Uttarakhand-1
We 3 stood in the cold at 4.40 in the morning as were supposed to start at 4.45 to Garampani. We stood there stifling yawns, looking at one another, and doing some birding in the hotel premises. By 5 am people started waking up and getting our tea ready. When R, our guide, came after 5 he could see that we were quite angry. He apologised and explained that usually people come some 20-30 minutes late. I had to tell him that we might be slightly different from the people he is used to dealing with and we don't need buffers in our starting time.
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| It is a common bird here! Himalayan Bulbul. |
That morning was dedicated for Chukar partridge and we traveled to Garampani. The birds in flocks of 8-10 raid the fields, so they said. It is a sure sighting, so they said. We parked the car and started climbing the hill. P, an assistant to R, accompanied us. I stopped at the first bird which I couldn't identify, started taking pictures and asked P to help me identify the bird. He told me it is a very common bird, with a confused look which asked "why am taking its picture?". I explained to him that I come from the south of India and there it is not seen, so it is a new bird to me. We climbed more than a kilometer up puffing and panting, trying not to roll down the cliff, camera and all. Through the ordeal I kept asking the names of the birds to P, he found it amusing that I am interested in all the birds around. Finally I wanted a final check before I decide how much I can trust his knowledge. I saw an Indian golden oriole and asked him which oriole it is. He seemed to think for a second and told it could be Eurasian oriole. For his luck Eurasian golden oriole and Indian golden oriole look very similar; they were considered conspecific earlier. But I didn't think he knew that, he just ploughed his way through with that answer. I thought you can become an Engineer without any passion for Engineering, but you cannot become a birding guide without having passion for birding.
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| Eurasian collared dove |
We reached the top and kept looking for Chukar partridge, we found many other birds but no Chukar. We sat there for some time and started our climb down and realised our folly, S with an acute case of cremnophobia cannot climb down with his eyes open. If his eyes are open and he sees the depth down his legs just lock up, he just can't move. So we all took turns holding his hand and guiding him down while he kept his eyes closed. Once we reached the road P told me that the partridges are seen daily even in the fields on the side of the road. I was beyond furious. I asked him if they are seen right here why did we climb all the way up there. He told me very innocently that they are seen up there also. If I was not that exhausted, I would have just wrung his neck. We returned without seeing the partridge and no, we didn't sing 'chukar mere man ko'.
On the way back we went to the premises of Kainchi temple and did some birding there. P told me that Steve Jobs had come here long back and the baba at the temple gave him an apple after biting a piece off and that is how the Apple logo is a bitten apple. He was dead serious and he believed what he was telling me. I asked him with all the innocence I could muster, "Is that so?"
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| Now jump to that stone! V and S, going for the Crested kingfisher. Pic credit: S |
Later in the day we went to Chafi in search of Crested kingfisher and Brown dipper and found success with both. I was surprised to see the dipper having a kind of glitter in its eyes. I later figured out that the eyes were not glittering, but I was seeing the white eyelid which they use to protect their eyes while dipping in the water. On the way S took a fancy to some local variety of tomato being grown. Later he collected a half rotten tomato from the hotel to carry all the way back to Bangalore to plant it in our vegetable garden.
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| And we nailed it: Crested kingfisher |
All pictures are taken by me, except for the one where picture credit is given to S.
