Chengdu Birding – [email protected] - Chengdu, Sichuan, the gateway to Tibet
Biet's Laughingthrush - photo by Bjorn Anderson
Earlier this year – I got a real chunk of excitement - being part of a trip that aimed at finding Biet’s (White-speckled) Laughingthrush, Garrulax beiti – a bird that hadn’t been spotted since 1989.
The trip was planned by a well known China birder – Bjorn Anderson – I had the main job of providing transport and driving.
Getting to the site – which is close to the Sichuan/Yunnan border was also not without its potential difficulties – since, although this was in the pre-quake period, the recent Tibet riots meant that travel for foreigners was being restricted, and the bird’s very limited known range occurred in one of Sichuan’s Tibetan areas. But luckily all went well – we got through – and after a bit of detective work, found the valley that we assumed was where the bird had last been seen.
another view - photo by Bjorn Anderson
Within a few hours we had our bird – and Bjorn was able to take the first ever photos of this very threatened species. A lot of habitat destruction has taken place in this area – but now with greater forest protection there is a slight glimmer of hope the bird can hang on. But with nearby road construction and damage to its bamboo breeding habitat by grazing livestock – the future for this bird hangs on a precarious knife-edge
The Bamboo habitat where this bird is found.
Biet's Laughingthrush - photo by Bjorn Anderson
Earlier this year – I got a real chunk of excitement - being part of a trip that aimed at finding Biet’s (White-speckled) Laughingthrush, Garrulax beiti – a bird that hadn’t been spotted since 1989.
The trip was planned by a well known China birder – Bjorn Anderson – I had the main job of providing transport and driving.
Getting to the site – which is close to the Sichuan/Yunnan border was also not without its potential difficulties – since, although this was in the pre-quake period, the recent Tibet riots meant that travel for foreigners was being restricted, and the bird’s very limited known range occurred in one of Sichuan’s Tibetan areas. But luckily all went well – we got through – and after a bit of detective work, found the valley that we assumed was where the bird had last been seen.
another view - photo by Bjorn Anderson
Within a few hours we had our bird – and Bjorn was able to take the first ever photos of this very threatened species. A lot of habitat destruction has taken place in this area – but now with greater forest protection there is a slight glimmer of hope the bird can hang on. But with nearby road construction and damage to its bamboo breeding habitat by grazing livestock – the future for this bird hangs on a precarious knife-edge
The Bamboo habitat where this bird is found.
