Birding in Tibet - Shanga and Pagar

A nice day of birding at Shanga and Pagar, including a stop at Tsering's Grey-backed Shrike field site.

CHINA AND TIBET

9/26/20043 min read

We started the day by spending a few hours at Shanga, five km. east of Lhasa. This was Tserings study area for his master thesis. His master dealt with the breeding ecology of the Grey-backed Shrike (also referred to as Tibetan Shrike - see photo of a first-winter bird below). There were still lots of them around, both adults and first winter birds. Normally the Grey-backed Shrike migrates to the Indian subcontinent during September and October, with some late youngsters lingering in November. The shrikes spent lots of time on the ground, searching for beetles and other insects. The location is forested (planted) with different species reaching up to ten meters above ground level. Other good species in the woods were amongst others Dusky Warblers and Tickell's Leaf Warblers, with about thirty of each. Both species were calling a lot, and the Tickell's did actually also sing quite a bit. Two Olive-backed Pipits gave brief views in the woods. At the southern part of the area, the dried out river came in. Some water pits made a good habitat for wagtails, and both Citrine and White Wagtails were present. I also got my first views of the only natural rodent here, the hyperactive Pica. The Pica is a small animal, looking like something in between a mouse and rabbit.

Grey-backed Shrike (Lanius tephronotus)

Citrine Wagtail (Motacilla citreola)

Nearby we came over two family-groups of Hume's Groundpeckers (also called Tibetan Ground-jay or Ground Tit). This is a small passerine, about the size of a Wheatear, with an amusing behaviour and look. It is mostly sandy grey with a brownish cap, and has a quite long decurved bill. Looking like nothing I've ever seen before. See a picture of this amuzing species and its habitat here. When we were about to leave we flushed a Little Owl. Tsering could tell that it was a rare bird in the Lhasa valley, and he had never encountered the species before here. The area was filled with Picas running around, and we got excellent views of an Himalayan agama lizard (which is the largest of three different lizard species in this part of Tibet).

The rest of the day was spent at the foothills of Pagar, 35 km. east of Lhasa. The area has lots of canyon-like formations which ends up in agricultural land. Lots of passerines were present. Mixed parties of the stunning Brown Accentor, Godlewski's Buntings, Twites, Russet Sparrows and some Common Rosefinches fed on seeds from some kind of plant. We were sitting behind some rocks, and got excellent views of the birds.