Return to Jifu
On the first day of visiting Jifu Village, we did not arrive by 9 a.m. and soon met many tourists. On the third day, we decided to take another visit with a much earlier schedule. We then reached the parking lot around sunrise.
This time, we indeed saw more birds, at least in the number. We saw more laughingthrushes, sibias, greenfinches, warblers, woodpeckers, and other common birds without tourists nearby. I even spotted ten Blue Whistling Thrushes in one minute. However, we still had no Pink-browed Rosefinch or Spot-winged Rosefinch.
As we reached the Gurupu, even the temple staff had yet to arrive. The stream was completely silent, only occasionally interrupted by raspy calls from Yellow-billed Blue Magpies or Southern Nutcrackers. A close-up male Green-tailed Sunbird appeared in the bush, and two Yellow-throated Martens bounded into the woods.
“Kalij Pheasant!” Said Shuangqi excitedly. When we approached, he was already standing on the other side of the Gurupu and taking photos of the pheasants. I sneaked nearby and was lucky not to flush any Kalij Pheasants. Those were a flock of males, which, according to Shuangqi, looked much better than the juveniles from yesterday. After a while, a leader of them probably got tired of us. It flapped the wings and took off, then landed on the other side of the stream, and the rest of Kalij Pheasants followed it. They soon disappeared into the forests.
We decided to explore a bit more down the stream. With Mr. Shi’s guidance, we reached an area with several Taxus contorta. This vulnerable plant species is rarely found and protected and is also a tourist attraction. We met several mixed feeding flocks here, but the constitution differed from what we met in Gyirong on the previous days. Rufous Sibia and all Phylloscopus were still common. We also had some other forest-inhabiting species, such as Yellow-bellied Fairy-Fantail, Black-throated Tit, Stripe-throated Yuhinas, and White-tailed Nuthatch.
We also met some flycatchers on the first day. There are a couple of the nominated subspecies of the Ultramarine Flycatchers. The Mandarin name of this species means “white-browed blue flycatcher,” but the white brows only appear in the male of the nominate, not in the subspecies we usually see in Yunnan.
As for the Immaculate Cupwing, we only heard two faint, unconfirmed song strophes. Mr. Shi mentioned that they still made songs in August, but afterward, they became silent and gradually migrated to the low altitudes. Better luck next time!
Returning to the entrance of Jifu Valley, the beehive was still empty, with no sign of the Honeyguide. The good news is that we had a close Kashmir Rock Agama sunbathing on a stone.
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