EASTERN CHINA IN WINTER – A veritable China Birding Spectacular!

PRICE INFORMATION

Birdquest Inclusions: Our tour prices include transportation, accommodations, meals and entrance fees.

We also include all tipping for local guides, drivers and accommodation/restaurant staff.

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This tour is priced in US Dollars. Amounts shown in other currencies are indicative.

EASTERN CHINA IN WINTER BIRDING TOUR: DETAILED ITINERARY

Eastern China in Winter: Day 1

The extension begins this morning at our hotel near Beijing Capital Airport.

(The hotel has an airport shuttle service.)

From there, after a visit to one of the city parks if Japanese Waxwings are around (which is not an annual event), we will drive southwards to the city of Tianjin, where we will spend the night.

This afternoon, we will begin our exploration of the Gulf of Bohai coastal zone.

Eastern China in Winter: Day 2

Along the low-lying shoreline of the Gulf of Bohai, our primary target will be the rare Relict Gull that winters in this area in numbers. This rare species is rarely seen by birders other than in Mongolia in spring and the coast of Northeast China in winter, so it is a very special bird!

Other gulls that winter regularly in the area include Mongolian Gull, Vega Gull (much less common), the dainty Saunders’s Gull, Common Gull and Black-headed Gull.

Slaty-backed, Glaucous, Lesser Black-backed, and Black-tailed Gulls are also possible at the Gulf of Bohai in winter, but are usually very uncommon.

We will surely turn up many other species, including such waterfowl as Common Shelduck, Eastern (or Chinese) Spot-billed Duck, Mallard, Common Goldeneye and perhaps Smew. Other sightings are likely to include Little Grebe, Grey Heron, Great Egret, Great (or Eurasian) Bittern and Eurasian Curlew.

Areas of reeds hold the impressive Reed Parrotbill as well as Pallas’s Reed Bunting and often Ochre-rumped (or Japanese Reed) Bunting.

More open country attracts Hen Harriers, Daurian Jackdaws, Carrion Crows, ‘Oriental’ Rooks and sometimes Upland Buzzard.

Afterwards, we will return to the Beijing region for three nights (one night may be spent deep in the mountains).

Eastern China in Winter: Days 3-4

In the hills and mountains that lie to the west of the city, we can wander amongst woodlands and scrubby hillsides that most notably hold wintering Siberian Accentors and Pallas’s Rosefinches as well as Naumann’s and Red-throated Thrushes. If we are really fortunate, we will find Pine Bunting.

Güldenstädt’s (or White-winged) Redstart is a winter visitor that is straightforward to find in some winters but rare or absent in others. Asian Rosy Finch is also a possibility, but they are generally high in the mountains and far from any road.

Residents include such endemics as Beijing Babbler (formerly Chinese Hill Warbler), Plain (or Pere David’s) Laughingthrush and Silver-throated Bushtit and such near-endemics as Light-vented (or Chinese) Bulbul, Vinous-throated Parrotbill, Chinese (or Snowy-browed) Nuthatch and Chinese Beautiful Rosefinch. Other birds of note include Oriental Magpie, Oriental (or Grey-capped) Greenfinch, the impressive Chinese (or Yellow-billed) Grosbeak, ‘Chinese’ Long-tailed Rosefinch, Godlewski’s Bunting and the smart Yellow-throated Bunting. Hill Pigeon is also a possibility.

Additional species we are likely to find in the Beijing region include Mandarin Duck (we will likely have stunning views!), Common Merganser (or Goosander), Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Spotted and Oriental Turtle Doves, Grey-headed, Grey-capped Pygmy and Great Spotted  Woodpeckers, Cinereous, Coal and Marsh Tits, Willow Tit (the form here is part of the ‘Songar’ group, sometimes treated as a distinct species), Azure-winged Magpie, Red-billed Blue Magpie, Large-billed Crow, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Brambling and Meadow Bunting.

Eastern China in Winter: Day 5

This morning, we will take a high-speed train to Huozhou in Shanxi province. From there, we will drive into the mountains for an overnight stay.

China’s fantastic modern ‘bullet trains’ travel at a speed that is hard to believe for a terrestrial means of transport! These clean and comfortable trains travel between stations at speeds of between 200-300 kilometres per hour (120-180 miles per hour)! The journey times are typically well under half the time it takes to drive.

In the mountains, we may come across the vocal Southern Nutcracker and Eurasian Nuthatch.

Eastern China in Winter: Day 6

This morning, we are due for a huge treat as we enjoy a close encounter with the Endangered Brown Eared Pheasant. This endemic species was once widespread in northeastern China but is now reduced to a few fragmented pockets. Soon after dawn, their rolling, barking calls ring out across the wooded valleys, and we will watch out for these huge pheasants as they forage across the adjacent hillsides, digging up roots and tubers with their powerful bills and claws. Better still, we are soon likely to be very close to some of these magnificent birds! What an amazing birding experience!

Afterwards, we will return to Huozhou and catch a high-speed train to Xinyang in Henan province. From Xinyang, we will drive the relatively short distance to the Dongzhai National Nature Reserve for a three-night stay.

Eastern China in Winter: Days 7-8

A major reason for visiting Dongzhai is to see the endemic Reeves’s Pheasant. We will visit a photographic hide/blind twice during our stay, where we should see a number of these wonderful creatures. Females are more frequent visitors in winter, with males being less predictable (hence the two visits to the hide). If a male appears, we will see it close by and in all its glory, an experience that will surely live in all our memories! With subtle, scaled, golden and chestnut hues, a vivid pied head pattern, and a tail that is unfeasibly long (up to 1.8 metres in length!), this really is an extraordinary bird.

Quite a lot of other birds frequent the hide, and these regularly include the near-endemic Chinese Hwamei and Masked Laughingthrush, Spotted and Oriental Turtle Doves, Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babbler, White-crowned Forktail and White-rumped Munia.

Close by, a population of the Endangered and spectacular, near-endemic Crested Ibis has become established, and we should be able to watch them feeding in the paddies or along the river. The Chinese population is currently estimated to be in excess of 3000 individuals, and they are recolonising some of their old haunts.

Also here, the rapidly declining near-endemic Collared Crow is still fairly numerous, and we will make sure we get some good views of this charismatic species.

Adjacent to the village, we are likely to encounter a number of other interesting species, including such near-endemics as the noisy Collared Finchbill, the handsome Chestnut Bulbul and Yellow-bellied Tit, as well as the smart Daurian Redstart, Dusky Thrush and the much-wanted Yellow-browed Bunting.

More widespread species that we are likely to encounter during our visit to the area include Black Kite, Common Pheasant (the grey-rumped decollatus subspecies occurs here), Crested Goshawk, Crested Kingfisher, Eurasian Jay (the striking form here, pekingensis, is part of the ‘Brandt’s Jay group’), Mountain Bulbul, Pallas’s Leaf Warbler, Red-flanked Bluetail, the perky Black-throated Bushtit, Russet Sparrow, and Little and Black-faced Buntings. Speckled Piculet is also possible.

Sometimes the pheasant hide owners know where there is a roosting Japanese Scops Owl or a Collared Scops Owl, but this is ‘pot luck’.

Eastern China in Winter: Day 9

This morning, we will return to Xinyang and catch a high-speed train to Jiujiang in Jiangxi province.

Not far from Jiujiang, we will check a lake where the Critically Endangered Baer’s Pochard is fairly regular during the winter months.

Afterwards, we will head southwards to the famous Poyang Hu for a three-night stay. We may arrive in time for some initial exploration.

Eastern China in Winter: Days 10-11

Poyang Hu is the largest freshwater lake in China, covering an area of about 3000 square kilometres and situated to the south of the great Yangtze River. After the spring and summer rainy season, the water levels fall progressively – creating a mosaic of residual lakes surrounded by marshes and dry land around the periphery of Poyang Hu itself. It is these shallow residual lakes which are of prime importance to waterbirds, and following the discovery of an enormous concentration of rare cranes and other species in 1981, a reserve of 22,400 hectares was established by the Chinese authorities. This extensive reserve, situated at the northwestern corner of the Poyang complex, is one of the great waterbird sanctuaries of the world, although as yet few people know much about it and even fewer have visited it (our first visit, in 1988, was the first-ever by a birding tour!). During our time here, we will explore a series of lakes and their surrounding marshland.

The town of Wu Cheng is situated on a large island amid the Poyang wetlands, between the Gan and Xiu Rivers, and for part of the year, the causeway that connects the island to the mainland lies under deep water! There is a large pagoda positioned at the northernmost point of the island, built on the site of a lighthouse built centuries ago on the orders of the Chinese emperor to guide shipping heading up to Nanchang. Decidedly Chinese-style, flat-bottomed barges ply the river channels, often loaded down with unlikely cargoes such as piles of bamboo poles or mountains of hay that almost completely obscure their bulky wooden superstructures, whilst overhead small groups of cranes and geese make their way between the wetlands.

Undoubtedly, the most exciting birds of the Poyang area are the cranes. Up to 2000 Critically Endangered Siberian Cranes, up to 1000 White-naped Cranes and much smaller numbers of Hooded and Common Cranes winter in the area and impart their own special magic to it. The V-shaped skeins passing overhead and the cranes dancing and calling to each other along the lake shores are amongst the most evocative sights and sounds in the avian world. We could also come across one or two Sandhill Cranes (of the ‘Lesser’ subspecies) that have failed to cross the Bering Strait from their Siberian breeding grounds in order to reach their usual wintering area in western North America and instead have headed southwards to winter.

Up to 1600 Oriental Storks winter in the area, probably a large proportion of the world population of this Critically Endangered bird, as do many hundreds of Eurasian Spoonbills.

The star attraction among the hordes of wildfowl found in the area is the huge number of Swan Geese. Over 10,000 winter in the entire Poyang region, the majority of the world population. Other wintering geese include over 5000 Greater White-fronted Geese, several hundred Taiga Bean Geese and larger numbers of Tundra Bean Geese, and good numbers of Greylag Geese. Lesser White-fronted Geese are also present in small or moderate numbers, although they are often hard to locate amongst the far more numerous Greaters.

Up to 2000 Tundra (Bewick’s) Swans occur here as well as large numbers of ducks, including the handsome Falcated Duck, Eurasian Wigeon,  Eurasian Teal, Northern Pintail and Northern Shoveler, Common Pochard, Tufted Duck and the beautiful Smew. We also have a modest chance of coming across the rare and endangered Baikal Teal, surely one of the world’s most beautiful ducks.

The diversity of wintering shorebirds is not very great, but there are large flocks of Pied Avocets and Spotted Redshanks.

One of the most enigmatic birds in Asia, the poorly-known Swinhoe’s (or Asian Yellow) Rail sometimes overwinters here (indeed we have seen it on several occasions in the past), but it is a species in sharp decline and nowadays if we see this little mite flutter up from the ground displaying its broad white wing patches we will count ourselves extraordinarily fortunate.

Other specialities include the impressive, near-endemic Chinese Grey Shrike, the near-endemic Red-billed Starling, the range-restricted Marsh Grassbird (or Japanese Swamp Warbler), the tiny Chinese Penduline Tit and Rustic Bunting. The near-endemic White-browed Laughingthrush also occurs in the area but is uncommon.

More widespread species of the Poyang area include Great Crested Grebe, Great Cormorant, Black-winged Kite, Eastern Marsh Harrier, Eastern (or Japanese) Buzzard, Japanese Quail, Brown Crake, Brown-cheeked Rail, Common Moorhen, Eurasian Coot, Northern Lapwing, Kentish Plover, Common Snipe, Common Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Dunlin, Common, White-throated and Pied Kingfishers, Common Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon, Oriental Skylark, Long-tailed Shrike, Barn Swallow, Zitting Cisticola, Plain Prinia, Black-collared and White-cheeked Starlings, White Wagtail, Siberian and Water Pipits, Scaly-breasted Munia and Chestnut-eared Bunting.

Eastern China in Winter: Day 12

After some final birding at Poyang Hu, we will travel to Wuyuan in eastern Jiangxi for a two-night stay.

Eastern China in Winter: Day 13

Today, we will explore a wide, fast-flowing river where the rare and little-known Scaly-sided (or Chinese) Merganser winters in fair numbers. We should obtain great views of at least a few and quite possibly a dozen or more of these beautiful ducks, watching them feeding in the river or chasing each other during territorial squabbles. We also have a chance of finding the localised Long-billed Plover on the gravel banks.

The Wuyuan area also features a series of other specialities, notably including the endemic Huet’s Fulvetta and the skulking endemic Grey-sided Scimitar Babbler and Pied Falconet. There are slim chances of coming across the range-restricted Short-tailed Parrotbill or the near-endemic Moustached Laughingthrush, although both are difficult to find in winter.

Other species we may well find during our visit include Grey Treepie, Oriental Magpie-Robin, Brown-flanked Bush Warbler, Rufous-capped Babbler, Greater Necklaced Laughingthrush (uncommon), Red-billed Leiothrix and Crested Myna. Winter visitors from northern Asia include Grey-backed Thrush.

[Interestingly, the Blue-crowned or Courtois’s Laughingthrushes that breed around several villages of the Wuyuan area in spring and summer retreat deep into inaccessible hill country in winter. You can see them on our spring Eastern China tour.]

Eastern China in Winter: Day 14

This morning, we will take a high-speed train southwards to Jian’ou in Fujian province and then drive into the mountains for an overnight stay.

We should have yet another treat in store this afternoon as we visit a photographic hide/blind where we have a good chance of an encounter with a stunning male Cabot’s Tragopan and perhaps two or more females!

Other birds are overshadowed by such a wonder, but the hide is good for wintering Tristram’s Buntings that are attracted by the grain.

Eastern China in Winter: Day 15

Today, we will head westwards to Mingxi County for an overnight stay. We may return to the Cabot’s Tragopan hide this morning, depending on our luck the previous day.

This afternoon we will attend another hide/blind where we should be rewarded by stunning views of Silver Pheasants and where we have a good chance of seeing the handsome Elliot’s Pheasant.

Eastern China in Winter: Day 16

We will return to the pheasant hide this morning if need be.

The rare and sought-after Blyth’s Kingfisher also occurs in this area. It is not a predictable bird at any time, but it is especially difficult outside the breeding period, so it will be a case of fingers crossed that one flies past while we watch from a riverbank.

The rare White-eared Night Heron breeds in the area and sometimes lingers into winter.

The range-restricted Chinese Barbet is an uncommon bird in the area and usually quiet in winter, but it is also a possibility.

Afterwards, we will travel to Fuzhou Airport, where our Eastern China in Winter birding tour ends this evening.

[Fuzhou is served by flights from all major Chinese gateway cities. We can easily arrange a domestic flight out of Fuzhou on request, even if you are not arranging your international flights through us.]