, has the true importance of this region for some of the world’s rarest birds become apparent. At the vast complex of lakes and marshes at Poyang Hu, now well known as one of the world’s greatest wetland reserves (although as yet few westerners have visited it!), large numbers of rare cranes have been found to spend the winter. In the case of one species, the endangered Siberian Crane, the numbers involved are so large (over 1500) that the estimated world population has had to be revised upwards by a factor of five! The stunning White-naped Crane is also quite numerous, with over 2000 birds known to winter here some years, and there are also small numbers of Hooded Crane.

As well as being of vital importance for several of the world’s rarest cranes, the reserve has been found to provide the winter quarters for almost the entire world population of the critically endangered Oriental Stork and well over half the population of the rare Swan Goose! A good number of Lesser White-fronted Geese winter in the area, and there is even a chance of seeing the almost unknown Swinhoe’s (or Asian Yellow) Rail! Passerines are relatively few in number, but include the little-known Yellow-browed Bunting. Before we leave this exciting province we will visit the Xin River in eastern Jiangxi to admire the rare Scaly-sided Mergansers that winter there.

During the optional extension we will fly far to the southwest to remote and mountainous Guizhou province in south-central China. Here we will visit the famous Caohai (the ‘Sea of Grass’), home to the largest known wintering concentration of Black-necked Cranes, as well as many other Palearctic visitors, not to mention a superb selection of endemic and near-endemic species including Chinese Thrush, Ashy-throated Parrotbill, Black-streaked Scimitar Babbler, Elliot’s Laughingthrush, Spectacled and Grey-hooded Fulvettas, Black-browed and Black-bibbed Tits, and Black-headed Greenfinch.

Birdquest pioneered winter tours to the wetlands of China as far back as 1988.

(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/guesthouses are mostly of normal Birdquest standard. At Yancheng and at Wu Cheng (Poyang Hu) the guesthouses are fairly simple, but perfectly adequate, and all rooms have private bathrooms. Most people rate the food on this tour as good. Road transport is by small coach and roads are mostly good.

Walking: The walking effort is easy to moderate, with some longer walks in both flat and hilly terrain.

Climate: Conditions will range from fairly warm to cool (or possibly even fairly cold if there is some bad weather). At this season sunny periods alternate with overcast weather and there may be some rain or fog. While snowfall cannot be ruled out, early winter is usually warmer than January-February in eastern China.

Bird Photography: Opportunities are quite good.

Tour Price: (provisional): $4620 Beijing/Shanghai. Post-Tour Extension: $1380. Price includes all transportation (including all flights inside China), 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): $585. Post-Tour Extension: $180. There are only seven rooms at the reserve guesthouse at Yancheng, so it may not be possible to provide everyone who wants one with a single at that location.

Deposit: $450. Post-Tour Extension: $140. If booking more than 12 months before departure, the initial deposit is only $220.

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.

The Black-necked Cranes of the Caohai (or Sea of Grass) are very approachable, especially if you are a local peasant farmer (Mark Beaman)

View Map Download Detailed Itinerary 800kb

Report From November 2003/December 2003 Report From November 2006

We start our China in Winter travels at Beijing, where the scrub and woodland at the Great Wall harbours interesting birds (Mark Beaman)

One of the big attractions at Beijing is Siberian Accentor (Mark Beaman)

Further south, the reedbeds along the Yellow Sea coast hold the Reed Parrotbill, which looks a bit like a giant Bearded Reedling (Mark Beaman)

While the more open areas hold the largest winter concentration of Red-crowned Cranes (Mark Beaman)

To the south of the Yangtze River we should find the rare Scaly-sided Merganser (Mark Beaman)

Caohai means 'Sea of Grass' in Chinese, a very apt description (Mark Beaman)

As well as hundreds of Black-necked Cranes, numerous Bar-headed Geese spend the winter at Caohai (Mark Beaman)

Guizhou's woodlands hold the tiny near-endemic Black-browed Tit (Mark Beaman)

And the near-endemic White-collared Yuhina (Mark Beaman)

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