The Pheasants of
Pangot
Cheer Pheasant
A Trip Report by
Bikram Grewal and
Sumit Sen
3rd to 8th May, 2007.
All our earlier attempts to find the elusive Cheer Pheasant
Catreus wallichii had been unsuccessful, despite endlessly trekking the tortuous valleys of Chail and the Himalayan National Park in Himachal Pradesh. This time we decided, after much confabulation, to go to Pangot. Our friend Mohit Aggarwal runs the famed Jungle Lore Birding Lodge there and his two expert trackers, Lama and Ganesh, had been regaling us with tantalizing tales of Cheer sightings. The fact that Koklass
Pucrasia macrolopha was also seen in these parts, made us make up our minds and, in early May, this intrepid duo wended its way to the mixed forest of Ban Oak and Deodar.
In order to maximize our trip, we decided first to go to Sattal, where a friend had kindly offered to put her beautiful Sat Tal Forest Resort at our disposal. Sattal literally meaning seven lakes and is a group of small lakes nested together, about 23 kms from Nainital at an altitude of (1370 MT) still untouched by modernization. After a long and dusty trip through the plains of western Uttar Pradesh, we started our climb from Haldwani reaching the lakes
around lunch time. On the way we were disappointed that the lake in Bhimtal failed to produce the Little Herons it is so famous for.
In the afternoon we birded around the house, which commanded a magnificent view of the lakes. Birds of interest were a Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon
Treron sphenura . A male Common Rosefinch
Carpodacus erythrinus in breeding plumage and a hurtling Hill Partridge
Arborophila torqueola. The last a bird more often heard than seen.
The next day was spent birding around the Resort, which is nestled a 1,000 feet over the twin lakes, and in the mixed forests around lake level. Red-billed Blue Magpies
Urocissa erythrorhyncha, Long-tailed Minivets
Pericrocotus ethologus, Slaty-headed Parakeets
Psittacula himalayana and hundreds of Jungle Mynas
Acridotheres fuscus clamored for attention and the unseen but omnipresent calls of the Rusty-cheeked Scimitar Babbler
Pomatorhinus erythrogenys and Black Francolin
Francolinus francolinus filled the air around the resort. At the lake level, a wonderful trail held nesting Ashy Bulbuls
Hemixos flavala,
a smart Spotted Forktail
Enicurus maculatus, a few Tickell’s Thrush
Turdus unicolor, an Orange-headed Thrush
Zoothera citrina and a calling Brown Fish Owl
Ketupa zeylonensis. Our efforts to find a Scaly-breasted Wren Babbler in the gullies and undergrowth did not yield the desired result but we were rewarded by great views of Black Bulbuls
Hypsipetes leucocephalus, Greater Yellownape
Picus flavinucha and our only Rufous-chinned Laughingthrushes
Garrulax rufogularis from the trip.
We reached Pangot and settled in to Mohit’s famed Jungle Lore Birding Lodge, where his famed food table attracts several species of birds including Streaked Laughing Thrushes, Red-billed Magpies and both the Jays.
The following day, we birded around the lodge and visited Kilbury where we saw a magnificent Black Eagle
Ictinaetus malayensis gliding over thick oak forests that held numerous Eurasian Jays, Rufous-bellied Woodpeckers
Dendrocopos hyperythrus, a grand Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo
Dicrurus remifer and a feeding White-browed Shrike Babbler
Pteruthius flaviscapis. The little stream beyond Kilbury surprised us with, possibly, the 1st record of a Brown Dipper
Cinclus pallasii from the area.
The next day we drove out at the crack of dawn towards the village of Vinayak watching on the way at least three species of laughing thrushes, the Striated
Garrulax striatus, the White-throated
Garrulax albogularis and the Chestnut-crowned Garrulax
erythrocephalus. The fourth, the Streaked
Garrulax lineatus, was so common that we hardly spared it a second glance. Grey-winged Blackbirds
Turdus boulboul flitted around from tree to tree as did Eurasian
Garrulus glandarius and Black-headed
Garrulus lanceolatus Jays. As we passed the village we drove through a dark stretch of Deodar forest, where we spotted a Scaly
Zoothera dauma as well as a Mistle
Turdus viscivorus Thrush. Pleased by this we drove on to an open stretch with a precipitous fall on the left. Suddenly, a pair of large birds scamper up the hillside and, preening my neck out of the window, I managed to snatch a fleeting look at a bouquet of Koklass, scuttling uphill at great speed. Sumit the photographer was on the wrong side and missed them, but with his usual understated sense of dignity maintained that he was not upset.
His disappointment, however, was short-lived. As we drove a little further down we entered an area devoid of any trees or vegetation. We got off the car and started scanning the rocky knolls below and sure enough there was a large bird with a long tail scratching the ground. It was a male Cheer in all its glory. As it was well below us, it was impervious to our presence and we watched and photographed it for a full fifteen minutes before it took off on a
long flight to the valley across. Much to our surprise a second bird, a female and hitherto unnoticed, emerged from behind a large rock and joined her mate on his flight. A life-long quest had come to an end.
Elated, we returned to the only teashop in Vinayak, and a marriage band started the most bizarre cacophony we had ever heard. Surprisingly, it made no difference to the birds in the area, for as we devoured boiled eggs at the shop, we saw Ultramarine Flycatchers
Ficedula superciliaris, Lesser Yellownape
Picus chlorolophus, Green-backed
Parus monticolus, Spot-winged
Parus melanolophus and Black-lored
Parus xanthogenys Tits. We were delighted and returned to our camp, seeing and photographing the Himalayan Woodpecker
Dendrocopos himalayensis on the way. Great Barbets
Megalaima virens called all around
ad nauseam. One of the great joys of being in the hills at this time of year is the resounding of cuckoos that echo through the vales and we heard the Eurasian
Cuculus canorus, Indian
Cuculus micropterus, Banded Bay
Cacomantis sonneratii, and the Large Hawk
Hierococcyx sparverioides.
The Pangot Birding Lodge is a haven for birds and one can see up to forty species without as much as leaving its precincts. Large flocks of the Oriental Turtle Dove
Streptopelia orientalis come to roost in the trees bordering the property, and Plum-headed
Psittacula cyanocephala and Slaty-headed
Psittacula himalayana Parakeets weave in and out of the trees at high speed. The Mountain Scops Owl
Otus spilocephalus hoots all night. One evening, we reluctantly left the lodge to trek to the village above to catch a signal for our cell-phones, which had been mercifully dead below. While trying to speak to our families though crackling lines, a large bird resembling an emaciated Coucal dived past our noses. We abandoned all attempt at communication and rejoiced at the first sighting in this area of the Chestnut-winged Cuckoo
Clamator coromandus.
On our last day, we decided to pack our bags and leave at 5 am so that we could slowly bird on our way out before hitting the hot, dusty plains. Just as we approached Kilbury, a large bird, which I took to be a female Junglefowl, crossed the road. "It is a Koklass," screamed Sumit, much to his -- and my -- relief. It was a happy end to our long trek in the hills of Kumaon. Where else can you see, as we did, Cheer, Koklass, Red
Junglefowl
Gallus gallus, Khalij
Lophura l hamiltonii and Hill Partridge
Arborophila torqueola all in just 48 hours?
Trip list with Images
