This was a day I will remember for the rest of my life. We took off from Bompu heading downhill to Doimara Bridge. We left fairly early, between 5AM and 530AM if I recall correctly. We were bumping along the jeep track when we spotted a bird sitting in the middle of the road. We stopped and it flew up into a tree, giving us great looks. It was a Blue-naped Pitta, the bird we had looked so hard for near Kaziranga early in the trip. Pittas can be real P.I.T.A.s (Pain In The Ass) to see, so we were more than surprised to have it out in the open like that. We found fresh elephant footprints in the mud, which was a bit worrying.
I am sure we had a few more birds, and maybe some butterflies, but it is all a blur now. We rounded a corner on the road and right in front of us was a round furry red rear-end and a bushy striped tail. I gasped "PANDA! "It was a Red Panda, an animal I had only dreamed of seeing. It ran off the road, heading down hill into the forest. We all were in complete shock. After I said a couple of expletives we jumped out and ran to see if we could see it in one of the trees, thinking it may have climbed up. Unfortunately, it must have kept going. The funny thing was this was Mike's third trip to Eaglenest. He had seen a panda on one of his other trips, so he had a pretty good record! He did say he saw more of this one, as it turned to run we could see the side of its face.
We did see a lot more birds as we went down slope. A beautiful juvenile Black Eagle perched up giving us great views. An Asian Emerald Cuckoo flew over us and perched in a distant tree. We got it in the scope. Who wouldn't like a green cuckoo? We had a Pale-headed Woodpecker, which I believe was a life bird for Mike, and of course Willie and me. We came up to a ringing station, banding station for us in the states, and the guys were nice enough to show us a White-hooded Babbler. So cool! An Ashy Bulbul perched up, allowing me to photograph it, though the light made it less than a perfect photo. A Scarlet Minivet flashed its red breast in the leaves of a tree.
We arrived at the river and got out to walk the sandy banks, hoping for a kingfisher, but had no luck. We did have a lot of butterflies, including an Indian Purple Emperor, a Common Nawab, and an Angled Peirrot. We headed back towards Bompu. We had fantastic looks at a Crested Serpent-eagle, another great name. We saw another Rufous-necked Hornbill and several Kalij Pheasants, one of the few pheasants that actually show themselves fairly often.
We got back to camp and the moth sheets were gone. I was still not ready to take a mug and bucket shower, so I am sure I wasn't too pleasant to be around. As it was getting dark I went into the dining room to see if the generator was on so I could charge my camera battery. A group of Indian birders were already in there. As I walked in one of them asked me if I was the "moth lady". I laughed and said no, but I wish I was. We talked a bit about what we had seen. When I said we had a Red Panda every one of them had a shocked look on their face. It was great!
Photos for the day: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sngcanary/albums/72177720299205588
Bird List:
1. Hill Partridge
2. Rufous-throated Partridge*
3. Kalij Pheasant
4. Gray Peacock-pheasant
5. Red Junglefowl
6. Mountain Imperial-pigeon
7. Asian Emerald Cuckoo*
8. Square-tailed Drongo-cuckoo
9. Large Hawk-cuckoo
10. Himalayan Cuckoo
11. White-throated Needletail
12. Crested Serpent-eagle
13. Black Eagle
14. Crested Goshawk
15. Asian Barred Owlet
16. Collared Owlet
17. Rufous-necked Hornbill*
18. Great Barbet
19. Golden-throated Barbet
20. Blue-throated Barbet
21. Speckled Piculet
22. Greater Flameback
23. Pale-headed Woodpecker*
24. Lesser Yellownape
25. Greater Yellownape
26. Blue-naped Pitta
27. Scarlet Minivet
28. White-bellied Erpornis
29. Large Woodshrike
30. Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike
31. White-throated Fantail
32. Ashy Drongo
33. Bronzed Drongo
34. Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo
35. Greater Racket-tailed Drongo
36. Gray Treepie
37. Gray-headed Canary-flycatcher
38. Sultan Tit
39. Black-throated Prinia
40. Asian House Martin
41. Black-crested Bulbul
42. White-throated Bulbul
43. Black Bulbul
44. Ashy Bulbul*
45. Mountain Bulbul
46. Greenish Warbler
47. Yellow-vented Warbler*
48. Yellow-bellied Warbler
49. Rufous-faced Warbler*
50. Pale-billed Parrotbill
51. Striated Yuhina*
52. White-naped Yuhina
53. Pin-striped Tit-babbler
54. Golden Babbler
55. Rufous-capped Babbler
56. White-hooded Babbler*
57. Eyebrowed Wren-babbler*
58. Nepal Fulvetta*
59. Long-tailed Sibia
60. Rusty-fronted Barwing
61. Silver-eared Mesia
62. White-crested Laughingthrush
63. Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch
64. Small Niltava
65. Verditer Flycatcher
66. Black-throated Sunbird
67. Streaked Spiderhunter
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