by Paul Hyde
for shanghaibirding.com
Wanting to swap the concrete jungle of Shanghai for a few days of fresh air and stunning scenery, a friend and I headed to the mountains of Zhejiang for some hiking and birding. We spent two and a half peaceful days at Tianmushan (天目山). As we visited outside of peak times, we barely saw another soul as we wandered around the mountain and inside the picturesque Scenic Area. Using the reports by Craig and Hiko as a guide, we were fortunate to encounter many of the area’s specialty birds. We recorded 61 species in total, with the main highlights being:
3 Koklass Pheasant
Silver Pheasant
Short-tailed Parrotbill
Other birds generally out of range in Shanghai included:
Black Eagle
Black Kite
Collared Owlet
Great Barbet
Crested Kingfisher
Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker
Grey-headed Woodpecker
Orange-bellied Leafbird
Chestnut-crowned Warbler
Rufous-faced Warbler
Hartert’s Leaf Warbler
Indochinese Yuhina
Buffy Laughingthrush
Rufous-capped Babbler
Grey-headed Parrotbill
White-crowned Forktail
Little Forktail
Day 1, Mon. 1 April 2019
We hired a rather plush BYD car and drove the 270 km (170 mi.) from Shanghai to our inn, Hǎisēn Nóngzhuāng (海森农庄; 135-0681-8151), as mentioned in Hiko’s report. We arrived at around 10:30 a.m. and once unpacked, we took the shuttle bus to the top of the mountain, Longfengjian (龙凤尖, 30.344148, 119.440201), and slowly walked the 14 km down the mountain. As was not the case with Hiko, our bus fortunately allowed us to continue past the checkpoint without entrance tickets to the Scenic Area, and so we avoided slogging up the mountain and instead enjoyed a leisurely walk downhill.
Around the top entrance to the Scenic Area, we noted skulking Chinese Hwamei, Yellow-throated Bunting, Brambling, and Eurasian Jay. Great Spotted Woodpecker were drumming noisily. The walk downhill began quietly, and often the mountain would be deathly silent, the silence only being pierced as we hit upon a small wave of birds. The first wave contained Hartert’s Leaf Warbler in full song, as it was throughout our visit. A group of Indochinese Yuhina brought me my second lifer in quick succession, with a Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker mixed in amongst the group.
The pattern of alternating silence and quick, noisy action continued, with Huet’s Fulvetta, Rufous-faced Warbler, and Chestnut-crowned Warbler adding much interest to the walk. As we approached the bottom of the mountain, the day’s highlight arrived. My ears were on high alert following Hiko’s report of regular Short-tailed Parrotbill sightings in this area. Sure enough, I heard a trill and a group of 6 inquisitive individuals appeared in response to playback, hopping remarkably close to see what the fuss was all about. The day was rounded off when just a minute down the road, more activity revealed another highlight, a flock of Grey-headed Parrotbill.
Back around the hotel, Russet Sparrow were the common sparrow.
Day 2, Tues. 2 April 2019
This morning we asked our hotel owner to drive us up to Longfengjian at 6 a.m., as the public shuttle bus doesn’t start operating until later on. Drawing on his guanxi, he got us into the park earlier than the advertised 8 a.m. opening time. This allowed us to explore the park, where we heard the familiar call of Collared Owlet. Actually seeing the birds is usually a struggle, but we were lucky enough to stumble across a pair duetting in the open. Our main hope first thing in the morning, however, was finding pheasants, as a group of friends had found Elliot’s Pheasant on the mountain a few weeks earlier. With this information in mind, we were listening out for any noise in the dense undergrowth. A little rustling noise caught our attention, and we glimpsed a Silver Pheasant scuttling away. Further on, the highlight of the trip occurred as we spotted a pheasant scurrying in the long grass. It kindly crossed the path ahead of us and paused for a few short seconds, allowing us to enjoy a resplendent male Koklass Pheasant! To our surprise, we encountered two further male Koklass Pheasants in similar situations. Other highlights inside the Scenic Area included Great Barbet, two Black Eagle soaring overhead, a large flock of Buffy Laughingthrush, and a Blue Whistling Thrush. An Orange-bellied Leafbird sang loudly near the entrance and posed obligingly.
We left the Scenic Area and walked down the mountain, enjoying many similar birds as yesterday and making for a total of 23 km of walking for the day.
Day 3, Wed. 3 April 2019
We again asked the hotel owner to drive us to the top of the mountain and again strolled down. One bird that we hoped to find but that had eluded us on days 1 and 2 was Little Forktail. We had seen several White-crowned Forktail near the many streams, but had no luck with Little Forktail.
The day started with some nice additions to the trip list: A pair of Grey-headed Woodpecker, several Red-billed Blue Magpie, good views of Brown Dipper and Mountain Bulbul, as well as the welcome sight of more Short-Tailed Parrotbills. Ready to admit defeat after checking every stream three times over, we finally found a pair of Little Forktails on the stream right next to the lower ticket entrance to the park. Contented, we headed back to the car and began the journey home.
About a kilometer into our journey, a Crested Kingfisher perched on a wire over a stream, a great ending to the trip.
PHOTOS
FURTHER READING
For more on Tianmushan and other birding hotspots in the mountains of southeast China, please see the following posts on shanghaibirding.com:
Tianmushan
Tianmushan: A Must See Site for Shanghai Birders (Part 1)
Tianmushan: A Must See Site for Shanghai Birders (Part 2)
Tianmushan in July
Tianmushan in Autumn
Koklass Pheasant Highlight Tianmu Trip
See also our coverage of other areas in southeast China:
Birding Emeifeng, Fujian (Part 1)
Birding Emeifeng, Fujian (Part 2)
Home to Shanghai (Plus a Jaunt to Fujian)
Trip Planner: Fuzhou National Forest Park
Nonggang Babbler: From ‘New to Science’ to ‘Automatic Tick’
Featured image: Short-tailed Parrotbill Neosuthora davidiana, West Tianmu Mountain Nature Reserve, Zhejiang, April 2019. (Paul Hyde)
Thanks for this report, Paul! Great Tianmu Shan memories. Congratulations to you and Cat on your baby!
Tian mu shan is indeed a magical place – some very special butterflies as well. My trek across dong tian mu shan was a classic.
On 9 March 2019, we were very surprised to see Elliot’s Pheasant at Tianmu. We (a group of foreign birders from around the region, mostly signed up to Craig’s Shanghai Birding WeChat group) had no idea Elliot’s Pheasant were there. It was about 5pm and we had just exited from the lower entrance of the park and we were driving back to our hotel. As we passed through an area of forest, a male ran across the road right in front of us. By the time we got out it was gone. There were no signs of any others. We saw it very well and there are no doubts about the identification. I mentioned the sighting on the Hangzhou birding WeChat group. They said we were very lucky to see one but that it was not unexpected.
Looks like it was a great little trip, wish I’d been with you. Gripped off again! Still, August/September to come and of course the big event at the end of July. So many great places to go birding in China.