China July - August 2010, Shangri La

Shangri La, or Deqen, which is the city's old name, at 3.500 MASL is as close as many visitors to Yunnan get to Tibet. Many tour companies within this city organize visits to this part of China but as this is rather costly we stayed within Shangri La and its surroundings. We could still enjoy the Tibetan atmosphere for there are many Tibetans living in the city and they have their influence on it. The city is easily reached by bus from Lijiang (five hours).

We spent a couple of days in this lovely city and did several bike tours around the city, including the vast marches and plateaus that lie to the west of the city and the famous Sumtseling Monastery. The surroundings of the monastery proved to yield several Grey-backed Shrikes, Chestnut Thrush, Lesser Whistling Duck and abundant Red-billed Choughs. The marshes on the other hand held Ferruginous Ducks, Common and Green Sandpipers, Siberian Stonechats, Himalayan Wagtails and Oriental Skylarks.

Red-billed Chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax)

Chestnut Thrush (Turdus rubrocanus)

Juvenile Oriental Skylark (Alauda gulgula)

Grey-backed Shrike (Lanius tephronotus)

This lovely city is again another very interesting and beautiful spot for those who do not bird, but it did not prove to be very fruitful for birds. However perhaps with more preparation and more focused searches some very interesting species might be found here. This post and other posts concerning my 2010 China trip can be downloaded as PDF here.

China July - August 2010, Tiger Leaping Gorge

The Tiger Leaping Gorge, which is comparable with the American Grand Canyon, is another often visited site in Yunnan. The start of this spectacular gorge is easily reached from Yunnan within 2,5 hours drive and several treks can be done through the gorge, following the Yangtse river. We chose to do a two day trek to fully enjoy the beauty of the gorge, but there are also one-day treks or hikes that take up to a week.

During this trek (which wasn't that hard to do) we mostly enjoyed the views, which were absolutely stunning, but I also got time to look at some birds. Some of the species I observed during these two days included Plumbeous Water-redstart,  Pacific Swift, Short-billed Minivet, Grey-headed Canary-flycatcher, Chestnut-vented Nuthatch, Asian House Martin, Brown Prinia, Crested Finchbill, Black-headed Greenfinch and Godlewski's Bunting.

Brown Prinia (Prinia polychroa)

A singing Crested Finchbill (Spizixos canifrons)

Godlewski's Bunting (Emberiza godlewskii)

I would not recommend this trek to birders, as there is barely any forest left and although we saw some birds here, I was a bit disappointing. On the other hand the views and the landscape are some of the very best China has to offer, so I would recommend it to any non-birder or a birder with some spare time. Especially since this area is planned to be dammed, so the whole gorge might soon vanish under water...  This post and other posts concerning my 2010 China trip can be downloaded as PDF here.

The Tiger Leaping Gorge and the Yangtse River

China July - August 2010, Lijiang

Lijiang is a rather big town in the province of Yunnan and probably the most touristic place in the entire province as its old and authentic center is world famous. It is very easily reached and finding accomodation should pose no problem, although during high season most hostels tend to be full. We spent a couple of days in this city and I got some chances to look at birds, mostly in the outskirts of the town.

We spent quite some time at the Black Dragon Pool Park (entree fee costs RMB 60), which is a very touristic place but also a reliable spot for Giant Nuthatch, but I never got any good looks at this species. The park is easily reached from Lijiang city center on foot. Besides the world famous Black Dragon Pool, for which most people come to this place, the park has quite a few nice big trees, so we observed some interesting species here including Ruddy Kingfisher, Green-backed Tit, Black-throated Tit, Plumbeous Water Redstart, Striated Grassbird, Black-headed Sibia, Himalayan Wagtail, Blyth's and Claudia's Leaf Warbler.

Oriental White-eyes (Zosterops palpebrosus)

Presumed Claudia's Leaf Warbler (Phylloscopus claudiae) based on range and tail pattern. Compare with this individual.

We also spent a day cycling around the suburbs of Lijiang visiting the ancient village of Baisha and the Puji monastery. This cycling trip also yielded some interesting species like Barred Cuckoo-dove, Eurasian Hoopoe, Grey-backed Shrike, Black Bulbul, Himalayan Wagtail, Siberian Stonechat, Grey-crowned Warbler and Chestnut-eared Bunting. We also saw two laughingthrushes with red tails flying away from us at the monastery, so they must have been Red-winged or Red-tailed Laughingthrush, but we did not manage to coax them back into view...

Chestnut-eared Bunting (Emberiza fucata)

The Lijiang area is definitely of interest for birders for several good species can be observed here, provided you have prepared your trip well and therefore know where to look as this trip report by Bjorn Anderson proves. I obviously did not do this and therefore did not see the local specialties.  This post and other posts concerning my 2010 China trip can be downloaded as PDF here.