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Birding Ruili, Yunnan

10,000 Birds

Ruili is a Chinese city right on the border to Myanmar, and a major border crossing. When I last visited the town almost 10 years ago, it had a Wild West feel, and Wikipedia claims that it is “an important location for trade with Myanmar, in both legal and illegal goods and services” but it seemed pretty tame to me this time.

Myanmar 130
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Pink-headed Duck: The Search is On!

10,000 Birds

Presumably, only the swamps and reedy rivers of Myanmar hold the answer. About four years ago I first wrote about the Pink-headed Duck , a charming species related to the pochards (although how, exactly, is up for grabs, like so much duck taxonomy.) Maybe they’re extinct. Maybe they’re not.

Ducks 122
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Hornbills of Yunnan

10,000 Birds

China is not that well-known for its hornbills, but in Yunnan province, on the border to Myanmar, some species can be found.

Myanmar 243
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Birding Hongbenghe, Yunnan (Part 1)

10,000 Birds

Hongbenghe is directly at the border to Myanmar – before COVID-19, it was easy enough to walk across the border on foot, but now a monstrous long steel and barbed-wire fence separates the two countries. Very appealing to tourists nostalgic for that iron curtain feeling.

Burma 206
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Where Have You Gone, Rhodonessa caryophyllacea?

10,000 Birds

Such is the case with the Pink-headed Duck , Rhodonessa caryophyllacea , a native of India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. The hopes of the hopeful center on the remote riverine swamps of Myanmar, a nation which has not exactly been a hotspot for tourists who want to knock about with binoculars in recent decades. Is it extinct?

Myanmar 193
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Birding Hongbenghe, Yunnan

10,000 Birds

Hongbenghe is a very small village in Yunnan, right next to the border with Myanmar. Even better, there is a wooden, unguarded, slowly decaying bridge over to Myanmar – so while I do not have the passport stamp to prove it, I can honestly say that I have been to that country as well.

Birds 147
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Birding Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China

10,000 Birds

Menglun in Xishuangbanna is less than 50 km away from the Chinese border to Laos and Myanmar, and it has a big botanical garden.

China 264