The limestone karsts in front of us were something to behold. I was absolutely mesmerized by them as we drove from the airport to our hotel 2 hours away. The whole time I couldn’t help but wonder, if I lived here, would I become jaded to these unique mountain structures? Would they just blend into the backdrop as nothing more than pretty decoration too common to continue to admire? I hope not.
These limestone karsts were the very reason we came to Nanning in far southern China. The abrupt rise and fall of these rocky, yet tree-covered cliffs was a bit surprising. One might think they would be connected but no, these were independent little mountains separated by flat land. It was as if they simply rose out of the ground on their own.
It was a quick flight from Hainan, our shortest of our whole trip, and we quickly met our driver and got on our way. (Steven An with China Birding Tours coordinated our driver and hotel stay which made it really simple for us to just arrive and go.)
In the case of Nanning, the driver and the hotel owner were one and the same. Mr Huang picked us up from the airport and drove us straight to our lodging for the next few days. Thankfully while in Nanning we didn’t have to move locations as all birds were a short drive from the hotel.
A Bird Found Nowhere Else
Unique habitats often give rise to equally unique wildlife. In the case of the limestone karsts around Nanning, that uniqueness takes the form of the Nonggang Babbler, a bird species only discovered in 2005 and officially described in 2008. Endemic to this rugged, karst landscape, the Nonggang Babbler depends on the specific structure and vegetation of these formations. It was our primary target during the three days we spent birding in the Nanning area.
We were experiencing a bit of a heat wave with temps hitting 90°F (32°C) so the mountains were dusted in a bit of a haze the whole time we were there. But the lack of clarity kind of added to the charm of the landscape. These were sharp, rocky mountains but what I found so special was the amount of vegetation able to survive on the steep slopes.
While the whole area used to be forest, it had mostly been cleared for farming. The juxtaposition of the ground being completely flat, with rice, corn or palms growing next to a mountain that seemingly rose out of nothing and was still covered in forest was something to behold.
Many of the target birds in this area could be obtained by sitting in a hide. And if there’s one thing Chinese photographers love, it’s a bird hide, where you can sit and simply have the birds come to you.
But sitting in a hide with a bunch of a Chinese photographers was wild because our intentions are so different. I found myself constantly scanning the leaf litter in the back to find the skulky bird, noticing every movement, meanwhile the guy sitting to my left often was unaware of the bird sitting on the “show rock” until others started taking pictures. The photographer wants to get the picture. The bird watcher wants to see the bird. Those things are not mutually exclusive but the majority of the people we ran into were there just to take pictures of the pretty ones. They didn’t care for whether or not the LBJ was endemic or range restricted. Sometimes it was pretty clear they didn’t even know what kind of bird they were even looking at.
We found that the easiest way to keep the kids quiet in a hide was to not take them into the hide. So while Ross sat inside with his camera, I would play with the boys near the car or take them for a walk. Then if and when a more secretive bird showed up he would text me. Unfortunately I dipped Blue-rumped Pitta by no more than 2 seconds. Not an exaggeration. I walked into the hide, Ross said “it’s there on the rock” and as I put my binoculars to the stage the bird was gone with Ross saying “omg it was right there.” (The Pitta didn’t come back in case you were wondering, good thing I can see this bird elsewhere!)
We did however have a good bit of success on “hide day” visiting no less than 4 hides seeing Blue-rumped Pitta, Bar-backed Partridge, Rufous-tailed Robin, White-winged Magpie, Hainan Blue Flycatcher, and Barred Buttonquail amongst maybe another 20 or so species.
White-Eared Night Heron
Each night we visited a nearby pond to try for the very rare White-eared Night heron. The first night was an absolute disaster. While Roger slept in the car, Harvey unfortunately was freaking out and not happy to still be awake (but wouldn’t fall asleep either). After waiting 30 min or so we left.
The next evening we decided to give it a go again, probably prompting our driver/hotel owner, to think we were crazy. Or gluttons for punishment. Or maybe both? We hoped both kids would fall asleep in the car but as we arrived at the site, Roger was still awake. Roger was on the verge of sleeping so Ross got out and the decision was for me and the kids to take another short drive so that Roger would fall asleep.
Unfortunately Roger started freaking out for daddy so we stopped and decided to get out anyways. Who cares about a bedtime when on a big trip anyway?! But it was a good thing he didn’t fall asleep and wanted to get out as not 5 min later we started to hear the calls of the night herons and then two flew by. Luckily they circled around and landed so that we could spotlight them for about a minute before they took off and flew directly over our heads. In this case, good thing Roger started freaking otherwise I would have dipped this bird too!
Real Birding
We were thankful to “get the hides out of the way” so on our final morning we could do some real birding. Walking on an old, seemingly unused road (no cars came during our walk nor the day prior when Ross came alone with the driver/guide) was much more enjoyable than sitting in a bird hide.
We noticed a few changes in terms of what species were present. It was getting to be spring and even though we had friends visit the area recently we had to laugh comparing our list to theirs. They missed the Limestone Leaf Warbler (one of the more important birds to get here) while this bird was everywhere for us. Meanwhile the winter birds such as niltavas and flycatchers had all but disappeared.
We came to this road because it was inching closer to summer and the Nonggang Babblers were no longer coming to the hides. They move up in elevation to breed so we had to find our own. This is one of the most important birds to get in this area so so we didn’t want to dip it! Fortunately we found a cooperative pair and had excellent views as they clambered over the rocky terrain.
These blue eyed beauties were a real treat and finding them in their element rather than a hide made it even better. (And to my knowledge, none of the other photographer groups ventured up into the forest to find the bird and therefore dipped it on their trip.)
Anyway, we got all of the important targets so this trip was a great success!
This birding took place on March 26-28, 2025.
Here’s a few eBird checklists if you want to peruse: Nonggang Babbler and White-winged Magpie