8th & 9th Jan
8th Jan
The plan for today was to visit another ridge area called Doi Ang Kang right on the border with Myanmar. So another early start and we left the hotel at 6 and headed for the hills! We wound our way up onto the ridge and the first stop was by an army camp and a campsite among the trees. This was around first light so we were able to see the birds in their first bursts of activity before the day started to warm up. Birding was by the roadside and the first obliging sprite was a Hill Prinia perched up and singing. Just along the slope from that were a couple of smart Flavescent Bulbuls looking good in the early light. There were a good many other species on show here, with highlights being Sooty-headed Bulbul, Long-tailed Shrike, Chestnut-vented Nuthatch, Silver-eared Laughingthrush, Grey Bushchat, Pallas's, Hume's and Yellow-browed Warblers, Indian White-eye and Long-tailed Minivet. We coninued birding on the opposite side of the road at what was quite a busy junction of three mountain roads. Here we encountered a good number of Crested Finchbills and Brown-breasted Bulbuls which are specialists of this area. Rapidly added to the tally were a very smart Blue-winged Minla, Blue-throated Barbet, Japanese Tits {which look like rather dull grey Great Tits} and a Yellow-cheeked Tit, a stunning male Rufous-bellied Niltava, Yunnan Fulvetta, a Collared Owlet, and just down the road apiece, Common Rosefinch.
After lunch we drove on further along the ridge and eventually came to an army camp on the Myanmar border called Ban Nor Lae, where we parked up. This was rather a strange location with fortifications looking like WWI trenches, and maps showing the various lookouts on both sides of the border. The first bird on show here was a Burmese Shrike sitting in a tree. The view into Myanmar was very scenic and we did spend some time wandering around the fortifications and admiring the view. Another good bird we caught up with here was White-headed Bulbul, plus there were a couple of species which I didn't record due to not seeing them - Yellow-streaked Warbler and Olive-backed Sunbird. Just outside the entrance were two opposing rows of stalls where local hill tribe women were selling various crafts including colourful woven bags and the like so we browsed there for a while. A few of us were suffering with left-over {or indeed developing} winter coughs & colds so we decided to stop earlier today and made our way back to Tangerine Ville to relax.
9th Jan
Today we were to head back up to Doi Lang West to see what else we could find and to perhaps get some better views of things that we had only previously glimpsed or otherwise not seen well. We set off again at 6 a.m. and got up to the pine ridge at first light. First thing we encountered was a 'terrace' of three photographers' pop-up tents plonked down on the track. We decided not to drive past and stopped a little way behind them. They had presumably baited the road with tasty morsels. So, we sat patiently in the bus to see what might appear, and after a few minutes a group of 4 Mountain Bamboo Partridges appeared and waddled around feeding by the side of the road. Shortly afterwards an Ultramarine Flycatcher appeared, plus the inevitable Grey Bushchat and then a flock of 6 White-browed Laughingthrushes, a Chestnut-vented Nuthatch, a few dull grey Japanese Tits and an Rufous {Oriental} Turtle Dove.
With the Partridges having scarpered and a general quietening of activity we slowly drove past the tents and moved further along the road and then disembarked and started to walk, and were soon logging a good number of quality species. Particularly impressive and living up to its name, was another Giant Nuthatch, and diminutive in comparison was a Hume's Treecreeper, unlike the comparison between our own European versions. Other species logged here were Black-winged Cuckooshrike, 2 Grey-chinned Minivets, Mountain Imperial Pigeon, Stripe-breasted Woodpecker and Greater Yellownape, Flavescent Bulbul, Hume's Warblers, a Crested Honey-buzzard overhead, Spot-breasted Parrotbill, Chestnut-flanked White-eye, and Golden-throated Barbet.
Things were warming up so we walked back to the bus and had some refreshments, during the course of which we managed to lock on to an Aberrant Bush Warbler, plus Sapphire Flycatcher, a delightful Rufous-gorgetted Flycatcher and a flock of Black-throated Bushtits. Along the road a short distance we found what was probably another photo stakeout, where we saw a White-gorgetted Flycatcher, Slaty-backed Flycatcher and Blyth's Shrike-babbler. We drove a bit more along the road until we reached the now familiar pine ridge and here we found a cock Mrs. Hume's Pheasant about 100m distant but it didn't hang around. We were pleased to find another Ultramarine Flycatcher and a Grey-backed Shrike and another Giant Nuthatch, and nearby, Fire-breasted Flowerpecker, Mrs. Gould's Sunbird and Swinhoe's White-eye.
It was now the middle of the day so we drove on some more until we found somewhere with some shade so we could have our packed lunch, during the course of which we watched a few more species. Both species of Gorgetted Flycatcher were in evidence [these two, White- and Rufous-gorgetted were my two favourite flycatchers of the trip], Yunnan Fulvetta, Golden Babbler, Blue-winged Minla and Chestnut-flanked White-eye. Also high in the canopy we had 2 Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrushes.
As a last foray we drove on further north as far as the army checkpoint and wandering around there we found Pale Blue Flycatcher, a scarce one to get in the region, plus Black-throated Sunbird and some Grey-headed Parrotbills. It had been a pretty long session so we headed back to Tangerine Ville to relax for the rest of the day.
With the Partridges having scarpered and a general quietening of activity we slowly drove past the tents and moved further along the road and then disembarked and started to walk, and were soon logging a good number of quality species. Particularly impressive and living up to its name, was another Giant Nuthatch, and diminutive in comparison was a Hume's Treecreeper, unlike the comparison between our own European versions. Other species logged here were Black-winged Cuckooshrike, 2 Grey-chinned Minivets, Mountain Imperial Pigeon, Stripe-breasted Woodpecker and Greater Yellownape, Flavescent Bulbul, Hume's Warblers, a Crested Honey-buzzard overhead, Spot-breasted Parrotbill, Chestnut-flanked White-eye, and Golden-throated Barbet.
Things were warming up so we walked back to the bus and had some refreshments, during the course of which we managed to lock on to an Aberrant Bush Warbler, plus Sapphire Flycatcher, a delightful Rufous-gorgetted Flycatcher and a flock of Black-throated Bushtits. Along the road a short distance we found what was probably another photo stakeout, where we saw a White-gorgetted Flycatcher, Slaty-backed Flycatcher and Blyth's Shrike-babbler. We drove a bit more along the road until we reached the now familiar pine ridge and here we found a cock Mrs. Hume's Pheasant about 100m distant but it didn't hang around. We were pleased to find another Ultramarine Flycatcher and a Grey-backed Shrike and another Giant Nuthatch, and nearby, Fire-breasted Flowerpecker, Mrs. Gould's Sunbird and Swinhoe's White-eye.
It was now the middle of the day so we drove on some more until we found somewhere with some shade so we could have our packed lunch, during the course of which we watched a few more species. Both species of Gorgetted Flycatcher were in evidence [these two, White- and Rufous-gorgetted were my two favourite flycatchers of the trip], Yunnan Fulvetta, Golden Babbler, Blue-winged Minla and Chestnut-flanked White-eye. Also high in the canopy we had 2 Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrushes.
As a last foray we drove on further north as far as the army checkpoint and wandering around there we found Pale Blue Flycatcher, a scarce one to get in the region, plus Black-throated Sunbird and some Grey-headed Parrotbills. It had been a pretty long session so we headed back to Tangerine Ville to relax for the rest of the day.