CHINA

SICHUAN PROVINCE
Nestled at the crossroads of the Palearctic and Indo-Malayan ecozones, Sichuan offers a dazzling array of habitats--from lush subtropical valleys and bamboo forests to alpine meadows and the vast Tibetan Plateau--making it one of Asia's richest birding regions. Sichuan is home to two-thirds of China's endemic birds, including the stunning Chinese Monal, Lady Amherst's and Golden pheasants, Przevalski's Pinktail, and the charismatic Sichuan Jay. The province's unique geography ensures a high concentration of species found nowhere else.

Balangshan (Balang Mountain) is a hotspot for high-altitude specialties and rare endemics, and among the birds to see here are Chinese Monal, Grandala, the cryptic Snow Partridge, Tibetan Snowcock, Plain and Brandt's Mountain-Finches, Wallcreeper, and Firethroat.

Longcanggou (Xiangling Mountains) offers a wonderful array of localized parrotbills, including Gray-hooded, Three-toed, Great, Ashy-throated, and Golden, as well as Red-winged Laughingthrush, Slaty Bunting, Emei Shan Liocichla, and more.

Wawu Mountain is China's best birding spot to look for parrotbills, fulvettas, laughingthrushes, and babblers--and is now the best place to search for Red Panda in the wild.

The Tibetan Plateau's vast grasslands, wetlands, and woodlands are alive with specialties from Blue-eared Pheasant, Snowy-cheeked Laughingthrush, Sichuan Tit, Godlewski's Bunting, and White-winged Grosbeak to Brown-cheeked Rail, Pallas's Gull, Salim Ali Swift, Rufous-necked and White-rumped snowfinches, and the large Tibetan Lark. Not to be outdone, the mammal possibilities are wonderful, too, from adorable Plateau Pikas to the beautiful Tibetan Fox.

The reserve at Tangjiahe protects beautiful hill forest that is excellent for birding and mammal watching, with birds ranging from Golden Pheasant, Zappey's Flycatcher, White-collared Yuhina, and the fabulous Temminck's Tragopan to Sichuan Leaf-Warbler, Rufous-capped Babbler, Sooty Bushtit, and many others. Mammal possibilities include Tibetan Takin, (reminiscent of Muskox), Reeves's Muntjac, Chinese Goral, Tufted Deer, Serow, and perhaps even Moon Bear.

The combination of fantastic Himalayan mountain scenery, a taste of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, lots of intact forest, and a fantastic array of up to sixteen species of pheasants and grouse plus myriad parrotbills, rosefinches, redstarts, laughingthrushes, and plenty of range-restricted birds make Sichuan a fabulous birding destination.

YUNNAN PROVINCE
A Yunnan itinerary is returning to our schedule in early 2027, and we will have more overview detail in this space soon. This is another extremely rich destination for birdlife in China that we look forward to returning to after a long hiatus.

Photo credit: Our thanks to participant Kevin Watson for the great image of Dark-breasted Rosefinch at the top of this page.

We offer many other ASIA birding tours, too!