Xenospiza
Distracted
From 19/4 to 9/5 I visited North-East India with a group of four birders, one American (Joseph), one Belgian (Stijn), and two Dutchmen (Henk and me). It had been set up by Joseph as a private trip with Peter Lobo two years ago, but because of two of Joseph’s friends being unable to make it Henk invited me. While the others had a lot of experience in South Asia, mine was limited to Kazakhstan, Korea and Singapore Airport... so I saw quite a few lifers as little more than a blur from the car!
The trip started under a very dark cloud as just days earlier a Dutch birder had been killed by an elephant in an avoidable accident in Panbari Forest near Kaziranga. He was a good friend of Henk, who had even invited him to come on this trip. However, he had already booked his tour...
For a third party view on what happened: https://listserv.surfnet.nl/scripts/wa.cgi?A2=ind0904&L=ebnnl&D=1&O=D&P=5004 (I can give you my version if you’re interested, but I won’t write it openly).
Part 1: Dirang and Eaglenest
19/4: We flew to Guwahati, where we met Peter Lobo and saw the stricken tour group arrive at the airport with our second guide (Abid) – much too late for their plane (having ignored the advice to leave early because of a political rally). I begged for a visit to the dump, where we enjoyed the sight of many Greater Adjutants. Bengal Bushlark was another nice addition. An evening drive to Tezpur (Nameri was off limits because of a social conflict) was my introduction to Indian traffic.
20/4: We started in the very flat Assam Plain, driving through the destroyed forest near Nameri to Bhalukpong where we passed the border after some bureaucratic formalities which unfortunately did not involve stamps into passports.
The first part of the road went through wet forest: the edge of the Sessa Orchid Sanctuary. A stop in a bamboo patch yielded Pale-headed Woodpecker, with a Crimson-winged Liocichla at the next location. The valleys got drier and in scrubby vegetation beyond Bomdila the recently-split and unimpressive Bhutan Laughingthrush was a lifer for all, but the Indian Blue Robin was nicer.
The hotel in Dirang hosted an “International Congress on Yak Husbandry”, but we spent the last daylight hours in the nearby Sangti Valley, well-known for Black-tailed Crake and Long-billed Plover which did not disappoint.
21/4: We spent all day driving the Mandala Road up to 3000 m (about 30 km/20 miles – a 1.5 h drive). Beyond the agricultural lower reaches, the forest was rewarding. The first of many (not-that) Beautiful Sibias was greeted with joy. In a flock, the appearance of a male Fire-capped Tit was too short for most (my choice not to take pictures paid off); a Yellow-bellied Flowerpecker did not give much longer views. Among the real specialities of the region, a somewhat-visible Blue-fronted Robin was found, but the real star was a female Ward’s Trogon that allowed close views.
Higher up, a bushy slope with a very dramatic backdrop of huge cedars held both Slender-billed Scimitar-Babbler and Spotted Laughingthrush, although views were quite distant.
Beyond a settlement with accompanying forest destruction, a female Crimson-browed Finch was an excellent find. A Large-billed Leaf-Warbler showed well, while even higher up we found a few white-spotted-with-brown-throated Ludlow’s Fulvettas.
22/4: We drove up to the 4200 m/13000 ft Se La Pass, which is at least four hours from Dirang. The weather was bad, with much fog along the way. On the pass, it was even worse with strong winds and sleet, but also a few Grandalas: a male on a snow patch really hurts the eyes! After this, Stijn had to be driven back down because the altitude (and a bad stomach) got the best of him. We did not manage to find much in the fog, so we soon joined him.
On the way down, we got stuck because of the recovery of a lorry which had driven off the road (amazingly there were no fatalities). Being stuck for three hours led to a queue of maybe ten cars on each side.
23/4: A Blue-capped Rock-Thrush was singing in the hotel grounds. We drove up the Mandala Road again to bird the forest beyond its highest point (3200 m). A pair of Bar-winged Wren-Babblers reacted to tape by showing very nicely – they did not look like (but of course better than) any of the depictions in the books.
Two Collared Grosbeaks gave reasonable views, while we had a reprise of Spotted Laughingthrush – now seen very well. There was no response to the call of Satyr Tragopan. Much of the bamboo had died after flowering, pretty much annihilating our chances of some high altitude specialists, so on the whole, the birding was slower than on the 21st.
24/4: Another trip up the Se La Pass, with a very early start. I saw a Grey Nightjar high above the car (ending my frustration of only hearing them in Dirang), but the first car had a too-close encounter.
After breakfast at a viewpoint we had visited on the 22nd too (but now we did have a view), we reached the pass at a decent hour after failing to find back the Snow Pigeons we had seen from lower down.
We walked a path that's apparently off-limits and prone to induce altitude sickness. The wildlife is excellent though, with Blue Sheep, Plain-backed Trush and Snow Partridge in quick succession. While we were watching the partridges, a large bird came sailing off a cliff, calling loudly: a female Himalayan Monal! We decided it would not be a good idea to walk further, as the altitude was taking its toll.
A cloud rolling in ruined our chances of a male monal, so we birded the open forest instead (where we dipped Blood Pheasant again). Amazingly, we all happened to be at the same spot when Peter played some squeeky sounds and I came eye-to-eye with a bright green bird: “Myzornis!” Although the bird disappeared (not at all caused by my shouting), we soon enjoyed fine views of a male Fire-tailed Myzornis flitting about.
25/4: We drove to Lama Camp in Eaglenest, which took less than five hours, despite stopping for Himalayan Greenfinches and successfully visiting a good site for Crested Kingfisher.
An Indian group was just departing, leaving all of Eaglenest for us alone! Quite different from earlier in April, when there were four groups at the same time...
We spent the afternoon walking back along the road we came in by, looking for Eaglenest’s claim-to-fame, even joined by a third guide. In a nice secluded spot where birds came to drink, we found a great male Sapphire Flycatcher, that did not get the attention it deserved because a Gould’s Shortwing had been seen in the same spot recently. Of course, this probable migrant did not materialise, although Peter had a very short view of one elsewhere later that day... A male and female Cutia, one of the Asian birds I had always wanted to see, showed extremely well.
We stopped at a broad gully and after some waiting, a four-note whistle announced the arrival of a Bugun Liocichla. Henk and Joe saw it shortly, Stijn and I did not – and it did not reappear. My mood was not the best after this, no matter how often I repeated the word Cutia – only the first three letters stuck (this sounds like a Dutch swear word).
26/4: An early morning start saw us get reacquainted with the same gully, which contained a Blue-winged Laughingthrush. However, it did not take long to get called back up a few hundred yards, where a pair of Bugun Liocichla was showing long enough for all of us to see them. If any of us would have understood Hindi, we probably wouldn’t have bothered, because when Peter called us back, Abid was telling him there was a male in the gully we had been watching (though obviously not that well) – we saw this later! To complete the successful early morning, a responsive Rufous-throated Wren-Babbler scrambled up the slope into the road verge.
We drove up to Eaglenest Pass (ca. 30 minutes away) where we failed to attract Temminck’s Tragopan, but succeeded with two showy Brown Parrotbills.
We walked back down towards Lama Camp and found a Streak-throated Barwing, which according to Peter responds to the call of the very similar Hoary-throated Barwing, but not to that of the more colourful ‘conspecific’ birds south of the Brahmaputra! A distant call forced us to retrace our steps and a few anxious minutes later, we were watching a male Black-headed Shrike-Babbler, that gave “the greatest performance of the trip”. The search for the shrike-babbler meant a Darjeeling Woodpecker received little attention.
Not to be outdone, two Scaly Laughingthrushes emerged from the usual thick vegetation: I could believe these are actually fish and not birds at all. Just before we returned back to the camp, a family of Arunachal Macaques disappeared before all of the group had rounded the bend.
Back in the camp, I managed to see one of the (at least) three Black-throated Prinias singing in the area, but the rest of the group had to wait till the next day to catch up.
26/4: Himalayan Wood-Owl called in the night, but we couldn't get our sleepy recordist to tape it in (but I believe the birds in Korea, which I have seen, are in the same taxon). After a bit of birding below Lama Camp, we moved (slowly) to the next camp in Bhompu, 30 km (19 miles) to the south. Again no Temminck’s Tragopan at the pass, but a Spot-winged Grosbeak was some consolation.
At Sunderview, a circular walk through lots of flowering knotweed was good for a ridiculous amount of Green-tailed Sunbirds, but little else.
But things started looking up when we saw our first Yellow-throated Fulvetta (a very common bird here). I heard a Ward’s Trogon at about 2300 m, which turned out to be a female (again). One hundred meter lower down, a Ferruginous Flycatcher showed well on a log – a scarce bird if not spectacular looking. Then, a long low whistle started off frenetic searching – and after some near-misses because branches were in the way or the bird wouldn’t sit still we had our bird of the day: a male Purple Cochoa! My first cochoa, Henk’s last.
28/4: We slowly made our way down to the lowest point in Eaglenest that can be reached by road at the moment: the Doimara River (27 km (17 miles) or 1:30 h from Bhompu if you don’t stop). A scary landslide blocks the road here (and access from the south is not allowed).
The drivers became quite excited when fresh elephant dung was found just below Bhompu camp, and fire crackers and matches were laid out on the dashboards. We stopped at a few streams with tall herbs that should contain wren-babblers, but only Long-billed Wren-Babbler decided to give a stellar performance.
On the way, we had great views of the impressive Rufous-necked Hornbill (and to my joy, we also heard its wing whirr). A surprise addition to the mammal list was a Dhole, that I unfortunately had to view through the first car! We also encountered White-naped Yuhina, in my view the prettiest of the six species we saw.
After earlier flight views, a Hodgson’s Hawk-Cuckoo feeding on a caterpillar (Peter’s best views ever!) was a consolation for giving up the search for another bird that flew towards a bamboo patch which was rustling ominously... (luckily we never saw the culprit).
We spent a few hours near the river, seeing some nice lowland species and Crested Kingfisher, but not the bird we had aimed for.
As evening fell, we headed back to a location where most Indian mobiles could get a connection. After the necessary calls had been made, a female Hodgson’s Frogmouth flew in, enticed by a mechanical male. The night drive back to the camp was uneventful, except for a flat tyre. Mountain Scops-Owl called, but I did not try to see it (not wanting to walk into an elephant).
29/4: Another try at one of the gullies we had visited the day before, but now an hour earlier, resulted in excellent views of Sikkim Wedge-billed Babbler.
We spent the rest of the day walking the road between Bhompu and Sessni, with birding quite slow at times. The main goal of the day, Beautiful Nuthatch, was seen so badly its beauty could not even be assessed.
To reinvigorate the birding instincts, a Chestnut-breasted Partridge that was hiding in a small patch of forest between a hairpin and a landslide became the victim of a game drive involving two guides, two drivers and a selfless birder who was satisfied with his short view. Not the optimal way to see an endemic.
As we continued walking, we encountered more Beautiful Nuthatches, this time showing they indeed deserved their name! A mystery bird song kept us occupied until we had to go back to Bhompu – it turned out later that we had been hearing a Rufous-chinned Laughingthrush. A final Beautiful Nuthatch concluded the day.
30/4: We returned to the lower reaches of Eaglenest to catch up with a few birds we had missed on the 28th. This time, a lack of elephant activity meant the search for White-hooded Babbler was successful.
At about 9:30 h, we arrived at the landslide, where we thought walking down to the location we had occupied on the 28th would be a better idea than standing on the high viewpoint here. However, a high-pitched call from the river followed by: "Kingfisher!" led of course to everyone changing his mind! The Blyth’s Kingfisher flew upriver, landing twice for a few seconds – long enough for everyone to see it. It did not return, despite it having been seen flying back a bit further upstream... I thought seeing a bird with orange in its plumage was quite suitable for the Dutch Queen’s Day (as the royal family is the House of Orange).
We slowly birded our way back up, where a White-bellied Redstart was a huge surprise. More expected were Rufous-faced Warbler and Yellow-vented Warbler, both birds that are easier after the usual “Eaglenest season”. We heard Coral-billed Scimitar-Babbler, but this bird would evade us.
Joseph had birded the area above Bhompu after seeing the kingfisher, but although he had seen huge flocks, no sign of Blyth’s Tragopan.
With the chance of lifers now quite slim, we had decided to leave Eaglenest a day earlier than planned, so we would have a day extra in the Kaziranga area.
The trip started under a very dark cloud as just days earlier a Dutch birder had been killed by an elephant in an avoidable accident in Panbari Forest near Kaziranga. He was a good friend of Henk, who had even invited him to come on this trip. However, he had already booked his tour...
For a third party view on what happened: https://listserv.surfnet.nl/scripts/wa.cgi?A2=ind0904&L=ebnnl&D=1&O=D&P=5004 (I can give you my version if you’re interested, but I won’t write it openly).
Part 1: Dirang and Eaglenest
19/4: We flew to Guwahati, where we met Peter Lobo and saw the stricken tour group arrive at the airport with our second guide (Abid) – much too late for their plane (having ignored the advice to leave early because of a political rally). I begged for a visit to the dump, where we enjoyed the sight of many Greater Adjutants. Bengal Bushlark was another nice addition. An evening drive to Tezpur (Nameri was off limits because of a social conflict) was my introduction to Indian traffic.
20/4: We started in the very flat Assam Plain, driving through the destroyed forest near Nameri to Bhalukpong where we passed the border after some bureaucratic formalities which unfortunately did not involve stamps into passports.
The first part of the road went through wet forest: the edge of the Sessa Orchid Sanctuary. A stop in a bamboo patch yielded Pale-headed Woodpecker, with a Crimson-winged Liocichla at the next location. The valleys got drier and in scrubby vegetation beyond Bomdila the recently-split and unimpressive Bhutan Laughingthrush was a lifer for all, but the Indian Blue Robin was nicer.
The hotel in Dirang hosted an “International Congress on Yak Husbandry”, but we spent the last daylight hours in the nearby Sangti Valley, well-known for Black-tailed Crake and Long-billed Plover which did not disappoint.
21/4: We spent all day driving the Mandala Road up to 3000 m (about 30 km/20 miles – a 1.5 h drive). Beyond the agricultural lower reaches, the forest was rewarding. The first of many (not-that) Beautiful Sibias was greeted with joy. In a flock, the appearance of a male Fire-capped Tit was too short for most (my choice not to take pictures paid off); a Yellow-bellied Flowerpecker did not give much longer views. Among the real specialities of the region, a somewhat-visible Blue-fronted Robin was found, but the real star was a female Ward’s Trogon that allowed close views.
Higher up, a bushy slope with a very dramatic backdrop of huge cedars held both Slender-billed Scimitar-Babbler and Spotted Laughingthrush, although views were quite distant.
Beyond a settlement with accompanying forest destruction, a female Crimson-browed Finch was an excellent find. A Large-billed Leaf-Warbler showed well, while even higher up we found a few white-spotted-with-brown-throated Ludlow’s Fulvettas.
22/4: We drove up to the 4200 m/13000 ft Se La Pass, which is at least four hours from Dirang. The weather was bad, with much fog along the way. On the pass, it was even worse with strong winds and sleet, but also a few Grandalas: a male on a snow patch really hurts the eyes! After this, Stijn had to be driven back down because the altitude (and a bad stomach) got the best of him. We did not manage to find much in the fog, so we soon joined him.
On the way down, we got stuck because of the recovery of a lorry which had driven off the road (amazingly there were no fatalities). Being stuck for three hours led to a queue of maybe ten cars on each side.
23/4: A Blue-capped Rock-Thrush was singing in the hotel grounds. We drove up the Mandala Road again to bird the forest beyond its highest point (3200 m). A pair of Bar-winged Wren-Babblers reacted to tape by showing very nicely – they did not look like (but of course better than) any of the depictions in the books.
Two Collared Grosbeaks gave reasonable views, while we had a reprise of Spotted Laughingthrush – now seen very well. There was no response to the call of Satyr Tragopan. Much of the bamboo had died after flowering, pretty much annihilating our chances of some high altitude specialists, so on the whole, the birding was slower than on the 21st.
24/4: Another trip up the Se La Pass, with a very early start. I saw a Grey Nightjar high above the car (ending my frustration of only hearing them in Dirang), but the first car had a too-close encounter.
After breakfast at a viewpoint we had visited on the 22nd too (but now we did have a view), we reached the pass at a decent hour after failing to find back the Snow Pigeons we had seen from lower down.
We walked a path that's apparently off-limits and prone to induce altitude sickness. The wildlife is excellent though, with Blue Sheep, Plain-backed Trush and Snow Partridge in quick succession. While we were watching the partridges, a large bird came sailing off a cliff, calling loudly: a female Himalayan Monal! We decided it would not be a good idea to walk further, as the altitude was taking its toll.
A cloud rolling in ruined our chances of a male monal, so we birded the open forest instead (where we dipped Blood Pheasant again). Amazingly, we all happened to be at the same spot when Peter played some squeeky sounds and I came eye-to-eye with a bright green bird: “Myzornis!” Although the bird disappeared (not at all caused by my shouting), we soon enjoyed fine views of a male Fire-tailed Myzornis flitting about.
25/4: We drove to Lama Camp in Eaglenest, which took less than five hours, despite stopping for Himalayan Greenfinches and successfully visiting a good site for Crested Kingfisher.
An Indian group was just departing, leaving all of Eaglenest for us alone! Quite different from earlier in April, when there were four groups at the same time...
We spent the afternoon walking back along the road we came in by, looking for Eaglenest’s claim-to-fame, even joined by a third guide. In a nice secluded spot where birds came to drink, we found a great male Sapphire Flycatcher, that did not get the attention it deserved because a Gould’s Shortwing had been seen in the same spot recently. Of course, this probable migrant did not materialise, although Peter had a very short view of one elsewhere later that day... A male and female Cutia, one of the Asian birds I had always wanted to see, showed extremely well.
We stopped at a broad gully and after some waiting, a four-note whistle announced the arrival of a Bugun Liocichla. Henk and Joe saw it shortly, Stijn and I did not – and it did not reappear. My mood was not the best after this, no matter how often I repeated the word Cutia – only the first three letters stuck (this sounds like a Dutch swear word).
26/4: An early morning start saw us get reacquainted with the same gully, which contained a Blue-winged Laughingthrush. However, it did not take long to get called back up a few hundred yards, where a pair of Bugun Liocichla was showing long enough for all of us to see them. If any of us would have understood Hindi, we probably wouldn’t have bothered, because when Peter called us back, Abid was telling him there was a male in the gully we had been watching (though obviously not that well) – we saw this later! To complete the successful early morning, a responsive Rufous-throated Wren-Babbler scrambled up the slope into the road verge.
We drove up to Eaglenest Pass (ca. 30 minutes away) where we failed to attract Temminck’s Tragopan, but succeeded with two showy Brown Parrotbills.
We walked back down towards Lama Camp and found a Streak-throated Barwing, which according to Peter responds to the call of the very similar Hoary-throated Barwing, but not to that of the more colourful ‘conspecific’ birds south of the Brahmaputra! A distant call forced us to retrace our steps and a few anxious minutes later, we were watching a male Black-headed Shrike-Babbler, that gave “the greatest performance of the trip”. The search for the shrike-babbler meant a Darjeeling Woodpecker received little attention.
Not to be outdone, two Scaly Laughingthrushes emerged from the usual thick vegetation: I could believe these are actually fish and not birds at all. Just before we returned back to the camp, a family of Arunachal Macaques disappeared before all of the group had rounded the bend.
Back in the camp, I managed to see one of the (at least) three Black-throated Prinias singing in the area, but the rest of the group had to wait till the next day to catch up.
26/4: Himalayan Wood-Owl called in the night, but we couldn't get our sleepy recordist to tape it in (but I believe the birds in Korea, which I have seen, are in the same taxon). After a bit of birding below Lama Camp, we moved (slowly) to the next camp in Bhompu, 30 km (19 miles) to the south. Again no Temminck’s Tragopan at the pass, but a Spot-winged Grosbeak was some consolation.
At Sunderview, a circular walk through lots of flowering knotweed was good for a ridiculous amount of Green-tailed Sunbirds, but little else.
But things started looking up when we saw our first Yellow-throated Fulvetta (a very common bird here). I heard a Ward’s Trogon at about 2300 m, which turned out to be a female (again). One hundred meter lower down, a Ferruginous Flycatcher showed well on a log – a scarce bird if not spectacular looking. Then, a long low whistle started off frenetic searching – and after some near-misses because branches were in the way or the bird wouldn’t sit still we had our bird of the day: a male Purple Cochoa! My first cochoa, Henk’s last.
28/4: We slowly made our way down to the lowest point in Eaglenest that can be reached by road at the moment: the Doimara River (27 km (17 miles) or 1:30 h from Bhompu if you don’t stop). A scary landslide blocks the road here (and access from the south is not allowed).
The drivers became quite excited when fresh elephant dung was found just below Bhompu camp, and fire crackers and matches were laid out on the dashboards. We stopped at a few streams with tall herbs that should contain wren-babblers, but only Long-billed Wren-Babbler decided to give a stellar performance.
On the way, we had great views of the impressive Rufous-necked Hornbill (and to my joy, we also heard its wing whirr). A surprise addition to the mammal list was a Dhole, that I unfortunately had to view through the first car! We also encountered White-naped Yuhina, in my view the prettiest of the six species we saw.
After earlier flight views, a Hodgson’s Hawk-Cuckoo feeding on a caterpillar (Peter’s best views ever!) was a consolation for giving up the search for another bird that flew towards a bamboo patch which was rustling ominously... (luckily we never saw the culprit).
We spent a few hours near the river, seeing some nice lowland species and Crested Kingfisher, but not the bird we had aimed for.
As evening fell, we headed back to a location where most Indian mobiles could get a connection. After the necessary calls had been made, a female Hodgson’s Frogmouth flew in, enticed by a mechanical male. The night drive back to the camp was uneventful, except for a flat tyre. Mountain Scops-Owl called, but I did not try to see it (not wanting to walk into an elephant).
29/4: Another try at one of the gullies we had visited the day before, but now an hour earlier, resulted in excellent views of Sikkim Wedge-billed Babbler.
We spent the rest of the day walking the road between Bhompu and Sessni, with birding quite slow at times. The main goal of the day, Beautiful Nuthatch, was seen so badly its beauty could not even be assessed.
To reinvigorate the birding instincts, a Chestnut-breasted Partridge that was hiding in a small patch of forest between a hairpin and a landslide became the victim of a game drive involving two guides, two drivers and a selfless birder who was satisfied with his short view. Not the optimal way to see an endemic.
As we continued walking, we encountered more Beautiful Nuthatches, this time showing they indeed deserved their name! A mystery bird song kept us occupied until we had to go back to Bhompu – it turned out later that we had been hearing a Rufous-chinned Laughingthrush. A final Beautiful Nuthatch concluded the day.
30/4: We returned to the lower reaches of Eaglenest to catch up with a few birds we had missed on the 28th. This time, a lack of elephant activity meant the search for White-hooded Babbler was successful.
At about 9:30 h, we arrived at the landslide, where we thought walking down to the location we had occupied on the 28th would be a better idea than standing on the high viewpoint here. However, a high-pitched call from the river followed by: "Kingfisher!" led of course to everyone changing his mind! The Blyth’s Kingfisher flew upriver, landing twice for a few seconds – long enough for everyone to see it. It did not return, despite it having been seen flying back a bit further upstream... I thought seeing a bird with orange in its plumage was quite suitable for the Dutch Queen’s Day (as the royal family is the House of Orange).
We slowly birded our way back up, where a White-bellied Redstart was a huge surprise. More expected were Rufous-faced Warbler and Yellow-vented Warbler, both birds that are easier after the usual “Eaglenest season”. We heard Coral-billed Scimitar-Babbler, but this bird would evade us.
Joseph had birded the area above Bhompu after seeing the kingfisher, but although he had seen huge flocks, no sign of Blyth’s Tragopan.
With the chance of lifers now quite slim, we had decided to leave Eaglenest a day earlier than planned, so we would have a day extra in the Kaziranga area.
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