Sa Pa / 13th-17th Feb

Spent recently four days at Sa Pa. This was not exclusively a birding trip and most of my birding was done around the city. I had also one afternoon session along the Fansipan Trail (half the trail between Tram Tôn Pass and Camp 1).
Despite it being incredibly foggy sometimes I managed some excellent - but unsurprising - birds and add a dozen new species to my life list.

• Scrubby habitat + small patches of secondary growth (some kms before the Silver Waterfall / 3 hours) : 2 Partridge sp. flushed, mixed flocks of Crested & Collared Finchbills and Brown-breasted Bulbuls, a lone Red-flanked Bluetail, Pallas’s Leaf Warbler, Grey Bushchat, Blue-winged Siva, Rusty-capped and Wiskered Fulvettas, Chestnut-crowned Warbler, Spectacled Barwing, Grey-bellied Tesia & Pygmy Wren Babbler along the streams, “Blyth’s” Leaf Warbler.

• Silver Waterfall touristic area and below (2 hours): Blue Whistling Thrush, Plumbeous and White-capped Water Redstarts, Little Forktail, White Wagtail ssp alboides, Asian Barret Owlet (h).

• Fansipan Trail below the Camp 1 (one afternoon) : Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher, Red-tailed Minla, Chestnut-vented and White-tailed Nuthatches, Yellow-cheeked, Yellow-browed and Black-throated Tits, Mountain Bulbul, Ashy-throated, Chestnut-crowned and Black-faced Warblers, Pygmy Wren Babbler (heard many times in the small, shady valleys), Chestnut-fronted Shrike Babbler, Rufous-winged Fulvetta, Stripe-throated and White-bellied Yuhinas, Green-tailed Sunbird, Great Barbet (h). 

• Ham Rong Gardens (2 x 2 hours, essentially the scrubby margins) : 2 nice males Red-flanked Bluetails, females Daurian Redstart, Hill Prinia, singing Buff-throated Warbler, “Blyth’s” and Pallas’s Leaf Warblers, small flocks of Vinous-throated Parrotbills, Grey Bushchat, Green-tailed Sunbird, flocks of Little Buntings, 1 male Chestnut Bunting, Rusty-capped Fulvetta, Black-headed Greenfinch, Olive-backed Pipit, 1 Yellow-bellied Fantail, Blue-winged Siva, a party of Rufous-capped Babblers. 

Collared Finchbill

Crested Finchbill and Brown-breasted Bulbul

Crested Finchbill

male and female Plumbeous Water Redstart

Little Forktail. 

I arrived at the Silver Waterfall (Thác Bạc) very early to avoid the crowd but failed to find one. Two hours later, 400 meters downstream, in a wild area, I finally bumped into this guy.

 Chestnut-crowned Warbler

 Pallas's Leaf Warbler

 male Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher

 Black-faced Warbler

 Chestnut-fronted Shrike Babbler

 Red-tailed Minla

Yellow-cheeked Tit calling excitedly in response to an imitation of the Collared Owlet

Black-throated Tit

Yellow-bellied Fantail

Buff-throated Warbler

Grey-bellied Tesia

male Chestnut Bunting

Little Bunting

Rusty-capped Fulvetta - only spotted in scrubby areas

Stripe-throated Fulvetta

Wiskered Fulvetta

 Female daurian Redstart

Olive-backed Pipit

Rufous-capped Babbler

Vinous-throated Parrotbill

Hill Prinia

male and female Green-tailed Sunbird

And a set of pictures of 2 philloscs to end with, both of the Blyth's Leaf Warbler complex.
Establishing which one of the 3 species of this complex is tricky. Any help would be welcome!

• The first one seen in a scrubby area, at 1800m :

• The second one, spotted at the Ham Rong Garden (1600m), was singing. Song recorded here (clic Download).

So Blyth's, Hartert's or Claudia's? Hopefully someone with experience of these species will propose some satisfactory ID's.

And Sa Pa, it is not only the birds but also its colorful hill tribes...

Black Hmong ethnic little girl

 

 Black Hmong women with babies

Black Hmong young girls

Red Dao ethnic woman

The mist would have been my worst enemy

More pictures of the presumably Ogilviegranti's Leaf Warbler ssp disturbans, taken last year at Sa Pa -  and probably not phylloscs of the Blyth's complex as I previously tought (see `comments`) :