The Deskbound Birder: China Wetlands (Birdquest) Tour

Friday 11 November 2016

China Wetlands (Birdquest) Tour - 11th November (Day 8)

Wuyuan turned out to be a party town and despite the most comfortable bed of the trip at the Huayi Hotel sleep was interrupted by blaring horns and shouting right through the night. Breakfast was of Dim Sum and noodles with coffee in a small restaurant at 06:00 and by 07:00 we were in the field. Our first stop was in the small village of Kengkou where we wandered onto the bridge over the River Xiu. It was fairly misty and visibility was no more than 500m but fairly quickly we picked up two female Scaly-sided Merganser feeding in the rapids on the river, they were fairly distant and views were not great. A small group of Masked Laughing-thrush responded well to the tape and came in close to the bridge showing their black masks well. Next we picked up three Long-billed Plover feeding on one of the shingle islands on the river, reminiscent of a large Little-ringed Plover with a less prominent eye-ring and a long bill. Next we found four buntings feeding beneath the bridge, these consisted of two Black-faced Bunting and two Yellow-browed Bunting. Other birds we recorded here included Red-billed Starling, Red-billed Blue-magpie, Common Kingfisher, Plumbeous Water-redstart and Oriental Magpie Robin.

Yellow-browed Bunting - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Red-billed Blue-magpie - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Long-tailed Shrike - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Oriental Magpie-robin - Kengkou, Wuyuan

We then wandered through the small town of white-washed buildings, narrow streets and locals gathering to grind sweet potatoes. A trail extended out of the village and followed the river passing through crop field of cabbage, pat-choy and corn before passing into an area of short woodland and scrub with an abundance of bamboo. Collared Finchbill, Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler and Rufous-capped Babbler showed well while Olive-backed Pipit were abundant. We quickly bumped into our first mixed species flock which was led by Grey-sided Fulvetta (a possible split as Huet’s Fulvertta) and also contained Red-billed Leiothrix, Grey-sided Babbler and Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler. A short way along the trail a male Silver Pheasant was on the trail but quickly flushed on our approach. And then a Moustached Laughing Thrush which showed well along the tril, this species was a bit of a surprise species as it should be higher than the current site. We spent around two hours in this woodland, birding was quite tough going as the vegetation was thick right up to the trail but was very enjoyable, we also recorded Greater/Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush, Crested Goshawk, Rufous-capped Babbler, Chestnut Bulbul, Tristram’s Bunting and Japanese White-eye (fly-over birds).

Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Perny's Squirrel - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Moustached Laughingthrush - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Grey-sided Fulvetta (possible split as Huet's Fulvetta) - Kengkou, Wuyuan

The forests at Kengkou, Wuyuan

Darter species - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Collared Finchbill - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Maritime Striped Squirrel - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Long-tailed Shrike - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Kengkou, Wuyuan

Yam Market - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Kengkou, Wuyuan

Yam Market - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Lady at Yam Market - Kengkou, Wuyuan

After the forest we returned to the bridge for better views of the Scaly-sided Merganser and picked up five very distant birds, a male and four females. After speaking to the driver we headed along a paved road running parallel to the river to try to get closer. We drove around 1km and then walked the final 300 or 400m along a trail through the scrub to come to a small view point overlooking the river. The merganser’s were still around 300m away but as we watched they eventually made their way up river and past us showing very well. There were in total 12 birds, three males and nine females. The males stunning with green heads, double spikey crest and a bright red bill tipped yellow.

River Xiu - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Scaly-sided Merganser - Kengkou, Wuyuan

Satisfied we returned to the car and drove 45 minutes to Xiao Qi arriving at 13:55 here we quickly found our target, the diminutive Pied Falconet, a family party of six. These were visible from the roof of a restaurant and after enjoying good views we had lunch with a celebratory beer and began our journey south-west to Nanchang at 15:15. The journey took around four hours and we passed through wooded hills and open rice paddies before arriving in the town at 19:00. We stayed in the fabulously named Galactic Peace International Hotel in Nancheng.