We are a team of serious birders who are friendly, energetic and passionate for birding.
We are based in eastern China, We focus on small private tours which are flexible, high yields’ and good quality
We value each of our guest and we work for your smile.
Steven An
Founder and owner of Chinabirdingtours.com.
Born in Gansu province in northwest China, Steven studied in Jiangxi province where he graduated as an International Tour Guide. In that role he guided numerous cultural tours throughout China, but in 2008, a job working as a translator and an English speaking guide for a birding group to Poyang Lake offered him a great opportunity to see another world “ the World of Birds”.
Steven peered through a birder’s telescope and saw standing a huge white bird with a red bill, long legs, – the Siberian Crane!!!Seeing that changed Steven’s life, he had a new passion and since then has become one of the top birders and bird guides in China. Over the last 15 years he has led tours to many parts of China, His gentle and kind personality, fluent English, bird finding, field identification skills and care for his clients have rightly earned him an excellent reputation in China.
Elan James
Elan is an up and coming talent in the China bird guide community, having already seen more than 700 bird species in China, and more than 1700 species worldwide. Elan started birding in 2019, but has quickly become well-known among clients for his incredible field skills, and pleasant service-oriented personality. Elan hails from Yichun, Jiangxi Province and graduated in 2022 from Nanchang University with a degree in clinical medicine. He has experience guiding in Indonesia, East Africa and throughout China. He speaks excellent English, and already led many of our private custom tours. He is now our full time guide.
Xiaorui Mao
With over 10 years of birding experience and more than 800 bird species spotted across China, Xiaorui defines himself as a passionate birder and experienced guide, always eager to help his clients have the best possible experience. Born and raised in Zhejiang Province, East China, Xiaorui received his master’s degree in the US and joined China Birding Tours as a part-time guide in 2023. He is currently a PhD student in humanities and enjoys integrating his inspirations of nature into academic research.
What our clients‘ve been saying about our tours and service:
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 organize 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 from Austria
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 Eaton (UK) from BirdtourAsia.com
I recently had the pleasure of being guided by Steven on a short but very successful birding trip to Hainan. Steven’s keen eyes and sharp hearing enabled us to get great views of almost all our target species. Aside from the birding, Steven is very client-focused and ensured that we had a safe and enjoyable trip. Steven also had a great rapport with the local guides and service providers, which contributed to the success of the trip. I wholeheartedly recommend Steven to anyone visiting China for birding! Albert from Singapore.
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 from USA
Thanks to Steven An and his assistant Elan, I had an excellent experience looking for birds in a forest near and at Lingshan, the highest mountain near Beijing, currently about three hours outside the city, reached by winding roads up gorgeous valleys that look just like Chinese landscape paintings. Elan arranged a driver who accompanied us to Lingshan as well as a nice, small hotel in the village, as well as meals at a good local restaurant. They picked me up in Beijing early the first day and Elan took me to a forest where we saw numerous kinds of warblers including the very elusive Alström’s warbler, as well as three kinds of flycatchers—Zappey’s, Yellow-rumped, and Green-backed. Including the several Ring-necked pheasants, rosefinches, Beijing babbler, and others we saw at the higher elevations of Lingshan, we saw at least 30 different species of birds, of which 20 were new for me. Elan is well-versed in the birds’ behavior and with patience we also glimpsed a couple of Siberian blue robins well after they had migrated and started breeding in the understory on the slopes of Lingshan. China will soon become a Mecca for birdwatching, and I hope I can return for further outings with Steve and his great team. Matthew from USA
Dear Steven
We had a wonderful and highly successful day with Elan beyond all my expectations. Thanks for organizing this trip, I will recommend your operation to everyone. I would highlight that Elan was an excellent, professional guide who speaks perfect English and is a truly enjoyable company. （Day birding to Hainan Island）. Laszlo from Hungary