On the top of the sacred mountain Bach Ma – Special Bird Forest

After a day and a night with the Birding Vietnam tour guide, I understood why people can spend a few thousand dollars and spend a month just watching birds.

Photo: Như Phương

In this mountainous area with diverse habitats, you will meet many endemic birds of Vietnam and Indochina, which only appear in a few places.

Go up the mountain to watch the birds

Le Quy Minh is a veteran guide of Birding Vietnam – a travel company specializing in bird watching tours in Indochina, co-author of the book Birds of Vietnam. Minh used to be a forest ranger of Bach Ma National Park, so he was very familiar with this mountainous area.

Starting from a village at the foot of the mountain, Minh drove me through the habitat areas from the plain to the top of the mountain. Minh said that summer is the season with little rain in Central Vietnam, so this is the ideal time every year for watching Bach Ma birds.

From the gate of the Park, Minh showed me the logo of Bach Ma National Park with a picture of a long-tailed bird: “How is a pheasant! It is endemic to Indochina, and Bach Ma chose to be his symbol because it is a unique species of the Bach Ma bird fauna. Among the 12 existing pheasant species in Vietnam, Bach Ma has 7 species “.

Minh said that in this family of pheasants, there is a species that has made the world interested in Bach Ma since nearly 100 years ago and that is “Lophura edwardsi”

Necklaced Barbet is taken in Bach Ma -Photo: LE QUY MINH

Bubo nipalensis, a bird of the owl family in Bach Ma – Photo: LE QUY MINH

A rare and mysterious bird

In 1922, the ambassador Trung Ky invited the French explorer and researcher Delacour to make the first comprehensive survey of birds of Indochina. Delacour made seven expeditions to the most remote places of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

In the forests of Thua Thien and Quang Tri, he collected 64 samples of Lophura edwardsi. Its southernmost habitat is the Hai Van pass and the foot of the mountain in the Bach Ma range, including the Thua Luu area.

“It’s a shy and secretive creature that rarely appears in its favorite habitat of wet slopes, covered with bushes and vines.” Delacour describes in his publication of the bird Edwards’s Pheasant – Lophura edwardsi.

From Delacour’s discovery, in 1925, the ambassador Trung Ky submitted to the French colonial ministry a plan to establish a national park of 50,000 ha in the Bach Ma forest area – Hai Van to preserve the Lophura edwardsi. Because of the war, this plan could not be implemented.

Minh said that it is an endemic, rare, globally endangered bird. In May 1998, in the buffer zone of Bach Ma National Park, a Lophura edwardsi was discovered. Since then, they were no longer to see.

“I traveled around Bach Ma forest when I was a ranger until I took visitors on a bird-watching tour, I have never seen it in this forest. This is Bach Ma’s the most famous and mysterious bird.” – Minh said.

Lophura edwardsi – a rare and mysterious species of Bach Ma – Photo: Bach Ma National Park

Butastur indicus is taken at Bach Ma in Oct, 2018 – Photo: Vietnam Wildlife

Into the bird’s world

We stopped under a forest canopy in the middle of the valley to watch the birds and have lunch. Minh said that the valley and the stream’s banks were places where there were many birds because it was cool and had plenty of food. Birds in Bach Ma were usually active in the early morning, late afternoon and some nocturnal species, so bird watchers werre also active at that time.

It was in the midday of the hot summer, but Bach Ma’s weather was always cool, so only a few minutes of silence later we could listen to the sound of birds in the canopy.

“Shhh” – Minh signaled to be quiet and then gave me binoculars.

In the binoculars, a bird with colorful feathers appeared. The whole body was green like leaves; the head and nape were black, the sides of the nape were lined with pale yellow; the face, throat and necklace were yellow; the long tail feathers were blue above and black below, and the highlight was a wide beak.

White pheasant in Bach Ma – Photo: Lê Quy Minh

Ma Lai eagle is taken in Bach Ma in Sep, 2017 – Photo: Vietnam Wildlife

“It is a bird with broad green beak  that usually lives in the Himalayas and Southeast Asia. In Bach Ma, the broad beak family has only one species” – Minh said.

“Wow, wow, which bird has been singing since morning?” – I ask. Minh laughed: “It’s a Necklaced Barbet, this species still has many individuals in Bach Ma, so you can hear its singing at the top of the mountain.”

“Wow, wow” – Minh mimicked the singing of the female bird, and just a few minutes later, a male one flew over and landed above us. This bird also has green fur, a red forehead, a yellow head, a yellow patch on the neck that extends down to the chest and throat.

Minh said the Megalaimidae family in Bach Ma had 6 species and the one with the loudest singing was Necklaced Barbet, a species endemic to Vietnam. This bird often uses its beak to chisel the tree trunk.

The sun slips to the west, Bach Ma forest becomes cooler and the birds are more active. Minh showed me the round holes in the trunk of the pine tree, which are the nest of Necklaced Barbet.

Photo: Như Phương

It turns out that the same name is a cuckoo, but Megalaimidae is from Megalaimidae family and Streptopelia chinensis is from the pigeon family. Meanwhile, Centropus and Eudynamys scolopaceus belonged to the cuckoo family.

The great thing is that all of these families and birds are found in Bach Ma forest …

We went down the mountain when it was already dark. The car turned on the light and ran slowly down the road hidden in the mysterious night forest. Minh said now that nocturnal birds were starting to active, just stopped the car and turned to the forest, we could see the owl family on the trees.

Birds in Bach Ma forest is still too many interesting …

Going to see birds in Bach Ma with Birding Vietnam guide Le Quy Minh – Photo: M.Tư

   Today, 363 species of birds have been recorded in Bach Ma, accounting for 40% of the total number of bird species in Vietnam. In which, there are 16 endangered species listed in the Red Book of Vietnam. At Bach Ma, there are 15 endemic animal species of Vietnam, mainly focusing on the bird class (up to 13 species), typically: white pheasants, Lophura edwardsi…

   Due to its international importance in the conservation of birds, Bach Ma is recognized as one of the most important bird zones in Vietnam, and as one of the members of Lophura edwardsi conservation action program.

(Source: Bach Ma National Park)

In May 2020, domestic and international media continuously reported discovering new species in Bach Ma – Vietnam. At least 25 species of new creatures have been discovered for the first time in this mountainous region.

Next period: The discoveries named Bach Ma

                                                                                                          Source: Minh Tu – TTO