Hanno
Ho Ho Ho
Here goes my first birding day post
This afternoon, I decided that the weather was just too nice to be working, and I took a quick hike up Ham Rong Mountain. This is a hill right here in Sapa, actually more of a botanical garden. Utter hell on weekends, with plenty of Vietnamese going up there to have their photos taken. Not the greatest place to go birding around Sapa, but it is close, and they do sell cold beerB
I did not really expect to see many birds, like everywhere else in the world, afternoons are not exactly the best time to go birding. The first birds I noticed, apart from the ever-present tree sparrows, where barn swallows. They seem to be here to stay now, after previous efforts over the last couple of weeks did not meet with much success, the weather inevitably turned nasty again.
Right inside the garden, I came across a large warbler, but before i could try and identify it. a group of Vietnamese became very interested in what i was doing. The ensuing laughter, and much looking through the scope, meant that the bird was gone before I could ID it. This is a frequent occurence over here, birders are still very much a novelty (beats 3rd degree interrogation by the very suspicious police and army though, they have a problem with people tripsing through the country side, armed with bins, scope and camera, espcecially this close to the Chinese border).
There were plenty of Little Buntings about, they have to rate as my personal favourite Buntings. They are also a lot more approachable than most other birds here in Sapa. Right above, sitting on a rock, was an absolute stunning male Blue Rock Thrush. Sure knew it was a looker, giving me all the time in the world to get close and personal. Blue Whistling Thrushes were quite vocal, even though it was much harder to get a look at them. Absolute cracker of a bird! There were also a number of Pallas' Leaf Warblers and Yellow-browed Warblers, feeding in the blooming peach trees. (Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, just passed, and Peach trees are very much a part of that).
The usual noisy gang of Brown-breasted Bulbuls was hard to miss, however, not a sign of Red-whiskered Bulbuls, which usually join in on the fun.
There was only one Oriental Magpie Robin, singing away from the top of a tree. I understand that they are very popular cage birds, more easily seen suspended from a roof than in the wild.
A bit of a surprise, for me anyway, was a solitary Dusky Thrush, had not seen one of those here before. Finally, on the way home, there was a flock of Rosy Pipits. scurrying around on the ground. Well, there was actually a couple of birds that have me stumped. Definitel flycatchers, and the closest I could find in the book was Ferruginous Flycatcher, but the habitat seems all wrong. Ah well, yet another one that got awayo
So much for my afternoon out, tomorrow I shall go and investigate a very promising-looking patch of forrest about 10 miles from here. More on that later.
Regards,
Hanno
This afternoon, I decided that the weather was just too nice to be working, and I took a quick hike up Ham Rong Mountain. This is a hill right here in Sapa, actually more of a botanical garden. Utter hell on weekends, with plenty of Vietnamese going up there to have their photos taken. Not the greatest place to go birding around Sapa, but it is close, and they do sell cold beerB
I did not really expect to see many birds, like everywhere else in the world, afternoons are not exactly the best time to go birding. The first birds I noticed, apart from the ever-present tree sparrows, where barn swallows. They seem to be here to stay now, after previous efforts over the last couple of weeks did not meet with much success, the weather inevitably turned nasty again.
Right inside the garden, I came across a large warbler, but before i could try and identify it. a group of Vietnamese became very interested in what i was doing. The ensuing laughter, and much looking through the scope, meant that the bird was gone before I could ID it. This is a frequent occurence over here, birders are still very much a novelty (beats 3rd degree interrogation by the very suspicious police and army though, they have a problem with people tripsing through the country side, armed with bins, scope and camera, espcecially this close to the Chinese border).
There were plenty of Little Buntings about, they have to rate as my personal favourite Buntings. They are also a lot more approachable than most other birds here in Sapa. Right above, sitting on a rock, was an absolute stunning male Blue Rock Thrush. Sure knew it was a looker, giving me all the time in the world to get close and personal. Blue Whistling Thrushes were quite vocal, even though it was much harder to get a look at them. Absolute cracker of a bird! There were also a number of Pallas' Leaf Warblers and Yellow-browed Warblers, feeding in the blooming peach trees. (Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, just passed, and Peach trees are very much a part of that).
The usual noisy gang of Brown-breasted Bulbuls was hard to miss, however, not a sign of Red-whiskered Bulbuls, which usually join in on the fun.
There was only one Oriental Magpie Robin, singing away from the top of a tree. I understand that they are very popular cage birds, more easily seen suspended from a roof than in the wild.
A bit of a surprise, for me anyway, was a solitary Dusky Thrush, had not seen one of those here before. Finally, on the way home, there was a flock of Rosy Pipits. scurrying around on the ground. Well, there was actually a couple of birds that have me stumped. Definitel flycatchers, and the closest I could find in the book was Ferruginous Flycatcher, but the habitat seems all wrong. Ah well, yet another one that got awayo
So much for my afternoon out, tomorrow I shall go and investigate a very promising-looking patch of forrest about 10 miles from here. More on that later.
Regards,
Hanno
