birding...

White-collared Yuhina Yuhina diademata ©Alister Benn http://www.availablelightimages.com

China possesses a huge diversity of bird life, largely attributed to the varied physical landscape and ecological conditions seen over it’s vast territory. Hengduanshan, Qinlingshan, and Huaihe basically divides China into northern and southern regions, helping to create a country that has large areas of wetlands, salt marshes, mountains ranges, deserts, plateaus, forests, alpine meadows, and grasslands. Such areas create ideal habitats for many different species of residing, breeding, migrating and wintering birdlife.

The Shaanxi Province is located in central China and covers an area of 205,600km2. The provincial capital is Xi’An, often thought to be the cradle of Chinese civilisation. It is most famous for the Terracotta Warriors, uncovered by local farmers in 1974 and considered to be one of the most important archaeological discoveries in recent history.

Shaanxi is located within both the temperate and subtropical zones, and shows great climatic differences between the areas north and south of the Qinling range. The province can be divided into three geographic (and hence climatic) terrains, the northern loess plateau, the middle Guanzhong plain, and the southern Qinba mountainous area. The northern loess plateau is the middle area of the Loess Plateau and covers most of northern Shaanxi. The Guanzhong Plain (also known as the Weihe Plain) was formed by the alleviation of the Wei River, the largest branch of the Yellow River. The plain begins in Baoji in the west and ends at the Yellow River in the East. The Qinba Mountain area includes the Qinling and Daba ranges, with the Hanshui valley between them.

The Qinling Mountains are the most significant geographical formation in the Shaanxi Province, and the only area in China that functions as a watershed for the country's two most significant rivers, the Yangtze River and the Yellow River. The Qinling Mountains run from west to east and cover more than 52,000km2, forming the natural division between northern and southern China (and the Shaanxi Province) in terms of geography and climate. This mountain range is also very important as it is the northernmost distribution area for the giant panda and is also one of the areas with the densest panda population.

The Qinling Mountains are ecologically significant, dividing the province and reaching elevations of almost 3800m. Such dramatic elevational changes, have led to equally dramatic changes in the flora and fauna in different regions, with this area being home to the most biologically rich temperate forests in the world. The peaks of the Qinling Mountains form a barrier to the cold dry northern air (coming from Inner Mongolia), allowing warm rain and flourishing growth on the broad southern slopes. Due to this and the large elevational changes, a huge diversity of plant and animal life exist on the southern Qinling slopes (including species such as giant panda, golden monkey, golden takin, golden eagle, and crested ibis – all first class protected species).

The provincial capital of Shaanxi is Xi'an.