Day 1, Chengdu to Songpan, 9/11/15

Sid Francis, our guide, showed up right on time at 7 AM and loaded our stuff into his SUV on this rainy morning.  Our first stop was an overlook on the Jinjiang River in Chengdu to hopefully find a Long-billed Plover.   Sid said the area used to be away from the city but now a huge shopping mall has been built along with lots of apartments.

Luckily the river was low with plenty of shorebirds including Long-billed Plover.

I've seen quite a few Asian shorebirds in the Philippines but Wood Sandpiper was a new one for me.

Sid called Black-tailed Godwit and continued searching for birds.  As the godwit flew in close to us I saw the pale feather edgings on the back and wings and realized it was a Bar-tailed Godwit, a species Sid had not seen in Sichuan before.

Other shorebirds were Temmink's Stints, Common Sandpiper and Little Ringed-Plover.

Another new bird for me was Chinese Pond-Heron.

A mess of Gray Herons.

A small flock of Red-billed Starling fed in the mud and then a flock of White-cheeked Starlings lighted in the trees above us.

So after scoring a bunch of shorebirds we were on our way.  Next stop was a preserved woodland area near the holy mountain Qingchenshang.  Sid pulled out his digitally recorded bird calls and and proceeded to bring them in.  First birds to respond were Chinese Bulbuls, Collared Finchbills and a Brown Shrike.  Then there was some action behind us.  Eastern Great Tit and what Sid identified as a female Fujian Nitalva. That's certainly not a bird I could have called. 

A man on a mission!  Actually I was still paying for the extremely spicy Sichuan hotpot from a couple of nights earlier.

A walk along a trail into the woods produced calling Red-billed Blue-Magpies and the first of many heard only scimtar-bills.  There was nice flock of Japanese White-eyes followed by Vinous-breasted Parrotbills that refused a photo.  All I managed was this Gray-backed Shrike.

It looked like a great birding area but we still had a long drive ahead of us so we hit the road.  North of Dujianyang is supposed to be an ancient tower similar to the watchtowers of Danba.  However in China, labor is cheap, so fake towers have been built to attract tourists.  We came to learn that with 1.4 billion residents, tourism is becoming big business.

Another stop along the highway produced OK views but bad photos of Brown-breasted Bulbul and Godlewski's Bunting.   Further down the road we stopped to overlook a lake and found Elliot's Laughingthrush and Chinese Babax which Sid told me is now also a laughingthrush. 

We rolled into Songpan at dusk.  Sid's experiences taking birders into the area really paid off as he had hotels and restaurants all arranged.  Although the serendipitous nature of our trip did push that at times. Here's our first hotel.

Inside with sheets up to dry.  A good sign!

Went for a walk down town.  Yak parts for sale.

Standing in front of the ancient city gate.  Most of the original city wall had been destroyed in the name of the cultural revolution or modernization.

Songpan is now a busy tourist destination offering hiking and horseback riding into the nearby mountains.

I've got places to go, people to see!