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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jos Stratford" data-source="post: 3153461" data-attributes="member: 12449">Frustrated by the lack of Ratchet-tailed Treepie and Bamboo Woodpecker, I was just beginning to resign myself to the likelihood that I would miss both of these key birds when I once again heard a quiet tapping. Hmm, very close it was, but repeated scans of every twig and bough that rose from the adjacent bamboo revealed nothing. Then silence. Had the bird evaporated? Moments later, the tapping resumed to the left. I strolled over, again scans of trunks and branches revealed nothing. But the bird sounded low, almost on the ground …oh gawd, in the depths of the deepest darkest growths of bamboo in the area! Well, I thought the chances of seeing anything in there were close to zero, but squatting down, I focussed my binoculars into the gloom and suddenly the shape of a bird evolved …jeepers, there it was, right in my binocular view, one gingery Bamboo Woodpecker gently tapping away a bamboo stem! Oo, nice.Still one target to go though. No sooner had I extracted myself from the bamboo clump however than an almighty bird flock suddenly arrived, a stereophonic chirps and assorted calls announcing their arrival. A mad twenty minutes or so followed as I ploughed through the mass of birds passing, the range of birds including common birds such as Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher and assorted bulbuls, as well as quite a number of very desirable species: Black-throated Laughing Thrushes, White-headed Babblers, White-browed Scimitar-Babblers, Lesser Racket-tailed Drongos, Red-headed Trogon. And then a flash of a very distinctive tail, then wham, sitting directly above, a Racket-tailed Treepie. And then another! What a super finale to the day, I thought, savouring the birds appearing in all directions.Except it wasn’t the finale! By now the sun was not far from setting and I thought it maybe prudent to get back to the campsite before dark, thoughts of misjudging the stream crossings in the dark did not appeal too much. So off I tootled, down the slope and round a couple of corners. And ... my heart almost missed a beat… on the side of the track, to a backdrop of forest in deep shade, a stunning Leopard basking in the very last rays of sunlight! Oh giddy me, what an exquisite cat! And there it lay, watching me for quite some minutes, before most casually getting up and strolling up to the middle of the track to sit and continue watching me. Well, what a finale I thought once again! Eventually I had to shoo the cat off the road to continue down to the campsite.I arrived at the campsite with still slithers of light left, so after a quick chat to the ranger I decided to also check the road below the campsite. One Red Muntjac on the roadside, then a Large Indian Civet crossing. It was truly getting dark now, so before running into problems with Asian Elephants, I turned around and began my return to the campsite. But there, on the road ahead, an animal standing. I stopped and checked with the binoculars. Oh wow, a Dhole, the Asian hunting dog! A dream species!What a way to end the day …Bamboo Woodpecker, Ratchet-tailed Treepie, Leopard and Dhole, truly amazing!</blockquote>

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