Ruoergai  and Baxi – long gone are the days when Ruoergai town just had one functioning hotel, now another major tourist hub but still an area to find many Tibetan  grassland species.  These include the pinktail, snow finches, 3 larks including Tibetan, Citrine Wagtail (black backed), the ground tit, White-browed Tit,  Saker Falcon, Upland Buzzard, Black-necked Crane, Tibetan Shrike and Tibetan Partridge.  The major annoyance is the destruction of a lot of quarry area, which was habitat for nesting birds of prey and home to local mammals. Bizarrely, in the name of ecological restoration, capping them over with soil and planting grass,!!!!! For Saker and Buzzards, that has meant we now see more of them nesting on pylons. There’s also a lot more fencing but the grassland is a vast area with lots of tracks and still plenty of great birding opportunities.

17km from Ruoergai and just below the eastern edge of the plateau grassland is a forested area around Baxi village. The road has been improved and now it’s a comfortable day’s drive, with time for excellent birding, from here all the way to Jiuzhaigou. The habitat in this area is still intact, and 2024 gave us all the important species – Sichuan Jay, Chinese Grouse Blue Eared Pheasant and Snowy-cheeked Laughingthrush