Birding in Himalayas: Part 9

East Himalayas to West Himalayas

Green-backed Tit

Over the one week we spent in Arunachal, I saw 163 species of birds, of which 122 were lifers for me. I do not know how many more seasons and how many more places I have to visit in Arunachal Pradesh to spot all the birds that are there. During the trip we also added a species into the Arunachal Pradesh list of birds (Sulphur-bellied warbler), which was hitherto not reported from there.

We reached Nameri at the resort we would be staying for the night, to the ground and trees covered with millions of blinking lights. It took me a moment to realise that they were fireflies. The evening was dark and there were no lights outside the cottages. It was the most amazing sight of the whole trip. There were literally millions of fireflies. I forgave the bad stay at the resort (who would put the outlet of the wash basin into the middle of the bath area?) and the inedible omelette (Calvin and Hobbes had made it, see how he puts 2 eggs, that was exactly how the eggs were added for my omelette) for the fireflies. 

Add 2 eggs and stir! ©Bill Watterson

Next day morning we did some quick birding at the resort itself and headed to Guwahati airport. We didn't stop anywhere on the way for birding. I kept dreaming of some nice food and long rest in Delhi, before we start on the next part of the trip, as we were supposed to reach Delhi by 6pm. That remained a dream as our flight got delayed by 4 hours and we landed up at the hotel at 11.30 pm.

Blue-throated blue flycatcher, posing in studio

The birding in Western Himalayas is unbelievably commercialised. I am used to birding in natural habitats. The only hides I have been to are one in Bangalore and Old Magazine House, if that can be called a hide. But in Sattal, birding in synonymous with bird photography in hides. I should have been warned while we were driving to Sattal from Kathgodam itself. My friend who was attending a bird photography exhibition, was traveling with us to Sattal. When she mentioned that she is traveling with some friends who have come to Sattal for birding, the organiser who was coming to pick her up asked what birding are they going to do, all the hides are booked by them. I was so intoxicated on the roadside birding which we had done in Arunachal I just didn't think this could be much different. 

White-throated laughingthrush, another studio picture

We went to the 'studio' in the evening. Of all the heinous crimes I saw in Sattal, this was the least heinous, as there was no feeding of the birds. It is a small stream with some perches kept for the birds. We sat there for some time and clicked. We pushed off from there when the crowd started growing and called it a day, with 33 species and in that 10 lifers.

Verditer flycatcher, the ultimate sensuous pose

Note: All pictures are taken by me.
eBird lists: 
From Dirang to Nameri: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Nameri resort
Sattal

Previous blog in series: Part 8
Next blog in series: Part 10

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