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Qinghai Province

Przevalski's Finch Urocynchramus pylzowi ©Bird-Photo-Tours ASIA Website

Qinghai is an inland province in Northwestern China. It is the largest province of China (excluding autonomous regions) by area covering 720,000 km2 (280,000 square miles) and has the third smallest population with around six million people. Its capital and largest city with 1.75 million inhabitants is Xining. The province borders Gansu on the northeast, Xinjiang on the northwest, Sichuan on the southeast and the Tibet Autonomous Region on the southwest. The Chinese name ‘Qinghai’ is after Qinghai Lake, the largest lake in China. The lake is known as Tso ngon in Tibetan, and as Kokonor Lake in English, derived from the Mongol Oirat name for Qinghai Lake. Both Tso ngon and Kokonor are names found in historic documents to describe the region. Located mostly on the Tibetan Plateau, the province is inhabited by a number of peoples including the Han (concentrated in the provincial capital of Xining, nearby Haidong, and Haixi), Tibetans, Hui, Mongols, Monguors, and Salars. There are over 37 recognized ethnic groups among Qinghai’s population, with national minorities making up half of the population. Outside of the provincial capital, Xining, most of Qinghai remains underdeveloped.

The Yellow River originates in the southern part of the province, while the Yangtze and Mekong have their sources in the southwestern part. Qinghai is separated by the Riyue Mountain into pastoral and agricultural zones in the west and east. The Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve is located in Qinghai and contains the headwaters of all three rivers, which the reserve was established to protect. Qinghai Lake is the largest salt water lake in China, and the second largest in the world. Other large lakes are Lake Hala in the Qilian mountains, lakes Gyaring and Ngoring in the headwater region of the Yellow River, Lake Donggi Cona, and many saline and salt lakes in the western part of the province.

©Bird-Photo-Tours ASIA

The Qaidam basin lies in the northwest part of the province at an altitude between 3000 and 5000 meters. About a third of this resource rich basin is desert. The average elevation of Qinghai is approximately 3000 m. Mountain ranges include the Tanggula Mountains and Kunlun Mountains, with the highest point being Bukadaban Feng.

©Bird-Photo-Tours ASIA

Due to the high altitude, Qinghai has quite cold winters (harsh in the highest elevations), mild summers, and a large diurnal temperature variation. Its mean annual temperature is approximately −5 to 8 °C, with January temperatures ranging from −18 to −7 °C and July temperatures ranging from 15 to 21 °C. It is also prone to heavy winds as well as sandstorms from February to April. Significant rainfall occurs mainly in summer, while precipitation is very low in winter and spring, and is generally low enough to keep much of the province semi-arid or arid.

Birding Qinghai

Qinghai Province is mainly the northeastern part of the Tibetan Plateau. The capital, Xining, lies at a pleasantly cool 2,200m in a broad, intensely cultivated valley. The hills immediately to the north of the city are a site for Pale Rosefinch and Plain Laughingthrush. Laoye Shan, a hill overlooking the town of Datong, is about 60km north of Xining. At Laoye Shan can be seen both White-browed and Crested Tit Warblers, White-winged Grosbeaks and Robin Accentor.

Hume’s Leaf Warbler Phylloscopus humei – ©Bird-Photo-Tours ASIA

The road to the Tibetan plateau goes west from Xining, and over a pass where the Sun and Moon Pagodas are prominent tourist attractions. Tibetan Ground Tit, Little Owl and Plain Mountain Finch forage on the hillsides below the prayer flags. Two hours drive further west and Qinghai Lake – the legendary Koko Nor – comes into view. The area was criss-crossed by Russian explorers in the late19th century, including by Nikolai Przevalski, who passed by in 1872. Tibetan plateau specialties such as White-browed Tit, Alashan Redstart and Pink-tailed Bunting can be found in the hills southwest of Qinghai Lake. The breeding birds at the edges of the lake are a draw for coachloads of domestic tourists near the town of Shinahe. At ‘Bird Island’ nearby they throw bread for both Pallas’s and Brown-headed Gulls. In May, hundreds of Bar-headed Geese breed in the area. There was a bad outbreak of avian flu here in May 2005, when many of the geese perished.

Although roads have improved much in recent years this is still a wild and unforgiving environment, much of it lying above 3,000m elevation. Some high passes are 4,500m or above and blocked by snow for much of the year. One such pass is Er La, where the endemic Tibetan Rosefinch can be seen. Although most of the Yak one sees are domesticated, Qinghai’s open grasslands are also home to the Asiatic Wild Ass. Tibetan Gazelles may be seen as well as the foxes and occasional wolf that preys upon them.

Rufous-necked Snowfinch Pyrgilauda ruficollis – ©Bird-Photo-Tours ASIA

Two days drive southwest from Qinghai Lake along Route 314 will bring the keen birder to the busy town of Yushu (Jyekundo in Tibetan). Ibisbills may be seen in the river near the town. Another Russian explorer, Pyotr Koslov visited here in 1900. Further south, where the plateau breaks up into the valleys that have been carved out by the headwaters of the Yellow, Yangtse and Salween Rivers, Koslov discovered two distinctive species that still bear his name – a bunting and a babax. Both may still be found near the otherwise unremarkable town of Nanqian.

Further west in Qinghai Province is its’ second city Golmud, a desert town north of the Kunlun Shan, the ‘Mountains of Darkness’. The road between Doulan and Golmud passes through miles of desert, but this is a good area to see Mongolian (formerly Henderson’s) Ground Jay.

Qinghai is a rough but uniquely charming place that lingers in a birders’ mind long after the return home.

This page is sponsored by Bird-Photo-Tours ASIA

This page is sponsored by Alpine Birding

Contributors
Number of Species

  • Number of bird species: 561

    (As at June 2025)

    Provincial Bird: Black-necked Crane Grus nigricollis

Endemics

  • Number of endemics: 2

    Roborovski's Rosefinch Carpodacus roborowskii
    Sillem's Mountain-Finch Leucosticte sillemi
Checklist

  • Avibase

    PDF Checklist
    This checklist includes all bird species found in Qinghai , based on the best information available at this time. It is based on a wide variety of sources that I collated over many years. I am pleased to offer these checklists as a service to birdwatchers. If you find any error, please do not hesitate to report them.

  • E-Bird

    PDF Checklist
    This checklist is generated with data from eBird (ebird.org), a global database of bird sightings from birders like you. If you enjoy this checklist, please consider contributing your sightings to eBird. It is 100% free to take part, and your observations will help support birders, researchers, and conservationists worldwide.
Useful Reading

  • Birds of China

    | By Liu Yang & Chen Shuihua | Princeton University Press | 2023 | Flexibound | 672 pages, plates with 4000 colour illustrations, colour distribution maps | ISBN: 9780691237527 Buy this book from NHBS.com

  • Guide to the Birds of China

    | By John MacKinnon | OUP | 2022 | Edition 2 | Paperback | 513 pages, 164 plates with colour illustrations; colour distribution maps | ISBN: 9780192893673 Buy this book from NHBS.com
Reserves

Abbreviations Key

  • IBA Qinghai Lake

    WikiSatellite View
    Qinghai Lake is the largest saltwater lake in China, and is also located on the "Roof of the World," the Qinghai-Tibet plateau. The lake itself lies at 3,600m elevation. The surrounding area is made up of beautiful rolling grasslands and filled with Ethnic Tibetans. Most pre-arranged tours will stop at Bird Island (niăo dăo)…

  • NNR Sanjiangyuan & Zhaling Lake

    InformationSatellite View
    unique plateau freshwater wetland at high altitude (4,273m asl) with marsh meadow and alpine vegetations, with the second largest lake in the sources of the Yellow River…

  • NR Kekexili

    WebsiteSatellite View
    Located in the boundaries of Zhiduo County and Qumalai County of Qinghai Province, Kekexili Nature Reserve covers an area of 4.5 million hectares…

  • NR Ngoring Lake

    InformationSatellite View
    The largest freshwater lake in the Yellow River catchment with high hydrological values, regulating run-offs, retaining sediments, maintaining water quality, and preventing flooding. At over 4,200 meters on semi-arid plateau, the lake is an important habitat for the globally endangered Grus nigricollis…

  • NR Qinghai Lake

    InformationSatellite View
    The main protection targets are rare birds and plateau wetland ecosystem…
Sightings, News & Forums
Guides & Tour Operators

  • Alpine Birding

    Local Tour Operator
    Birding trips here are made for avid birders including yearly-run trips and new China birding trips developed by AlpineBirding team and guided by our bird experts in the best

  • Bird Photo Tours ASIA

    Tour Operator
    This three-week Qinghai Bird-Photo-Tour traverses some stunning landscapes in pursuit of a number of exceptional birds including ten (10) endemic species: Sillem’s Rosefinch, Tibetan Rosefinch, Tibetan Bunting, Przevalski’s Redstart, Przevalski’s Partridge, Przevalski’s Finch, Tibetan Babax, White Eared Pheasant, White-browed Tit and Gansu Leaf Warbler.

  • Bird Tour China

    Local Tour Operator
    12 Days Qinghai Endemic Birding Tour

  • BirdQuest

    Tour Operator
    BEST OF CHINA’S TIBETAN PLATEAU – endemics and regional specialities amidst incredible landscapes

  • Birding Ecotours

    Tour Operator
    This small group tour focuses on the northwestern Chinese province of Qinghai, the fourth-largest province in China, but with the third-smallest population in the country...

  • China Bird Tour

    Local Tour Operator
    20 day Qinghai and Tibet birding tour

  • China Exploration

    Local Tour Operator
    Qinghai birding tour|wild bird|bird watching:Qinghai Lake is the largest inland saline lake in the country and is an excellent place for bird watching:Over 200 species of birds have been recorded around the lake.

  • HeatherLea

    Tour Operator
    Qinghai province and the Tibetan Plateau Birding 'The Roof of the World'...

  • Summer Wong Bird Tours

    Local Tour Operator
    Qinghai birding tours

  • Tibet Tours

    Local Tour Operator
    Bird Watching and Wildlife Adventure Tours in Tibet, Sichuan, Qinghai and Yunnan

  • WINGS

    Tour Operator
    Wang Qingyu was born in Xining, capital of Qinghai Province, the northern part of the Tibetan Plateau...
Trip Reports

  • 2017 [07 July] - James Eaton

    PDF Report
    Tibetan Plateau & Xinjiang2nd–21stJuly 2017Leader: James EatonParticipants: John Clark & Mary Ward-Jackson, John Geeson, Barbara Greatorex, Albert Low, Denis Walls, Ed WilkinsonPrzewalski’s Pinktail© James Eaton/Birdtour AsiaFor those who like truly wild places, very localised speciality birds and a smattering of rare mammals, our tour southwards across the Tibetan plateau culminating in the fabled Tibet,where the fabulous Potala Palace rivals any of the natural wonders seen during the tour, is perhaps the most iconic tour in Asia.

  • 2018 [06 June] - Alpine Birding

    PDF Report
    14 Days Qinghai & Tibet Birding Tour Report

  • 2019 [07 July] - Summer Wong

    PDF Report
    Birding tour Qinghai – Xinjiang – Tibet

  • 2020 [06 June] - Tang Jun

    PDF Report
    China Sichuan & Tibet Plateau Wildlife Expedition...

  • 2024 [04 April] - Paul Varney

    PDF Report
    Qinghai Extension

  • 2024 [07 July] - Summer Wong

    Report
    Qinghai Tibetan Plateau Report

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