Saturday, August 7, 2010

China July - August 2010, Longsheng Rice Terraces

The Longsheng rice terraces are also known as the "Dragon's Backbone" and another stunningly beautiful spot in the Guanxi province. After our visit to Yangshuo we paid this attraction a visit. It was much less touristic than expected and bit harder to get to. We took a bus from Guilin and got dropped off at a parking lot where some cars where waiting. After a 1,5 hour drive we got to the area that is called the Dragon's Backbone. From here we hiked up the rice terraces and stayed at a home-stay in a tiny village on top of the terraces. The views from there were amazing. We stayed two days in the area and spent our times mostly by strolling through the rice fields. This produced several interesting species next to one stunning view after another. Species observed here included Crested Goshawk, Red-billed Leiothrix, Plumbeous Water Redstart, Brown Bush-warbler, Grey Bush-chat, Russet-capped Fulvetta, Vinous-throated Parrotbill, Light-vented and Brown-breasted Bulbul, Collared Finchbill and Brown Dipper.
Male Grey Bush-chat (Saxicola ferreus)
Female Plumbeous Water Redstart (Phoenicurus fuliginosa)
A skulky Red-billed Leiothrix (Leiothrix lutea)
Vinous-throated Parrotbill (Paradoxornis webbianus)
We enjoyed our time a lot here, mostly because the views and the home-stay were amazing. However even though I observed some cool birds, I think this place has not so much to offer to birders as there is barely any forest left within the area. Most birds mentioned above where clinging to the tiny patches of degraded forest that were still left. This post and other posts concerning my 2010 China trip can be downloaded as PDF here.

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