Myanmar July – August 2013, Hlawga Park

This site, situated 90 minutes drive from Yangon, is the easiest place in the world to see the davisoni race of Stripe-throated Bulbul which has a high split potential. If split, it will be a new endemic for the country. It also used to be a site for Pale-capped Pigeon, but I don´t know of any recent records. We visited this site as a daytrip from Yangon by taxi. We paid K 30.000 for going to the park from Yangon, one drive through the park and back to the Hotel, stopping at a WWII memorial, because we had to see the nice flowers according to our driver. The entrance fee is K 800 per person and K 1.000 per vehicle.

The park was one of the weirdest places I´ve ever birded. The only interesting bird I´ve seen here was a male Green Peafowl that was walking around the entrance gate and allowed ridiculous close-up views, giving a rather zoo-like feeling. Apparently this species was re-introduced 12 years ago, so not countable for the purist, but if you can count Pink Pigeons and Mauritius Fodies on Iles Aux Aigrettes, than you can count these Peafowls. As soon as we were in the park we were surrounded by hundreds of Rhesus Macaques who were jumping up and down to be fed, which the locals do very regularly. This resulted in a rather hurried drive through the park, trying to get rid of the monkeys. At last I made a small walk that yielded White-throated Kingfisher, Common Iora and Olive-backed Sunbird and to my astonishment two wing-clipped Spot-billed Pelicans! After fifteen minutes however the macaques returned and I went back into the car, for I hate half-tame monkeys. During the rest of the drive through the park we saw nothing special, but more (re)introduced species like Gaur, Sambar and Hogdeer.

A very wild male Green Peacock (Pavo muticus)

Obviously we did not see any Pale-capped Pigeons or Stripe-throated Bulbuls and I wonder how Birdquest manages to see them (the bulbuls) and get them into a scope without dozens of macaques bothering them. I would not recommend going to this site for it is basically somewhat of a badly managed safari park with a lot partying youth in it as well in the afternoon.

Myanmar Juy – August 2013, Kyaiktiyo Wildlife Sanctuary

Just like our visit to the Moeyungyi Weetlends, our visit to Kyaiktiyo Wildlife Sanctuary was mostly insired by the http://birding.sstmyanmar.com/kyaikhtiyo-wildlife-sanctuary. Mount Kyaiktiyo is mostly famous for its Golden Rock Pagoda at its top, but there are apparently some reasonable forests on the mountain. We based ourselves at Kinpun Base Camp, from which we walked up the mountain on the first day towards the Maha Myaing Paya. First you pass through a lot of cleared forest and later through crappy secondary forest. Here we only found a Black-necked Laugher and some Crested Treeswifts.

The next day we took one of the trucks taking the pilgrims up the mountain in the hope to find better forest at higher altitude. We decided to walk down from the Golden Rock back to Kinpun. First you pass countless vendors, but later there are some patches of secondary forest which contained amongst others Vernal Hanging Parrot, Green-billed Malkoha, Blue-winged Leafbird, Crested Goshawk, Buff-breasted, Puff-throated and Striped Tit Babbler, Lesser Necklaced Laugher, Little Spiderhunter and Lesser Rufous-headed Parrotbill.

Even though we saw some interesting species, I don´t understand why this is a “wildlife sanctuary”. Maybe we did not find the right trails and birded in the wrong places, maybe the time of the year was not right, but in my opinion the human pressure on the forests here seems just too much. It still is an interesting site from a cultural perspective, but the fact that foreigners have to eat and sleep at specially selected places and are completely separated from the local people creates a weird atmosphere.  

Ridiculously large butterfly (Attacus atlas)

Myanmar July – August 2013, Moeyungyi Wetland Sanctuary

Since the main birding spot of the country, Mount Victoria, is unreachable in the rainy season (roads are apparently impassable) and it is extremely costly to arrange a visit (around $800 per person), we had to find some other destinations in Myanmar to fill the 28 days we had planned here. First we had planned to go to Myitkyina and to do a boat trip down the Ayeyarwaddy River, but after seeing the completely full river in Bagan, we let this idea go, for it would have been, birding wise, a rather boring four to six days.

Therefore we resorted to other birding areas off the standard tour itineraries. One of them is the Moeyungyi Wetland Sanctuary near Bago. I found on http://birding.sstmyanmar.com/moeyungyi-wetland-bird-sanctuary that this is a reliable site for Sarus Crane, a species I missed at Inle Lake. So we arranged a motorbike for 12.000 MKK in Bago to go to the wetlands and then we paid $25 for four canoes to go on the lake. We saw barely any birds during this boat trip, for the wetland areas were completely flooded. Most interestingly were four Painted Storks and some Asian Golden Weavers. We showed a picture of Sarus Crane to some local farmers and they knew the bird very well, but they only saw them in the dry season here. Other birds that can be observed here include Cotton Pygmy Goose, Grey-headed Swamphen, Bronze-winged Jacana and Oriental Pratincole (according to SST Tourism). I think for this site it makes a huge difference whether you visit it in the wet or the dry season and I advise checking this site out in the dry season, for it sounds definitely interesting. 

Flooded area as far as the eye reaches... No birds at all... (picture made by Janne de Hoop)

Myanmar July – August 2013, Kalaw

Famous amongst birders for being the best place in the world to see Burmese Yuhina, Kalaw is on the itinary of most birding crews visiting this country. Besides this it is also possible to see the very rarely observed Olive Bulbul. Mostly they stay here only one or two days, but we decided to give the forest some more time. First we did a two day trek into the lush evergreen forest surrounding Ye-Aye-Kan reservoir. We organised this trek through the Golden Lily Guesthouse, who can arrange a lot for everyone, but I would not recommend them, for they pay their guides less than the minimum wage… We first wanted a bird guide (Ko Pan, based in Kalaw. kopanornithologist15@gmail.com), but apparently he asked $100 per day per person (or so we were told by the Golden Lily Guesthouse). Therefore we hired Sunny (sunnypanday@gmail.com, if this doesn´t work try his sister´s e-mail address: vidiyarpanday@gmail.com), a regular but very enthusiastic young guide, with excellent knowledge of the forest paths.

We birded the forests around Ye-Aye-Kan reservoir, mainly on smaller tracks, for two full days and this resulted in a reasonable 70 or 80 species including Long-tailed and Silver-breasted Broadbill, Cook´s Swift, Scarlet-faced Liocichla, Red-headed Trogon, Greater Yellow-nape, Greater Flameback, Common Green Magpie, Dark-backed Sibia, Yunnan Fulvetta, Puff-throated Babbler, Chinese Francolin, Orange-bellied Leafbird, Spectacled Barwing and Large Hawk Cuckoo. Unfortunately we did not find the much wanted Burmese Yuhina or the Olive Bulbul.

Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker (Dendrocopus canicapillus)

Spectacled Barwing (Actinodura ramsayi)

Greater Flameback (Chrysocolaptes guttacristatus)

Scarlet-faced Liocichla (Liocichla ripponi)

Male Red-headed Trogon (Harpactes erythrocephalus)

Therefore we did another one-day hike to the reservoir and focused only on the jeep track leading to the reservoir and not on the small paths, for it is much easier birding, less muddy and very good forest here. This proved to be an outstanding idea, for after an hour we were rewarded with quick views of a pair of Olive Bulbuls. Seeing Burmese Yuhina took more effort, but after five hours of searching we finally found a pair, which unfortunately disappeared just as quickly as the Olive Bulbuls. We found that most birds in Myanmar are rather furtive and hard to observe or approach. Other species observed along the jeep track included Grey-headed Parrotbill, White-crowned Forktail, Blue-bearded Bee-eater, Asian Paradise Flycatcher, Hill Blue Flycatcher, Asian Emerald Cuckoo and Stripe-breasted Woodpecker, White-browed Shortwing, Rufous-necked Laughingthrush and White-tailed Robin.

I liked birding the forests around Ye-Aye-Kan reservoir a lot, but Palearctic winter is definitely a better time. When going in Palearctic summer you miss a lot of migrants and you should expect (very) muddy conditions and leaches, although the jeep track is ok. However, if you just go for the Yuhina and the Bulbul you might as well go in summer, for it is perfectly possible to see them.

Myanmar July – August 2013, Inle Lake

This site is another major touristic attraction that is also on the birding radar. Access to the gate-way town of the lake, Nyaung Shwe, is vere easy. Here accommodation can be found for every budget. We stayed in the Four Sisters Guest House, which can highly recommend for its cheap, but nice rooms, with views over the rice paddies that might yield Sarus Cranes. However best of all are the reliable and very tame Collared Scops Owls which show up in the tiny garden everyday around 20:00. For birders this site is known for its healthy population of Jerdon´s Bushchat and for being a reliable site for Collared Myna. In 2012 two other key species were added in the form of Sarus Crane and Chinese Grass Babbler, which were discovered in the North-eastern edge of the lake. Chinese Grass Babbler is the striata subspecies and a potential split form the Rufous-rumped Grass Babbler complex (formerly Rufous-rumped Grassbird). If being split, Inle Lake would be the sole place to see this species!

Collared Scops Owl (Otus lettia)

We first did the standard touristic boat ride every tourist does on the lake, visiting local shops and monasteries with the thought: what birds can we see on this tour? This turned out to be a good idea for we managed to see two male Jerdon´s Bushchats on the eastern side of the main channel connecting Nyaung Shwe with the lake and around ten Collared Myna´s on the floating gardens in the middle of the lake! Other interesting birds included Yellow and Cinnamon Bittern, many Blue-tailed Bee-eaters, Striated and Wire-tailed Swallow, Yellow-bellied Prinia and Clamorous Reed Warbler.

The next day we walked into the fields and marshes South-east of Nyaung Shwe, mainly in search for Sarus Crane. We did not the cranes, but we did find a pair of Jerdon´s Bushchats with juveniles east of the side channels of the main channel. More surprisingly and excitingly: we found two Chinese Grass Babblers a bit north of this site. This species was only seen from boat rides before! Other good birds included Lineated Barbet, Plaintive Cuckoo, Blue-tailed Bee-eater, Chestnut-capped and Yellow-eyed Babbler, Paddyfield Pipit, Crested Bunting and Black-tailed Crake.

Female Jerdon´s Bushcat  (Saxicola jerdoni)

Male Jerdon´s Bushcat (Saxicola jerdoni)

Plaintive Cuckoo (Cacomantis merulinus) 

Blue-tailed Bee-eater (Merops philippinus)

Yellow-bellied Prinia (Prinia flaviventris)

Although this is a highly touristic site, visited heavily by birders and non-birders, there is still a lot to be discovered. Therefore I recommend looking on different spots than just the main spots the birding tours always visit (Bushchat site on the main channel and the “birding platform”). We did not go to any of these and still saw almost all key species. 

Myanmar July – August 2013, Bagan

Bagan is The place in the world to see the four dry zone endemics of Myanmar (Burma). There are some less well known alternative sites like Mount Popa, but why skip this site when it can be combined with one of the finest archaeological wonders of Southeast Asia? The site can be easily accessed by bus from Yangon and most of them are even air-conditioned! In Bagan accommodation can be found in Nyaung U, Old Bagan and New Bagan. Nyaung U offers the budget choices, but we stayed in New Bagan, for Nyaung U is more than 15 km away from the best bird watching site. When staying in New Bagan however, it is only a ten minute bicycle ride. The best spot for bird watching is located South of New Bagan. The fields around the Sitsana Pagoda and especially the area around the small temple complex North of the Sitsana Pagoda can be very productive. It is good idea to buy a map (1.000 Kyat) to make sure you find this site.

We birded this area for one afternoon and two consecutive mornings. Two of the four endemics, White-throated Babbler and Burmese Bush Lark, are common and easy to find. They can be seen at most places in Bagan. The reasons for going to the Sitsana Pagoda area are the other two endemics: Jerdon´s Minivet and Hooded Treepie. I found the Minivet a lot easier than the Treepie and scored around 20 individuals in the fields directly around the Sitsana Pagoda. The Treepie however is a bitch and it took me three days to find a single one in the fields around the small temple complex North of the Sitsana Pagoda. Other birds of interest observed around the Sitsana Pagoda included: Laggar Falcon, Rain Quail (heard only), Barred Buttonquail, Plain-backed Sparrow, Streaked Weaver, Collared Dove (ssp. xanthocyclus which is almost definitely its own species and thus an endemic), Indian Nightjar (three flushed individuals from the rubbish dump north of the Sitsana Pagoda), Vinous-breasted Starling (ssp. burmannicus), Common Iora, Pied Stonechat and Spotted Owlet. Mammals observed around here were several Irrawaddy Squirrels and a single Burmese Hare next to many unidentified Free-tailed Bats.
  

Indian Nightjar (Caprimulgus asiaticus)

Spotted Owlet (Athene brama)

White-throated Babbler (Turdoides gularis)

Jerdon´s Minivet (Pericrocotus albifrons)

The distinctive xanthocyclus subspecies of Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) that is most likely its own species

Burmese Bushlark (Mirafra microptera)

Another key birding area is an island in the Irrawaddy river, which holds White-tailed Stonechats. We tried to get to the island, but failed completely due to a lack of local knowledge and a boatman familiar with the site. We did not try again, for the river was very high and therefor rather uninteresting from a birding perspective. We did not even see a single Small Pratincole even though we were on the river for more than an hour!

The rest of the time was spent enjoying the magnificent stupa´s and pagoda´s around Old and New Bagan which are an archaeological spectacle. Our bike tours to various temples even resulted in a White-eyed Buzzard next to many White-throated Babblers and Burmese Bush Larks. It is rare that such a touristic attraction can be combined so easily with high quality birding. So I think that Bagan for the birding and the pagoda´s is an experience not to be missed.

Blue-crested Lizard (Calotes mystaceus)