North India Birding Tour: February 2018
NORTH INDIA BIRDING: TRIP REPORT
FEBRUARY 2018
By Sanjib Acharya
A female Kalij Pheasant Lophura leucomenalos hamiltonii, a resident himalayan bird.
An exciting tour set for us around some natural and religious places in Kumaon valley Uttarakhand, a new destination for the participants. Uttarakhand is very rich in culture, history and indeed flora and fauna. We visited some great destination during the trip, the famous national park Corbett, important birding hotspots in uttarakhand such as Pangot and Sattal, and a very famous temple Jageshwar.
The tour connected with so many beautiful and rare birds such as Ibisbill, Wallcreeper, Pallas's Fish Eagle, Brown Dipper, Cheer, Koklass and Kalij Pheasants, Hill and Rufous-throated Partridge, Scaly-breasted and Pygmy Wren-babbler, Chestnut-headed Tesia, White-tailed and Siberian Rubythroat and a very rare bird indeed the Grey-crowned Prinia. We focused on quality birding instead of quantity and added only those birds on the lists which Roger Smith had great view. A total of 210 ( 202 seen by Roger) birds recorded ( plus some heard). We also managed to locate some mammals such as Asian Elephants, Sambar, Hog and Spotted Deer, Red Muntjac, Himalayan Brown Ghoral and Yellow-throated Marten, few interesting reptiles like Marsh Mugger and Gharial and Golden Mashree Fish were also seen during this trip.
NORTH-INDIA BIRDING TOUR
DAY 1, Feb-5, Garjiya Temple:
We had a short afternoon birding after meeting and lunch at Tiger Camp. We walked from the temple gate to koshi river through a road with bushes on either side, good for many small birds. Here we saw Slaty Blue Flycatcher, Small Niltava, Yellow-bellied Fantail and Taiga Flycatcher. We then went down to koshi river bank and picked up Ibisbill quickly and enjoyed many brilliant birds such as River Lapwing, Crested, Pied and White-throated Kingfisher, White-capped and Plumbeous Redstart, Hume's and Greenish Warbler and finally Wallcreeper which was very close and posing for the photo. Lineated Barbet and Lesser Goldenback was seen on a fig tree along with a Brown Rock Chat on a roof of a house while we were returning from the river. It was a great afternoon birding at Koshi river.
The IBISBILL, only one member of Ibidorhynchadea family
After early breakfast we headed to dhikala by safari jeep. Weather was misty so birds movements was very less. Although we managed to picked up Grey-headed and Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker, Ashy Bulbul and Blue-winged Siva. On the way we heard a terrible alarm call by Sambar and waited for long time but didn’t get any glimpse of the suspect and continued driving. We enjoyed Blue-throated and Lineated Barbet feeding on berries and Black-hooded Oriole, Red-breasted Parakeet on the way to dhikala. After checked In into dhikala we hanged around the hotel campus and scanned down to Ramganga River and got Black Stork and River Tern. Afternoon safari started after Lunch till the sun set but no Tiger. We saw a big herd of Asian Elephant, Spotted Deer, Sambar, Hog deer along with Collared Falconet, Black-winged Kite, Red Jungle Fowl, Pallas's and Lesser Fish Eagle, Changeable Hawk Eagle, Long-billed and Tawny Pipit.
Importand wildlife habitat inside Corbet National Park
We had early safari and we tried very hard for the tiger but did not get any favour from him but our eyes were looking for birds as well so we picked up some Crested Treeswift, Alpine Swift and Plain Martin flying over in the sky. We then back to hotel for breakfast hanged around till lunch time and did check-out from the hotel. White-bellied Drongo was seen inside the hotel campus and Himalayan and Cinereous Vulture were soaring higher up in the blue sky. On the way back to Tiger Camp we again spend some time trying to track some tiger but with no luck. We heard very harsh call by Mountain Hawk Eagle and had very great view of a juvenile one. Then we stopped at crocodile view point and observed Marsh Mugger and Gharial enjoying the sun on the river bank. On the way we encountered with Himalayan and Greater Goldenback, Greater Yellownape and Streak-throated Woodpecker all in one place moving one to next tree with drumming and short contact calls. We had short look of museum at Dhangadi gate and Spangled Drongo was seen in a big Cotton Tree by the road side.
DAY 4, Feb-8, Kumeria in morning, pangot at afternoon:
We drove to kumeria after breakfast to find out some birds for Roger but the weather was much windy this morning. We encountered with a feeding flock of Common Woodshrike moving fast on tree to tree. On the way down to koshi river we picked up Black-throated Sunbird, Long-tailed Minivet, and Greater Goldenback better view than last time. Koshi river was very quite due to strong wind so we had to try hard and wait long time for Brown Dipper and finally got him. We heard Tawny Fish Owl inside from the hill covered by trees and tried few times playback which he responded but didn’t come out in open. We managed to get better view of White-crested Laughingthrush along with a group of Oriental White-eye. We then moved back to tiger camp and headed to pangot after lunch. On the way we stopped at Corbet Waterfalls and had short walk around then continued drive and reached Pangot by late afternoon.
DAY 5, Feb-9, Pangot
Pangot is one of the best birding hotspot for himalayan birds so we started earlier with our packed breakfast. Driving slowly on the road and scanning both sides on ground is the best method to catch pheasants and partridges. After a while we encountered with a Rufous-throated Partrigde walking on the road slowly. It was unusual sighting of this bird at this area for me and Roger tried to shoot with his gun but ran away and we again tried by jumped out from the car but it flew off, although we had really good view. We then continued driving and picked up some brilliant birds such as Himalayan Bluetail, Plain-backed Thrush, Grey-winged Blackbird, Blue Whistling Thrush and of course Himalayan Brown Ghoral and Red Muntjac . We stopped at Cheer Point for short time and scanned around the Rocky mountain with Grass in the valley for Cheer with no result . We picked up Blue-capped Redstart, a big flock of Altai Accentor, Black-throated Tit and Common Kestrel. We kept our driving further to catch other pheasants and got a family of Kalij Pheasant feeding on foliage down from the road. We moved further and stopped at a place for breakfast and enjoyed with Fire-tailed Sunbird, Coal, Yellow-browed and Green-backed Tit. We again tried for pheasants around that area and decided to return to the Cheer point. On the way back to cheer point we encountered surprisingly with a family of Koklass Pheasant on the road. They were feeding on ground by the road side and a male walked slowly and came on the road, observed our car and climbed up on hills but others ran way down in the valley. We again did an unsuccessful approach for the photograph. Then we directly came to cheer point and scan around those valleys for the long time. We had good view of Himalayan Vulture getting thermal and soaring up in the valley. We did scan almost every corner of the valley and finally got a family of Cheer Pheasant (5 birds) very far from us and observed through a spotting scope. It was an incredible morning birding. We then picked up some beautiful birds such as Brown-fronted Woodpecker, Greater Yellownape, Himalayan Woodpecker, Rufous-bellied Woodpecker at Woodpecker Point on the way back to Jungle Lore Birding Lodge. At afternoon we drove down to Ghughukhan valley and walked along the roadsides and got some colorful birds such as Fire-breasted Flowerpecker, Pink-browed Rosefinch, Black-lored Tit, Rock Bunting, Blue-fronted Redstart and Rufous-breasted Accentor. A perfect birding day came to end with a flock of Speckled Wood Pigeon.
DAY 6, Feb 10, Pangot:
Another morning birding started with no rush after warm breakfast at the lodge. We did the same route up to the same point where we had breakfast yesterday. We heard something scratching on ground and moving slowly on foliage. We also walked slowly kept our eyes on the ground, suddenly a male Hill Partridge ran away in front of us and hided inside another bush. I told Roger to stay still at a place and made the bird to came out near to him, after a while it flew off just in front him. We then moved down to a village and waited for while in front of a bush. Here we had really good view of a western himalayan restrict range species Black-throated Accentor along with many Rock Buntings and Russet Sparrow. We stopped at Cheer Point and look around for the raptors and got a Steppe Eagle mobbed by a Himalayan Buzzard and had a nice view of an Upland Pipit on a big rock. We went down to Bagar for the afternoon birding and picked up a very colourful male Crimson Sunbird, a nice male of White-tailed Rubythroat, Common Rosefinch, Yellow-breasted Greenfinch, Speckled Piculet and an elusive species Scaly-breasted Wren Babbler. We then drove more further to try to get more birds and got a male Grey-capped pygmy Woodpecker and finally the target one of the very rare bird Grey-crowned Prinia.
A globally threatened species Grey-crowned Prinia
We had very quite birding around Killbury this morning. Most of the species repeated such as White-throated Laughingthrush, Black-headed and Eurasian Jay, warblers and tits, some woodpeckers, at last we had a great view of Lesser Yellownape. After lunch we had around 4.5 hrs drive to Jageshwhar. On the way we picked up hundreds of juvenile Steppe Eagle near dumping sites at Bhawali and Almora. At a time my eyes stuck on a raptors which has narrow wings and longer tail than those Steppe Eagles, suddenly I asked to driver to stop the car. That was definitely an adult Bonelli's Eagle, what I had doubted for. We Arrived at a very peaceful hotel Van Serai by late afternoon.
DAY 8, Feb 12, Jageshwar:
It was a very worst birding day of the trip. We started birding on the way to Vridhda Jageshwar after warm breakfast at hotels but weather didn’t favour us. But we continued our birding before the rain start and picked up some tits, warblers, Himalayan Bluetail and a Green Shrike-babbler ( which was in very rush). When the rain started heavily we drove up to Vridhda Jageshwar temple for the short look. The temple had been running construction and repairing work. We then returned to Van Serai and made us warm inside our blanket. Later the rain was stopped for a while and Roger an Anne had nice walk to the Jageshwar temple and he saw a Spotted Forktail along side of the creek.
DAY 9, Feb 13, Morning at Jageshwar, Chanfi at Afternoon:
We walked on the road following by a creek looking for the forktail and other birds and got a Slaty-backed Forktail as expected. We then entered into Eco park area on a trekking trail along with another small creek. Most of the birds were repeated species such as Scaly-breasted Wren-babbler, Grey-hooded, Lamon-rumped and Buff-barred Warbler, all Tits and Treecreeper. At the last place, we had wonderful view of Ashy-throated Warbler and Grey Treepie, We then returned to the lodge and headed to Bhimtal after lunch. After did quick check-in into the hotel Mapple Hermitage we birded around Chanfi and Picked up two pair of Spotted Forktail along with Yellow-bellied Fantail and Whistler's Warbler in the vegetation near the creek. A female White-tailed Rubythroat was seen and found a Brown Fish Owl roosting on a pine tree. Not being late we picked up Asian Barred Owlet roosting on another pine tree near by. it was a perfect ending of the day.
DAY 10, Feb 14, Sattal:
After pre-sunrise breakfast we had very wonderful time at a little birding hotspots before sattal. We first encountered with a male White-tailed Rubythroat in a bush just near the road side. We then moved further and surrounded by Red-billed Leiothrix either sides of the bushes. Not being late; a pair of Rufous-chinned Laughingthrush show off surprisingly close on the top of the bush. We had really brilliant birds such as Grey-backed Shrike, Rusty-cheecked Scimitar Babbler, Slaty Blue Flycatcher, and finally a gorgeous male Siberian Rubythroat here. After catching them we entered in Sattal park area and walked along the forest. Here we had encountered with many feeding parties of warblers and tits. We found a big feeding group of Blue-winged Siva, Some Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch. We followed a small trail from Lantana bushes and picked up Whistler's Warbler, Himlayan Bluetail and Blue-capped Redstart. Suddenly I noticed a call and moved faster toward the sound and got gorgeous Common Green Magpie; what a beauty!. We enjoyed with Tickell's Thrush, Grey-winged Blackbird and Woodpeckers and moved further to Studio (a place where all photographers come and stay with their big guns). We spotted Green Sandpiper and Red-wattled Lapwing on the bank of the lake and I was dragged by an interesting call by a skulker and waited him to come out. Finally a Pygmy Wren-babbler appeared skulking in undergrowth alongside of track. After a while Chestnut-headed Tesia joined the party, a brilliant sighting of both skulker, cracking!. We spent our afternoon again around the same place and picked up Black Bulbul and Rufous-gorgetted Flycatcher as new species. Later on we had a good view of a Mountain Hawk Eagle before the day off.
DAY 11, Feb 15, Morning at sattal and departure:
Last day of the tour ended after a short morning birding around again in Sattal. We birded shortly and picked up some mostly the same species which we had seen before with their feeding flocks. A Mountain Bulbul seen as a new along with some Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher second time for the trip. Fantastic morning session closed by a brilliant view of Green-tailed Sunbird. We then drove back to hotel and departed. I directly came to pangot and they headed to Delhi.
At last the tour was very successful. All birding days were so excited except one day at jageshwar. More than 200 birds recorded during this trip including three species of Accentors, six species of Laughingthrushes, three species of Pheasants (including globally threatened Cheer), seven species of Bulbuls, two Wren-babblers, twelve species of Woodpeckers and finally Ibisbill, Wallcreeper, Brown Dipper and rare Grey-crowned Prinia.
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