Birding in Himalayas: Part 8

Arunachal Pradesh-3

This day would trump all other days for the starting time. We started from the hotel in Dirang at 3 am to reach Sela pass by sunrise. Sun rose before we reached Sela pass though, and we stopped en route and did some pre Sela pass birding. 

White-capped redstart! What a beauty!

I said "I am not going to leave from here before I can get a good picture of this bird" only once in my whole 20 day trip; that was when I saw the Fire-tailed myzornis. Luckily for me, and also for the other birders as they got to leave from there soon, within few minutes the bird came and sat close enough for me to get a picture in which I can almost count its feather barbs.

Fire-tailed Myzornis; the bird which stole my heart!

A lot of times through the day thick fog descended on us. At times we had to wait for the fog to clear before we could continue searching for the birds. One bird which I didn't expect to see during this trip was Himalayan monal. When we got out of the car to search for some other birds we found a Himalayan monal on our path. I always say the first axiom in bird watching is that the bird would see you before you see the bird. Before we said monal, the bird cried "humans" and took flight. I was screaming in delight, even though I managed to click only a hazy picture of the monal flying in the fog.

Nostalgic Sela Pass. Pic credit: S

S wanted me to take a pic of him with a Himalayan yak. I told him that with my camera I cannot get both of them in the same frame. They both scared each other when he started moving towards the yak and it lifted its head with a grunt. 

Himalayan yak (after scaring off S; can you spot a faint satisfied smile?)

While we were returning from Sela pass we saw a troop of Arunachal macaques. Possibly the only other animal we spotted other than the yaks in a few days. We were taking a stroll after food, so I was without my camera. While watching the monkeys I realised the magnitude of the garbage problem in the hill state. Garbage, mainly plastic covers and soft drink bottles, was piled on to the hillside overflowing onto the valley and to the river, polluting their own water source.  Most of that plastic is going to be carried down to the ocean.  

If you haven't got scared enough about the plastic pollution in the world, this article should do the job: beat-plastic-pollution. I am telling you, it is scary. Please banish single use plastic from your life. Give up bottled water and start carrying your own reusable bottles for a start. 

Spotting Himalayan monal and Black eagle, and getting a nice picture of Fire-tailed myzornis made the birding more exciting than the previous day, even though the lifers  for me were only 20.

All pictures are taken by me except the ones for which picture credit is given to S.

Sela Pass eBird lists: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Previous blog in the series: Part 7
Next blog in series: Part 9