Myanmar (Burma)
30th November - 12th December 2009
Leader: James Eaton
Participants: Jonty Denton, Magnus Jaderblad, Volker Schmidt,
Brian Sykes, Margaret Sykes, Nigel Voaden and Martin Wootton
Hooded Treepie © James Eaton / Birdtour Asia
This tour recorded an impressive 354 species during our 12-day visit to the country. We began the tour in Bagan where our birding around the historic temples revealed the four central Burmese dry-zone endemics; Burmese Bushlark, White-throated Babbler, Jerdon’s Minivet and Hooded Treepie. The showpiece of this tour is our visit to Mount Victoria in the Chin Hills close to the Indian border. White-browed Nuthatch dazzled on several occasions as did plenty of near-endemics including Brown-capped, Striped and Assam Laughingthrushes, Grey Sibia, Spot-breasted Scimitar Babbler, Chin Hills Wren Babbler and two recently proposed splits – Burmese Tit and Mount Victoria Babax. There were also a few bonus species; White-rumped Falcon, Hodgson's Frogmouth, Black-headed Shrike Babbler, Spotted Wren Babbler and several Mrs Hume's Pheasant at the roadside being notable. Finally we flew east and found two further near-endemics; Burmese Yuhina and Collared Myna along with Black-headed Greenfinch, showy Black-tailed Crakes and finished with several dazzling Jerdon’s Bushchat.
After grouping-up and resting overnight in the capital Yangon, we flew north the next morning to the historic town of Bagan. The draw of four potential endemics was strong so we soon hit the open acacia scrub that surrounds the 2200 temples which dot this enchanting landscape. Within a minute of jumping out of the vehicle our first endemic, Burmese Bushlark flew in to say hello, our first of several of this surprisingly distinct species which was once lumped in with three other species forming the 'Rufous-winged Bushlark' complex. Next species was the endemic White-throated Babbler, flying across the track and diving from bush to bush in noisy family parties, yet another species that would become very familiar, especially around the hotel gardens!
Having walked no more than 200 metres a Hooded Treepie flew away before swooping into a nearby bush then giving us stunning views as it first sat out next to a Burmese Shrike. Not content it then flew back towards us, perched-up calling, before hammering and chewing away at the bark of a cactus tree – all this after the group had been briefed on the difficulty of not only finding this endemic but also its love of concealing itself in the densest foliage!
The Cactus Trees were particularly active; wintering Yellow-streaked Warblers being numerous amongst the ever-present Streak-eared Bulbul and Common Iora. Burmanicus Vinous-breasted Myna was common, displaying its neat appearance and several plumage characters distinct from the more widespread subspecies of Indochina. A pair of Spotted Owlet perched prominently on a stupa and several other species made for some excellent birding including yamthini Long-billed Pipit, Burmese Shrike, White-eyed Buzzard, Plain-backed Sparrow, Yellow-eyed Babbler, Hoopoe, Streak-eared Bulbul, Wryneck and the yellow eye-ringed xanthocyclus Eurasian Collared Dove!
White-tailed Stonechat and White-throated Babbler, Bagan © James Eaton
Returning to the same spot in the afternoon it took us little time before we bumped into a delightful flock of the nomadic Jerdon’s Minivet. The flock comprised of at least three females and a gorgeous orange- breasted male, the final central Myanmar endemic, and what a great start to the tour! We watched the minivets for some time as they fed on the open floor, running and fluttering around. This species is a split from its central and western Indian counterpart, White-bellied Minivet. With the full set of endemics in the bag so early we were able to visit Dhamma Yarzaka Temple to enjoy a wonderful, relaxing sunset overlooking a landscape of endless stupas and temples.
A mornings boat ride along the Irrawaddy River was next up, relaxed and in sandals we enjoyed the numerous birds sat on the sand bars including a Small Pratincole, Ruddy Shelduck and numerous Grey-throated Martin though no sign of any River Lapwing, so we were grateful to have seen a pair from our hotel the day before. Eventually we docked by a relic area of grassland and were greeted by several Bluethroat and, most importantly, White-tailed Stonechats including a male that flew in and started singing right in front of the boat on some floating vegetation! A casual walk around led us to many territorial stonechats, glowing Red Avadavats, Plain and Yellow-bellied Prinias, plenty of confiding Sand Lark, a pair of Oriental Skylark and a young, quartering Pied Harrier.
In the afternoon a short walk around a well-watered park held a singing Blue-throated Flycatcher and a smart male Daurian Redstart though the most enchanting bird was the free-roaming, captive Sarus Crane that fed close-by, bellowing out its loud call as we passed.
A walk through and around several fields failed to produce any Rain Quail but we did come across another pair of Jerdon's Minivet and a Spotted Owlet while at dusk an Indian Nightjar came in to inspect us.
A full-day drive west over the Irrawaddy River on our third day took us through a variety of habitats, first dry, open dipterocarp forest where a quick play of the tape at the first go amazingly brought in 3 White-rumped Falcons in tandem – a male joined by two females that obligingly perched at the roadside! Gold-fronted Leafbird, Slender-billed Oriole, Blue-throated Flycatcher and Purple Sunbird were also notable before we reached the beautiful Nagabwet Forest Reserve. Here Finsch’s Parakeets flew raucously all around, this being one of the few accessible areas where this species is still common! Alexandrine and Red-breasted Parakeets were also present though not in such numbers. An enjoyable afternoons birding along the main road to Mount Victoria had the birds ticking over, Red-billed Blue Magpie, Brown-cheeked Fulvetta, Mountain Hawk Eagle, Greater Flameback, Rosy and Scarlet Minivet, Greenish Warbler and both Plain and Yellow-vented Flowerpeckers. A tight flock of 32 circling Black Baza took some beating though! We reached our comfortable lodge, situated at the base of Mount Victoria in the early evening in great anticipation for the next four-days of birding.
Finsch’s Parakeet and White-rumped Falcon, Nagabwet © James Eaton
During four full days at Mount Victoria – the highest peak in the Chin Hills – we spent our time at various elevations and in a range of different habitats searching for the many range-restricted and Chin Hills endemics found on this glorious mountain.
Each morning we drove up the mountain from our lodge on the lower slopes of the mountain. These drives produced a Grey Nightjar sat on the road making occasional sallies in our spotlight. Not surprisingly dawn on our first morning found us eagerly awaiting the mountains most famous species – White-browed Nuthatch, known only from this and surrounding peaks. After savouring our first of many cute White-browed Fulvetta a piping call nearby led us to some conifers and our first of these beautifully-marked nuthatches. We saw a total of six during the course of our stay, culminating in superlative views of one cooperative individual feeding within arms-reach overhead. With the main target soon under our belts we concentrated on the large number of range-restricted species found only in western Myanmar aside from the seldom-visited areas of bordering India.
Laughingthrushes love the lush under-storey in these deciduous forests and both Assam and near-endemic Brown-capped Laughingthrushes popped out on several occasions before jumping back into the bush. Other babblers of the under-storey included another recent-split; Chin Hills Wren Babbler (from Long-tailed Wren Babbler and yet another near-endemic). These little beauties are real skulkers but with careful manoeuvring we were well placed as a pair gave themselves up at the second attempt and made amends for the previous failure by perching out and singing for us. Wren Babblers were mostly silent during our visit but we tracked them down in their favoured tangles when they did utter brief snatches of song . Scaly-breasted Wren Babbler showed itself nicely more than once and we even had a couple of Spotted Wren Babbler although they were typically fleet-footed and rarely stayed in one spot for long. The ‘head-on-legs’ Chestnut-headed Tesia popped up twice, a little gem of a bird which really dazzled us all. The remaining highlights of the deciduous forest lurked in the mid-storey in numerous feeding flocks which passed through during our stay. Comprising largely of Buff-barred Warblers, Yellow-bellied Fantail, Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler, Rufous-winged and White-browed Fulvetta and range-restricted Grey Sibia there were usually a couple of added bonuses in the bigger flocks. Himalayan Cutia put on a great show as 6 birds fed in and around trackside bushes before flying up to their favoured moss-clad branches in the canopy. Bulky Yellow-bellied Flowerpecker, several Manipur Treecreepers, Large Niltava, Chestnut-tailed and Red-tailed Minlas, Blue-winged Siva, Stripe-throated and Whiskered Yuhina, Yellow-cheeked Tit, White-tailed and Chestnut-vented Nuthatches, Whistler’s Warblers, Crimson-breasted, Rufous-bellied and Stripe-breasted Woodpeckers, numerous Maroon Orioles and a fantastic flock of Streak-throated Barwing and its commoner cousin, Rufous-fronted Barwing all joined in the numerous feeding flocks making for some excellent birding as did four species of shrike babbler; White-browed, Green, Black-eared and a single Black-headed which unfortunately only showed to a select few. Fruiting trees attracted hundreds of Grey-sided Thrush alongside smaller numbers of Eye-browed Thrush and Golden-throated Barbet and even a couple of sizeable Ashy Wood Pigeon flocks.
Yellow-bellied Flowerpecker and White-browed Nuthatch, Mt Victoria © James Eaton
On the south side of the mountain, the large patches of open coniferous forests entertain a totally different avifauna, making a pleasant change when things become quiet in the deciduous forest. Here Buff-barred Warblers seem to number in the hundreds (or more!), Black-bibbed Tit popped up several times as did churring Blue-fronted Redstarts, Himalayan Bluetails including several bright males, numerous Bar-tailed Treecreeper, cute Yellow-browed Tit and great looks at some inquisitive Yellow-billed Blue Magpies. Short-billed and Long-tailed Minivets made regular appearances, adding a splash of colour
The tangled under-storey was of particular interest in this area as numerous specialities popped up on request; a pair of feisty Spot-breasted Parrotbill wouldn’t shut-up once started, popping up to check us out on numerous occasions. A couple of groups of Mount Victoria Babax were seen here, a species often lumped with Chinese Babax but with completely different vocalisations and isolated range that may point towards Myanmar gaining yet another endemic and the same can be said of Burmese Tit, with a plumage distinct from the other forms of Black-browed Tit. Wintering passerines loved this habitat, especially the flocks of Olive-backed Pipit, Chestnut and Little Buntings while closer scrutiny revealed Buff-throated and Tickell's Leaf Warblers, Aberrant and Brownish-flanked Bush Warblers, Black-throated Prinia, Slaty-blue Flycatcher and the occasional Yellow-breasted Greenfinch, of a distinctive Chin Hills race, feeding busily on the thistles. Numerous flowering buddleias hosted not-so-dazzling Fire-tailed Sunbirds as nearly all the males seemed to have disappeared!
Raptors put in several performances; a displaying Black Eagle tumbling up and down was fun to watch, as were Northern Goshawk, Eurasian Sparrowhawk and several wintering Himalayan Buzzards.
The highlight of the tour came on the second evening when two male Mrs Hume's Pheasant raced onto the road in front of us, tails raised and feathers ruffled as they battled it out in front of our vehicles. Then much to our surprise two days later we disturbed yet more pheasants from the roadside, this time two male and 3 females slowly walked up an open grassy bank, clearly feeling comfortable as we viewed from within our vehicles, the females fed just in front of us, even strolling across the road as the male displayed on top of a grassy bank – a very rare sight indeed due to huge hunting pressures here and throughout its range. Other Galliformes were typically scarce although we couldn't have hoped for a louder vocal performance from Common Hill Partridge than the pair feeding just over the brow of a hill which were even seen by a couple of us.
The pastures on the lower slopes of the mountain brought a final shift in avifauna with plenty of interest. We spent a couple of mornings walking along the road, scoping the grass and scrub that predominate between the scenic orchards. As we waited for the sun to hit a patch of scrub Striped Laughingthrush were the first to appear on both mornings here. Blue-winged Laughingthrush called from the far end of the field and frustratingly they came all the way over to investigate us, some 200m away until they were under our noses only for us to be scuppered by a Spot-breasted Scimitar Babbler turning up right at the crucial moment distracting us from the laughingthrush but nevertheless allowing fabulous views of this now restricted-range species (following a four-way split, this new species is restricted to west Myanmar and north-east India, south of the Brahmaputra River). The laughingthrushes provided just the briefest of views for a couple of us, well, can't win 'em all! Crimson-faced Liocichla kept us waiting until our second visit when a pair appeared close by before venturing further into the dense thickets. Further exploration of this area produced a few Slender-billed Oriole, flocks of Common Rosefinch including some rosy-red males and several vocalising Hume’s Leaf Warbler providing a nice comparison with the equally numerous Yellow-browed Warblers. A group of Rusty-capped Fulvetta proved furtive for some time before eventually giving themselves up. Grey-hooded Warbler, Black-throated Tit, Slaty-backed Flycatcher, Black-winged Cuckooshrike and large numbers of Spangled Drongo were also added.
At night-time we returned to this area for one of Asia's more difficult night-birds; Hodgson's Frogmouth. Despite the poor time of the year we managed to coax one in, perching up briefly overhead and zipping by in the spotlight a couple of times, never giving excellent views.
Himalayan Cutia and Chin Hills Wren Babbler, Mt Victoria © James Eaton
On the journey back to Bagan we spent most of the morning in the open, logged forest en-route. Blue-throated Flycatcher was common and singing from the moment we stepped out of the vehicle and some raucous noises from across the valley led us to two Great Slaty Woodpeckers wing-flapping and dancing round open branches. Parakeets were more conspicuous than the inward journey with all possible species, Blossom-headed, Finsch's, Alexandrine, Rose-ringed and Red-breasted, being seen well, all of them perched on open snags at some point or another. Our first feeding flock comprised of three laughingthrush species, White-crested, Lesser Necklaced and Greater Necklaced. A movement in the bamboo diverted our attentions to a surprise Himlayan Flameback and Rufous Treepie, Lesser and Greater Racket-tailed Drongo and Greater Yellownape also turned-up as a big flock of Pin-tailed Green Pigeons twice flashed past. The rest of the morning was equally birdy, another big feeding flock stopped us in our tracks for a considerable length of time as birds kept moving through. Firstly large numbers of Blyth's Leaf Warbler, a Ruby-cheeked Sunbird, cute White-browed Piculet and Rosy and Scarlet Minivets showed, followed at the back by a Neglected Nuthatch, a pair of Himalayan Flameback and single Grey-faced and White-bellied Woodpeckers.
Woodpeckers were the order of the day with a total of seven species seen culminating in prolonged views of a Pale-headed Woodpecker quietly feeding in the depths of a dense clump of bamboo.
As we birded the more open areas a couple of Collared Falconet appeared, including one hawking overhead, Rufous-bellied Eagle and a pair of Changeable Hawk Eagle. Other noteworthy species included a family party of Large Woodshrike during our picnic lunch, Green-billed Malkoha, Asian Barred Owlet, Blue-winged and Golden-fronted Leafbird, White-rumped Shama, a pair of showy Puff-throated Babbler and gaudy Black-hooded Orioles before we reached Bagan in the evening.
A flight across central Myanmar to the hilly Shan state found us in the old colonial hill-station of Kalaw by late morning the next day.
Indian Swamphen and Burmese Yuhina, Shan State © James Eaton
With a full day at our disposal to explore some of the remaining deciduous forest that surround Yayayekan Reservoir we started early. Walking first through the open coniferous forest which held a few species including singing Black-headed Greenfinches, Eurasian Jay and flushed Chinese Francolin. Fruiting trees were brimming with bulbuls – Ashy, Red-whiskered, Black, Flavescent, and Red-vented Bulbuls alongside Blue-throated and Great Barbets, Dark-backed Sibia and Crested Finchbill. Entering the moist and cool broad-leaved forest our eyes were wide-open as this is one of the few known areas containing the rare Burmese Yuhina. Yet another species that misses out being on a true endemic by just reaching into neighbouring west Thailand. It is rarely recorded at the known sites so it was with great surprise when we managed a flock of 6 birds, the largest number found here in recent years! The flock fed busily overhead and at times right beside us on berries, offering wonderful views of this subtle beauty. Feeding flocks were frequent in the evergreen forest; Silver-eared Mesia added a splash of colour, Purple-throated Sunbird, Red-crowned Tits, Grey-cheeked Fulvetta, Hill Blue Flycatcher, Taiga Flycatcher, Bianchi’s, Marten's and Grey-crowned Warblers, Davison's (split from White-tailed) and Hume's Leaf Warblers. Leafless fruiting trees made for easy treron spotting with Pin-tailed, Wedge-tailed and Yellow-footed Green Pigeons all sat out either busy munching or digesting. In the thickets we managed to pull out some gorgeous Scarlet-faced Liocichla in the sunlight, a pair of Silver-eared Laughingthrush were next and perhaps the biggest surprise was not only finding the usually super-skulking Spot-throated Babbler but having it for a full 10 minutes filling our scopes as he sang his little heart out!
In the track-side scrub Spectacled Barwing, White-browed Scimitar Babbler and White-browed Laughingthrush flocked to feed and a pair of Rusty-cheeked Scimitar Babbler put on quite a show calling from open perches across a rice field before flying in to the bush next to us. Most surprising was a flushed Black-tailed Crake in the early morning and fortuitously a return to the spot in the late afternoon produced stunning views as a pair swam across a small open pool several times and wandering around the side of the pool, even calling vociferously in clear view!
Jerdon’s Bushchat and Collared Myna, Lake Inle © James Eaton
Our final destination was a morning boat trip along the northern edge of Lake Inle, a huge lake surrounded by lush reed beds and grassy margins. Unfortunately heavy early morning fog hampered our myna and starling search although our primary target was still located within ten minutes of jumping in our long boats as a striking male Jerdon’s Bushchat popped-up along the reedy channel. We saw in excess of 20 of these smart bushchats from our boats as they fed quietly along the marshy edges of the lake allowing several excellent views. We also found a single Indian Reed Warbler and plenty of Citrine and Eastern Yellow Wagtails. Getting out at the rickety old wildlife sanctuary guardpost we scanned the lake edges and studied the throng of dabbling ducks; Gadwall, Wigeon, Shovelar, Garganey, Indian Spot-bill and Lesser Whistling Duck were all present in considerable numbers along with a small party of Ferruginous Pochard. Over the reed bed both Eastern and Western Marsh Harriers quartered together – one of the few sites where both species allow direct comparison. Below and around us Black-browed Reed, Oriental Reed and Dusky Warblers were darting about in the early morning sunshine and Indian Swamphens were common.
As we were still drawing blanks on our final target – the near-endemic Collared Myna – we raced across the lake to check out a water-village and tomato gardens. Greeted by several White-vented Myna, Black Drongo and Black-shouldered Kite things were looking promising and indeed a close flock of Collared Myna were found, first feeding then perched up for us. After our final lunch of the tour our journey to the airport was interrupted by a larger flock of Collared Myna feeding amongst Water Buffalo and Rosy Pipits perched up on the wires, a nice way to end before our flight back to Yangon and a toast to a great tour of this wonderful, diverse country.
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Mrs Hume’s Pheasant, Mount Victoria © tour participant Nigel Voaden
Lake Inle, Shan State © James Eaton / Birdtour Asia
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