Birding in Himalayas: Part 6

Arunachal Pradesh-1

A Blue whistling thrush on the way.

When you have a guide like Omkar who knows nooks and corners where specific species of birds are to be found, even a drive which takes 10 hours to cover 100 kms will become enjoyable. The road from Bhalukpong to Dirang was under construction when we traveled in 2014, it was still under construction when we traveled in 2018. It didn't look like much has changed in four years. Apparently this time the work was for widening the road. Hopefully next time when I travel through these roads I would have an uninterrupted drive. We stopped every few miles, walked around and spotted birds before we continued.

Beautiful Arunachal; pic credit: S

The roads were blocked at places for the construction work and were open only at certain times. We didn't know about the times and were wondering at places why the other cars and trucks were in such a hurry. But when we figured out that we will have to wait for an hour before we can pass through a particular stretch we happily turned back and went to the hot spot nearby and continued birding. Our drivers found this stopping for birds a little strange in the beginning, but soon they too got into the groove and started spotting birds, stopping the cars, and urging us to take pictures. They would also insist on me showing the picture taken to them at times and would comment "achcha hei".

Look at the picture after imagining a fat, shiny horse. Beautiful Arunachal!

After 10 hours, 10 stops, 55 species of birds out of which 34 were lifers for me, we reached Tenga by sunset. The roads were pretty bad till then. Suddenly the roads were smooth like some movie star's cheeks and the drivers stepped on the gas. But the fog which descended suddenly spoilt the fun for us passengers. The drivers continued to drive fast taking revenge for the slow driving they had to do through the day, while passengers prayed and held hands and thought about the Wills which are yet to be written. At times they slowed down just enough to figure out where the road ended and the gorge started, through the fog, rubbing their eyes. Finally we reached the hotel which would be our base for the next couple of days.

Beautiful Sangti Valley; pic credit: S

Next day our birding started with Sangti Valley. You don't need to be a birder to enjoy Sangti Valley, it is a really beautiful place. If I was traveling with P and R see the Small blue kingfisher below to see what we would have done for at least two to three in the valley! 

The best thing to do in Sangti Valley: Small blue kingfisher

The birding for the rest of the day was mostly done by the side of the Mandala road. After 8 checklists, 45 species out of which 22 were lifers, we called it a day as the light started to fade and went back to the hotel, to start another day of birding with more lifers the next day. Another good thing about birding with a guide like Omkar is not to miss species for the lack of pictures. He was spot on in identifying the birds and of the 230 species we spotted we misidentified only one single species. 

A tiny beauty at the hotel lobby: Black-throated tit

Note: All pictures are taken by me, except where credit is given to S

eBird lists:

From Nameri to Dirang: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Sangti Valley, Tawang road, At hotel

On Mandala road: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Previous blog in series: Part 5

Next blog in series: Part 7

Birding in Himalayas: Part 5

The purple stones of Nameri

One of the many purple stones from the shores of Jia Bharali river

Next day morning, we did a good 2 hours of birding in the resort and in the village. Two experiences from the village left me a little confused. A young woman was sweeping her front yard and when she saw us she gave us such a smile that it lit up my whole world. A little while later, we met a group of slightly older people and an old woman in the group told a man to take my camera and do something with it. I couldn't understand what exactly went on as I don't follow Assamese, it's the aggression which caught my attention. I guess she was making a joke because of my camera. It is impossible to be inconspicuous with a 150-600mm zoom lens on my camera. 

Beautiful eco camp. Pic credit: S

We left for Nameri and reached by noon. I had the idea of doing some good amount of birding before the rest of the people joined in. But rain god played spoil sport and I ended up sleeping in the tent for the rest of the day. Through the day I could hear a lot of birds and I knew that I was indeed in a birding hot spot. 

Great stone-curlew from Jia Bharali

We were lucky to have nice clear weather next day morning. We did some birding while crossing the Jia Bharali river and continued in the Nameri national park. We were warned of the possibility of leeches in the wild and all of us were prepared with leech socks. Another family that was there was having members wearing sandals and shorts. The two groups kept bumping into each other; they would stop to pull out the leeches from the kids' legs, we would stop when we spot some bird, and we would invariably stop at the same place stepping on each other's toes. Finally the men in the other group carried the kids on their shoulders and moved off, giving us the much needed birding space.

Himalayan purple sapphire 

The birding was amazing with 64 species and 17 lifers. But in the kind of forest we were in, with such dense foliage, I didn't manage any good pics. Found quite a few butterflies also on the way. The only animal we encountered was a Malayan giant squirrel if I don't count the emaciated park elephant. 

Cute, cuddly, and curious: Malayan giant squirrel

We did some more birding in the afternoon in and around the eco camp where we were staying and took rest as we were warned that we would not be getting any rest for the next 5 days we would be birding in Arunachal Pradesh. Oh how true that would turn out to be!

Note: All pictures are taken by me except where credit is given to S.

eBird lists:

Morning birding at resort 1

Morning birding at resort 2

Afternoon birding at Nameri

Jia Bharali river

Nameri national park

Birding at eco camp

Next blog in the series: Part 5
Previous in the series: Part 4

Birding in Himalayas: Part 4

Kaziranga Central Zone

After getting charged at by a rhino on a safari, if the next safari needs to be more exciting we need to get charged at by an elephant, possibly a tusker. Unfortunately it didn't happen. So when we went to the central zone the next day morning, it was quite dull. The birding was also quite unimpressive as the grassland didn't support too many species of birds. Nostalgia took over, as this was the only zone which we could visit when we came to Kaziranga in 2014 with P and R. So we saw the handicraft shop where we spent some time and also the tower till which we could travel. On another watchtower the water levels were marked for every year a flood had happened. Seeing the 2014 flood levels on that was quite nostalgic, as our Kaziranga visit was literally washed out by that flood. 

Mrs and Mr. Red Junglefowl foraging together

There were quite a few Red junglefowls strutting their stuff around, which was quite fun to watch. 

Crested serpent eagle

Also we found one Crested serpent eagle flying around with a headless snake.

Rhino in it's habitat

When there were not enough birds to focus on I anyway had the option of clicking some animals, in their habitat.

Upon my life! I wouldn't have wanted that tusker charging at me for any amount of excitement!

Then we encountered this wise man!

Wise man! Rhesus Macaque

With 32 species of birds and 4 lifers, it was still a good session if I don't compare with the previous day.

The morning birding I had done at the resort had given me 3 lifers and 22 species of birds. So the day was not that bad. 

Later in the day I did some more birding in the resort, which gave me one more lifer. We decided not to do any more safaris and take rest before we start the next part of the trip to Nameri and Arunachal Pradesh, which would turn out to be the most exciting part of our whole trip.

Note: All pictures are taken by me.

eBird lists: 
Morning birding at resort 
Kaziranga central zone 
Evening birding at resort

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Next in series: Part 5

Birding in Himalayas: Part 3

Kaziranga West Zone

One of the elephant calves from the day

I saw the cutest elephant calves that afternoon in the western zone. There were two in a group of tame elephants (driver called them the park elephants) mounted by guards. That safari turned out to be the calves and chicks special; we saw rhino calves, elephant calves, wild-boar piglets, grey-headed fish eagle chicks, and a juvenile Pallas’s fish eagle.

More calves and elephants

Many times we had to wait on the road as there were lone tuskers standing in the middle of the road or a herd of elephants too close to the road for comfort. Every time Mr. Gogoi decided to wait, he reminded us that we don’t have a guard in our jeep; we had seen armed guards in some of the other jeeps. We waited till the elephants moved away or some other jeep came near, and we went in a convoy (though I didn't understand how the convoy helped). I kept wondering why such precautions; I usually get answers pretty fast, and this time that was the most exciting part of the safari.

Should I charge at these guys?

At some places the jeeps went on raised roads, which were about 7-8 feet above the grassland where the animals were grazing. The climb from the grassland to the road is quite a steep one. We saw two rhinos grazing peacefully on the grassland near such a raised road.  While we were just passing by them, one looked up at us. After that everything happened pretty fast.  The rhino climbed on to the road in a matter of 2 seconds and charged at our jeep. Man, that massive animal can run so fast. Mr. Gogoi stepped on the gas like there is no tomorrow. Those roads are almost as bad as Bangalore roads and are meant only for safari jeeps going at speeds of 20-30 Kmph.  So when Mr. Gogoi started flying the jeep, I held on to the iron bar in front of me as if my life depended on it and held on to the camera with the other hand, lest I or the camera start flying out of the jeep. I was still staring at the rhino with my mouth so wide open my chin was flapping around in my lap. After a few seconds of the chase, the rhino stopped (almost yawned) looked at the other jeep which had stopped a little behind us because of the whole drama, and walked away with a swagger.

After we managed to get our breath back, Mr. Gogoi kindly informed us that once in a while an odd incident happens where a rhino topples a jeep. Later when I narrated this to a friend he asked me why I didn’t go for the elephant ride. Apparently elephant rides are more popular because of the possibility of rhinos charging at jeeps. I have got forwarded videos of elephants getting tortured; I haven’t watched any of them, I don’t have the stomach for that. But knowing that elephants are getting tortured had made me decide against taking any kind of animal rides any more. A rhino charging at my jeep is a small price to pay for that I guess.

On second thoughts, the roads were not as bad as Bangalore roads. The Rhino would have toppled the jeep if they were that bad, or even worse, the jeep would have toppled on it's own at that speed.

Grey-headed fish eagle, on the lookout for its fish

The birding session was another great one with a total of 50 species and 5 lifers.

Awesome colours on the Roller's wing!

Note: All pictures are taken by me. 

You can find the eBird list here (more pictures too).

Next in series: Part 4
Previous in series: Part 2

Birding in Himalayas: Part 2

Kaziranga East Zone

Resort. Pic credit: S

The picture of the resort where we stayed is what dreams and picture postcards (when they existed) are made of. In reality, it looks a shoddy younger brother of the picture. This was the place which was chosen for our stay last time when we traveled, we changed it (for some goofy reason like low rating) and just had lunch and a relaxed afternoon here instead. The uber pleasant staff sort of made up for the not so maintained old building, the fans and bulbs that don't work, and the missing dessert during lunch (Really, No dessert?). S says he prefers this to the place where we stayed last time, as they served tea 4 times a day. Apparently the other place gave him a hardT time. The place is a hot spot for birding with 70 reported species. I guess there would be easily double that number or more as there are only 3 people who have recorded the birds around here, including me.

Once in the North-East of the country, the first thing one needs to do is getting adjusted to the virtual daylight saving time. Everything advances by an hour or more. I started my morning birding at 5.30 and recorded 23 species of birds in an hour. The problem with birding at a new place is getting a picture of every new bird. I am a birder and not really a bird photographer. I carry a camera while birding as I can't identify most of the birds directly and do not have the memory to check in the book later and identify. Sometimes even if I have seen a new bird, if I have not managed to get an identifiable picture of it, I have missed it irrecoverably. The highlight was a Crimson Sunbird that came and sat on a hibiscus plant, so close to me that I might have touched it with my elbow when I turned, if it was not fast enough to fly away. Obviously I didn't get a picture, but that was one bird I could identify without a picture.

I had requested for the resident birding guide in the resort, but apparently he was already booked by October last year by the Brit couple we had met the previous day. Now I understood why the manager kept trying to save me money by offering me a driver who would double up as the birding guide even after I told him many times that I would rather keep the guide than the money. 

Mid-air clash of a Grey-headed fish eagle and Lesser Adjutant

Our driver cum guide picked us up and we started our birding safari in the East zone. East zone is claimed as the best birding zone and I think it is quite right. It has quite a bit of wooded area compared to the other zones where the grassland dominates. Before we reached the gate of the park itself we could see a Crested serpent eagle sitting on the tip of a tree; it was a great starting for the birding. After 3 and a half hours we left the park and the birding session ended with 6 Citrine wagtails sitting on an electric line. With 54 species which I managed to identify and 14 lifers (seen for the first time by me) it was quite a birdful morning.

One of  my lifers: Green-billed malkoha

Berries for the walled up female.

The best part of the birding was a Great hornbill nest, a little far away from which we waited for a while. Some more jeeps were waiting for the male to come and feed the female who was walled up inside its nest. The bird came with its beak full of berries, took them out one by one and fed the female before flying away for more. 

Walking towards us so purposefully! Should we turn and run!

We also encountered Elephants, Rhinoceros, Wild boars, Water buffaloes, Sambar deer, Otter, and Rhesus macaque. When there were no birds to aim at, I managed to train the camera on some of the animals too.

Note: All pictures are clicked by me, except where picture credit is given to S.

You can find the eBird list here.
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Next in series: Part 3

Birding in Himalayas: Part 1

Guwahati Waste Disposal Site

In my life I haven’t seen such a big garbage dump, will never ever see again either. Except for the Greater Adjutant Storks which live there, I need not have known about the existence of such a place. But I went there. I also committed one of the greatest mistakes in my recent past; I pulled down the window to take pictures of the stork. I didn’t know what hit me, once the stench hit me, my brain refused to work, and the only thing I could think of was how fast I could get out of that place. Even though I had planned to be around there and do a thorough birding at that place for 15 mins, I ran, my car sped off from there after exactly 3 mins of my being there. Now when I look back even the 3 mins I managed to be there were long 3 mins. I didn’t get a picture with one full stork in it, for that I needed to plan, move, and possibly get out of the car. I wouldn’t have done that if my life depended on it. So, ya, I ran.

Greater Adjutant

I think this is quite a strange looking bird. When I showed the picture to my friend he said "Beautiful". I hope he was talking about my talent in photography (duh) and not about the beauty of the bird. 

Later in Kaziranga, at the resort we stayed when we started talking to two Brits about birds and when they mentioned Greater Adjutant and the garbage dump, I appreciated their decision to avoid the place. I wouldn't want that experience even for my enemies.

I started on a 20 day birding trip with S, to the foothills of Himalayas (East and then West) which included Kaziranga and Nameri in Assam, Dirang, Sangti Valley, Mandala, and Sela Pass in Arunachal Pradesh, Sattal, Pangot, and Corbett in Uttarakhand.  Earlier I have written one or two travelogues. But somewhere I stopped recording my travels and thereby writing about them too. These will be reminders to me on what I did after retiring at 40 (a lot of people do ask me that), even if it is not read by anyone else. 

After going crazy on birding and doing some frenzied birding in South India, which included Thattekad, Goa, Bangalore, Hampi, Karwar, Manipal, Mysore, Pune and Bhigwan (not so South, still), this is the first trip I made out of South of India for birding. All places except Corbett were already visited by me earlier, before I turned a birder, and revisiting them was extremely nostalgic, but a completely different experience than when I was traveling as a tourist.

The travel itself started with a late Bangalore-Guwahati flight; I should have guessed that that late flight was a sign of further delayed flights during the trip. There we were picked up by Mr. Gogoi. He agreed to take us to the garbage dump en-route. He wouldn't have been able to dissuade me from going there, but he could have warned me not to open the window. I hold him responsible for my one hour of misery. 

We lunched at the same place where we had lunched together with R and P 4 years back when we were traveling from Kaziranga to Shillong, there started our nostalgia. I did 15 minutes of birding while waiting for the food to come. Another 3 hours of drive and we were in the resort where we would be staying for the first 3 days of our trip. It was already sundown being more to the East, so there was no more birding that day. Our first day of the trip concluded with the promise of many more birds the next day.

Next blog in the series: Part 2