In May 2000, Paul Sweet,
Collections Manager of the Department of Ornithology, participated in an expedition to Ha Giang Province,
in northeastern Vietnam. This expedition was part of an ongoing collaboration between the Center for Biodiversity
and Conservation at the American Museum of Natural History (CBC-AMNH) and the Institute for Ecology and Biological Resources
(IEBR) in Hanoi. The project's objective was to inventory the biodiversity of Mount Tay
Con Linh, which at 2616 meters is the highest peak in Vietnam east of the Red River.
Our survey site was located in the Tay Con Linh II Proposed Nature Reserve, one of the last significant areas of montane forest in northern Vietnam. We observed and collected birds from three camps at 600, 1400 and 1800 meters sampling in various habitats from agricultural areas to montane ever99ff99 forest. Historically this region has been neglected by researchers and our results revealed a far richer avifauna than had previously been known. Of the 111 species recorded at Tay Con Linh, 16 were first records for East Tonkin. The scientific results of our work are in press in Forktail.