Few songbirds attract as much interest as a male Siberian Rubythoat. Photo: David Fisher
China is a vast country, the third-largest on earth, with a dazzling array of landscapes and environments rivaling anywhere else on the planet. It also boasts numerous ornithological jewels including elegant cranes, amazing pheasants, and dainty redstarts. Many of the nation’s 1,200 or so species are endemic or near endemic, and many are poorly known. This tour visits two dramatically different parts of the country, sampling much of the best of birding in China. We’ll spend the bulk of the trip exploring parts of the fantastic Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in search of some of its endemic and near-endemic species before venturing to the coast east of Beijing to look for migrants and a completely different selection of species.
The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, the so-called Roof of the World and the location of the famous Qinghai Hu (Lake Koko Nor to many), is a surreal lunar landscape that is home to an impressive range of alluring species. Moving off the plateau, we’ll head to Huzhu Beishan, a recently opened area harboring a remnant of ancient forest thronged with regional specialties. Returning to Beijing we’ll head out to the coast to search for migrant shorebirds and passerines at Beidaihe, a world-class coastal migration site.
During the tour we’ll also experience some of the Middle Kingdom’s amazing cultural heritage sites, including Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.
Day 1: The tour begins this evening in Beijing. Night in Beijing.
Day 2: We’ll visit Tiananmen Square, one of Beijing’s most famous landmarks, and the Forbidden City. Home to the emperors of both the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Forbidden City, or Palace Museum, now holds the largest and best-preserved cluster of ancient buildings in the country. Although we don’t expect to see many birds today, we should encounter at least a couple of parties of entertaining Azure-winged Magpies and perhaps a migrant or two. Night in Beijing.
Day 3: In the late morning we’ll catch a flight to Xining, the ancient capital of Qinghai Province, in north-central China, and continue by road to a forested hill overlooking the city. Birds here include Daurian and possibly Rusty-necklaced Partridges and perhaps a few migrant songbird. Night in Xining.
Days 4-5: Leaving Xining we’ll drive west onto the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and head for spectacular Qinghai Hu (Lake Koko Nor) some 10,500 feet above sea level. We’ll spend five days in the plateau’s varied habitats, including rolling alpine grasslands and dramatic snow-capped peaks—completely different from the China we’ll have seen in the bustling metropolis of Beijing.
On the shores of the lake, Bar-headed Geese and Pallas’s and Brown-headed Gulls will vie for our attention. We’ll also look for the rare Black-necked Crane and the endangered Pallas’s Fish-Eagle. Searching among the Tibetan tents and domestic yaks and horses, we should find species such as Tibetan and Mongolian Larks, six of the world’s seven species of snowfinch, and comical Hume’s Groundpeckers. Pikas, an important food source for the often numerous Upland Buzzards and Saker Falcons, are common throughout the grasslands. Nights in a comfortable hotel near Bird Island.
Day 6: We’ll continue west from Qinghai Hu, stopping in the morning for a walk in a moderately steep ravine; we’ll move slowly, taking time to relish possible encounters with Tibetan Partridge, Wallcreeper, Kessler’s Thrush, Blue-fronted Redstart, White-browed Tit-warbler, Eurasian Eagle-Owl, or Lammergeier. In the afternoon we’ll drive over a pass to Chaka. We’ll be looking particularly for Pallas’s Sandgrouse, Mongolian Ground Jay, and flocks of migrating Demoiselle Cranes as we approach town. In 2006 we found several flocks of Tibetan Sandgrouse here. Night in Chaka.
Day 7: We’ll leave before dawn for a wash east of Chaka, where the early morning light may reveal Pallas’s Sandgrouse, Desert Wheatear, Mongolian Finch, or perhaps Great Rosefinch. Later we’ll visit a shallow canyon that is home to another excellent selection of exciting birds, including Pink-tailed Bunting, White-browed Tit, and, with luck, White-winged and Ala Shan Redstarts. We’ll return to the Qinghai Lake area late in the day, looking again for ground-jays en route. Night again near Bird Island.
Day 8: We’ll make an early start for another mountain valley. By midday we’ll be headed back east past Qinghai Hu to Xining, stopping for birds en route. Night in Xining.
Day 9: Today we’ll drive to Huzhu Beishan, an impressive forested reserve on the border of Qinghai and Gansu provinces. We’ll make numerous stops en route, including one near the summit of Huzhu Pass, where we’ll scan for Tibetan Snowcocks on the ridges high above and diminutive White-browed Tit-warblers in the bushes at our feet. We expect to arrive in the forested part of the sanctuary before lunch, then spend the afternoon birding in the area. Night in a government guest house.
Day 10: Huzu Beishan has only recently become accessible to foreigners, and we’ll be one of only a handful of groups to have visited this amazing site. Conspicuous species here include Hodgson’s and White-throated Redstarts and White-winged Grosbeak, but it is the more difficult species that are Huzhu’s primary attraction. Pheasants rank high on everyone’s list, and there are several species here; Common Pheasant should not be too hard to find, but Blood and Blue Eared Pheasant, as well as Chinese Grouse, will require more effort. Other target species include Black Woodpecker, Chinese Thrush, Hume’s and Gansu Leaf-Warblers, Rufous-vented Tit, and Gray-headed Bullfinch. We should also see Southern Spotted Bush-Warbler and White-cheeked (or Przewalski’s) Nuthatch—distinctive subspecies that may merit full species rank. Night in a reserve guesthouse.
Day 11: We’ll leave Huzu Beishan at midday and drive slowly back to Xining. We’ll allow plenty of time for stopping en route, maybe to search again for Blue Eared or Blood Pheasant, Chestnut Thrush, or White-winged Grosbeak. We’ll catch an evening flight back to Beijing. Night in Beijing.
Day 12: Early this morning we’ll drive to Beidaihe, a seaside resort approximately 175 miles east of Beijing. We expect to stop en route to search for Long-billed Plover at a recently discovered site on the edge of the capital. Night in Beidaihe.
Days 13-15: Situated on the Gulf of Bohai at the northern end of the Yellow Sea, Beidaihe has recently been rediscovered as a top migration watch point and is now the destination for seeing Asian migrants, including many Siberian species that occur as vagrants in western Europe or North America. Throughout the autumn the wooded gardens and gullies of the town, the rocky outcrops and estuaries along the coastline, and the low-lying wooded hills a little way inland act as magnets for the thousands of birds migrating south, and our visit is perfectly timed to coincide with the peak of this migration. The more common migrants during late September and early October include Japanese Sparrowhawk, Gray-headed Lapwing, Ashy Minivet, Chestnut-flanked White-eye, Common Rosefinch, Black-faced Bunting and Lanceolated, Radde’s, Dusky, Yellow-browed, and Pallas’s Warblers. Other species we should see include Falcated Duck, Eastern Marsh Harrier, Amur Falcon, Red-necked Stint, Great Knot, Siberian Rubythroat, Red-flanked Bluetail, White’s and Eyebrowed Thrushes, a number of other eastern Phylloscopus warblers, and a wide variety of buntings that should include Siberian Meadow, Tristam’s, and Pallas’s. Nights in Beidaihe.
Day 16: After a final morning’s birding around Beidaihe we’ll drive back to Beijing. Night at an airport hotel in Beijing.
Day 17: The tour concludes this morning in Beijing.
Updated: 30 June 2008
Prices
- 2008 price about $6,480
- Single Occupancy Supplement $660
- 2009 price not yet available
Notes
This tour is limited to 10 participants with one leader.
This tour is organized by our British company, Sunbird.