Birdwatching in Yunnan⑩｜No wild elephants in Wild Elephant Valley, but there are capped langurs

and some other birds and insects to fill in the gaps 🗓251007 How come there’s still so much left to see—— P1-3 😪 On the way along the boardwalk, I saw a few tufts of furry things on wooden posts, motionless, and thought they were sculptures. After walking around a few times, I realized the texture was too realistic, and then I saw a staff member nearby who looked like security. Turns out they were alive… alive… With careful observation, you can even see the rise and fall of their breathing. Are they really just sleeping on the tourist boardwalk like that? It’s still unclear whether these capped langurs are Wild Elephant Valley staff or purely wild. P4 Monkey family 🐒 is this the very typical one I remember? But I know nothing about the species… Experts say they are rhesus macaques, which actually sounds reasonable. Speaking of “rhesus macaque,” the name “kiwifruit” is named after the rhesus macaque’s value! P5 Asian elephant staff at Wild Elephant Valley. The educational area in Wild Elephant Valley is definitely worth visiting! It has many stories about Asian elephant population conservation and encounters with humans. P6 Purple-cheeked sunbird. Didn’t see it in the botanical garden, but finally spotted it in Wild Elephant Valley 😭 Bowing to the bird treasure P7 Chestnut-bellied nuthatch. Are all nuthatches this festive-looking? Baby, you’re perfect to represent Christmas, happily eating fruit on a tree not far from the entrance of Wild Elephant Valley. P8-10 Black-throated leaf warbler. The first time I saw it was in Singapore. I thought I had photographed a long-tailed leaf warbler until I noticed its yellow rump and brown crown. It looks a lot like the long-tailed one but not quite. From initially not knowing to quickly realizing in Wild Elephant Valley that this is a black-throated leaf warbler, I feel like I’ve improved! P11 Plain flowerpecker with pollen on its head 🥺 P12 Yellow-bellied sunbird looking very angry P13 The always cute and happy black-crowned bulbul! Clearly the same model as the red-eared bulbul, but it shows how important the paint job is. - ⚠️Insect alert P14 In the humid tropical rainforest, termites are moving along the handrail of the pedestrian boardwalk (first time seeing termites crawling; in Guangdong, I’ve only seen flying termites) P15 ♂ Male spider. A species of spider with a terrifying size difference between female and male. The female looks mighty and fierce, while the male is so cute, basically the female’s accessory… The view from the Wild Elephant Valley boardwalk itself is quite open, and if you’re lucky, it’s much more enjoyable than the east area of the botanical garden! Unfortunately, this trip was still mainly planned for tourism, so there wasn’t much time to go back and forth on the Phase II boardwalk. Let’s be content!