Snow was falling. 

It had taken me the entire morning to climb up from Hongchun Monastery, where I had spent the night.  I was tired and cold (at least the earlier noodles at Xianfeng Monastery had got me this far). 

I stopped in my tracks. 

A sound, coming from deep inside the thicket of bamboo that abuts the steps on this part of the long climb up Emei Mountain, made me get my camera ready for action.

Then I saw something - pehaps a bird, perhaps an animal - move.   The shape reminded me of something I had seen before - two years ago on the adjacent Sichuan mountain of Wawu Shan.  Could it really be a tragopan - this close?

I was alone on the mountain (or so I had thought), and was prepared to wait as long as I needed to, to find out.  These things can't be rushed.

Then, perhaps 100 yards in front of me, I saw two men carrying supplies for the monastery on their backs, descending the steps.  In perhaps a minute they would be down to where I was and would undoubtedly scare whatever it was away.

Just as I was cursing my luck (after all, they were the first people I'd seen coming down the mountain that morning), the subject of my interest emerged from the bamboo.

And what an amazing sight it was. 

The most glorious bird in all of China - as far as I am concerend - was there not more than 10 yards in front of me. 

A resplendant male Temminck's Tragopan no less.  One of the world's most beautiful pheasants.

This amazing creature walked quickly across the snow-covered steps as I fired off 8 shots (at 4 frames a second).    Then it was gone, disappearing into the bamboo thicket on the other side of the steps.

Incredible.

And what a wonderful way to finish the year.

What joys would tomorrow and the new decade bring I wonder?

The concluding chapter of my 3-day climb up Emei Shan, in Sichuan province, appears here.

New Year's Day was the first day of my China "365 Challenge" - the plan was to photograph 365 species of birds in China during the year.  I actually achieved the goal in June.  

The accounts of my adventures (and all the photographs of the 365 species) appear here.

A few other photos from journeys to all of China's 34 provinces, municipalities and regions appear below: