Gaoligong Mountains Baihualing Nature Trail 高黎贡山百花岭正规自然观察线路

About Gaoligong Mountains Baihualing Nature Trail

Baihualing's birdwatching grew out of informal 'wild shooting' by birdwatching enthusiasts and bird scholars who came to Gaoligong Mountain to photograph or observe and who found local Baihualing villagers to guide them, and its feeding ponds evolved from simple watering pits into stations offering such things as bathing water, drinking water and food, reaching more than 40 ponds by 2018. The ponds grew without order at one point to more than 70, and the Longyang district government intervened, scientifically evaluating and reducing them to 23 premium ponds run on a 'one pond, one star species' model, and a Scientific Bird-Loving and Protection Association was formed to manage pond layout and additions and to share the income from birdwatching camera positions five ways among the observation-point managers, the villager-group collective, the village collective, association members (all villagers) and ticket sellers. The Baoshan municipal and Longyang district governments stepped up promotion and held the Gaoligong Mountain International Birdwatching Tourism Festival for three consecutive years from 2016 to 2018, and also launched a series of eco-themed tourism under names including 'trekking Gaoligong to explore the millennium ancient road', 'wild Gaoligong' and 'mysterious Gaoligong'. Separately, the case study gives forest cover for the Gaoligong Mountain area within Longyang district as 95.09 per cent at the time of writing, up from 82.3 per cent before the district was established.

The area's ornithological reputation traces to organised surveys beginning in winter 1997, when Professor Han Lianxian led a 14-day trip for Hong Kong birdwatchers across southern Gaoligong Mountain that recorded 307 species, and in January 2001 a further Hong Kong Birdwatching Society trip recorded 350 species in 14 days, including a one-day record of 97 species at Baihualing itself. Birdwatching circles have given three Gaoligong Mountain birds the collective name 'Three Treasures of Gaoligong Mountain birds': Sclater's Monal, the Slender-billed Scimitar Babbler and the Fire-tailed Myzornis. The feature attaches that name to Gaoligong Mountain's birds and does not say the three occur together at Baihualing.

What to look for

• Baihualing's system of premium bird-feeding ponds, each run to a 'one pond, one star species' model.
• The three birds birdwatching circles call the 'Three Treasures of Gaoligong Mountain birds': Sclater's Monal, the Slender-billed Scimitar Babbler and the Fire-tailed Myzornis. The Baoshan News feature gives that name to Gaoligong Mountain's birds and does not place the three at Baihualing.
• The wider recorded bird population of the Baihualing area, 474 species and 63.5 per cent of all species recorded across Gaoligong Mountain.

Location & getting there

Getting to Gaoligong Mountains Baihualing Nature Trail

Check the open visitor route and follow the site’s rules on distance, food and photography. Conservation areas may limit access beyond designated paths.

• Search for 高黎贡山百花岭正规自然观察线路 with 保山市 and 腾冲市.