Chengdu Chenanigans

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-->I am now in Chengdu. It is quite a bit warmer here than the last places. It is also the most polluted of the Chinese cities I have yet been to.....


I was going to stay around Chengdu for a few days to take in the zoo etc, but I decided it would be more sensible to just stay one day (today) for birding and then tomorrow head north into the wilderness and see how far I get. I would not like to presume there will be any internet in the towns anywhere up there, but at the same time I would not like to presume that there will not be any internet up there.....suffice to say there may or may not be posts in this thread over the next two weeks after I leave Chengdu.

The plan is to head first to the Wanglang reserve which, as far as I know, allows foreign entry; then Tangjiahe reserve (ditto); and then make a run for Ruoergai up on the edge of the Tibetan plateau. The first two places are where I may see some nice pheasants and mammals. The last one is where I may see the back of a police car. Ruoergai is very high altitude which is why I'm going to the other places first -- they are also high but probably not as high as Ruoergai, so it will allow some acclimatisation time so my brain doesn't bleed out through my ears.

Ruoergai is a town with a history of turning back independent birders, so I'm just going to give it a go and see how things work out. Gonna be fun!!!


This morning before sun-up I headed off to Du Fu's Cottage which is a popular local birding spot. At least I think it was before sun-up, it was hard to tell if the sun wasn't up yet or if it was and just couldn't force its light through the pollution! When I did eventually see it it looked even angrier than the Beijing sun had, a ghastly glowing ball of heathenish fire glaring down at the Earth as if daring it not to burst into flame. I took the nearest bus to the park from my hostel (Mr. Panda) and then walked the final bit. Even at dawn there were a lot of people there already doing their morning exercises. There were people doing Tai Chi, people walking backwards, walking sideways, even walking forwards sometimes, people slapping hands on hands, hands on bodies, hands on trees, there were people doing impersonations of coconut crabs and Cylons and Imperial Walkers. It was all go.

There were birds all over the show too, but most of them were of just two species. Fortunately those two species were very nice species, and both new for me. The white-browed laughing thrushes are pretty ubiquitous there. I like laughing thrushes, and these ones are very confiding. Then there were black-throated tits in flocks in every second bunch of trees. They were everywhere!! I have seen a few new tits this trip, and each one becomes my new favourite tit, but the black-throated tit is going to take some beating. They are beautiful! There were also a couple of other individuals mixed in with them which looked like really colourful great tits, but I thought that couldn't be right so I checked the guide book and they were green-backed tits. Another new species for me. Oh yeah, I'm back to using the Birds Of China field guide which is the ultimate in sucky field guides. The white-browed laughing thrush is a gorgeous bird, but in the field guide it might as well be a toaster. I saw some warblers which may have been yellow-rumped warblers but I don't really know. The best way to use the China field guide is to already know what the bird is before you open the book. If you don't already know, then you're screwed.

Other birds seen were the usual Chinese blackbirds and bulbuls, a Daurian redstart, vinous-throated (?) parrotbills, common kingfisher, white wagtail and the heron colony (lots of little egrets, grey herons and black-crowned night herons). I had only planned on spending a couple of hours at the park and then going off to the zoo, but I somehow got lost in the park! I rarely get lost in the wilds, but put me somewhere with paved roads and signboards and I fail big-time. It's not even a big park! I ended up walking round the lake twice, not being able to figure out how I kept ending up at the same place each time, then finally found my way out through the gate I wanted, then managed to make a complete hash of finding my way back to the bus-stop. That's when I decided to just go back to Mr. Panda and not the zoo as I had intended. I'd got a bit fed up. I had to go to the bank anyway, get some money, and then change the cash into smaller denominations for my up-country trip. And of course that took a while.

Still, three new birds is fine with me. Hopefully a lot more to come over the next couple of weeks.






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