Sichuan, China

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2024 April 22-May 11  (20 days)   Leader : Summer Wong , scheduled tour, max group size : 9 pax, tour is full

2024 May 14-June 2  (20 days)   Leader : Summer Wong , private tour, tour is full

2024 June 4-June 23  (20 days)   Leader : Summer Wong , private tour, price depends on group size, tour is full

2025 May 2-May 21  (20 days)   Leader : Summer Wong , scheduled tour, max group size : 9 pax, cost: 3950 USD,  spaces available

2025 May 23-June 11  (20 days)   Leader : Summer Wong , scheduled tour, max group size : 9 pax, cost: 3950 USD,  spaces available

2025 June 13-June 30  (18 days)   Leader : Summer Wong , scheduled tour, max group size : 9 pax, cost: 3650 USD,  spaces available

This tour can be connected to Qinghai Tibetan Plateau tour 2025 June 30-July 11 ( 12 days ), cost: 2900 USD,  spaces available

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See Itinerary, Price, Testimonials, birds, mammals, scenery, hotels & food Photos, Reports below

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Our Best of Sichuan Itinerary is based on many years experience of taking tours in this Province of China. The birding, scenery and food are all outstanding. We aim to try to find as many of Sichuan’s endemic or near-endemic breeding species as possible, along with a host of other more widespread Asian breeding species. Birds we will target include Black-necked Crane, Chinese Monal, White-eared, Blue-eared, Lady Amherst’s and Golden Pheasants, Temminck’s Tragopan, Verreaux’s Monal-partridge, Tibetan and Snow Partridges, Chinese Grouse, Tibetan Snowcock, Sichuan Wood Owl, Snowy-cheeked, Pere David’s, Elliot’s, Barred, Buffy and Giant Laughingthrushes, Emei Shan Liocichla, Chinese Wren Babbler, Moupinia, Grey-hooded, Golden, Fulvous, Great, Brown, Ashy-throated and Three-toed Parrotbills, Sichuan Jay, Tibetan Lark, Chinese and Spectacled Fulvettas, Yellow-streaked, Sulphur-breasted, Bianchi’s, Marten’s, Grey-crowned and Alstrom’s Warblers, Emei, Sichuan, Alpine, Humes, Claudia’s, Kloss’s and Chinese Leaf Warblers, White-browed and Crested Tit Warblers, Sichuan, Spotted and Baikal Bush Warblers, Pere David’s, Sichuan, White-browed and Ground Tits, Przevalski’s Nuthatches, Hodgson’s and Sichuan Treecreepers, Siberian and Chinese Rubythroats, Firethroat, Chestnut, Kessler’s, Sichuan Forest and Alpine Thrushes, Grandala, Three-banded, Chinese White-browed, Himalayan Beautiful, Red-fronted, Streaked, Pink-rumped, Dark-breasted, Sharpe’s and Long-tailed Rosefinches, Tibetan, Rufous-necked and White-rumped Snowfinches and Przevalski’s Finch, now in its very own family!

PS: Our final tour itinerary may changed a little bit due to the latest birding situation.

Day 1  Arrive in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan. Night in Chengdu Yinhe Dynasty Hotel.

Day 2  In the early morning we will visit a park which offers a good opportunity to see some interesting birds including Vinous-throated Parrotbill, Black-throated Tit, Yellow-billed Grosbeak ( Chinese Grosbeak ), Chinese Blackbird, White-browed Laughingthrush, Little Egret, Little Grebe and perhaps Chinese Bamboo Partridge then head to Tangjiahe National Nature Reserve for an overnight stay.

Day 3  Tangjiahe National Nature Reserve is a good place to see a number of species including Golden Pheasant, Temminck’s Tragopan, Slaty Bunting and the rare Tawny Fish Owl and we will target these species during our stay. Commoner birds that we might encounter include Mountain Hawk Eagle, White-backed Woodpecker, Collared Finchbill, Brown-breasted Bulbul, , Elliot’s and White-throated Laughingthrush, Red-billed Blue Magpie, Yellow-bellied and Green-backed Tit, Crested Kingfisher, Fujian Niltava, Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher, Claudia’s Leaf Warblers, Sulphur-breasted Warbler and Alstrom’s Warbler. Many mammals also occur in this area, including Takin, Reeve’s Muntjac, Tufted Deer, Tibetan Macaque, Chinese Serow, Chinese Goral and Yellow-throated Marten. If we are lucky we might see a couple of these species, and there is also an outside chance of encountering the rare Golden Snub-nosed Monkey or even Asiatic Black Bear.

Day 4  After the morning birding in Tangjiahe we head to Chuanzhusi, long drive day around 7-8 hours, birding on the way looking for Collared Crow and Black-streaked Scimitar Babbler, lunch and birding stop at Huangtuliang Pass with chances for Spotted and Chestnut-crowned Bush Warblers, Long-tailed Thrush and Himalayan Beautiful Rosefinch.  Night in Songpan.

Day 5  Early morning birding in Gongganglin forest, then head to Ruoergai, night in Ruoergai

Gongganglin is an area of high altitude coniferous forest not far from Juizhaigou, and is one of the best places to encounter Sichuan Wood Owl, which we will search for as it gets light. After that we will concentrate on other target species that are sometimes seen in this area, including Blue-eared Pheasant, White-browed and Crested Tit Warblers, Chinese White-browed, Pink-rumped and Three-banded Rosefinches, Siberian Rubythroat, White-cheeked Nuthatch, Maroon-backed Accentor, Hodgson’s Treecreeper, White-throated and White-bellied Redstart,  Severtzov’s (Chinese) Grouse is also very occasionally seen in this area, but very hard to find.

Days 6- 7  Birding in the Ruoergai area including Baxi forest and the Tibetan Plateau, night in Ruoergai.

We will spend two days birding near Ruoergai, with one morning concentrating on Baxi forest and the other on the Tibetan Plateau. Baxi is the probably the best place in Sichuan to find Blue-eared Pheasant, Chinese Grouse, Three-banded Rosefinch, Przevalski’s (White-Cheeked) Nuthatch, Snowy-cheeked Laughingthrush, Chinese Fulvetta, Sichuan Tit, Slaty-backed Flycatcher, Giant Laughingthrush and Black Woodpecker, and we will concentrate on these species. Commoner birds here include species such as Chestnut and Kessler’s Thrush, Chinese, Greenish and Buff-barred Warbler, and Grey-headed Bulfinch. Wolves have been seen in this vicinity, but are extremely rare.

Our second morning will be either spent at Baxi, if we have missed anything important there, or we can potentially target Przevalski’s Finch (Pink-tailed Bunting) and Tibetan (Black-winged) Snowfinch about an hour from our hotel. In the afternoon we will visit the high plains of the Tibetan Plateau where we will look for Black-necked Crane, Tibetan Lark, Rufous-necked and White-rumped Snowfinch, Horned Lark and perhaps Twite. Tibetan Grey Shrike is sometimes also seen in the Ruoergai area whilst Ground-tit is fairly common, even at the edge of town.

Day 8  Today is a rather long travel day (320km), our destination being Maerkang, but there are plenty of good birds to see on route and we will stop several times at key sites for birds that we still need. These may include Tibetan Partridge, Saker Falcon, Przevalski’s Finch (if still needed), White-browed Tit Warbler, Sichuan Tit, White-browed Tit, Pere David’s (Plain) Laughingthrush, Azure-winged Magpie, Tibetan Snowfinch, and Little Owl. Night in Maerkang.

Day 9  In the early morning we will drive up into the mountains to visit the beautiful pine forests of Mengbishan. This is the best place in Sichuan to find the often elusive Sichuan Jay and Verreaux’s Monal-partridge (Chestnut-throated Monal Partridge), and there is a good supporting cast including Blood Pheasant, Giant Laughingthrush, Long-tailed Thrush, Crested Tit-Warbler, Chinese Fulvetta, Crimson-browed Finch and Collared Grosbeak. Other notable birds in this area include Himalayan Bluetail, Giant Laughingthrush, Rufous-breasted Accentor, Streaked, Himalayan Beautiful, Pink-rumped and Chinese White-browed Rosefinches. White Eared Pheasant, Three-banded Rosefinch and Black Woodpecker are also possible but rare. Night in Maerkang.

Day 10  This is a travel day, with birding on the way, passing some magnificent scenery on route to Wolong, where we spend the night. Birds we will search for on route include Long-tailed Rosefinches of the distinctive race henrici, Wallcreeper, Yellow-streaked Warbler, Hill Pigeon, Hodgson’s Redstart and Asian House Martin along with both species of chough. If we arrive early enough in Wolong we will also have time to look for the recently recognized Sichuan Forest Thrush and Firethroat.

Day 11  We will start the day very early, have breakfast in an area that is good for Chinese Monal and White-eared Pheasant and occasionally Koklass Pheasant before we head back up towards the Balang Shan Pass if the weather is good. Balang Shan supports a number of high-altitude species, including Tibetan Snowcock, Snow Partridge, Red-fronted and Streaked Rosefinch, Brandt’s Mountain Finch, Alpine Accentor, Rosy Pipit, and with luck, Grandala. We will bird down the mountain during the afternoon and eventually spend the night in Wolong. On route we will stop frequently to look for a variety of species including Himalayan Griffon, Yellow-billed and Red-billed Chough, Firethroat, Giant and Barred Laughingthrushes, Alpine Thrush, Sichuan Forest Thrush, Slaty Bunting, recently split Chinese Rubythroat, Crested Tit Warbler, Chestnut-crowned Bush Warbler, Collared and White-winged Grosbeak, Kessler’s and Chestnut Thrushes. The area we visit is extremely good for Rosefinches, and we might encounter any of the following species during our two full days here: Sharpe’s Chinese Beautiful, Chinese White-browed, Dark-breasted, Vinaceous, and Pink-rumped Rosefinch. Night in Wolong.

Day 12  We will head back into the mountains before light, this time probably concentrating first on some birds in the lower part of the valley (although this depends on weather and what we saw the previous day). Night in Wolong.

Day 13  After another early start, we spend the morning birding between Wolong and Rilong, before heading to Longcanggou, where we spend the night. If time allowed we will spend the afternoon looking for some low altitude species such as Gold-fronted Fulvetta, Grey-crowned Warbler, Alstrom’s Warbler, Chinese Blue Flycatcher in Longcanggou. 

Day 14  This will be a full day in Longcanggou which is the best place for parrotiblls in Sichuan, with chances of seeing Three-toed, Golden, Great, Brown and Ashy-throated Parrotbills and perhaps also Grey-hooded. There is also a reasonable chance of Temminck’s Tragopan along with a number of other special species such as Grey-hooded, Gold-fronted and Golden-breasted Fulvetta, Streaked Barwing, Sichuan Treecreeper, Red-winged, Buffy, Spotted and Elliot’s Laughingthrushes, Emei Shan Liocichla, Chinese Blue Flycatcher, Chinese Bamboo Partridge, Chinese Wren Babbler, Sichuan, Spotted and Brown Bush Warblers and White-bellied Redstart. Red Panda is also seen here regularly.

Day 15  Morning birding in Longcanggou for missed species previously then drive from Longcanggou to Luding. Night in Luding.

Day 16  Luding is not far from Erlang Shan, where we will spend the day looking for a different set of birds. Erlang Shan is the best place to see Lady Amherst’s Pheasant and Moupinia (Rufous-tailed Babbler) and we will target these two species along with Chinese Song Thrush, Black-streaked Scimitar Babbler, Streaked Barwing, Gold-fronted Fulvetta, Yellow-bellied Tit, Chestnut-headed Tesia, Black-browed Bushtit, Golden Bush Robin, Brown, Grey-hooded, Fulvous and Great Parrotbills and a number of species that we may have missed previously, such as Firethroat and Barred Laughingthrush. Sharpe’s Rosefinch is also a possibility at this site. Night in Luding.

Day 17  After morning birding in Erlang Shan for missed species previously then head to Labahe, night in Labahe.

Day 18  Full day birding in Labahe Provincial Nature Reserve, Night in Labahe.

Labahe is another great place for Lady Amherst’s Pheasant, Temminck’s Tragopan along with other rare birds like Sichuan Treecreeper, Pere David’s and Fire-capped Tit, quite a few parrotbill species : Fulvous, Brown, Great and Golden Parrotbills.  And other nice small species : Chinese and Pygmy Wren-babbler, Ashy-throated Warbler, Sichuan, Large-billed and Claudia’s Leaf Warblers, David’s Fulvetta , Stripe-throated and White-collared Yuhina, Mrs. Gould’s Sunbird, Chestnut-headed Tesia, Chestnut-flanked White-eye, Goldcrest, Fujian Niltava, Verditer, Slaty-blue, Ferruginous and Rufous-gorgeted Flycatchers, Himalayan (White-browed) Shortwing and Brown Dipper. Red Panda has a possibility there. 

Day 19  After morning birding in Labahe then drive back to Chengdu with a brief stop for Swinhoe’s Minivet (near Ya’an) and Forest Wagtail. Night in Chengdu. 

Day 20  Departure.

Price

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Sichuan tour cost depends on group size.

To book tours or custom design private tours please contact us 

If you are an international birding company looking for a ground agent price please contact us

Testimonials

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Hi Summer,

I trust it will find you well.

Even if as a local Chinese birder, especially after several short visits, I know it is never an easy trip to birding in Sichuan. Long distance travel, dense jungle and unfamiliar species have kept me from making up my mind to start a real birding trip to Sichuan, until I know you were not busy this year. Frankly, I am still impressed with the whole fantastic trip, which I believe the best trip I ever took before. It exceeded all my expectations in any way. Not only we got almost 100% targets, plus much more bonus species, but you did a fabulous job of organizing the logistics especially including varied delicious dinners and snacks. Your sharp eyes and prefect knowledge of sounds always led us to find birds/mammals successfully (You even found a Red-Panda without scopes, how did you do that!), moreover your dedication of tireless effort to search the targets eventually made all of those happened!

Anyway, thanks again for all the success and fun in the great two weeks. Certainly hope to visit with you again in near future, in China or outside China. And hope you and your business going well.

Keep safe and health.

Yours,

Vinc

Vinc Ong — China — Sichuan birding tour, 9-23 May 2020

Hi Summer,

You probably thought I had forgotten all about you.

I have sent the rest of your money today so it should be in your account very soon. I hope that all is going well with you and your business is going well.

I cannot begin to tell you how much I enjoyed the part of my holiday that I spent with you learning a great appreciation of China as well as meeting so many birds with you. Thank you so much for making it all so successful.

I have had many computer problems( and have now bought a new one) so I was wondering if it would be possible for you to send any photos that I missed out on since our trip ended. You kindly allowed me to download all that you had on your computer but I did not get the phone ones and I do not know if you have had any come in from the rest of the group. If there are any that you can supply to me I would be very grateful. If it is possible to put them onto a memory stick and post it, that would do very well.

Thank you once more for a fantastic experience in Sichuan and Yunnan with the BEST Chinese bird tour and the most knowledgable tour leader!

Best regards to you,

Cynthia Jones – Australia —  Sichuan & Lijiang, north Yunnan birding tour,  25 April-13 May 2019

Hi Summer,

I hope you’re well and that your remaining tours over the summer went well.  First of all, thanks so much for organising and leading the Sichuan tour in June.  I really enjoyed it and have some great memories of some fantastic birds.

I’d also like to thank you for arranging my time in Tibet.  Things ran smoothly and I was able to see all the speciality birds (Tibetan Eared Pheasant, Giant Babax, Prince Henri’s Laughingthrush, Derbyan Parakeet) pretty easily and well.  I also had an enjoyable time in eastern China, seeing species like Grey-headed Parrotbill, Reed Parrotbill, Chestnut Bulbul and Chinese Bamboo-partridge.

As I’ve mentioned to you before, I might be interested in further tours in China specifically to southeast China in winter and to Yunnan, either in winter or spring.  The problem tends to be that there are only certain times that I can travel.  For winter I can travel between around the middle of December and middle of January and in spring I can travel in the first three weeks of April.  Outside of those times isn’t really possible.  If you have any tours scheduled for those destinations during those periods I might be interested in joining them.  Let me know if this is possible.

All the best,

Andrew Whitehouse — UK —  Sichuan tour, 3-20 June 2018

Hi Summer,

Thanks again for a great trip. We all got home safely. You really made a good job of organising the logistics and finding the birds for us. I have updated my world life list on Surfbirds and mentioned your company. Click on this link.

http://www.surfbirds.com/cgi-bin/surfbirds/display.cgi?list=list1&lowVal=0&highVal=49

I hope to do some more birding in China with you in the future! Good luck with your next trip. I look forward to seeing some of your photos from our trip when you have time.

Best wishes

John Clark — from UK with a bird list over 8500 species in the world — Sichuan & Lijiang, north Yunnan birding tour,  9 – 31 May 2018

Hi Summer

Thanks for the great two weeks birding and the company. Appreciate all your effort finding the hard to find species and how professional you are. After the tour, think we have gained a new Friend as well. Will send you pictures once we get back and processed them properly. You want me to write a trip report for this? I don’t mind writing……. will likely come back to Chengdu next year to do the Plant tour. Not sure if you are interested?

Alvin Francis —  Singapore —  Sichuan bird photography tour,  15 April – 5 May 2018

Hi Summer,

Just a short note to thank you once again for an excellent trip which both Louise & I thoroughly enjoyed. We were particularly impressed by your commitment to maximising our opportunities for new birds and by your determination and ability to find them. There may be some guides who will “go the extra mile” for their clients, but you are the first we have met to go an extra 1000 kilometers!

As promised, I have produced a trip report which I would be happy for you to link on your website. I hope it will help encourage potential clients to enjoy your excellent service.

We hope to return to China one day, hopefully soon, and will certainly be in touch when we do.

With our very best regards,

Mark & Louise Smiles — UK — Shanxi & Sichuan birding tour, 26 March – 11 April 2018

Map

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Birds, mammals & scenery in Sichuan

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Hotels & food on Sichuan tour

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Reports

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