Lianghua National Forest Park - December 2018

Lianghua National Forest Park located near Huidong had became one of my favourite weekend birding destination in southern Guangdong ever since I first visited in October last year. The site forms a large patch of forested area east of Huidong along with the better known Gutian Natural Reserves. This site is just shy of 90km from HK, making it a perfect weekend getaway. Over the last few visits good birds such as Red-headed Trogon, Collared Owlet, Silver Pheasant, Small Niltava, Hill Prinia and Brown-breasted Flycatchers had kept our interest high.

The site is a popular tourist attraction during plum blossom season, otherwise it is fairly undisturbed throughout the year. Captain initially wanted to visit Dinghu Shan, but news of the site being closed off had us changing plans, and the thought of visiting Lianghua before the touristy season begin was tempting. So, Captain, Kei and I decided to give the site another try. We met on Friday evening and drove up to Huidong where we stayed a night before driving to the forest park early in the morning.

We woke up at 5:45am, bought breakfast at a 24 hours KFC next door and off we went. We arrived at the forest park before 7am. Cool morning breeze felt very 'autumny', and the red leaves looked the part as well. A flock of Black Bulbuls made an appearance near the main entrance, a few of them had handsome white heads, while a few were still in transition.

Views of Lianghua National Forest Park

Black Bulbul

A large bird wave went past, with Huet's Fulvetta being the predominant species, Scarlet Minivets were also frequently encountered throughout the day. Streak-breasted Scimitar Babblers were also found amongst the flock, although in much lower density.

Huet's Fulvetta

Scarlet Minivet - male

Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler

A single Verditer Flycatcher was seen, this seems to be quite a regular species here, we saw a juvenile during our summer visit which indicates the possibility of breeding at this site. A Speckled Piculet was seen in the bird wave, we encountered up to 7 birds throughout the day, a clear demonstration of how common it is at Lianghua.

Verditer Flycatcher - male

Speckled Piculet

A few Buntings along the roadside made it tough for us, with a bit of patience we were able to get good views of one bird which turned out to be a Black-faced Bunting. Not quite what we were hoping for, but still not a bad record.

Black-faced Bunting - female

Things quietened down around mid-morning, but a flock of Black-throated Tits certainly kept it entertaining for us. We've not recorded this species at this site before, making this a nice addition to our site list. Orange-bellied Leafbirds were quite active throughout the day, making weird calls that confused us time after time...

Black-throated Tit - a new species to this site

Orange-bellied Leafbird - male

Small Niltava was recorded on our previous visit, so it wasn't a surprise when I heard several along the forest track. A male showed particularly well, posing front and back. This species is currently a rare winter visitor to Hong Kong, but seeing that it's status here at Lianghua is likely to be a fairly common resident, it seems logical that this species may colonise Hong Kong in the near future.

Small Niltava - male

We had an early lunch at a nearby restaurant and rested. After lunch, I suggested that we visit the area where we first saw a pair of Red-headed Trogons last year. Everything was quiet, but I noticed a previously hidden trail that goes up the river valley which looked promising. The trail went through some good habitat along the stream, looking like perfect Trogon territory!

Trogon territory...

Sure enough, Captain noticed a Trogon like bird in the distance. The bird later called which confirmed his suspicion, however it remained out of view. A burst of playback brought it closer, and with a little patience the bird finally showed! A female Red-headed Trogon gave nice perched views, although it was very shy, fluttering off in the slightest movements. We've recorded this species on nearly every trip, which indicates a healthy population at this site.

Red-headed Trogon - female

We drove further uphill, but things were generally quiet. Kei was feeling slightly drowsy so Captain and I strolled along the main road as he napped. As we were walking along I noticed two white birds upslope, it was pretty clear what they were, Silver Pheasants! I grabbed my camera and began taking photographs, Captain soon realised what I was looking at and soon joined in. There were at least 3 males and 4 females in that flock, all obscured by branches. Suddenly, an adult male hopped up onto a rock and looked at us! It's silvery white tail cascade down the rock, we were both in awe. The flock soon scuttered upslope. Just as they disappeared behind the thick foliages, Kei appeared in the car, as Captain and I laughed our heads off...Kei was not at all pleased that he dipped on this encounter.

Silver Pheasant - one of the stunning looking male

The drive back to Shenzhen was not particularly eventful, it took longer than expected as we hit some weekend traffic. With a list of some high quality birds, Lianghua always seems to deliver. There was some construction works being done along the lower sections of the park, whether that quiet status of this park will change in the near future remains to be seen. At the mean time, I can't wait until I return again!

Gutian - Lianghua National Forest Park

We had a planned weekend trip to Gutian with Captain, Brother Kei and Yuen in mid October, however Yuen was suddenly unavailable due to work, so it was just the three of us. Gutian is one of the closest and larger forest reserves to Hong Kong, although it had never been considered a prime site. Approximately 70km away from Hong Kong, this is quite a good site for a weekend trip.

After dinner together at San Tin we took the Cross Border Yellow Bus at Futian and drove all the way to Huidong, there were slight traffic at Shenzhen but not as bad as expected. We got to the hotel at around 10pm. It was only then that Brother Kei was informed he needed to attend a business lunch back in Hong Kong the next day, which meant that he won't be able to bird with us, but he would drive us up to Gutian and return to pick us up later in the evening.

After a quick breakfast of pork buns and dumplings the next morning we drove straight towards the town of Lianghua and towards the 008 Country Road. The actual forest reserve is closed off to public like many other forest reserves in China, therefore we could only go around the north side on the outskirt of the reserve. We drove up the 008 Country Road and towards Lianghua Forest Farm, there's a gate saying "Lianghua National Forest Park" but these seems to be unfinished, to our understanding this area is famous for the plum plantations and attracts some tourists during the flowering season. 

The country road was quite quiet in the morning, we barely encountered a single car or a person. We just got past one of the plum plantations and to a sharp hairpin turn when I suddenly saw two birds perched next to the road, the pair were flushed and fluttered away in a way only Trogons could! I immediately shouted "Trogon!". It was very fortunate that I already had my camera out of my bag, as I quickly got out of the car and fired a few shots at a male perched on a banana tree! This was very unexpected, as this species had never been recorded at this site, and the known closest location to Hong Kong had been Nankunshan, approximately 150km away from Hong Kong, this is therefore a huge advancement southwards of this species, and a step closer to their recolonisation (I hope)!

Red-headed Trogon - male (yamakanensis)

Our car continued up the hill, we stopped approximately 700m elevation. Brother Kei dropped us off and off he went. Captain and I continued walking up, the forest track was easy going and seemed quite newly paved. Along the I spotted a Dark-sided Flycatcher perched on top of a dead tree. We also flushed a Woodcock along the track but it flew away quickly.

008 Country Road

Orchid by the road side

Dark-sided Flycatcher

Polyspora axillaris were flowering, this seems to have attracted a lot of Fork-tailed Sunbirds. Huet's Fulvetta is common here and we encountered several flocks. A single Orange-bellied Leafbird made an appearance, while White-bellied Epornis seems to be another very common species here, with up to six in one flock, which is more unusual in Hong Kong where we often see singles or pairs in a flock.

Polyspora axillaris

Fork-tailed Sunbird

Orange-bellied Leafbird - female

White-bellied Epornis

We walked further up but with little success, and upon seeing a sign that say "Military Zone, No Photographing", we decided it was time to turn back and head down hill. Things were in general quiet, and we didn't encounter much bird waves. A Slaty-backed Forktail was spotted along a small stream, a very much expected species in almost all forest reserves in Guangdong, they absent in most streams in Hong Kong is still a mystery to me. Grey Treepies were common, we also got a few Blue Magpies, as well as common forest species like Scarlet Minivets, Grey-chinned Minivets, Yellow-cheeked Tit, Red-billed Leiothrix and Streak-breasted Scimitar Babblers and so on...After hearing the Bay Woodpecker calling twice we finally caught up with one, but it never allowed good views.

Slaty-backed Forktail

Grey Treepie

Bay Woodpecker - requires a bit of imagination...

The ground was littered with many Stag Beetles, of which species I am not entirely sure but they were extremely common, although most were already dead. The weather had became much cooler but also quite windy, it was only 16 degrees up the highest part, but temperature hovered around 20 degrees throughout the day. Around the plum plantations we saw a few trees already blossoming, a strange time to blossom as I usually expect them to flower sometime in January. The habitat around the plantation is quite disturbed, adding a few species such as Long-tailed Shrike, Greater Coucal and Oriental Magpie Robin.

Stag Beetle sp.

Overlooking plum plantation

Long-tailed Shrike

Soon after we arrived back at the location where we saw the Trogons, we walked around there slowly, and soon flushed the male near the small stream. It perched up on the tree briefly for me to take a photo, the female was later found perched on a banana tree. Around the same area we added Emerald Dove, as well as an Orange-headed Thrush which also showed briefly.

Location of the Trogons

Red-headed Trogon - subspecies yamakanensis

Orange-headed Thrush

We took a nap at a temple, resting our tired legs. Wind was picking up and it certainly felt quite cold, especially when I didn't have any jacket with me. Birding was pretty slow in the afternoon, although we added Crested Goshawk and Besra. Chestnut Bulbuls and Mountain Bulbuls were both quite numerous. Two Ashy Drongos perched on the overhead cables. We also heard Chinese Bamboo Partridges calling. One of the better find in the afternoon was probably a single male Verditer Flycatcher, although it was quite distant.

Besra

Chestnut Bulbul

Mountain Bulbul

Ashy Drongo - leucogensis

Verditer Flycatcher - male

We got to the park entrance at around 5pm. The car park area was overgrown and felt strangely abandoned, but it seems many of the things were relatively new, including the gates. Why have they built them and left them be I have no idea, could be the fact that they don't have enough money? Either way, they have a park map which indicates the things they intend to build within the park, and I have a feeling that if they were to build them in the near future, this park will become much more popular and packed with tourists. At the meantime we were able to enjoy some peace and quiet.

Brother Kei didn't arrive to pick us up until 7pm, so we sat around for quite a bit. We listened out for owls but nothing much except a very distant Mountain Scops Owl. We spotted an Indochinese Forest Rat carrying some leafs along the roof of the park entrance, perhaps for making it's nest?

Car park near park entrance

Indochinese Forest Rat

All in all, I felt that Gutian holds enough interesting species to make it worthwhile for a short visit, although nothing majorly exciting, but given time there are certainly potential for more good findings, including Silver Pheasants which seems quite likely to occur here. Although the future planning for this area is uncertain due to the construction for the forest park, which could alter the quietness we experienced on this trip.