albatross02
Well-known member
Bhutan 19.10. – 06.11. 2008
Mostly sunny weather except one day rain and one day a little bit drizzle.
3 nights in Paro
- Paro is surrounded with pine forest, over 3000 m vegetation changed, the forest is
deeper
- vistited Tigers Nest and a ruin near Paro
common is Kestrel, Grey-backed Shrike, Green-backed Tit, White Wagtail, Spotted
Nutcracker, Large-billed Crow
also Red-billed Chough, Yellow-billed Chough
- highest driveable street in Bhutan ( 3988 m )
5 Kalij Pheasant on the street ( over 3000 m ), about 20 Blood Pheasant in 4200 m, lots
of Gentiana
2 nights in Thimbu
- forest is similar like Paro
mostly only Treesparrow
2 White-throated Laughingtrush in the town
6 Kalij Pheasents in the mountains west of Thimbu ( mountains until 4000 m high )
From Thimbu to Punakha we drove over a pass with spectacular view over the highest peaks of Bhutan ( clear sky ).
Down in direction of Punakha opened a botanical garden at October 2008.
Further down are nice deep forest with lots of ferns.
2 nights near Punakha
common are Indian Mynah, Little Forktail, Treesparrow, Red-vented Bulbul
also Kestrel and Common Hoopoe from time to time
vistit the dzong, nearby Crested Kingfisher and Great Cormorant
1 night in Gangtey
Cranes not arrived yet
1,1 Hen Harrier
next day rain
2 nights Trongsa
In steep valley near Trongsa is nice forest with different birdlife.
One day we drove down to south until 1200 m altitude.
Different birds like Spotted Forktail, Yellow-bellied Fantail, Blue-whistling Trush,
8 Black Bulbul, Broad bellied Warbler, 20 Rufous-backed Sibia, 2 Green-tailed Sunbird, Oriental Magpie Robin and Striated Laughingtrush.
In lower areas around 1200 m are Grey Wagtail and Great Cormorant ( river ).
2 nights in Jakar
The high valley ( 2600 m ) is surrounded with a lot of open pine forest.
Both days at 6:45 am, a group of Brown Parrotbill move through the bush.
Furthermore Rufous-breasted Accentour, Treepsarrow and Russet Sparrow are in the town.
Black-billed Magpie is very common in the town and at other place in Bumthang Valley.
Also common is Large-bellid Crow and from time to time Red-billed Chough.
5 Ibisbill was there at the river.
Way to Mongar leads over two passes ( 3600 m and 3800 m ).
Spectacular view over the high peaks.
Near first pass are lots of Grey-crested Tit.
Between the 2 passes are good viewing places for Blood Pheasant. On both ways I counted over 60 Pheasants.
After the 2. pass the street leads through a very narrow and steep area down to Namlin and further down to 700 m altitude.
The street leads trough a deep forest area.
The Altitude between 1800 m and 1200 m seems the best for bird watching.
Saw birds like Grey Treepie, Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo, Hill Mynah, Goldcrest, Common Tailorbird, Oriental White-eye, Chestnut-crowned Warbler, Rufous-vented Yuhina and Green-tailed Flowerbird.
2 nights in Mongar
Drove back 10 km and turn in direction of Lhuentse.
Way leads down to 800 m altitude.
Not far from Mongar are the first group of White-crested Laughingthrush.
This birds seems common there, I saw 5 different groups on one days.
Most birds are between 1800 m and 1200 m, like Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker, Bar-winged Flycatcher Shrike, Slaty-backed Forktail, Chestnet-bellied Nuthatch, Brown Dipper, Oriental Magpie Robin, Ashy Bulbul, Brownish-flanked Bush Warbler, Slender-billed Scimitar Babbler, Fire-breasted Flowerpecker, Green-tailed Sunbird, Grey Wagtail and Himalayan Bulbul.
Further down the street leads trough a nice Canyon and later into a very dry landscape.
Same way back, also via Gangtey where the Black-naked Cranes arrived.
53 Cranes I counted, but information centre told 115 should be there in the evening.
Near Punakha also migration birds arrived like Eurasian Wigeon, Common Teal, Gadwall and more than 50 Ruddy Shelduck.
This place was also good for waders like River Lapwing, Temmincks Stint, Green Sandpiper and Common Sandpiper.
Also Kingfishers was there like Blyths Kingfisher, Common Kingfisher and White-throated Kingfisher.
Finally I saw one Pallas Fish Eagle and House Swifts in this area.
The travel to Bhutan is only possible with complete package ( accommodation, full board and guide ). I used Bhutan Wilderness which offer also guided bird tours on there homepage.
But how looks like a guide ?
The guide has no knowledge of birdlife, has no binocular and no field guide of Bhutan.
Sometimes I gave him my bino, but when I need it by my own, he was a couple of hundred meters away.
He uses my field guide ( Helm Field Guide, Birds of Bhutan ) from time to time, but has almost no chance to define the birds.
For example, even only about 10 m away from 3 Spotted Laughingtrush and using my bino, he said it must some kind of Pheasant.
Similar about 50 m away from a River Lapwing, he used my bino and the field guide, than he said it is a Night Heron.
With the company I agreed different hikes from one point and than move to the next point. But the guide had poor knowledge of the locations, so we could mostly do only hikes along the street.
Knowledge of easiest orientation in mountain areas is extreme poor.
One area in east of Jakar, we went trough open meadows, where the paths was crossed by cows different days before. That’s why the walking paths are not so clear all the time.
But we had fine weather with view to the high peaks and to the town.
He called this as very hard area for orientation, because there is no clear path every where.
But from my point of view, it is one of the easiest ways in alpine areas, because You can walk in all direction down with view of the town and have mountains as orientation.
By myself I climb over 100 peaks per year. I live only 80 km away from the Alps. Almost every weekend I travel to Alps of Bavarian, Austria, Italy and sometimes to Switzerland.
Since 35 years I was in different mountain ranges of Europe, Asia, North America, South America and Australia until 7000 m.
From my point of view only organization is needed and a driver.
The guide will not learn bird watching, because he has no bino, no field guide and is too lazy to learn. Mostly the day tours started at 8:30 or 9 pm.
So I made my own hikes and started at 6 pm just before the first sun has arrived the valleys.
In this time I defined the most different kind of the birds.
Alone there was nobody which disturb me, in case I have to come carefully nearer to the birds.
In case of weather change ( quick change to bad weather ) in alpine areas, You will have more problem with such unexpirienced guide as You are without this guide.
Food level of Bhutan is quite high. It said there are checks of restaurants and hotels from authorities. So meat, fish and even prepared salad is no problem.
From middle of October to begin of November it is quite sunny, with warm days and strong solar radiation, but quite cool in the night.
Some hotels have small electric heater. It depends on the size of the rooms, if they are warm enough during the night or not.
The houses do not use shutter for windows and have only simple glass, so the rooms get cool very quickly.
Gangtey and Jakar have no or not enough power for electric heaters. The hotels use stove, which runs with wood. The rooms get cool after 2 hours.
In every case I would recommend take a sleeping bag with You.
Bird List
1 Grey-backed Shrike
2 Common Kestrel
3 Oriental Turtle Dove
4 Black-faced Warbler
5 White Wagtail
6 Eurasian Tree Sparrow
7 Red-bellied Chough
8 Large-bellied Crow
9 Black-bellied Magpie
10 House Sparrow
11 Spotted Nutcracker
12 Common Rosefinch
13 Common Buzzard
14 Grey Treepie
15 Yellow-bellied Chough
16 White-capped Water Redstart
17 Blue-fronted Redstart
18 Green-backed Tit
19 Rock Pigeon
20 Blue-whistling Trush
21 Hodgsons Redstart
22 Rufous-fronted Tit
23 Spotted Forktail
24 Yellow-bellied Blue Magpie
25 Blood Pheasant
26 Hobby
27 Kalij Pheasant
28 Black-throated Tit
29 Rufous-backed Sibia
30 White-browed Rosefinch
31 Himalayan Monal
32 White-throated Laughingtrush
33 White-tailed Nuthatch
34 ndian Mynah
35 Stripe-throated Yuhina
36 Little Forktail
37 Red-vented Bulbul
38 Common Hoopoe
39 Scaly-breasted Yuhina
40 Scarlet Finch
41 Black-faced Warbler
42 Oriental White-eye
43 Great Cormorant
44 Black Kite
45 Stonechat
46 Plumbeous Water Redstart
47 Wallcreeper
48 Brown Dipper
49 Long-tailed Shrike
50 Brown Shrike
51 Crested Kingfisher
52 Grey Wagtail
53 Red-headed Bullfinch
54 White-winged Grosbeak
55 Oriental Skylark
56 Little Bunting
57 Hen Harrier
58 Common Sandpiper
59 River Lapwing
60 Fire-breasted Flowerpecker
61 Chestnut-crowned Warbler
62 Grey-checked Warbler
63 Himalayan Swiftlet
64 Ashy Drongo
65 Spotted Dove
66 Yellow-bellied Fantail
67 Black Bulbul
68 White-spectacled Warbler
69 Broad-bellied Warbler
70 Striated Laughingtrush
71 Pygmy Wren Babbler
72 Hoary-throated Barwing
73 Red-tailed Minla
74 Rufous-vented Yuhina
75 Green-tailed Sunbird
76 Crested Bunting
77 Oriental Magpie Robin
78 Drongo Cuckoo
79 Blue-throated Flycatcher
80 Ibisbill
81 Besra
82 Crested Goshawk
83 Tickells Leaf Warbler
84 Ash-throated Warbler
85 Plain Mountain Finch
86 Rufous-breasted Accentor
87 Brown Parrotbill
88 White-winged Redstart
89 Russet Sparrow
90 Long-tailed Minivet
91 Grey-crested Tit
92 Winter Wren
93 White-throated Rosefinch
94 White-browed Fulvetta
95 Greenich Warbler
96 Rusty-flanked Treecreeper
97 Chestnut-bellied Rock Trush
98 Oriental Cuckoo
99 Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon
100 Black Eagle
101 Golden Eagle
102 Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo
103 Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher
104 Hill Mynah
105 Sultan Tit
106 Yellow-checked Tit
107 Goldcrest
108 Common Tailorbird
109 Golden-spectacled Warbler
110 Slender-bellied Scimilar Babbler
111 Crimson Sunbird
112 Red-collared Dove
113 Himalayan Bulbul
114 Grey-headed Woodpecker
115 Blue-throated Barbet
116 Lesser Coucal
117 Gadwall
118 Brown-headed Gull
119 Daurian Redstart
120 Lemon-rumped Warbler
121 Spotted Laughingtrush
122 Yellow-breasted Greenfinch
123 Speckled Wood Pigeon
124 Crested Serpant Eagle
125 Black-nacked Crane
126 Streaked Laughingtrush
127 Pallas Fish Eagle
128 Ruddy Shelduck
129 Mallard
130 Tufted Duck
131 Common Teal
132 Eurasian Wigeon
133 Black-chinned Yuhina
134 Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch
135 Grey-backed Shrike
136 Blyths Kingfisher
137 Common Kingfisher
138 White-throated Kingfisher
139 House Swift
140 Green Sandpiper
141 Temmink's Stint
142 Little Ringed Plover
143 Uppland Buzzard
144 Chestnut-crowned Laughingtrush
145 Slaty-backed Forktail
146 Bar-winged Flycatcher Shrike
Mostly sunny weather except one day rain and one day a little bit drizzle.
3 nights in Paro
- Paro is surrounded with pine forest, over 3000 m vegetation changed, the forest is
deeper
- vistited Tigers Nest and a ruin near Paro
common is Kestrel, Grey-backed Shrike, Green-backed Tit, White Wagtail, Spotted
Nutcracker, Large-billed Crow
also Red-billed Chough, Yellow-billed Chough
- highest driveable street in Bhutan ( 3988 m )
5 Kalij Pheasant on the street ( over 3000 m ), about 20 Blood Pheasant in 4200 m, lots
of Gentiana
2 nights in Thimbu
- forest is similar like Paro
mostly only Treesparrow
2 White-throated Laughingtrush in the town
6 Kalij Pheasents in the mountains west of Thimbu ( mountains until 4000 m high )
From Thimbu to Punakha we drove over a pass with spectacular view over the highest peaks of Bhutan ( clear sky ).
Down in direction of Punakha opened a botanical garden at October 2008.
Further down are nice deep forest with lots of ferns.
2 nights near Punakha
common are Indian Mynah, Little Forktail, Treesparrow, Red-vented Bulbul
also Kestrel and Common Hoopoe from time to time
vistit the dzong, nearby Crested Kingfisher and Great Cormorant
1 night in Gangtey
Cranes not arrived yet
1,1 Hen Harrier
next day rain
2 nights Trongsa
In steep valley near Trongsa is nice forest with different birdlife.
One day we drove down to south until 1200 m altitude.
Different birds like Spotted Forktail, Yellow-bellied Fantail, Blue-whistling Trush,
8 Black Bulbul, Broad bellied Warbler, 20 Rufous-backed Sibia, 2 Green-tailed Sunbird, Oriental Magpie Robin and Striated Laughingtrush.
In lower areas around 1200 m are Grey Wagtail and Great Cormorant ( river ).
2 nights in Jakar
The high valley ( 2600 m ) is surrounded with a lot of open pine forest.
Both days at 6:45 am, a group of Brown Parrotbill move through the bush.
Furthermore Rufous-breasted Accentour, Treepsarrow and Russet Sparrow are in the town.
Black-billed Magpie is very common in the town and at other place in Bumthang Valley.
Also common is Large-bellid Crow and from time to time Red-billed Chough.
5 Ibisbill was there at the river.
Way to Mongar leads over two passes ( 3600 m and 3800 m ).
Spectacular view over the high peaks.
Near first pass are lots of Grey-crested Tit.
Between the 2 passes are good viewing places for Blood Pheasant. On both ways I counted over 60 Pheasants.
After the 2. pass the street leads through a very narrow and steep area down to Namlin and further down to 700 m altitude.
The street leads trough a deep forest area.
The Altitude between 1800 m and 1200 m seems the best for bird watching.
Saw birds like Grey Treepie, Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo, Hill Mynah, Goldcrest, Common Tailorbird, Oriental White-eye, Chestnut-crowned Warbler, Rufous-vented Yuhina and Green-tailed Flowerbird.
2 nights in Mongar
Drove back 10 km and turn in direction of Lhuentse.
Way leads down to 800 m altitude.
Not far from Mongar are the first group of White-crested Laughingthrush.
This birds seems common there, I saw 5 different groups on one days.
Most birds are between 1800 m and 1200 m, like Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker, Bar-winged Flycatcher Shrike, Slaty-backed Forktail, Chestnet-bellied Nuthatch, Brown Dipper, Oriental Magpie Robin, Ashy Bulbul, Brownish-flanked Bush Warbler, Slender-billed Scimitar Babbler, Fire-breasted Flowerpecker, Green-tailed Sunbird, Grey Wagtail and Himalayan Bulbul.
Further down the street leads trough a nice Canyon and later into a very dry landscape.
Same way back, also via Gangtey where the Black-naked Cranes arrived.
53 Cranes I counted, but information centre told 115 should be there in the evening.
Near Punakha also migration birds arrived like Eurasian Wigeon, Common Teal, Gadwall and more than 50 Ruddy Shelduck.
This place was also good for waders like River Lapwing, Temmincks Stint, Green Sandpiper and Common Sandpiper.
Also Kingfishers was there like Blyths Kingfisher, Common Kingfisher and White-throated Kingfisher.
Finally I saw one Pallas Fish Eagle and House Swifts in this area.
The travel to Bhutan is only possible with complete package ( accommodation, full board and guide ). I used Bhutan Wilderness which offer also guided bird tours on there homepage.
But how looks like a guide ?
The guide has no knowledge of birdlife, has no binocular and no field guide of Bhutan.
Sometimes I gave him my bino, but when I need it by my own, he was a couple of hundred meters away.
He uses my field guide ( Helm Field Guide, Birds of Bhutan ) from time to time, but has almost no chance to define the birds.
For example, even only about 10 m away from 3 Spotted Laughingtrush and using my bino, he said it must some kind of Pheasant.
Similar about 50 m away from a River Lapwing, he used my bino and the field guide, than he said it is a Night Heron.
With the company I agreed different hikes from one point and than move to the next point. But the guide had poor knowledge of the locations, so we could mostly do only hikes along the street.
Knowledge of easiest orientation in mountain areas is extreme poor.
One area in east of Jakar, we went trough open meadows, where the paths was crossed by cows different days before. That’s why the walking paths are not so clear all the time.
But we had fine weather with view to the high peaks and to the town.
He called this as very hard area for orientation, because there is no clear path every where.
But from my point of view, it is one of the easiest ways in alpine areas, because You can walk in all direction down with view of the town and have mountains as orientation.
By myself I climb over 100 peaks per year. I live only 80 km away from the Alps. Almost every weekend I travel to Alps of Bavarian, Austria, Italy and sometimes to Switzerland.
Since 35 years I was in different mountain ranges of Europe, Asia, North America, South America and Australia until 7000 m.
From my point of view only organization is needed and a driver.
The guide will not learn bird watching, because he has no bino, no field guide and is too lazy to learn. Mostly the day tours started at 8:30 or 9 pm.
So I made my own hikes and started at 6 pm just before the first sun has arrived the valleys.
In this time I defined the most different kind of the birds.
Alone there was nobody which disturb me, in case I have to come carefully nearer to the birds.
In case of weather change ( quick change to bad weather ) in alpine areas, You will have more problem with such unexpirienced guide as You are without this guide.
Food level of Bhutan is quite high. It said there are checks of restaurants and hotels from authorities. So meat, fish and even prepared salad is no problem.
From middle of October to begin of November it is quite sunny, with warm days and strong solar radiation, but quite cool in the night.
Some hotels have small electric heater. It depends on the size of the rooms, if they are warm enough during the night or not.
The houses do not use shutter for windows and have only simple glass, so the rooms get cool very quickly.
Gangtey and Jakar have no or not enough power for electric heaters. The hotels use stove, which runs with wood. The rooms get cool after 2 hours.
In every case I would recommend take a sleeping bag with You.
Bird List
1 Grey-backed Shrike
2 Common Kestrel
3 Oriental Turtle Dove
4 Black-faced Warbler
5 White Wagtail
6 Eurasian Tree Sparrow
7 Red-bellied Chough
8 Large-bellied Crow
9 Black-bellied Magpie
10 House Sparrow
11 Spotted Nutcracker
12 Common Rosefinch
13 Common Buzzard
14 Grey Treepie
15 Yellow-bellied Chough
16 White-capped Water Redstart
17 Blue-fronted Redstart
18 Green-backed Tit
19 Rock Pigeon
20 Blue-whistling Trush
21 Hodgsons Redstart
22 Rufous-fronted Tit
23 Spotted Forktail
24 Yellow-bellied Blue Magpie
25 Blood Pheasant
26 Hobby
27 Kalij Pheasant
28 Black-throated Tit
29 Rufous-backed Sibia
30 White-browed Rosefinch
31 Himalayan Monal
32 White-throated Laughingtrush
33 White-tailed Nuthatch
34 ndian Mynah
35 Stripe-throated Yuhina
36 Little Forktail
37 Red-vented Bulbul
38 Common Hoopoe
39 Scaly-breasted Yuhina
40 Scarlet Finch
41 Black-faced Warbler
42 Oriental White-eye
43 Great Cormorant
44 Black Kite
45 Stonechat
46 Plumbeous Water Redstart
47 Wallcreeper
48 Brown Dipper
49 Long-tailed Shrike
50 Brown Shrike
51 Crested Kingfisher
52 Grey Wagtail
53 Red-headed Bullfinch
54 White-winged Grosbeak
55 Oriental Skylark
56 Little Bunting
57 Hen Harrier
58 Common Sandpiper
59 River Lapwing
60 Fire-breasted Flowerpecker
61 Chestnut-crowned Warbler
62 Grey-checked Warbler
63 Himalayan Swiftlet
64 Ashy Drongo
65 Spotted Dove
66 Yellow-bellied Fantail
67 Black Bulbul
68 White-spectacled Warbler
69 Broad-bellied Warbler
70 Striated Laughingtrush
71 Pygmy Wren Babbler
72 Hoary-throated Barwing
73 Red-tailed Minla
74 Rufous-vented Yuhina
75 Green-tailed Sunbird
76 Crested Bunting
77 Oriental Magpie Robin
78 Drongo Cuckoo
79 Blue-throated Flycatcher
80 Ibisbill
81 Besra
82 Crested Goshawk
83 Tickells Leaf Warbler
84 Ash-throated Warbler
85 Plain Mountain Finch
86 Rufous-breasted Accentor
87 Brown Parrotbill
88 White-winged Redstart
89 Russet Sparrow
90 Long-tailed Minivet
91 Grey-crested Tit
92 Winter Wren
93 White-throated Rosefinch
94 White-browed Fulvetta
95 Greenich Warbler
96 Rusty-flanked Treecreeper
97 Chestnut-bellied Rock Trush
98 Oriental Cuckoo
99 Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon
100 Black Eagle
101 Golden Eagle
102 Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo
103 Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher
104 Hill Mynah
105 Sultan Tit
106 Yellow-checked Tit
107 Goldcrest
108 Common Tailorbird
109 Golden-spectacled Warbler
110 Slender-bellied Scimilar Babbler
111 Crimson Sunbird
112 Red-collared Dove
113 Himalayan Bulbul
114 Grey-headed Woodpecker
115 Blue-throated Barbet
116 Lesser Coucal
117 Gadwall
118 Brown-headed Gull
119 Daurian Redstart
120 Lemon-rumped Warbler
121 Spotted Laughingtrush
122 Yellow-breasted Greenfinch
123 Speckled Wood Pigeon
124 Crested Serpant Eagle
125 Black-nacked Crane
126 Streaked Laughingtrush
127 Pallas Fish Eagle
128 Ruddy Shelduck
129 Mallard
130 Tufted Duck
131 Common Teal
132 Eurasian Wigeon
133 Black-chinned Yuhina
134 Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch
135 Grey-backed Shrike
136 Blyths Kingfisher
137 Common Kingfisher
138 White-throated Kingfisher
139 House Swift
140 Green Sandpiper
141 Temmink's Stint
142 Little Ringed Plover
143 Uppland Buzzard
144 Chestnut-crowned Laughingtrush
145 Slaty-backed Forktail
146 Bar-winged Flycatcher Shrike
