Golden-throated Barbet
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DETAILED REPORT
SUMMARY
We are just back from a fantastic 10-day birding trip to Bhutan, a country
remarkable for its extensive forest cover (65% !!) and being “at the junction of
2 major bio-geographical realms – the temperate
Palaearctic and the tropical Indo-Malayan – and extreme variations in climate
and altitude”, in possession of a remarkable diversity of birds. Birding in this
country is almost entirely done from the road, and while off-road birding is
possible, there is so much one could see from the road itself that one need not
venture beyond.
We traversed from the south-east of the country and exited Paro in the central
west, travelling along Bhutan’s main arterial road, and covering a variety of
habitats and altitudes. We birded around Samdrup Jongkhar, the stretch from
Deothang to Trashigang, around Korila and Mongar, Limithang-Yongkola-Sengor (a
truly spectacular stretch of forest and bird diversity), Thrumsinghla Pass,
Yotongla, had brief stops at Pelela and Phobjikha valley, Jigme Dorje NP along
the Mo Chhu, Dochula Pass and the Chelela Pass.
We managed to get exceedingly good and multiple sightings of the top 3 birds in
our target list – the Satyr Tragopan, the Himalayan Monal and the Blood
Pheasant. Of the other target birds we had, while we dipped on a few, we bagged
a few surprises which more than made up. In all, we had close to 200 species
(highlights below), many of which are lifers to us, and were a pure delight to
be able to see after only fantasizing about them all these years.
Satyr Tragopan
The Satyr Tragopan has to be seen to be believed – it is that rare combination
of exceptional beauty and elusiveness that makes this bird highly desired. And
when we saw it feeding on the edges of a clearing in the forest for about 15
minutes, the thrill that permeated us was perhaps one that we had never felt
before in our birding lives. While even in bird book illustrations this pheasant
makes one salivate over, in flesh and blood it is something else – the body
effuses a deep ochre-red and positively illuminated the drizzly evening
landscape that we saw it in. On its exceptional canvas of red, the white spots
spread over the upper and under-bodies shine out like stars on a clear Himalayan
night sky. As if this wasn’t enough, there is a luminescent blue around its head
that catches your eye at certain angles when it is feeding. All in all, simply
magical ! If we hadn’t seen a single other bird, this trip would have been worth
it !!
The Monal was equally spectacular, with its kaleidoscopic plumage, and we had
some truly great sightings including of one which was feeding just by the
roadside just a little short of the Thrumsinghla Pass at 3700 metres. As we
rounded a bend and came upon it, the startled bird decided to pause for a
fleeting second allowing us to take in its wondrous colours glowing in glorious
evening sunlight, before taking flight across the valley and showing off its
golden luminescent tail. Even though this episode would have lasted no more than
2-3 seconds and our other sightings of the bird were for considerably longer, it
is something which will reside in our memory forever.
Blood Pheasant
The Blood Pheasants, of which we had the most sightings, and which in Bhutan
appears to be a certainty for birders, is just as fantastic as Ramki’s image of
it from their trip in November last (and which incidentally inspired our current
trip). The blood-red tinge to the feathers on the breast and the tail on the
otherwise immaculately white male and the striking pattern on the head make this
bird stand out spectacularly in the barren/icy landscapes that we usually found
the bird in.
In addition to this triumvirate, the highlights included the Great and
Rufous-necked Hornbills, 4 species of parrotbills (Great, Grey-headed, Brown and
Black-throated), 13 species of laughingthrushes (including clearly the star of
the lot – the Spotted), the Slender-billed Scimitar Babbler, Fire-tailed
Myzornis, Cutia, Rufous-throated Partridge, Red-faced Liocichla, 3 species of
shrike babblers (White-browed, Black-eared, Green), Rufous-throated Bush Robin,
Yellow-rumped Honeyguide, 2 sightings of the Sapphire Flycatcher, Silver-eared
Mesia, 2 species of Minla, 5 sps and 4sps each of Yuhinas and Fulvettas,
Crimson-breasted Woodpecker, Black-tailed Crake, a lone Black-necked Crane,
Emerald Cuckoo, Red-headed Bullfinch, Crimson-browed and Gold-naped Finches, 5
species of sunbirds (Fire-tailed, Mrs Gould’s, Green-tailed, Crimson and
Black-throated), Barred Cuckoo-dove, Large Niltavas and glimpses of 2 Tesias.
To make us want to return to this inviting country, we were eluded by the
Beautiful Nuthatch, either of the Trogons, any of the Wren-babblers (we did not
invest much time owing to the lack of tapes) and the Golden-throated Fulvetta.
We carry with us several abiding memories of this trip in addition to the
fantastic birds that we saw – the genuine warmth of the simple,
apparently
uncomplicated Bhutanese people, some great local food that kept us going
(including the fiery Ema Datsi – the chilli-and-cheese concoction), the miles of
spectacular undisturbed Himalayan forest spread over hill after hill and adorned
with the blossoming magnolias, the 2 nights of camping at Sengor including the
one when just after we returned from birding, it rained hailstones and left the
camp in a cover of white, and the ride over the 3700+ metre Thrumsinghla Pass
which as a result of the previous night’s snowstorm was like a Christmas picture
postcard – snow all over on the roads and the fir and rhododendron trees that
dot its hillsides.
It is also noteworthy that there is a lot of similarity in terms of bird
diversity to Eaglenest which we visited a couple of years back – the parrotbills,
the trogons, the myzornis, the wren-babblers, Cutia, Beautiful Nuthatch, the
fulvettas and minlas, the babblers, but the 3 special pheasants and the
opportunity to appreciate the Bhutanese people – their way of life and their
religion, as also spectacular scenery (icy Himalayan peaks, lush large swathes
of forest, booming valleys and rolling plateaus), make this place different. The
more culturally oriented could also fit in visits to the various dzongs and
monasteries that dot its landscape.
Weather in general was co-operative, the latter half of the trip was in glorious
sunshine, and even in the first half, the occasional drizzle/rain did not affect
our birding time for the most part.
The importance of having a good bird guide who is familiar with the local
hotspots and with bird calls is well appreciated by birders, but its criticality
is underscored even more in places like Bhutan and Eaglenest which, other than
hiding a lot of skulkers, throw at you these fast-moving hunting flocks
comprising multiple little jewels. We were to unfortunately discover the raw end
of the stick in the first half of the trip when we ended up with a complete
disaster of a guide by which time we were done with the hotspots for a few of
our target birds. The contrast was stark in the second half of the trip when an
exceptionally good guide helped us to some of the star targets.
Birding-oriented tourism in Bhutan is quite mature and popular, with ample tour
operators, recognised hotspots, well-furnished vehicles and well-trained staff,
and hotels catering to the requirement of providing packed breakfast and lunches
as early as 3am, and mind you these are quite elaborate affairs, not just bread/parathas.
Below is a detailed trip report covering our itinerary for those of you who may
plan a visit to this fascinating country – something which we wholeheartedly and
highly recommend !
DETAILED
TRIP REPORT
April 2 (Delhi-Guwahati-Samdrup Jongkhar)
We flew in to Guwahati by an early morning flight, and transferred in about 2.5
hours to the border town of Samdrup-Jonkhar (Darrang – the town on the Indian
side), where the immigration staff had been forewarned of our arrival. We sped
through to our modest hotel in this quaint little modest town where we were met
with by our birding guide Tandin and our driver Mangal, who as we were to
discover many a time during the trip, had an exceptionally keen eye for birds
and who helped spot some great ones for us, some even while driving !
Over lunch, where we were introduced to Ema Datsi, a dish made from red/green
chillis and cheese and which as we were to discover is a staple Bhutanese food
and part of each meal – with only the degrees of fieriness varying from cook to
cook. Most meals on the trip also had another form of Datsi (cheese-based dish)
– either with potato (Kewa Datsi), with ferns harvested from the jungle, with
spinach or even with cauliflower. All of us really took to the Datsis quite
well, and which along with the meat dishes (beef/lamb/pork/fish) made up our
spread, made us look forward to our lunches and dinners.
To finish off the topic of food, it was remarkable that breakfast and lunch
would be made ready and packed in our car irrespective of the time of start for
the day – our average time of departure was 4am, with the earliest start being
at 3am.
After lunch, we proceeded to get our permits which took less than an hour to
organise and which were to be our official travel documents for the trip
(please remember to retain this to be handed over at the airport immigration at
Paro upon exit). Done with immigration, we proceeded to commence our birding
where we drove up a few kilometres and walked down a gully to a river. While
most were regular low-hill birds, a brown bird that flew into a low scrub turned
out to be a Siberian Rubythroat, something which pops up over north India in the
winters quite regularly but which had been eluding us. The rubythroat that kept
bobbing in and out as it called was truly spectacular, particularly standing out
in the pale brown bush that this otherwise pale brown bird had decided to dive
into. The river had a couple of nest-building Black-backed Forktails – in fact,
as we were to come across during the trip, there were many a birding pair in
various stages of domesticity and love-making, not surprising given the time of
the year.
As we made our way back, we came across groups of men showing off their archery
skills as they tried finding tiny targets 140 metres away, before ending the day
by seeing a mating pair of Asian Barred Owlets. Archery is obviously a national
pastime here as we were to see this scene repeated across the country.
April 3 (Samdrup Jongkhar-Deothang-Wamrong-Trashigang)
Grey-headed Parrotbill
During the course of birding that afternoon and our conversation with Tandin
(our bird guide) over dinner, we began to have our first doubts on his birding
ability. By early next day, while our doubts grew stronger as we birded beyond
the town of Deothang en route to Trashigang in lush mid-altitude (1200-2000 m)
forests, we had some excellent birds to keep us busy and not get too worked up
about it yet. We saw the first parrotbill of our trip (Grey-headed) – we had
great looks as a pair of these were busy nest-building close to the road, Bay
Woodpecker, Black-throated Sunbird, Sultan Tit, Green Magpie, Small Niltava,
Silver-eared Mesia, a few laughingthrush and the Maroon Oriole. We stopped at a
couple of hotspots for the Beautiful Nuthatch but this much-sought after bird
eluded us, as it did for the rest of the trip.
April 4 (Trashigang-Korila-Mongar)
After the night at Trashigang we headed out to Mongar via Korila – here again
the inexperience of the guide robbed us of the critical early hours of birding,
as by the time we got to prime birding habitat, it was nearly 8.30, i.e. barely
half an hour before the early morning theatre that is staged by birds in these
forests draws to a close. Yet, we found some great birds there such as the
super-skulker Red-faced Liocichla (this one is owed entirely to our 11-year old
Medha’s talent to scour and pick out birds from the undergrowth such as this one
and several laughingthrushes during the trip), a few species of Laughingthrush,
Greeen-billed Malkoha, Red-tailed Minla, Black Eagle, Oriental Cuckoo, Speckled
Wood Pigeon, Brown Parrotbill etc.
Black Eagle
As we birded our way to Mongar in the afternoon, and we were feeling a little
let down at our relatively modest catch for the day, the 2 women demanded 5
birds to show up by 5pm, i.e. in about 15 minutes. Just as we turned a bend at
5pm, Mangal spotted a tree with 3 different woodpeckers on it, and before we
knew it, we added 2 more birds to our list !
April 5 (Mongar – Limnithang-Yongkola)
After the night stay at Mongar, we headed out for what was billed to be the most
exciting leg of the trip – the Limnithang Road. Starting at just over 700 metres
at Limnithang village, this stretch climbs through Yongkola (1600m) past Namling
(2500m) to end at Sengor (2900m), just 19 kms short of the Thrumsinghla Pass
(3800m). Right at L’thang village, we started off with good flight views of 5
Great Hornbill and 2 Rufous-necked Hornbill, however we didn’t get anything very
significant till early afternoon, by which time we had reached Yongkola. We
birded the forests above Yongkola in the late evening, and other than a surprise
Rufous-throated Partridge (!), we did not get much other than some more
additions to our growing list of laughingthrushes. By this time, panic set in as
we were well into prime birding territory and we hadn’t yet found any of the
highly-billed stars, and we decided to take action and messaged the tour
operator of the ineptitude of the birding guide.
April 6 (Yongkola-Namling-Sengor)
Sapphire Flycatcher
After camping the night at Yongkola, we set out to reach Sengor by the evening.
Soon after leaving Yongkola, a board announced our entry into the Thrumsingla NP
– a truly spectacular protected area with pristine forests and commencing from
1600m reaching 3700m at the Pass and eventually ending at 3100m past the Pass en
route to Ura. The day started off brilliantly with an excellent sighting of a
Rufous-necked Hornbill pair at close range, and we were soon in the midst of a
flock of minlas and fulvettas to be closely followed by a surprise sighting of
the Rufous-throated Bush Robin. We then got the Black-eared Shrike-babbler and
we started getting sated somewhat. A random stop thereafter proved nearly
unproductive till a bird call from a moss-laden tree led us to a delightful
sighting of 5 Cutias feeding merrily in the moss. We also got the Nepal Fulvetta
and then as we rounded a bend, Mangal, our driver-doubling-as-a-spotter picked
out an Emerald Cuckoo sitting on a bare tree, to tick off a much-longed-for bird
on our list.
We also got a few species of laughingthrushes on the way, and late afternoon
birding produced a few other yuhinas and fulvettas before we reached camp at
Sengor. In the late evening light, as we were wandering around our camp, Medha
spotted 2 Spotted Laughingthrushes, merrily feeding in the open barely a few
feet away from us, revealing clearly the spectacular pattern of their plumage,
and at least for us establishing themselves to be the most special of the 13
species of laughingthrush that we would see through the trip. This marked the
end of what was easily the most satisfying day for us and justified the prime
billing that the Sengor-Yongkola section got from birding literature – and this
despite the lack of a good bird guide and without the help of bird call tapes.
The Sengor camp was set in amazingly beautiful surroundings – out on a pasture,
surrounded by hills of high-altitude forests and towering beyond them icy
Himalayan peaks, with the wails of the Tragopan – ‘guwaah, guwaah’ renting the
air from time to time. As we settled in for an early dinner, we were informed
that we would bird with Tashi, the bird guide who accompanied Sumit Sen and co
during their trip late last year and who had their approval. Tashi was
accompanying a British birder, Gordon, and it was agreed that we would meet up
with them past Thrumsinghla Pass where they would be arriving from Bumthang
(they were birding the more conventional west-east direction, i.e. starting from
Paro and ending at Samdrup Jongkhar while we were doing it the other way – more
on this later).
April 7 (Sengor-Thrumsinghla Pass-Gayzomchhu-T’la Pass-Sengor-Namling-Sengor)
We set off at 3.30am only to have to shudder to a halt about 5kms short of the
Pass as it had snowed the previous evening at the Pass, and Mangal, our
experienced driver did not have the confidence in our Toyota Hiace, which
otherwise proved to be a comfortable and spacious vehicle during the trip, to
trod over freshly fallen snow. We waited for a few minutes for a more rugged
vehicle to make the journey ahead of us so as to create the tracks in the snow
that we could then use, however realizing the unlikelihood of this possibility
given the time of the day, how bitterly cold it was, and how sparse traffic on
this stretch of the road anyway is, we returned to camp, and decided to wake up
the driver of the Mahindra Bolero which had ferried the camp staff over to
Sengor from Thimphu.
After a delay of nearly 2 hours from our initial start, we set off back for our
rendezvous with Tashi/Gordon, and just prior to and past the Pass, we came
across 2 flocks (2+8) of Blood Pheasant, spectacularly standing out against the
icy backdrop with their brilliant plumage. We got great prolonged views as also
some decent pics, and before it became too bright and late to get the Monal, our
other target bird of the morning, we pushed onward and by the time we got there
it was nearly 7.30
Over the next hour, we had a few sightings of the male Monal as they lit up the
valley below when flying across them, and also scoped views of a male Monal as
it slowly made its way up an adjoining hill. As we got into our vehicles, we saw
a female Monal ambling across the road in front of us in no great hurry.
Thrilled at having got great views of these 2 fantastic pheasants, we birded on
our way back to camp, and after lunch birded below Sengor – it was great to have
Tashi and Gordon with us, their familiarity with calls and ability to quickly ID
the more familiar species proving to be invaluable – something which we sorely
missed thus far in the trip. We added the Red-billed Chough, Spotted Nutcracker,
Common Buzzard, Eurasian Sparrowhawk and White-winged Grossbeak at the higher
altitudes, and in the forests below Sengor in the afternoon were rewarded with
great views of Fire-tailed Sunbird to add to the Mrs Gould’s and Green-tailed
Sunbirds that abound these forests. To add to the bounty for the day, we got
Crimson-browed and Gold-naped Finches in close proximity, and a short while
later we got the Green Shrike-babbler.
It was a little late into the evening and it was now time for the Tragopan to
show up – Sengor is the best area for this pheasant in Bhutan, and we were keen
to get this bird before we moved on from here. It started drizzling as we waited
by a clearing in the forest, and Tashi decided to walk up a little beyond the
clearing to play the tape. After about 15 minutes, Mangal picked out the
Tragopan making its way down from the hill on our right. As each of us
desperately fell over each other trying to pick out the bird in the distance in
fading light, it decided to drop down to the road affording us clear views. It
then crossed over to the clearing on our left and for the next 15 minutes we
took in at leisure the radiant beauty of this bird as it fed at the edge of the
clearing and the light had also improved to help us appreciate the bird better.
This was clearly by far the best day of the trip for us, having got all our
target pheasants on this one day. That night as we got back to the camp, the
skies opened up and it poured heavily – initially rain followed by a shower of
hailstones as heavy winds battered our fragile tents. It poured till past
midnight and made it a bitterly cold night, and it was a relief to get up and
get on with birding the following day.
April 8 (Sengor-Namling-Sengor-Thrumsinghla Pass-Bumthang)
Tashi decided to spend some time looking for the Bar-winged Wren-babbler and we
invested an hour of the precious early morning time trying to lure this bird out
with the taped calls. Failing to elicit a response, we moved down to the Namling
area, which proved more productive, as we got the spectacularly beautiful
Crimson-breasted Woodpecker, 2 sightings of the tiny jewel Sapphire Flycatcher,
Large Niltava and soon a flock of 30+ Black-throated Parrotbills whizzed past
us. However, the Ward’s trogon played truant despite Tashi’s best efforts to
lure it out. We then moved to a waterfall gully where we proceeded to have
lunch, over which we continued scoping the area below with large beehives on the
rock faces, and were soon rewarded with good extended views of the Yellow-rumped
Honeyguide.
We bid our farewell to Tashi/Gordon as we had to clamber our way back to the
Thrumsinghla Pass and descend to Bumthang via Ura. Just short of the
Thrumsinghla Pass, we had our best sighting of a male Monal as we caught it by
surprise just next to the road, and it glittered in glorious evening light
before flying down the valley slope. We also had a view of another male Monal,
at least 2 flocks of Blood Pheasant feeding on the road right in front of our
car as Mangal switched off the engine with alacrity. As it was getting late, we
decided to press on after just pausing to take in a couple of Monals flying
across the valley. On our way to Bumthang, our headlights caught an owl flying
ahead of us and perching on a rock face just next to the road. By the time we
could discern any detail of the owl, it decided to fly up into the jungle. All
we could make out was its size – it was medium-sized and seemed to have a
roundish face.
Mangal and Kencho
We were
welcomed at the hotel in Bumthang by Kencho, our new bird guide, and just the
enthusiasm in his voice gave us hope. While the hotel and our rooms had a river
view, given the time of our arrival in the hotel after dark, and our departure
prior to daylight – which was in fact our theme pretty much through the tour –
meant we could not appreciate it.
The hotel was very comfortable and it was a great relief to be able to shower
and clean up after 3 nights of camping. Over dinner, Kencho asked us our target
birds for the rest of the trip and promptly laid out for us a plan on how/where
to get them. We also had with us milestone markings that Tashi had shared with
us for some of the birds that they had seen on their drive from Paro.
April 9 (Bumthang-Yotongla-Pelela-Gangtey)
Great Parrotbill
We
started early and started looking for the Brown Parrotbills at Gaytsha, 8kms
short of Yotongla Pass (3350m), where Kencho was confident he would be able to
see the bird. Despite persisting for close to an hour, there was no trace of the
bird. Not a great start with Kencho, and the pressure on the poor man was easy
to tell, despite our best efforts to lighten it. We then birded our way to
Yotongla Pass, without any great new addition to our trip list. However, soon as
we crossed the Pass, Kencho called for Mangal to halt the car, and we were bang
in front of a flock of Great Parrotbills which entertained us for a good 10
minutes after that.
Red-headed Bullfinch
Now
charged up, we decided to look for the Slender-billed Scimitar Babbler. When
scouring the bamboo bushes while playing the tape, Namita chanced upon a pair of
Red-headed Bullfinches merrily feeding on juniper pine seeds just by the
roadside and completely oblivious of our presence for at least 15 minutes that
we enjoyed watching them. We then carried on to the precise milestone which
Tashi had indicated would be a good starting point for the SBSB, and after some
persistence, Kencho heard the alarm call of the birds from bamboo bushes just
above us. He quickly proceeded to play the tape yet again and got the response
call. For the next 10 minutes, we got good views of a pair of these much-desired
birds through the bamboo bushes as they kept hopping around the place.
With 3 good birds in our bag, we decided to scan a promising section of
rhododendron
forest (at 3050m) for the Fire-tailed Myzornis – a bird that eluded us on our
Eaglenest trip. While there was no luck with the myzornis just yet, we were
lucky to see 3 yellow-throated martens in the understory scurrying away. We then
decided to break for lunch, and just as we served ourselves, we had to drop our
plates as a myzornis popped up right in front of us and over the next 5 minutes
of furious action trying to get as good views of the myzornis as it flitted from
rhododendron flower to flower as part of a mixed flock containing some yuhinas
and fulvettas. Just in the midst of all this action, a few Spotted
Laughingthrush also decided to add to the chaos by landing up a few feet away
from us and begging to be photographed. With various members of our party
hollering in excitement trying to share with the others what they were seeing,
there was complete pandemonium at the end of which all of us got good views of
the myzornis, a decent pic of the bird but no pics of the laughingthrush. Lunch
couldn’t have tasted any better after this terrific morning.
We had a long way to go before we got to Gangtey via Pelela, and we
unfortunately had to move on from the excellent rhododendron forest. In a
spectacular drop from 3300m to 2150m in just 25kms, not recommended for the
faint-hearted or those with altitude sickness, we descended to Trongsa while
constantly accompanied by hills of pristine unbroken forest on the southern side
and sped through the town before ascending all the way back to 3350m (Pelela).
We tried to get parrotbills but gave up after a while as we retreated to the
comfort of our car from the chilly winds the pass was being subjected to.
We then descended to the spectacular Gangtey valley covered with large swathes
of dwarf bamboo where we got good views of a hen harrier quartering the bamboo
groves. We hurriedly rushed to the Phobjikha valley to sight the lone
Black-necked Crane which we heard was left back in the valley owing to a broken
wing as the 317 other cranes wintering here in January had proceeded to their
breeding territories in the higher Himalayas, and in fading light got scoped
views of the poor bird standing alone in a marsh.
That marked the end of a highly rewarding day – our first with Kencho. During
the day and over the course of the next 3 days, we would be repeatedly awestruck
by his uncanny ability to pick out bird calls from the forest. Even early
morning, when there would be complete pandemonium in the forest with bird calls
renting the forest, he would easily pick out the uncommon ones, and sure enough,
the renderer of the call would soon make its appearance from the direction
Kencho would point out. He could easily mimic most bird calls quite effortlessly
and mellifluously – and this great asset with bird vocalizations made Kencho
invaluable for us. To top it all, this little bundle of energy was a great human
being, taking exceptionally good care of us while perpetually sporting a huge
smile/grin on his face. Wish we had a guide of half his ability/attitude for the
first part of our trip.
April 10 (Gangtey-Jigme Dorji NP (Trashithang) – Wangdi)
By this time, our main target birds left were either of the trogons, and we
decided to look for them in the Jigme Dorji NP around Trashithang and at the
farm road (1500-2000m) after starting off from Gangtey at 3am – our earliest
start of the trip. The full moon lighting up the forested valleys made it
rivetingly beautiful as we made our way through the Gangtey and Wangdi valleys.
While we birded the excellent Jigme Dorji NP forest, and were rewarded with
Collared Owlet, Barred Cuckoo-dove, White-browed Shrike-babbler, Large Niltava,
Grey and Slaty-bellied Tesia, almost all of which we were able to spot only
because of Kencho’s picking out their calls from the forest and then our seeking
them out from the forest depths.
The trogons proved elusive as a section of the forest where they are usually
sighted was disturbed owing to road widening, and for the first time in the
trip, we decided to call it a day early and reach our hotel before nightfall –
perhaps a sign of fatigue setting in after a week of 4 am starts, birding
through the day and getting to the hotel after dusk. On our way, the Mo Chhu
river yielded a vagrant male Tufted Duck and an Osprey with a catch on a rock.
April 11 (Wangdi-Dochula-Thimphu-Paro)
We
birded the Botanical Garden short of Dochula Pass (3100m) the following morning
where we added a Besra and Eurasian Jay, did not add any to our list at or near
the Pass, then descended to spent an hour shopping in Thimphu (2370m) before
having lunch, and then got a male Wigeon and 2 female Tufted Duck in the Thimphu
sewerage pond on our way to Paro (2200m) where the obligatory Black-tailed
Crakes were lured out from a nondescript roadside marsh. We didn’t spend too
much time looking for the Ibisbill, as we had seen this bird on more than one
occasion previously.
April 12 (Paro-Chelela-Paro-Delhi)
The next morning, our last in Bhutan, we headed out at 3.30 am to Chelela (
3800m), the highest motorable point in the country, where we got White-browed
Rosefinch, 3 more Blood Pheasant, Grey Nightjar, Rufous-vented and
Rufous-fronted Tits, and as the last bird of the trip, Collared Grosbeak which
we owed solely to Kencho’s persistence as he ran all over the mountainside
playing his tapes and trying to bid us farewell with this beautiful bird. The
bird obliged us just as we were about to board the car on our descent to the
airport, by perching on an excellent post with a great background and giving us
great views.
We rushed to the airport and after nearly an hour in the queue waiting for
baggage to be screened, boarded our Druk Air flight to Delhi, after a bit of
panic induced by our not carrying the travel permits with us which were issued
to us in Samdrup-Jongkhar. The matter was quickly addressed by Mangal, who had
in the meanwhile picked up his next consignment of tourists and driven out to
Paro town, but got them delivered to the airport just in time for us to make the
flight. As advised, we took the seats on the right and were rewarded with great
views of the Kanchenjunga and then the Everest - the pilot was kind enough to
point these out - on a clear, sunny day.
That marked the end of a truly fantastic 10-day trip to this magnificent
country, and our super thanks to Mangal and Kencho, 2 truly remarkably warm
human beings who made our trip memorable, not only with their driving/birding
skills but also with the exceptional care with which they looked after us.
Thanks also to Sakten Tours for organising the trip, and to Sumit Sen for
helping us out generously in the planning of the trip.
Notes:
a) While we decided to fly to
Guwahati, drive to Samdrup-Jongkar and then bird our way to Paro, most birders
do it the other way around, partly because SJ was opened as an entry point only
about a year back, and thus Paro-SJ was the only option till recently. We
decided to not fly in to Paro so as not to rely on the reputedly unreliable Druk
Air on our way in and thus potentially risk screwing up the itinerary.
In retrospect, in terms of birding, it does not appear to matter much. While
some of the birding hotspots were easier to reach early morning when birding
west-east (Korila and pre-Korila from Mongar, Limnethang from Yongkola and
Trashithang from Punakha), some others were quicker to reach east-west (Thrumsinghla
from Sengor instead of from Bumthang, and Yotongla from Bumthang instead of from
Gangtey).
b) Most of the target birds give you multiple
opportunities (myzornis, trogon, honeyguide, parrotbills, pheasants, scimitar
babblers, laughingthrushes are likely to be found at the passes in the
west/central sections of the country – Chelela, Dochula, Yotongla as also in the
Sengor-Yongkola sections, so missing them on the early part of the trip would
give you a repeat chance later in the trip).
c) If one has the luxury of time, a 2-day detour to
Tingtibi (Shemgang) from Trongsa is highly recommended as it gives you the
opportunity to bird the lower altitude forests – which are reputed to yield much
easier sighting of the hornbills, Beautiful Nuthatch, Long-tailed Broadbill and
some of the wren-babblers.
d) Indian Rupees, upto Rs 100 denomination, are
accepted on par with the local currency, the Ngultrum.
e) This time of the year, we did not encounter any
leeches, but were bitten by small bugs in Jigme Dorji NP.
f) You are advised to carry adequate woollens as the
higher passes are quite cold, with temperatures dropping to near-zero, and if
there is rain and wind, it does get uncomfortably chilly.
g) It is mandatory to take the services of a local
tour operator when visiting Bhutan, and we used Sakten Tours and Treks (contact
: Tsewang Rinzing +975-2325567), who were most efficient other than the
unfortunate issue of lumping us with a poor bird guide for the first few days of
the trip, who we believe was highly recommended to them but was not someone they
had used in the past.
Trip list
END
Bhutan Trip Reports
