Lijiang - Lushui

Can you believe we left the hotel at 8am? We drove out of Lijiang and headed to a nearby wetland. Along the way we checked out some interesting habitat near the road, which turned out to be a good move as we discovered a flock of Red-throated Thrushes – a lifer for yours truly and a bogey bird finally laid to rest. In the same area we found Spectacled Fulvetta, Black-headed Sibia, Little, Godlewski’s, and our first Elegant Bunting. 

Red-throated Thrush - a lifer for yours truly

A short distance away was a nice lake where we spent just an hour and a half but it would have warranted more time. 

There was a mass of birds out on the water with a flock of Bar-headed Geese, Ruddy Shelduck, 2 red-headed Smew, several Common Goldeneye, lots of Ferruginous Ducks and Red-crested Pochards, Goosander, Purple Swamphen, Brown-headed and Black-headed Gulls, some Common Cranes, and lots of more familiar wildfowl such as Mallard, Eurasian Wigeon, Northern Pintail, Gadwall etc. 

Common Crane

There was also a Common Kingfisher,Grey-backed Shrike, Plain Prinia and Dusky Warbler. Some of the group wandered out into the fields and found Brown Crake, Common Snipe and 2 Chestnut Buntings.

It was a very long 8 hour drive to Lushui, but our lunch stop at a service station was productive with flocks of Red-rumped Swallows moving around the valley, several House Swifts, Asian House Martins and best of all, a cracking Cook’s Swift flying back and forth behind the buildings.