Jeff Blincow's China showcase

 Tibetan fox

The recent Greentours trip to Qinghai and Sichuan was a great success. We were lucky to have Jeff Blincow on board and his hard work as a photographer produced some great photos (and great bird records). Jeff is a bit cagey about releasing his images for general consumption but if you are in the UK he is on the bird talk circuit so why not book him for your bird club meetings. All the photos in this post are his! Jeff certainly inspired me for one and I have just bought a 300mm lens for my D7. Slippery slope...

You can see more photos from the participants of the tour in the Greentours gallery.

More photos of Przewalski's pinktail - it is just a stunning bird!

Pinktail

The male Stolizcka's tit-warbler, just amazing and common too.

One of the must-see endemic species on the Tibetan plateau is the Hume's groundpecker - fortunately rather common in habitat.

I finally saw Lady Amherst's pheasant at Laba He, ending a 29-year quest to see all the birds in the front section of the old Shell guide!

Jeff gripped the hell out of us at Laba He, he spent a lot of time on his own wandering about and finding gems like this grey-hooded parrotbill.

Postcard from Qinghai

We saw both the resident giganteus and the nominate subspecies (as above) of the Chinese grey shrike.

My last redstart - the lovely chaffinch-like pastel shades of a male Przewalski's redstart.

A walk in the Dulan Mountains was fantastic for rutting kansuensis red deer, the roars of the males providing a memorable soundtrack to the day.

Our big day walk for Pallas' cat - it produced the goods, Jesper spotted one on a nearby ridge that gave great 'scope views as it looked out over the pika colonies below us.

A new family! Przewalski's pinktail (Urocynchramus pylzowi) - just amazing and worth the price of admission alone.

 Robin accentor

Tibet

 Black-necked crane - a much-wanted tick for me. We saw over 90 of these superb birds.

Glover's pika - a cute denizen of rocky cliffs and scree slopes on the plateau.

Ibisbill

The Tibetan plateau is hooching with lammergiers - we watched birds dismantling skeletons and flying away with the bones carried fore-and-aft (like an osprey with a fish).

Tibetan wolf sightings were one of the highlights of two weeks on the Tibetan plateau. We saw 11 individuals in five contacts.

Stolizcka's tit-warbler - I never did get a photo of a male...

Henderson's ground-jay - one of the most-wanted birds for the birders on the tour and it did not disappoint.