Pheasant Watching Sichuan

Temminck's Tragopan Yibin hides, SE Sichuan                                     1- Balang/Wolong  2- Yibin Hides  3- Baxi/Jiuzhaigou Area  4- Pamolin  5- Labahe

Site 1 Wolong/Balang – Golden Pheasant (1 hide site) – Balang Mountain gives a famous site for Chinese Monal, Koklass Pheasant, Chestnut-throated Partridge, White Eared-Pheasant, Blood Pheasant and Temminck’s Tragopan, but due to recent tourist developements and new safety rules it has become much degraded. Changes include the old road to the high pass being closed for both motor traffic and hiking,making it very difficult to view high alpine species like Tibetan Snowcock and Snow Partridge. However, at the time of writing there was still a functioning Golden Pheasant hide and the monal site is still within a public area. Advantage of this site is that its one of the closest quality birding sites to Chengdu, good for those on short Chengdu visits, but that also means on weekends or public holidays the area can swarm with daytrippers! 

Other highly photographable non-gamebird species include Firethroat (summer), Grandala (in the winter they forn huge buckthorn berry eating flocks) and White-browed Tit Warbler.

Best Photographic opportunities: 

Hides: Golden Pheasant – in winter a variety of Laughingthrushes – Elliots’s, Black-faced, Barred, Red-winged

Balang Mountain KL92: Gives opportunity for photographing Chinese Monal – Chestnut-throated Partridge and Koklass Pheasant are also possible but not easy.

Balang Mountain Old Road to Pass: Used to be one of the best site in Sichuan for Tibetan Snowcock and Snow Partridge – if walking access again becomes possible, it requires a 2km walk up the old motor road at 4,000m altitude to get to good viewing point for Snowcock and Snow  Partridge – altitude makes it tiring.

 Chestnut-throated Partridge                                                             Chinese Monal                                                            Blood Pheasant

Golden Pheasant                                                                 Snow Partridge

Site 2 SE Sichuan, Yibin area – multiple Hides in one area, Sichuan Patridge, Temminck's Tragopan, Silver Pheasant, Lady Amherst’s Pheasant and Chinese Bamboo Partridge. The Silver Pheasant, Lady Amherst’s and Bamboo Partridge are relatively common, and Temminck's can show very nicely – but the biggest draw at this site is the highly range restricted Sichuan Partridge. However, although you might hear them, like any hill partridge species, they are not a dead cert to show.

Other birds at the site include laughingthrushes – Emei Liocichla also comes to a hide, while Buffy is common but also Red-winged and Spotted Laughingthrush. Outside the hides can also be good with Sichuan Bush Warbler, Spot-breasted Parrotbill, Golden Parrotbill, Golden-breasted Fulvetta, Indochinese Yuhina, Slaty Bunting, Chinese Blue Flycatcher and Bay Woodpecker

Best Photographic Opportunities

With hides all the above species are possible and easy to photograph - however, local aesthetics can be annoying with photographers most wanting flying pheasant shots - so lots of stumps and stones, sometimes causing a machine gun ripple of shutter noise as birds fly up and down from these.

 Sichuan Partridge                                                                     Lady Amherst's Pheasant                                                                              Silver Pheasant

Site 3 Baxi/Jiuzhaigou area North Sichuan – Here Eared Pheasant shifts from white to Blue Eared-Pheasant and we also have the endemic Chinese Grouse. Just below the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau where you can find Tibetan partridge. High Mountain passes in the area have also given Tibetan Snowcock, while Chestnut-throated Partridge also present.

Best Photographic Opportunities

Sites with very tame Blue Eared Pheasant – also smaller passerines are, especially White-browed Tit Warbler and Giant Laughingthrush, can be very approachable

 Blue Eared Pheasant                                                                                                                                                                            Chinese Grouse

Snow Partridge                                                                    Tibetan Partridge

Site 4 Pamuling Temple, Tibetan Plateau – feeding site that attracts Buff-throated Monal-Partridge, Blood Pheasant, White Eared-Pheasant – also many passerine species in surrounding habitat.

Best Photographic Opportunities

This is probably best site for Blood Pheasants and Buff-throated Partridge 

Buff-throated Partridge                                      White Eared Partridge 

Site 5 Labahe - Lady Amherst's, Temminck's Tragopan, Chinese Monal

Labahe has always been a good site for Lady Amherst's and Temminck's Tragopan but the recent opening of a cable car takes you high up onto Erlang Mountain where its now possible to get some great views of Temminck's Tragopan. Other good birds at the top include three species of Bush Warbler - spotted, Grey-sided and chestnut-crowned. The top terminal is at the treeline - here there are Golden Bush Robin among a good variety of high alpine forest species. At the bottom terminal you have Fulvous, Brown and Three-toed Parrotbill in areas that also hold Lady Amherst's Pheasant. Not much lower, in the secondary growth that has regenerated after the 90's logging, there are Firethroat.

Chinese Monal