birding...

Chestnut-naped Forktail Enicurus ruficapillus ©Laurence Poh http://www.laurencepoh.com/

Myanmar is mainland Southeast Asia`s largest country, with a land area equivalent to that of Texas. North-south, it stretches 2,100km, a distance equal to that between Stockholm and Naples and its extensive land borders are shared with five other countries, Bangladesh, India, China, Lao PDR and Thailand.

Zoographically, it is a meeting point of four sub-regions. Most of the country lies within the Indochinese sub-region (of the Oriental region). However, the Rakhine (Arakan) and Chin Hills in the west form part of the Indian sub-region. The high mountains in the extreme north, with their typically Himalayan species, form part of the Palaearctic region and the forests of the Tanintharyi Division (Tennasserim) in the southeast contain many species with Malesian affinities. This zoogeographical diversity is reflected in the diversity of all organisms, including birds.

Physically, the country can be divided into four elongated north-south regions: the narrow Rakhine Coastal Strip, the Fold Mountain Belt, the Central Belt and the Shan Plateau in the east. Each has its own geological history with the Fold Mountain Belt (Chin Hills and Rakhine Yoma) considered to be a southward extension of the Himalayas and part of a 7000 km mountain chain that includes the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Java and Bali.

The Central Belt is home to the major centres of human population such as Yangon (Rangoon); Mandalay, Bago and Pathein. It was once submerged under an ancient sea known as the Burmese Gulf. Subsequently, the Ayeyarwady (Irrawady); Chindwin and Sittang Rivers have deposited millions of tons of silt on this region. This makes for extremely rich and fertile agricultural land. The Shan Plateau has an average elevation of 950 metres and is dissected by a series of deep and often spectacular gorges. A clearly defined fault line marks its western margin.

The climate is dominated by two sub-continental monsoons. The most important of these is the southwest monsoon which brings the majority of the country`s rainfall. It generally lasts from June to October and defines the summer wet season, with the coastal and mountain areas receiving the majority of the rain. The northeast monsoon usually arrives in November and lingers until March. It is not characterised by significant precipitation. November to mid-February is Myanmar`s cool season, while March and particularly April and May can be extremely hot.

Myanmar is often considered to be the last frontier of global biodiversity in mainland Asia. This diversity includes over 11000 flowering plants, with 841 species of orchid; 1014 species of butterfly (some 6% of the world`s total); 92 species of bat (about 9% of the world`s total) and 1017 species of bird, including 137 species shared with the UK. This makes Myanmar one of the most diverse bird faunas per unit area of any country in the world.

Although there is an extensive bird literature for Myanmar, with some 680 references, the vast majority of papers and books were written in the late 19th and first part of the 20th century. Relatively few bird watchers or professional ornithologists have visited the country in the past 50 years and the local bird watching scene is currently underdeveloped. This paucity of recent information offers great opportunities for in-country and international bird watchers alike, as there is an urgent need to revisit many former bird hotspots to reassess the diversity and estimate the population status.

To help the potential birder to chose their site, we have subdivided the country into 8 areas, loosely defined by geography and/or habitat type and climate. These appear in the Top Sites section below...

Parts of this report are extracted from Myanmar (Burma): an illustrated guide to the country and its wildlife by Si Si Hla Bu and Paul Bates; recently published and may be ordered from info@harrison-institute.org