Birding Tour China: Yunnan Tour

Yunnan is the most southwestern province in China and is the country’s most diverse province, biologically as well as culturally. Yunnan contains snow-capped mountains (it is at the far eastern edge of the Himalayan uplift) and true tropical environments, thus supporting a wide range of habitats and species.

The northern part of the province forms part of the Yunnan-Guizhou (Yungui) Plateau, the province borders Guangxi and Guizhou in the east, Sichuan in the north, Tibet in the northwest, Myanmar in the west, Laos in the south, and Vietnam in the southeast.

Silver Pheasant is one of our gorgeous targets on this trip.

Unlike neighboring Sichuan, Yunnan province is relatively tiny, covering only approximately four percent of the land area of China, yet it supports over half of the country’s bird and mammal species. In addition, the Yunnan mountains are an Endemic Bird Area, EBA (BirdLife International) centered around the Hengduan Shan (mountains). Here three restricted-range species occur: Brown-winged Parrotbill, Yunnan Nuthatch, and White-speckled Laughingthrush, as well as many other amazing birds.

This short, small group Yunnan bird tour covers the best birding locations of the province, including the unparalleled Gaoligong Shan National Nature Reserve, a site which boasts over 525 bird species within its boundaries, the southern section of which is recognized as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International.

Some of the fantastic birds we will look for during the tour include, in addition to the aforementioned species: White-eared Night Heron, Mrs. Hume’s Pheasant, Silver Pheasant, Giant Nuthatch, Long-tailed Broadbill, Spotted Elachura (a monotypic family), Golden Bush Robin, Chinese Babax, Yunnan Fulvetta, Himalayan Cutia, and Yellow-throated Bunting.

The almost plastic-looking Long-tailed Broadbill can be seen on this tour, it is a real beauty.

Our Yunnan tour is the first of three China bird tours, the others, China: Sichuan Tour and China: Qinghai Tour follow. You can also join our Taiwan: Birding Extravaganza immediately before Yunnan too. Combining all four tours would result in a mind-boggling, once-in-a-lifetime, incredibly memorable East Asian mega bird tour.