I have come to realise that my very favourite birding is high altitude birding. There is something about the combination of stunning mountain vistas, combined with the very special birds that live up there and the very physical exercise involved in getting up high, that is very appealing. First from the Alps, then to the high peaks of the Tarus Mountains in Turkey, to the Atlas range in Morocco and even further to the Canadian Rockies, some of my favourite birding experiences have been above 2000 metres. Such special habitats also hold very special birds.
In the summer of 2015 I received an email from Ian Reid, formerly of Oxford, now a resident of Adelaide, Australia, informing me that he had a significant birthday in May 2016. Ian asked if I would be interested in helping him celebrate with a birding trip to somewhere special. He enclosed a list of potential destinations, but due to my inexperience of south-east Asian birding, most of the names meant nothing to me. However, one destination jumped out of the page at me: Sichuan in China. Spring migration in China? Now that sounded VERY interesting. A little research revealed that Sichuan was not one of those Chinese island migrant hotspots with, if the wind is blowing in the right direction, Siberian migrants jumping out of every bush. Instead it appeared to offer a combination of high altitude birding with many fabulous mountain species, combined with the chance to see some of the most highly desired eastern migrants. Having seen the colours and sounds of spring migration in Europe and North America a trip to Sichuan in May also presented the possibility of seeing spring migration on the Eastern Flyway.
Three rare Chinese Robins
Rufous-headed Robin, Blackthroat, Firethroat. The holy grail of world birding. Three of the world’s rarest, least know birds. All beautiful robins, but all complete skulkers, never coming out into the open, always singing or sitting deep within cover. A nightmare to glimpse, let alone see well. They would be tough to get to, let alone tough to see. Perhaps only a few thousand people have ever seen these three species. Learning that a trip to Sichuan would give us a chance to get close to, if not actually see, three of China’s rarest robins only added to the excitement of planning the trip.
It was time to respond to Ian’s email. Beginning with the requisite “I thought you turned fifty ten years ago” line, I jumped at the chance to explore eastern Tibet and western Sichuan. The trip was on!
Ian did most of the basic research. Sid Francis is the go-to man for those wishing to go biding in Sichuan. When we contacted Sid in summer 2015 he was already booked for our available dates in May 2016, however he recommended his colleague Roland Zeidler, a German birder (now there’s a rarity) who has lived in China for 18 years, is fluent in English and Mandarin and has been birding Sichuan for the last 10 years. We took the plunge, booked Roland and began saving, planning and researching for the trip.