Jifu Village
When we arrived in Gyirong, we discovered that not only was the port inaccessible, but the roads leading to Nai Village and Sale Town were also blocked due to the landslides triggered by the abnormal rain. On the first morning in Gyirong, we had to visit Jifu Village.
Having arrived quite late the previous night, we didn’t set out until around 8 a.m. We arrived at the Jifu Valley parking lot at about nine o’clock. A flock of monkeys was feeding on the garbage in the parking lot. Shuangqi told me those were the Assam Macaques. At the entrance, we spotted a few common birds, including the Blue Whistling Thrush, Large-billed Crow, and Oriental Turtle Dove. Southern Nutcrackers occupied most of the conifers. We also had a Dark-sided Flycatcher here, subspecies cacabata.
Exiting the parking lot, we crossed a 72-meter-long suspension road bridge above the valley, while there was a parallel suspension walking bridge for sighting. Soon, we reached Jifu villages. The village comprises about a dozen households, most operating restaurants or guesthouses. For some reason, the architecture here has a bit of a Pokhara vibe, perhaps due to its long-standing interaction with Nepal.
The primary birding area in Jifu Valley is the cobblestone path connecting the Jifu Village and the Jifu Gurufu Temple. The path is about two kilometers long, with a gorge on one side and a hillside on the other. It took us about ten minutes to pass the village. We spotted two Variegated Laughingthrushes outside the village on a broad-leaf tree and two Yellow-breasted Greenfinches on another pine. We were pretty glad, as both species were our targets. Yet, little did we know that these two species would be everywhere over the next few days.
The Variegated Laughingthrush looks and sounds like a typical Trochalopteron laughingthrush, with a white terminal on some rectrices. It is almost identical to a Black-faced Laughingthrush but in a different color scheme.
Yellow-breasted Greenfinch behaves much like the other Chloris greenfinches in the old world. The flight call also resembles a “crewing” sound like other greenfinches, but the plane recalls Serins.
A Rufous Sibia was in a nearby tree. It was also one of the most common birds in autumn Gyirong, as that was the season it reached the altitude here (~2,700 m). During winter, it descends to the lowlands and becomes much rarer. The coloration of the orange and black combination stands out in the Sibia genus, but the sounds remain a typical style. It is worth mentioning that besides the usual songs, Rufous Sibia also emits a continuous, sharp “ji” sound interspersed with a raspy cough. Without seeing it, we often mistake the call for that of some tiny warblers, leaving us disappointed when the actual source is revealed.
A uniformly brown bird hopped onto the roadside fence—this was the Streaked Laughingthrush. Though its appearance is rather plain, its call is quite distinct: sharp and melodic, noticeably different from that of the Variegated Laughingthrush. On the other side of the cobblestone path, we encountered two Tickell’s Leaf Warblers, which became the most common bird species during our Gyirong trip. Shortly after, we heard a dry call from the shrubs, indicating a bush warbler. However, we did not manage to identify it with confidence. The bird was almost invisible in the shrub. After a long wait, a tailless yellow bird “ball” popped out for just a second before vanishing again into the foliage. We wished it to be a Hume’s Bush Warbler, yet the Abberant Bush Warbler I spotted in Nepal was as yellow as this one, and this bird lost its whole rectrices, making it even more challenging to identify.
Continuing onward the path, we encountered a mixed-feeding flock of Phylloscopus warblers. As we approached, we found that Tickell’s Leaf Warblers were the dominant species in the flock. Could some of them be Sulphur-bellied Warblers migrating from the north? While we hadn’t confirmed any individuals yet, based on migration routes, it seemed possible to find them here. There were also a few other species, including Buff-barred, Ashy-throated, Lemon-rumped, Whistler’s, Greenish Warbler, and Blyth’s Leaf Warbler, most of which occurred in a relatively high altitude during the breeding season. We met more mixed flocks later. Long-tailed Minivets, Rufous Sibias, Gray Bushchats, Hoopoes, and Variegated Laughingthrushes also joined some mixed flocks of those Phyllosopus.
We had two essential rosefinch targets here: Spot-winged Rosefinch and Pink-browed Rosefinch. According to Mr. Shi, they used to be regular along this road in winter. However, autumn is never a good season for birding here. Despite our best efforts, the only rosefinch species we found in Jifu is the Himalayan Beautiful Rosefinch.
Reaching Jifu Gurupu marked the end of the valley’s scenic area. A stream flows through here, and the Immaculate Cupwings used to breed along its banks. As it was a National Holiday, and several other sites were closed due to road conditions, the tourists in Gyirong were concentrated here, making it crowded. In this case, we did not expect the birds to be active.
We paused for a while on the hillside above Gurupu. A few birds appeared, and a juvenile Rufous Sibia was begging for food from its parent. Rufous-bellied Niltava, Slaty-blue Flycatcher, and Rufous-gorgeted Flycatchers hopped in the vegetation, along with the ever-present Plumbeous Redstarts by the stream. As for the Immaculate Cupwing, it was late in the season, and we could never hear the song in the noise of the tourists. We soon gave up searching for the cupwing. I quickly stopped at the Gurupu temple to make an incense offering, light an eternal lamp, and pray for good birding fortune.
As we stepped backward and returned to the village, I noticed several white monkeys in a nearby tree, feeding on leaves. They had the appearance of langurs. I called my friends over, and after consulting with Shuangqi, he identified them as Nepal Gray Langurs. Mr. Shi seemed delighted, explaining that these langurs typically inhabit lower altitudes, and if we couldn’t find them near the border port, we would have to search in the distant Sale Town. It was a pleasant surprise to spot them here in Jifu.
As we returned to the valley’s entrance, Shuangqi found a giant beehive that bees had abandoned. The valley’s habitat sparked our imaginations: could a Yellow-rumped Honeyguide be visiting? After all, there had been recent records of honeyguides in Jifu Valley. While waiting for our car to be moved from a blocked parking spot, we took the opportunity to set up a scope to scan the beehive. Although we didn’t find a Honeyguide, we spotted a Kashmir Rock Agama sunbathing on the beehive. Scanning the cliffs, we soon realized the area was teeming with this species, which we had initially expected to see only near the border port.
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