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Who'd have thought
it?
China Eastern Airlines actually fly to Tengchong (which is on the edge of Yunnan's Gaoligongshan range), from
Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan.
What's more, if you want to reach Tengchong on the same day from either Beijing
or Shanghai on a Friday at least, you can only do so via Chengdu (as the flights from Kunming, the provincial capital of Yunnan,
all leave before you would get there).
There's an extra bonus - if you are a birder that is - in that Chengdu airport
is within a 10 minutes walk of some reasonable habitat.
So, with three hours' free time, I headed for the bushes.
And what a wonderful three hours it was. A close-up small flock of Black-throated Tits was a treat, as was the
Tickell's Leaf Warbler that couldn't decide whether to look for insects on the grass or in the trees.
Surprise
of the day was a House Sparrow! This is only the second time I've seen this species in China. Looking at Clements, the range
of ssp parkini extends to south-west Tibet, so on that basis I've tentatively labelled it as that.
6 species "new"
for 2010:
Long-tailed Shrike (nom. ssp schach)
Black-throated Tit (nom ssp. concinnus)
Tickell's Leaf Warbler (monotypic)
House Sparrow (ssp parkini?)
White-browed
Laughingthrush (ssp oblectans)
Olive-backed Pipit (nom. ssp hodgsoni)
Other birds seen:
White Wagtail, few
Little Bunting, few
Chinese Blackbird, 1
Red-flanked Bluetail, 1
Oriental Magpie
Robin, 1
Rufous Turtle Dove, sev
2010 = 88 species photographed
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