Lian Hua Shan National Nature Reserve, Gansu Province, China 中國 甘肅蓮 花山國家自然保護區 27th May to 7th June 2009 by John Holmes INTRODUCTION I got the chance to join the Lian Hua Shan Birdwatching Festival held at Lian Hua Shan National Nature Reserve, south Gansu from 28th to 30th May, 2009. Many thanks are due to Ms. ZHONG Jia 鍾嘉, who let me go along virtually at the last minute. I was not part of a team, or a competitor, but enjoyed the atmosphere anyway. After the event, I stayed around for a few days with a view to taking more photos and birding the area more thoroughly.
White-browed Rosefinch, Lianhua Shan   白眉朱雀
THE EVENT Teams had 40 hours to see as many birds in the reserve as they could. Timing was flexible, with teams starting after 00:01 on 1st May and ending before 10:00hrs on May 30th. Most participants came for the last two days. The reserve management provided free rooms and food for participants in the event. In return, they got some “buzz” and publicity, and, as it turned out, some species were added to the reserve list, mostly from the degraded lower areas near Lianlu HQs. The winning team (from Beijing) got 80 species. Boreal Owl 鬼鴞 Aegolius funereus beickianus THE RESERVE Lianhuashan (LHS) was established as a provincial nature reserve in 1983 and upgraded to NNR in 2003. It falls at the northern, Min Shan end of the Central Sichuan mountains Endemic Bird Area (137). Endemics typically seen in north Sichuan, such as Blue Eared Pheasant, Chinese Grouse and Snowy-cheeked Laughingthrush are all at LHS, along with some more northerly species such as Plain Laughingthrush and Long-tailed Tit. LHS is also home to Sichuan Wood Owl and the isolated “beickianus” race of Boreal Owl, which was rediscovered at the site in 1995. Both owl species benefit from a reserve nestbox programme. There is also active research going on into phylloscopus warblers, of which there seem to be many in the core area of the reserve. Tang Fang Tan 唐坊灘 Lian hua Shan headquarter, Lianlu 蓮麓 蓮花山管理局