There were plenty of Black-eared Kites and Upland Buzzards along the way.
And the reason they are so plentiful is because of these little guys, Black-lipped Pikas. Members of the order Lagomorpha, they are basically small eared rabbits (though in a separate family) and their burrows are characteristic of all the drier areas of the Tibetan Plateau. And everyone (except the Tibetans) loves to eat them.
Also taking advantage of the shelter provided by their burrows are three avian specialties of the area, White-rumped and Rufous-necked Snowfinches.
And the strange Hume's Ground-Tit as it is called now. Previously it was a groundpecker and a ground-jay.
Also resident in the grassy plains is the Elwe's race of Horned Lark.
We had ventured down a dirt track off of the highway and were enjoying the above species as Sid scanned a distant rocky ridge. He had something on his mind and then excitedly called out "Pallas's Cat!" During the fall, Sid often takes mammal watchers out on this road hoping to see this rarely seen wild cat. He told us this was only his fourth sighting. It was very distant but we could make out the short ears of this feline species.
It was then that we had our only unpleasant experience of the trip. A couple of nomad yak herders on motorcycles approached us and we pulled off the track to let them pass. They then stopped and demanded a we pay a fine for damaging the pasture. Their covered faces with only eyes visible made them look all the more sinister. They were joined by two others and the fine was to be 100 yuan. Sid didn't like this and complained emphatically in Chinese that this was wrong. Three of them were for letting us go but one demanded payment and then reached inside is coat. I was hoping he wasn't pulling out a gun. But instead he was exposing his phone. Not wanting to escalate things, Sid paid the fine and we were on our way. He said he often takes this track and this had never happened before. We did see another Upland Buzzard on the way out.
We stopped to scope for Black-necked Cranes several times and saw some very distant ones. But a nice one along the road made us forget all about our yak herder shakedown.
We then stopped at a moist pasture where Sid has seen Tibetan Larks in the past. We walked quite a while in the thin air of the Tibetan Plateau before we finally came across the huge lark.
The next stop produced a stunning Saker. This large falcon has so impressed Sid that he named his son Saker.
Just a normal Tibetan village with Buddhist temples.
Our next stop was my most frustrating moment of the trip. We saw a flock of Rock Petronias on the wire and stopped as this was a new species for me. Beyond was a gravelly stream and I could make out Ruddy Shelducks beyond a dozed gravel berm. I told Sid I thought I could use the berm for cover and get close to the ducks. This worked well except there were a lot more birds behind the berm than the three shelducks I was hoping to photograph. The ducks flushed and I got so-so photos.
The problem was there were also some shorebirds and Sid yelled out "Ibisbill!" Now Ibisbill was a species I really wanted to see but had no hopes of seeing. The closest were several hours to the west. But Sid saw one flying low up the stream while I was focusing on the ducks. We never refound it despite some serious searching. Here's the Rock Petronias.
I had wanted to visit Flower Lake as I had read about lots of waterfowl and shorebirds being seen there. But Sid said that it had turned into a tourist trap and now private vehicles were not allowed. You had to take a large tour bus to get into the place. But he had an alternative lake across the border in Gansu province where he thought we could get much better views of the birds. Turns out he was right.
Less than a half hour into Gansu Province we found the entrance to Gansu Gahai Zecha Nature Preserve. They charged 30 yuan per person and we were able to drive right to the lake shore. Right off the bat we saw a pair of Whooper Swans.
Other ducks included Ruddy Shelduck, Spot-billed Duck, Eurasian Wigeon, Northern Pintail, Northern Shoveller, Ferruginous Duck, Tufted Duck and Common Pochard. Black-necked Grebes (Eared Grebes to us) were common and there were several Great Crested Grebes.
I was particularly pleased to have a flyby breeding plumaged Pallas's Gull.
Shorebirds included Common Redshanks and Wood and Common Sandpipers. There were also hundreds of Eurasian Coots and a few Great Cormorants. As we ate our lunch a colorful fellow dropped by to check us out. Sid offered him a bit of his imported Irish cheese. He didn't care for it much. Tibetans have a simple palate.
Having seen enough of the lake we headed back south to visit the Tibetan monastery at Langmusi.
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