Before arriving in Asturias on August 27, 2013, I sent John Muddeman a list of about 15 birds that (a) were included on the list of Birds of Somiedo furnished to us for the trip, and (b) that I had never seen before, and would therefore be life birds.   My list was so short because I had seen many of the Spanish (and European) birds during my two prior trips with John.  One of my targets, the Capercaillie, is probably extinct in the Somiedo area, so it was included only because it was listed for the area.  Others are summer residents, and may have migrated south before my arrival.  These included Scops Owl, Nightjar, Water Pipit and Spotted Flycatcher.  Fortunately, we found a good number of Water Pipits and at least one Spotted Flycatcher.  John saw a couple of Nightjars from his van early one morning, but I was in the other van and missed them.

Several others that I listed are rare and difficult to find in Somiedo.  These included Middle Spotted Woodpeckers, Treecreepers and Ring Ouzels, and we in fact did not find any of these.  Several others are generally only found at higher elevations than we achieved, and so we missed those too:  Snowfinches, Alpine Accentors and Alpine Choughs.  Redwings are winter residents and had not yet arrived.  Of the remaining three species on my list Woodcocks are quite scarce and difficult to find under any circumstances, (and we did not); Tawny Owls were briefly spotted and heard very well just outside my hotel window; and Marsh Tits showed up a few feet from me as I rested beside the trail on our last day in the mountains.  That was a nice treat.

Unfortunately, none of these four new bird species offered good photographic opportunities, (Barbara was not with me when the Marsh Tits appeared), so we have no pictures.  Several other species, however did give Barbara a good target and here they are:

Red-backed Shrike;

Robin (the famous “Robin Red-breast” of English nursery rhyme fame);

Griffin Vultures soaring overhead.

On the other hand, I was introduced to the world of butterfly identification, and they were much more cooperative for photographic purposes.  

There were many dragonflies and lizards.  We saw goats being herded along a bog that we visited.

One of the special attractions of the trip was a visit to the remote, and now abandoned, Brana de Munial, which Barbara hiked to while I lingered back on the trail.  These are among the remaining traditional barns and dwellings in the Somiedo area with a circular or oval floor plan and thatched broom roofs.

Our picturesque village of Somiedo

One of many scenic views

A Hummingbird Moth

Great Astrakhan horses, with bobbing heads (shaking off flies) and ringing bells

We were very fortunate to enjoy beautiful weather each day of our trip.  Once again we found Spain to have such a variety of landscapes.  Each time we visit a part of the country we come home with the hope that we will return to yet another part of this fascinating country.

In February, 2013 we received an invitation from John Muddeman of Madrid to join him and his co-leader in a search for the “Littlest Grizzlies” in the mountains of Somiedo, Asturias, Spain.  Having had two prior birding excursions in Spain with John we were sure this also would be fun, so we signed up right away.

The tour began on 27 August and ended on 3 September.  The group met at the Oviedo Airport on the afternoon of 27 August, and we boarded our 2 vans for the hour or so drive to our destination in the village of Somiedo.  We were the only Americans in the group, which consisted of three other couples and six women, all but one of whom, an Irish nurse, were from the UK.  It took us a while to become accustomed to the “accents”, which were not all the same, but with a bit of effort, we got the hang of it and enjoyed our time with everyone.

Asturias is on the north coast of Spain, facing the Bay of Biscay.

Galicia borders to the west and Cantabria to the east.  The large province of Castilla y Leon lies to the south.  The village of Somiedo is within the large Parque Natural de Somiedo, which straddles the mountains bordering Leon, to the south.    The mountains gain altitude from north to south, to a height of about 2,200 meters.  Small villages dot the valleys, with many cinnamon colored Asturian cattle ranging freely, cowbells tinkling incessantly, creating a lovely ambiance for our mountain hikes.  Small farms constitute the bulk of the valleys.

The Park is a sanctuary for Spain’s remaining brown bears and wolves.  This tour was tightly coordinated with the Fundacion Oso Prado, the Brown Bear Foundation.  The Foundation is a wildlife NGO created in 1992 for the purpose of conserving the brown bear as a wild inhabitant of northern Spain.  We were greatly impressed by the knowledge, skills, friendliness and dedication of the young men and women who work for this NGO.  They were most helpful to us during our week in Somiedo.  As a result of their work, the brown bears of Somiedo are gradually increasing, and prospects for their survival appear good.

Brown bears were the primary focus of our trip.  We saw them on many occasions, but to do so required that we be on the road by 6:00 a.m. every morning and back out in the evenings until 9:00 p.m. or so, because the bears come out of the forests to feed on the mountain sides during these dawn and twilight hours.  Unfortunately for the photographers among us, the bears were seen only at a considerable distance.  So, here is a Brown Bear (Ursus Arctos-pyrenaicus); it was the best we could do.

Interestingly, there was always a crowd of people lined up to try to spot the bears as they came out for their breakfast or dinner.

The tour was not limited to bear viewing.  Indeed, we spent more time identifying butterflies, birds and plants than we spent looking for bears.  Some members of our group were experts on butterflies, some on botany, and a few of us kept our eyes out for birds.  More on that will be presented in the next blog.

Shanghai, with a population of 19 million, is located on China’s eastern coast, about midway between Beijing and Hong Kong on the banks of the Huangpu River, close to where the great Yangtze River empties out to the Yellow Sea.

DK Eyewitness Travel China summarizes its history as follows:

       “It is an autonomous municipality, and an explosion of economic and industrial development has made it one of the fastest growing cities in the world.”

It was not always so.  Again referring to Eyewitness Travel:

        “By Chinese standards, the development of Shanghai . . . is a recent development.  In the 13^th century it became a minor county seat and so it remained until the mid-19^th century when British commercial ambitions led to wars with China.  [the First Opium War, 1840-42 and Second Opium War, 1856].  The ensuing Treaty of Nanking allowed the British to trade freely from certain ports, including Shanghai.  The city soon became an outpost of glamor, high living, and ultimately decadence.  It was divided into ‘concessions’, where foreign nationals lived in miniature versions of first Britain, then France, the U.S. and Japan.  The Bund or quay along the Huangpu is still lined with concession-era buildings, evidence of a time when Shanghai was the third largest financial center in the world.”

I wanted to lay this “second-hand” background in some detail, in part because, for me, the most fascinating experience of my whole trip to China was the time spent in the French Concession, with its beautiful little streets and high-end shops in the old buildings, and in particular, our visit to the old house which is the site of the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.

Again, resorting to DK Eyewitness:

“This house in the French Concession was the venue for a historic meeting, where representatives of China’s communist cells met to form a national party on July 23, 1921.  Officially, there were 12 participants, including Mao Zedong, but it is believed that many others also attended.  The police discovered the meeting and the delegates were forced to escape to a boat on Lake Nan, in Zhejiang.  The house has a reconstruction of the meeting with the original chairs and teacups used by the delegates.  The exhibition hall tells the history of the Chinese Communist Party.”

No photography is allowed inside the house.  The most memorable items on display were the simple black and white photographs of the young Chinese participants in the meeting, all men, I think, and the brief summaries of their backgrounds.  It seems it was no coincidence that the location of their historic meeting was in the French Concession; many of them (notably excluding Mao) received their university educations in Paris, where they probably acquired their enthusiasm for the theories of Marx and Lenin.  I could easily have spent more time at this sparse display, but the group had many more places to go and things to see in Shanghai.  To my mind, this is a very high priority place for any visitor to Shanghai to acquire a deeper understanding of China today.

We then went to the Yu Yuan Gardens, in the heart of Shanghai’s diminishing Old City.

Created as a private garden Yu Yuan was opened to the public in 1961 and today is one of Shanghai’s most popular attractions.  Indeed, it is a restful and lovely place, well worth a visit.

In the afternoon the group went to the Shanghai Museum of Ancient Chinese Art.

Barbara and the rest of the group spent a couple of hours in the Museum, and all of them proclaimed it as excellent.  I was not doing so well with my walking/standing at the time, so I opted to lounge around the surrounding gardens with my binoculars, looking for any city birds that may have found them attractive.  The most spectacular birds, however, were the pure white pigeons that enjoyed the largesse of the human passersby.

This evening we attended a production of a traditional Chinese Acrobatic group.  It was very entertaining.

On Saturday, June 15, the weather was still somewhat wet and foggy, but we nevertheless strolled out along the famous Bund.  The Bund, a wide avenue, was the center of the European Concession era and influence.  It is flanked on one side by the broad Huangpu River and on the other by historic European style edifices.   Today, massive construction projects form a growing backdrop for this attraction.  The architecture is stunning, as often is the case in many of the Chinese cities that we visited.

After a visit to a very nice silk shop where we were treated to an excellent presentation of the history of silk and the silk worms that produce it, we succumbed and made a purchase of a silk bed cover and a few small silk items.  Lunch was on our own.  Burger King won out.  The afternoon was on our own so we rested and then enjoyed our final dinner in China, at, of all places, a French restaurant.

We boarded our Viking Cruise ship at Chongqing on the evening of the June 10.  The ship was larger and more luxurious than we had anticipated.  We had a spacious cabin with a little balcony so we could sit outside and watch the world go by.  Everything was kept nice and clean and the service and food was good.  We enjoyed a relaxing three day river cruise from Chongqing to Sandouping, the site of the immense Three Gorges Dam.

After breakfast on board the next morning we disembarked to visit Fengdu, or the “Ghost City”.

Michael’s summary:

“Fengdu was dubbed the “ghost city” for its appearance in two ancient stories about the underworld.  Significant for its preservation of Chinese afterlife culture, Fengdu’ otherworldly associations date back nearly two thousand years to two imperial court officials who journeyed to nearby Mt. Minshan to practice Taoist teachings, ultimately achieving immortality as legend has it.  Their combined surnames, Yin and Wang, translate to “King of Hell”, and this title birthed the city’s ensuing fascination with the supernatural.”

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To reach the main attraction of Fengdu, we climbed a lot of stairs in stifling heat and reflected on the visions of the afterlife portrayed in the statuary and carvings lining the path.

We returned to our ship for lunch and afternoon cruising.  In the evening Barbara attended an on-board fashion show depicting several different dynasties and areas of China.

On the morning of Wednesday, June 12, we passed through the scenic Qutang Gorge, at five miles, the shortest of the Three Gorges.  Mountains towered from both sides.

This afternoon we enjoyed a ride in a sampan on a tributary, the Shennong Stream, with a 5 man crew, 4 to row and 1 to steer.  The waters of the tributary were much clearer than the Yangtze.  A very enjoyable side trip with beautiful scenery.

We cruised through Wu (Sorcerer’s) Gorge, 25 miles long and with cliffs so sheer that the sun rarely penetrates.  Later in the afternoon we entered the beautiful 42-mile long Xiling Gorge.

We then arrived at the approach to the locks of the Three Gorges Dam, to await our turn through the locks.

We went through the five locks during the night.  We slept through it, although we were told the next morning that it had been quite noisy.  Barbara woke up around midnight and saw a huge cement wall very close to the boat, disappearing heavenward.  That is all we experienced from the locks.

On Thursday morning, the 13^th, we disembarked to tour Sandouping, the site of the Three Gorges Dam.  An observatory has been constructed overlooking the site. The Three Gorges Dam has been planned for almost a century and was completed just a few years ago.  The flooding of the Yangtze as a result of the dam has displaced millions of folks who previously lived and made a living along the river.  Replacement villages have been constructed high above the new waterline along the river.

Three Gorges Dam is 5 times larger than our Hoover Dam.

It is the largest dam of its kind, with walls more than 600 feet high and 6,500 feet long.  The lake created by the dam is the world’s largest reservoir.  It provides about 10% of China’s hydroelectric power.

We returned to the boat for lunch and to continue on to Yichang Airport for our flight to Shanghai.  We arrived in Shanghai at rush hour and the traffic was very heavy.  Upon arrival at our hotel, the Hilton, we found our room on the 30^th Floor had a terrific view of down-town Shanghai.  It was late, so we just grabbed a panini and a beer at the hotel and ate in our room.

We rode from Lhasa to the airport, a trip of about an hour and a half.  Our destination is Chongqing.  The boarding process was a bit hectic.  Security agents went through one of our party’s bags with a fine tooth comb, causing us some delay and concern.  We never knew what the perceived problem was.  Next, Barbara’s boarding pass was issued in the name of our guide, Michael, who then had 2 boarding passes.  When this was discovered, shortly before boarding, Michael managed a quick fix.  Barbara’s window substitute seat at the back of the plane at least allowed her to get some beautiful photos of the Himalayas.

It was raining when we arrived in Chongqing, the first rain we have encountered in China. I have been blissfully ignorant of China’s history and geography, and nowhere on our trip was this information gap more obvious than when we saw Chongqing.  I had thought of it as a little place somewhere in the outback of China.  How dumbfounded I was to learn that it is the largest city in China with over 30 million inhabitants, and growing. My impression was of an asphalt jungle with high rise condos at every turn.

In Michael’s words:

“Chongqing [is] one of China’s – and the world’s – largest cities.  Called the ‘Mountain City,’ Chongqing is surrounded by hills in a most scenic setting and has a history dating back more than 3,000 years.”    

In the 1930s, General Chiang Kai Shek made Chongqing his wartime capital in view of its protective hills, access to the Yangzi River, and its proximity to the American allied soldiers in Kunming.  The city was bombed repeatedly by the Japanese but many caves in the surrounding hills provided ample bomb shelters.

The countryside around Chongqing is lush and heavily cultivated.  The drive into the city from the airport is marked by terraced hillsides, tilled valleys and a series of farming villages.

The Yangtzi River is nearby and contributes to the economy in a major way.  Shipping, tourism and distribution of goods and products to the “hinterlands” of China are among the important contributors to Chongqing’s  economy.

Our principal excursion for the day of arrival was a trip to the local zoo to see the pandas.

At first we were disappointed to learn that we would be seeing them in a zoo, but then learned that that is about the only way they will survive.  The survival rate in the wild is very low, and they have a much shorter life span.  Seeing them was indeed special.  We were told they like wet weather, and we were pleasantly surprised to see 4 of them enjoying the rainy day.  They munched on bamboo most of the time we were there.  A few birds made their appearance in the rain, primarily White-crested Laughing Thrushes.

We checked into the Marriott and rested while several of our group explored the local flower market.

On Monday, June 10 we rode the bus for a couple of hours to Dazu to see the rock carvings.  We stopped at one of the farms along the way and were warmly greeted by the proprietor, who showed us the growing rice and the amazing variety of other vegetables cultivated on the farm.

Dazu is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The numerous and impressive carvings and statues reflect Buddhist teachings, the tenets of Confucianism, and local folklore.  I thoroughly enjoyed this site and recommend it for anyone having an opportunity to visit anywhere near the area.  Again, I was humbled by my own ignorance of the existence of this historical jewel.

This evening we boarded our Viking Cruise Ship to begin our trip on the Yangtze River, the third longest river in the world, exceeded only by the Nile and the Amazon.

The Yangtze allows Chongqing to claim the title to the second largest port of embarkation and disembarkation in China, although it is located nearly 1,000 miles from the coast.   The amazing river, with its recently completed Three Gorges Dam Project, is the life-line that has built the City.

The Potala Palace

Michael, our guide, in one of his succinct summaries of the places we visited, described our object of today’s outing as follows:

     “Today’s full day tour begins at the 1,000 room Potala Palace, considered the city’s greatest landmark and a pilgrimage site for Tibetans from all over the world.  The Palace was built for Tibet’s fifth Dalai Lama in the 17^th century and has served as home to all subsequent Dalai Lamas.  Opulently decorated with gold, jewels and carvings, it is a wonderful and fascinating place to explore.”

DK Eyewitness Travel elaborates:

     “Thirteen stories high, with over a thousand rooms, it was once the residence of Tibet’s chief monk and leader, the Dalai Lama, and therefore the center for both the spiritual and temporal power.  These days, after the present Dalai Lama’s escape to India in 1959, it is a vast museum, serving as a reminder of Tibet’s rich and devoutly religious culture, although major political events and religious ceremonies are still held here .  The first palace was built by Songtsen Gampo in 631, and this was merged into the larger building that stands today.  There are two main sections – the White Palace, built in 1645 under orders from the 5^th Dalai Lama, and the Red Palace, completed in 1693.”

What neither of these sources mention is that the climb up the steep hill is a real challenge for some of us.

Over 450 steps up at about 13,000 feet altitude just about did me in.  Then, of course, one must descend.  With the help of my trusty walking stick, and strategic pauses, I made it in good shape.   The only avian distractions were multitudes of Himalayan Swiftlets that nest in the upper reaches of the Palace and a few Hill Pigeons, easily mistaken for Rock Pigeons unless the tail band is noted.

Many pilgrims accompanied us on the climb up and down.  Upon our return to the base we drove a short distance for lunch.  Yak.  It was excellent.

In the afternoon we went to Norbulingka, the splendid summer palace of the Dalai Lamas.

While the rest of the group explored the Palace, I found solace on the grounds, described thusly by DK Eyewitness Travel China:

        “Today a pleasantly scrubby park, the Norbulingka (Jewel Park) was once the summer palace of the Dalai Lamas.  Founded by the 7^th Dalai Lama in 1755 and expanded by his successors, the park contains several palaces, chapels, and buildings, and is a charming place for a leisurely afternoon visit.”

This gave me the best opportunity since the first day in China to go birding, and I took advantage of it.  Because Barbara was exploring the buildings for most of the visit rather than acting as my spotter and photographer, no pictures will grace the narrative.

Among the surprisingly numerous birds in the park were Great Tits (no chuckles, you non-birders, that is the name); surprising and quite beautiful Derbyan Parakeets, including pairs feeding their young; a lovely little Short-billed Minivet, Bar-headed Geese (captives, of course), numerous and vocal Oriental Turtle Doves, Brown-cheeked Laughing Thrushes, Eurasian Blackbirds, and the ever-present Eurasian Tree Sparrows.

The rest of the group finished their tour of the buildings and joined me for a quick report on what birds I had found.  They all wanted to return to the hotel, but I wanted to stay and continue birding, so they left and I stayed at the park until about 5:30, closing time.  Michael had shown me where to get a taxi and I went there, but for reasons unknown to me, none of the drivers would take me to the hotel.  I kept flagging them down and about 20 stopped to pick me up, but when they saw where I wanted to go, they shook their heads and drove away.  Finally sometime around 6:00 a young guy with two Tibetan passengers stopped for me and they all welcomed me. The reason for the rejections may have been that when we got near the hotel, the roads were all blocked off and we had to take a very long and winding back street approach to the hotel.  Barbara was a bit concerned, and I must admit I was too, after the first few taxi rejections.  A mystery unsolved.

Tomorrow we head off for the airport and the flight to Chongqing.   This chance to see Lhasa and Tibet was one of the best experiences of my travels anywhere.