Chestnut-eared Bunting (Iain Campbell)
Tropical Birding Beidaihe, China tour
Day 6: Magic Wood to
Happy Island
We will start the morning with a
quick visit to a patch of scrub
half-an-hour south of Beidaihe.
Continuing south for a couple of hours we’ll arrive
at a bit of woodland so full of sexy birds
that it has been renamed the “magic
wood”. It can be hard to comprehend how
so many birds can be packed into such a
tiny area. Here we’ll share the
memorable experience of scoping up
striking Mugimaki and Yellow-rumped
Flycatchers while White-throated
Rock-Thrushes are teed up right beside our
heads. In the early afternoon we will
catch the ferry over to Happy Island,
check into the hotel and immediately hit
another famous migrant trap, Temple Wood,
just a few minutes from the hotel.
Days 7-8: Happy
Island.
Our objective here will be to cover each habitat a
number of times, mopping up the migrants
as we go. The more intrepid birder might
opt for of a lot of walking, but hanging
around the woods near the hotel can be
just as rewarding. With a little luck, we
could have a large fallout, one of those
rare times when you can’t go anywhere
without feeling like you’re wading
through Siberian Rubythroats, Siberian
Blue Robins, Siberian Thrushes, and
others. Even without a major fallout, we
should still see at least a few
individuals of most target species,
including stunners like Japanese Grosbeak
and the loud Large Hawk-Cuckoo.
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