Eastern China Trip Report
by Garry Armstrong, David Steele / 16th – 28th November 2025
A specialist focused on birding and wildlife tours across China
China is home to extraordinary bird diversity, with over 1,500 recorded species, including many endemic, rare and migratory birds.
Its spectacular landscapes range from snow-capped western mountains and coastal eastern wetlands to subtropical forests in the south and vast grasslands in the north. These varied habitats support world-class birding for cranes, pheasants, parrotbills and unique regional avifauna, as well as massive migratory flocks along major flyways. For birders seeking unforgettable wildlife experiences, China is a top global destination.
We offer exceptional birding and wildlife tours across the country, including standard scheduled group tours and fully customized private trips. We value every guest, and our goal is to make your birding experience in China smooth, enjoyable and memorable.
Our birding tours are carefully curated recommended tours, which cover an extensive range of China's premier birding hotspots and offer remarkably rich, immersive experiences tailored to every enthusiast.
Photo tours prioritize high-quality image capture as the core focus. Unlike birding tours, We plan significantly longer stays at each location, enabling photographers to refine compositions, adjust settings, and seize optimal lighting for exceptional shots
This tour covers most of China’s top bird hides and blinds hotspots — and it can also be split into several specialized tours to suit different preferences. Taking photos only from hides/blinds
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This tour is mainly focused on photographing Red Panda, Giant Panda, and some endangered Leaf Monkeys & Iconic Snub-nosed Monkeys in China.
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Winter Photo tour, focus will be mainly wintering Cranes in China and endemic pheasants
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Visiting both hides/blinds, as well as wild undisturbed natural habitats.
→These are tour packages designed for birders who want to travel with their families and non-birding friends interested in Chinese culture and history. These tours are complemented by visits to cultural relics, historical sites, ancient towns, traditional villages, and famous landmarks, allowing you to experience both amazing wildlife and the rich, profound history of China.
The trip reports are mostly written by our clients, who are eager to share their experiences with anyone looking to embark on birding tours in China.
by Garry Armstrong, David Steele / 16th – 28th November 2025
by Matt Hale (Text), Li Li (Photo)
by Matthias Alberti & Xia Wang
We are a trustworthy company
We have 17 years field experience
We offer all-inclusive tours across China, so you can enjoy a worry-free experience—with no need to worry about destinations, transportation, accommodations in remote natural habitats, local guides, or access to nature reserves.
As China’s leading local birding specialist, we know every landscape, habitat, and hidden birding hotspot across the country like the back of our hands.
Experience unbeatable value on our tours. We combine comfort, convenience and professional service for an outstanding journey at great rates
Share your unique travel needs with us, and we’ll craft a fully customized itinerary tailored to your exact preferences, ensuring a truly memorable birding journey.
No hidden fees, no surprise charges. Every tour includes travel permits, accommodation, transportation, and all meals,etc.
—complete transparency, guaranteed.
For senior travelers, we provide relaxed, unhurried itineraries, assign attentive drivers to assist with luggage handling, and schedule additional rest breaks during long drives to ensure comfort
We enjoy an outstanding reputation among birders worldwide, with the vast majority of our clients being repeat customers or referrals from fellow birding enthusiasts.
What our clients‘ve been saying about Us?
SUPER trip Steven, you were correct! Elan! One of the very best guides ever!!! Thanks for giving us a wonderful time with the White headed langurs!!! Plus fun accommodations, excellent food and superior service. Many, many thanks!!!!
“Steven An is one of the best birding guides and tour leaders anywhere in the world. He gets my strongest recommendation.
I am an avid birdwatcher, currently in the top 50 worldwide for 2024 species seen, and have used guides around the globe. What makes Steven special is he is outstanding at finding the birds, listens well to his client’s targets and wishes and designed an excellent 6 day custom tour for East China. His English is excellent. There was no language barrier.
Some of the best bird finders can be the worst tour leaders. There are no compromises with Steven. He is very pleasant and enjoyable to be with. His ability in locating birds is top notch. He listened to what I wanted and designed a great tour. He was able to adapt to a rain-out at TianmuShan, implemented a new plan, and put me onto the endangered Crested Ibis. We saw 154 species, including 122 life birds. Got the critically endangered Blue-crowned Laughingthrush – outside of breeding season which is nearly impossible.
His protégé, Elan James, is also highly recommended. Elan has ears like an owl and eyes like a falcon. He was a real asset on this tour. I have no reservations about future tours with Steven and Elan either individually or as a team.
I would especially recommend them to Mandarin speakers with limited English skills who need support to explore outside of China. Their language and birding skills are a unique combination.
Highly recommended. We are already planning another trip in September. “
Cheers,
Bud
Hi Steven just to confirm we got home OK. Big thanks from David and I for all your organising which worked perfectly. Also special thanks to our guides who worked really hard for us, we ended up with 219 species. I will do a trip report and may come back to you to confirm some place names and will share the report with you before I publish on Cloud birders.
Fantastic Steven! I’ll call you Super Stevie from now on! All sounds wonderful, couldn’t have gone any better, fantastic. Thanks for all your help this year, Steven, you’ve done a lot of tours and all gone very well. Hopefully I can get you more tours in the future. Cheers , James!
Ni hao Steven! THANK YOU again for the best trip ever! You were the best guide we could have imagined! Since our trip I am a fan of China and really happy after the beautiful landscapes, all our experiences and most of all the wonderful species we could see because of you!I would be happy to organise trips together with you if you would be interested!? Would you have suggestions for Sichuan/Tibet or to other regions for the future? 2018? 2019? 2020? Would you have some suggestions? I have already asked some friends!Will send some pictures of our SE China trip soon!Best regards from Austria to China and all the best for you!Ingrid
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