Birdwatching--- at its Best! These pictures were taken on the 1998 Kingbird Tour to the Tibetan Plateau.We travelled from Xining, north of the Tibetan Plateau, south to Lhasa with a side trip to Yushu for some very special birds.

average altitude of 4000 metres and covers most of Tibet as well as parts of Qinghai and Sichuan. The area of highest endemism lies on the Plateau's northern and eastern edges.

This report covers the birds seen on a journey in Qinghai Province, China, by R. Ferguson, A. Lamont, J.E. Richardson, T. & F. Serck-Hanssen, B. Soderlund & myself during late spring/ early summer 1999. We assembled in Beijing, China's capital, in the course of 29th, and managed a bit of birdwatching during visits to the Summer Palace and to the gardens of hospital near our hotel. The next morning we flew to Lanzhou, Gansu, where our drivers were waiting with the 4WDs, and we were soon in Xining, Qinghai. See also Jesper's August 5 - 20, 2000 report.

16 July 2000. By Jon Hornbuckle. I had long wanted to visit Tibet but the idea only became reality when I met Janos Olah junior and senior in NE India in March 1998. They were planning to go and so I agreed to contact Jesper Hornskov whom I knew lived in China and organised tours to Tibet. He proposed a 4-week tour of Qinghai in June for 6 people and I booked him for 2000. The Olahs had to drop out due to high demand for their tours in Hungary but I was able to recruit excellent replacements via Oriental Birding. Three of us were fortunate in having the time to do western Sichuan first.

Factoids taken from Where to watch birds in Asia  - by Nigel Wheatley

rampart of the world's highest mountains and located in the center of a vast continent, Tibet is a gigantic plateau whose average elevation is approximately 10,000 feet. But this is much more than a birding trip. It is unparalleled opportunity to gasp at a landscape as vast and un-peopled as you can imagine. Those of you with a sense of adventure who love to explore really wild, exotic places that host some superb birds, please join VENT on the journey of a lifetime. 

• September 02 - September 22, 2002 (21.0 days - Limit 12 ) with leaders David Bishop & Peter Kennerley
VENT offers nearly 140 tours to over 100 land-based destinations each year and is the largest tour company in the world specializing in birding and natural history.