Hi James - Pikas and Pere David's Owl share a story of lumping and splitting. In the case of Per David's Owl - on a taxonomical front then I let that argument rest with the experts - but with regard to the conservation and local status of this species then I don't mind too much if its differences from from Ural Owl become exaggerated enough to give it species status. The reason for this lies in the fact that Chinese conservation and protection seems very much focused on the enigmatic larger species - especially those that have Chinese endemic status. One only has to look at that page I linked to in my last post -
http://english.ioz.cas.cn/special/lhs/lhs_case/lhs_case_swo/
Here the alternative name of Sichuan Wood Owl is used - and at the foot of the page we find written -
The Sichuan wood owl is the only endemic owl in China . I should think that kind of status and recognition - as a unique Chinese species - certainly helps this rare birds get a foot in the door if any resources are to be divided out for future conservation projects - and the case for habits becoming protected as nature reserve would surely be further encouraged if they contained a large endemic Owl.
As far as ID'ing that Pika goes - well to be sure you'd have to go around measuring skulls and taking other recordings - but our ID'ing process goes more along the lines of simple deduction.
We use the Mammals of China Guide by Smith and Xie - and in this book, the best there is on Chinese mammals, Gansu Pika isn't included in the Pika Plate. However you can find an illustration of a summer animal - from nearby Wanglang -
here
And for those who don't have the Smith and Xie book - an intersting, if dated Pika resource, that includes a decription of Gansu Pika, can be found
here - the Gansu Pika pages are 23 24 25
As far as these references go - in terms of winter pelage description, abundance, habitat and the fact that in areas where we saw this pika we could also find burrow openings -
as a characteristic burrowing pika, with a greyish-brown winter pelage found in Northwest Sichuan, living in Dasiphora frusctosa scrub forests adjoining alpine meadow or in grassy embankments under spruces. It appears the pikas avoid the thickest areas of bush, preferring instead areas that are slightly open such as natural mounds created by Zokors (from The Google books link) - Gansu Pika seems the safest choice, even though the pelage colour seems totally grey rather than greyish-brown - but we also have a possibility of it being Tsing-Ling Pika, Moupin Pika or Thomas's Pika - but all of these animals seem to be less well known and found in slightly diffrent habitats, so I think I'd be really sticking my neck out if I named our Pika after one of these animals - but of course labeling it as Gansu Pika is also a bit of a shot in the dark!!!!!
But we do have a picture of another small animal named after Gansu - Gansu Mole. We found these, on this last trip, at Wanglang, close to the Chinese Tawny Owl location so this animal must also be included as likely Owl nosh. The tail and outer toe on the hind claw formation (first toe on hind foot is offset at a different angle) are the clues to our ID on this one. If you google this species - then further pics come up from Wanglang. I'm afraid this specimen has met the same fate as the Monty Python Parrot - looks like its also suffering from a bit of a dental problem - but we did find others alive, as they burrowed through the forest floor moss, but only came up with blurred pics as they streaked past.
And from a dead mole to a couple of cuter pics from 2 weeks ago at Wanglang - Sooty Tit, a flock of which turned up on a frosty morning while we were watching a flock of over 100 Blue Sheep feeding at the Golden Grasslands site - and a fine example of Grey Crested Tit, which was very easy to find during this last trip.
And that last pic shows a few of the Blue Sheep.