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Birdtour Asia Myanmar Custom tour Dec 2006 - Jan 2007
Mount Victoria Babax, Mount Victoria
We finished the day in the scrubby pine zone we found Blue-throated Barbet, Grey Treepie, a Scaly-breasted Wren-Babbler skulking in the roadside undergrowth and finally a group of Red-faced Liocichlas in the scrubby roadside vegetation which obliged by coming right out to feed on the side of the road.
On our second day we departed early and after two stops to enjoy Grey Nightjars perched on the Jeep track we were eagerly awaiting sunrise high on the mountain. As the first rays of sun hit the trees birds burst into life. Chestnut-tailed Minla, Stripe-throated Yuhina, Vivid Niltava and near-endemic Assam and Brown-capped Laughingthrushes were the first to appear in nearby cherry trees, followed shortly afterwards a Darjeeling Woodpecker giving great views then the excited piping-calls of the endemic White-browed Nuthatch drew our attention to these stars of the area which appeared in a nearby tree and we enjoyed excellent views of these striking birds – amazingly we were to enjoy multiple sightings of this delightful birds on all but one day of our visit! We spent the rest of the day walking down through the evergreen forest on the far side of the mountain and new birds kept coming – a Scaly-breasted Wren-Babbler responded well to playback and gave reasonable views but a Chin Hills Wren-Babbler was more skulking, giving only fleeting glimpses, a flyover Ashy Wood Pigeon, Rufous-bellied (and another Stripe-breasted) Woodpecker, good views of wintering Grey-sided Thrushes, Green Shrike Babbler, Rusty-fronted and Streak-throated Barwing, and a pair of White-tailed Nuthatches allowed a useful comparison as they fed right alongside their commoner Chestnut-vented relatives. Common-Hill Partridge, although calling loudly, couldn’t be seen on the steep slopes but we did get good looks at a fast-moving party of Nepal Fulvettas and a group of Black-browed Tits; another species which is surely easier to see in Myanmar than anywhere else in its restricted range.
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