Birds of mountains and rivers in China

As I blogged before, on 2 April 2018 we were in a nature reserve, over 4,000 meter high, in Sichuan, China. As we went down gradually later that day, these two birds sat on a fence: a carrion crow on the left, and a collared crow on the right. Seconds later, the carrion crow drove its collared colleague away. Without any obvious reason, as there was space enough on the fence.

A bit further, this male Daurian redstart. ‘Daurian’ refers to the Dauria region, east of Lake Baikal in Russia.

Near a farm and a river, these domestic yaks.

Up the mountain slope, a hoopoe.

On rocks in the river, another redstart: a plumbeous water redstart. In western Europe are only two redstart species. In China there are fourteen. Songbirds originated in Australia, about 50 million years ago. So, one can expect more species in China, which is closer to Australia, than in western Europe, reached later by the songbirds.

As we went further down, the river became broader, and more fit for, eg, ducks. Like this common merganser couple. The female with the reddish-brown head on the left; the male with the dark green head on the right.

On a wire, an Eurasian kestrel.

We left the valley and went higher up again. On a hill, this Himalayan vulture.

We arrived in Pamuling town. Stay tuned, as after 2 April we would also see beautiful birds on 3 April; eg, around Pamuling Tibetan Buddhist monastery, nine centuries old!