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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.

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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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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?

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