Tropical Birding tour leader: Rob Hutchinson

After an early morning flight from the capital Yangon (formally Rangoon) to Bagan, a short delay in our connecting flight allowed us time for some birding around the airport where we found our first Burmese Shrike, Plain-backed Sparrows and Black-shouldered Kites and Indian Roller – all to become familiar sights on our journey around Burma.

We were soon on our way, with another flight to Heho and a drive to our first destination – Inle Lake. In the afternoon we took a boat ride out onto the Lake – made famous by the ‘leg-rowing’ technique of the local boatmen. Exploring the lake fringes we enjoyed Citrine and Eastern Yellow Wagtails feeding alongside Wood Sandpipers. Purple Swamphen and both Bronze-winged and Pheasant-tailed Jacanas were seen in quieter marshy areas with both Eastern and Western Marsh Harriers quartering together providing a rare opportunity to see these species side-by-side. In late afternoon diligent searching of the numerous Siberian Stonechats and Pied Bushchats finally paid off when we located our first Jerdon’s Bushchat - a striking male – and by sunset we had seen a total of 15 birds, an excellent showing for this scarce species and a fantastic end to a most enjoyable trip.

The following day we departed early for our drive to Kalaw stopping en-route at a forested gully to enjoy great scope views of Yellow-footed Green Pigeons close by the roadside while noisy Grey-headed Parakeets whizzed overhead and our first Gray-backed Shrike appeared briefly. Our next destination, Kalaw is a former British Hill Station in an attractive setting deep within Shan state and we wasted no time exploring the hills close to the town. Here we found noisy Red-billed Blue Magpies, Brown-breasted Bulbuls, Yellow-eyed Babbler, Black-headed Greenfinch, Oriental Turtle Dove, Daurian Redstart, Chestnut Bunting, Buff-throated Warblers and an abundance of Olive-backed Pipits among other wintering eastern palearctic migrants. A noisy Barn Owl showed well overnight in the town.

The following day was spent exploring the surroundings of the picturesque Yay-aye-kan reservoir. Scrubby areas en-route were interesting with noisy Red-billed Blue Magpies, White-browed Laughingthrushes, Streak-breasted Scimitar Babblers and wintering Little and Crested Buntings the highlights. In the vicinity of the reservoir, three flyover Dark-rumped Swifts were a surprise sighting of this little known species. The evergreen forest here produced Vivid Niltava, Dark-backed Sibia, Grey Treepies, a glowing male Fire-tailed Sunbird and great views of Pin-tailed Green Pigeon but not the hoped for Burmese Yuhinas.

Heading east we noted our only Long-billed Pipits of the trip together with good numbers of commoner waterfowl on the large artificial lakes and large flocks of Gray-headed Parakeets raiding crops. In the late afternoon we arrived at Bagan just as the sun was setting over this remarkable landscape dotted with dozens of amazing ancient pagodas. This fascinating place makes a superb backdrop against which to search for Burma’s dry-zone specialties and it was with great anticipation that we began our birding the next morning – an early start put us in place to see the sunrise over the arid landscape– and in the early morning the area was thronging with activity with Green Bee-Eater’s or Brown & Burmese Shrikes seemingly occupying every available perch and Yellow-eyed Babbler, Vinous-breasted Starling, Plain-backed Sparrows and hoards of Munia’s providing added interest. Specialties soon appeared with endemic Burmese Bushlarks singing in display flight and the common White-throated Babbler trilling from the undergrowth all around.

We soon located one of the areas main targets when a small group of beautiful White-bellied Minivets appeared on the acacias nearby giving great views and this success continued when later in the morning we were fortunate to locate a pair of smart Hooded Treepie’s – often a difficult species to find, a great start to our birding here! In the heat of the day a visit to a lush park on the edge of town gave great views of a cute family of Spotted Owlets, numerous Black-crowned Night Herons roosting near the ornamental lakes and on the adjacent Irrawady River our first River Lapwings gave good scope views. In the afternoon we took a relaxing boat journey along the calm waters of the Irrawady and found large groups of attractive Burmese Spot-billed Ducks and Ruddy Shelduck , striking Pied Kingfishers patrolling the banks, more River Lapwings, Temmincks Stint and Spotted Redshank among a variety of commoner shorebirds and in the evening we were treated to a great display of hundreds of Small Pratincoles hawking insects over the river. A perched Laggar Falcon was the raptor highlight while Sand Larks scuttling along the sand-bars were joined by large numbers of Red-throated Pipits and Eastern Yellow Wagtails in the late afternoon. A foray ashore onto a large, grassy island produced several White-tailed Stonechat, a flushed Rain Quail and excellent close views of the Sand Larks.

The following morning we made an early start, initially heading south to cross the Irrawady at Chauk then west into dry scrubby forest where a White-eyed Buzzard spotted from the jeep showed well in the scope. Further roadside stops produced Rosy Minivet, Crested Treeswift, Lineated Barbet, Oriental Honey Buzzard and Red-billed Blue Magpies while small numbers of Alexandrine and Rose-ringed Parakeets accompanied their commoner Grey-headed relatives. In the late afternoon we reached our destination, the Pine Wood Villa Resort on the slopes of Mount Victoria. Our visit to Mount Victoria was one of the most exciting aspects of the tour - lying in the Chin Hills, the area hosts many Himalayan species together with several species restricted to this area and is still relatively unexplored. Perhaps the most famous bird here is the endemic White-browed Nuthatch, a species restricted to the upper reaches of Victoria and surrounding peaks – fortunately as early as our first day here we were able to enjoy excellent views of this attractive species feeding along the mossy, knarled branches close by. Other species in the uppermost oak forests included a pair of rare Black-headed Shrike Babblers and it was here that we had our only sightings of Streak-throated Barwings. Yellow-bellied Flowerpeckers were more common that usual and included and an impressive 9 birds perched together in one treetop in response to our Collared Owlet impersonations! We also had excellent views of the recently split Chin Hills Wren-Babbler in this area, a species we also recorded at lower elevations but which never again matched the scope views of a fully-exposed, singing bird that we had here.

Moving lower the extensive evergreen forest holds a fantastic variety of species; here we found a beautifully marked pair of Himalayan Cutia calling from high in the canopy and a pair of Rufous-throated Partridges scuttling away in the leaf litter. Fruiting trees here attracted Wedge-tailed Green Pigeons and good numbers of Golden-throated Barbets together with the ubiquitous Great Barbet. Diverse mixed feeding flocks were here included White-tailed Nuthatch, Nepal Fulvetta and Yellow-bellied Fantail. Patches of pines in this area twice produced small groups of Yellow-breasted Greenfinch and on one occasion a group of Spot-winged Grosbeak. Large grassy clearings here provided excellent views of Spot-breasted Parrotbills and the near-endemic Mount Victoria Babax, another species only recently elevated to full species status, put on a great performance singing at close range and in full view. At lower elevations, forest patches in scrubby degraded habitat produced the attractive, range-restricted Striped Laughingthrush, excellent views of duetting Spot-breated Scimitar Babblers and the striking Red-faced Liocichla. This area also produced our only Silver-eared Mesia’s and was a favoured area for wintering Little Buntings and Common Rosefinch.

An excellent diversity of Warblers were recorded with Blyth’s & White-tailed Leaf-Warblers and Black-faced, Whistlers and Grey-crowned Warblers frequent components of mixed feeding flocks which often included Grey-chinned, Long-tailed, Short-billed amd Scarlet Minivets, two species of Shrike-Babbler, three species of Minla, Rufous-winged, White-browed and Rusty-capped Fulvettas and a variety of sunbirds with Goulds, Green-tailed and Fire-tailed providing frequent blasts of colour.

Species observed at all elevations included Chestnut-crowned and Brown-capped Laughingthrushes, Grey Sibia, Rusty-fronted Barwing and Grey-sided Thrushes which were often joined by smaller numbers of Eye-browed.

Other species during our stay included both Ashy & Speckled Wood Pigeons, Barred Cuckoo Dove, Chestnut-headed Tesias, Black-bibbed Tit, Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush, Blue Whistling Thrush, Whiskered & Stripe-throated Yuhinas, Daurian and Blue-fronted Redstarts. Woodpeckers were well represented with Darjeeling, Crimson-breasted, Rufous-bellied, Stripe-breasted and Bay all recorded. Diligent searches of large groups of Asian House Martins twice produced the scarcer Nepal House Martin.

Night Forays during our time here produced nice views of a rufous-morph Hodgson’s Frogmouth on one occasion and several Grey Nightjars in the jeep headlights during early morning drives up the mountain, on one occasion giving prolonged views perched on the track.

Returning to Bagan, roadside stops again proved fruitful – good numbers of Parakeets of five species were recorded (Alexandrine, Rose-ringed, Red-breasted, Grey and Blossom-headed) while Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch completed the set of five Nuthatch species possible in the area. Small Minivet, Brown-cheeked Fulvetta, White-browed Piculet and noisy White-crested Laughingthrushes were all new birds for the trip.

The next day another morning around Bagan several Indian Nightjars were flushed giving excellent flight views, two separate Rain Quail gave excellent close views, a male Chinese Francolin finally gave himself up after repeatedly only hearing them while further views of Jerdon’s Minivets completed an excellent showing for this species. Other species included Brown Prinia, Vinous-breasted Starling and large flocks of Baya Weaver as well as the now familiar Burmese Bushlark and White-throated Babbler. Migrants included Siberian Rubythroats, Thick-billed Warbler, Tickells Leaf Warbler, Wryneck and Hoopoe while a single River Lapwing and several Sand Larks entertained on the adjacent river banks.

In just 12 days we recorded an impressive 315 species with a further 11 only heard, these include many rarely observed species, all in a wonderfully friendly country that we look forward to visiting again soon.