The southern Chinese province of Guangdong offers much to the bird photographer and one of our main objectives will be on achieving portraits of the stunning Cabot’s Tragopan, arguably the most attractive of the world’s five Tragopan species. This 7-day bird photography workshop will also focus on enjoying close photographic encounters with other endemic Chinese birds including White-necklaced Partridge, Grey-sided Scimitar Babbler and also Chinese Bamboo Partridge. With a supporting cast of species that also includes Silver Pheasant, Chinese Bamboo Partridge and Fork-tailed Sunbird this Bird-Photo-Tour to the under-visited Guangdong Province provides a great opportunity to achieve portrait-quality images of endemic, near-endemic and also range-restricted birds.
[For those photographers wanting a longer Bird-Photo-Tour to this part of China, Bird-Photo-Tours Asia does offer a 7-day bird photography pre-tour and also a 5-day post-tour extension to Guangxi and Hainan Provinces respectively where our main photographic objectives are to obtain portraits of many of the endemic species from this region of China including the recently discovered Nonggang Babbler, White-winged Magpie, Hainan Peacock-Pheasant, White-necklaced Partridge and Hainan Leaf Warbler].
Tragopans / Pheasants : Cabot’s Tragopan / Silver Pheasant
Partridges: White-necklaced Partridge / Chinese Bamboo Partridge
Babblers: Grey-sided Scimitar Babbler
Mergansers: Scaly-sided Merganser
Guiding Fees / Ground Transportation / Accommodation / Meals / Entrance Fees / Tipping for Drivers, Boatsmen, Hotel and Restaurant Staff.
International Flights / VISA Fees / Travel Insurance / Tips for Local Guide / Alcohol / Laundry / Items of a Personal Nature
Days 1-7, Guangdong Province [6N / 5D / 10S]. Arrive in Guangzhou International Airport and drive 4-hours to Shaoguan Prefecture. Photographic Targets: Cabot’s Tragopan / Silver Pheasant / White-necklaced Partridge / Tawny Fish Owl / Chinese Bamboo Partridge / Grey-sided Scimitar Babbler / Scaly-sided Merganser / Collared Finchbill / Chestnut Bulbul / Fork-tailed Sunbird / Red-whiskered Bulbul.
Days 7, Guangdong Province [0N / 0D / 0S]. Depart Guangzhou International Airport [END].
[Key: N=Night, D=Full Day, S = Session / Half-Day]
Steven was born in Gansu Province in northwest China before moving to Jiangxi Province on China’s east coast where he graduated as an International Tour Guide. Commencing trading as a guide, Steven initially focused on cultural tours before moving to bird guiding in 2008. This move into ecotourism was influenced by China’s largest freshwater lake, Poyang Lake in Jiangxi Province, which in winter is home to 98% of the global population of the critically endangered Siberian Crane. It was a 2008 encounter with that species that proved pivotal and sparked Steven’s passion for birds. Fast forwarding 15-years, Steven is now one of China’s top bird guides, leading tours throughout most of China’s important bird photography locations. Steven’s kind and gentle personality, fluent English language skills, sound field identification abilities, care and thoughtfulness for others, and in particular his strong knowledge of how to support the needs of the bird photographer, have all combined to produce Steven’s strong guiding reputation especially so within the bird photography community.
: Parrotbills
: Qinghai
: Guangxi
: Southern
: Guangdong
: Hainan
: Yunnan
: Cranes
: Pheasants
: Parrotbills
: Qinghai
: Guangxi
: Southern
: Guangdong
: Hainan
: Yunnan
: Cranes
: Pheasants
: Parrotbills
: Qinghai
: Guangxi
: Southern
: Guangdong
: Hainan
: Yunnan
: Cranes
: Pheasants
(i) The guesthouses are all in close proximity to the bird photography locations (ii) Walking is at a light pace (iii) There is no requirement to hike nor climb. (iv) None of the locations are at altitude (v) There is no camping. Summary: for these five reasons this trip has been graded as 'Easy'.
