There will be blood, part 2

This was an important day for us; we were going up to Sela Pass, where many of my most wanted birds for the trip are found. The distance from Dirang to Sela Pass as the crow flies isn't that far, but the road is crazy with many, many switchbacks. The Lonely Planet Guide to India calls it the most perilous road in Arunachal Pradesh. It is mostly used by army vehicles and other trucks and can be very slow going when traffic backs up. It is also prone to landslides. We left very early, at 4AM I think, maybe earlier. (My mind sometimes blocks out unpleasant memories.) 

I need to back track a bit. The day before we had run into another birding group. The guide and Mike chatted about the group's trip to Eaglenest, where we were heading in a few days. He then commented that it is so hard to know what the weather was going to do as there were no forecasts for Sela Pass. He was able to check on the weather in Tawang, which is past the pass, and it was supposed the rain. The following day was forecast to be sunny, so they were going to drive Mandala Road and go to Sela the next day. I asked Mike what he thought and he said we would go ahead and go. We had a second day scheduled for Sela in case things didn't go well.

I purposely turned my phone off as I wanted to take things in without any distractions. I had put my camera bag in the back of the car. The weather was glorious! After the sun came up we stopped and had amazing looks at a male Fire-tailed Sunbird. I deeply regretted leaving my camera in the back. I also noticed my phone was gone. Mike said he remembered me having it when we got in the car, and I was sure I had it, too. We looked under the seat and couldn't find it. We couldn't call it because I had turned it off. DOH! Willie said he bet it had fallen out of the car, but we hadn't stopped. I said if need be I would buy a burner phone when we got back to Dirang. I wasn't going to let it ruin my trip.

We drove on and the driver screeched to a halt, pointed, and said "Monal!" Himalayan Monal was one of my top target birds. I could see its orange tail sticking out behind a small structure on the side of the road. It then proceeded to cross the road and slowly go up the hill, giving us great views! Luckily I had gotten my camera bag out and was able to get a mediocre shot. As I put my camera back in the bag, guess what I found? Stuck at the bottom was my phone. Of course I was glad, but seeing the monal made me far happier. We then had a little bonus of seeing a Himalayan Pika, a very cute rodent.

We went on and stopped at another spot which was sometimes productive. Dorjee walked down a path that I was a little uncomfortable with.  It was narrow, a little slick looking, with a rather steep hill going down from it. I wondered if it was worth it. Willie was in front of me and he didn't seem very enthused about it either. Then I saw Dorjee motion us on and mouth the words "Blood Pheasant!" All fear left me and, if I recall correctly, I pushed past Willie and then told him what it was. We got to Dorjee and there was a pair just down the hill. The male was spectacular! I was shaking so badly I could hardly take any pictures. The pair strolled down the hill and we lost sight of them. This was my most wanted bird in India and one I didn't think we would see well. A lot of stories I had heard involved seeing them distantly on a cliff at best. I told Mike I would be happy if we didn't see a single other bird on the rest of the trip. 

We then drove up to the pass itself. It was still sunny, but the wind was howling and we were very cold. It was a bit of a change from the leech packed, hot, humid forest from the day before. We stopped at a tiny place for breakfast. We huddled around a little tin stove and drank tiny cups of hot tea. Our breakfast consisted of an omelet on top of maggi noodles. Maggi noodles are very popular in this area, which is really weird, as they are just "cup-o-noodles." But the omelet was great! 

We drove on to the other side of the pass. We checked a lake, but it was empty other than a single Brown-headed Gull. A side road across from the lake proved more productive. A Bearded Vulture, ask Lammergeire put on a great show flying overhead.Mike and Dorjee found a male Tibetan Blackbird, which we were thrilled about, then we found three more. We also had a Mountain Weasel, adding to our growing mammal list.

Our next stop was a spot where Solitary Snipe are often found. The hill down to the spot was very steep so I decided to watch from the road. Dorjee and Mike stomped around below us trying to find one, but did not have any luck. I watched a White-capped Redstart carrying nesting material to a rock crevice. As I was standing there a bird flashed past. I thought "That looks like a chubby Sabine's Gull." I then realized it was a Snow Pigeon, a bird I didn't think we were in range of. (My book was wrong.) Mike and Dorjee came back up and we hit another side road, which was productive. 

The altitude at Sela is almost 14,000 feet, so we were starting to feel it. We headed back over the pass when we saw a group of Belgian birders photographing something, so of course we stopped. They had a small group of Grandalas. Mike got a bright blue male in the spotting scope. This was another of my target birds. Unfortunately, they were high up and my photos are crap. 

We decided to go down slope for lunch and come back after we warmed up a bit. The weather started to deteriorate, which seemed to be a pattern most days at higher elevations. We found a spot to get momos, Tibetan dumplings, which I really loved. It was foggy, and then drizzling. I hoped we would get above it if we got higher up. We started back up to the pass and I noticed a little bit of snow along the side of the road. I commented that I didn't remember seeing snow on the way up. Mike said it probably had been there. We got a bit higher and there was more snow. I knew I would have noticed. By the time we got to the Blood Pheasant spot it was snowing pretty heavily. We stopped for a few minutes and decided to cut our losses and head back before it got any worse. This was fine with me. The day had gone better than I would have ever expected!

Photos for the day: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sngcanary/albums/72177720299041537

Bird list for the day:

1. Blood Pheasant *

2. Himalayan Monal*

3. Snow Pigeon

4. Oriental Turtle-dove

5. Blyth's Swift *

6. Brown-headed Gull

7. Bearded Vulture

8. Himalayan Buzzard *

9. Eurasian Kestrel

10. Peregrine Falcon

11. Gray-backed Shrike

12. Red-billed Chough

13. Large-billed Crow

14. Coal Tit

15. Blyth's Leaf-warbler

16. Black-faced Laughing-thrush *

17. Grandala *

18. Tibetan Blackbird *

19. White-collared Blackbird *

20. Golden Bush-robin

21. Blue-fronted Redstart

22. White-capped Redstart

23. Fire-tailed Sunbird *

24. Alpine Accentor

25. Altai Accentor *

26. Rufous-breasted Accentor *

27. Russet Sparrow *

28. Rosy Pipit

29. Himalayan White-browed Rosefinch *

30. Dark-breasted Rosefinch*

31. Plain Mountain Finch *

There will be blood, part one, or LOL.

 After my fitful night being kept awake by the Indian Cuckoo, I got up around 4 AM and wandered the grounds of the camp. I was excited to see a Red-vented Bulbul feeding young. There were a couple of phylloscopus warblers, Greenish and Dusky, which I tried to be excited about, but that was in vain. The Indian Cuckoo was STILL calling. I heard some other bird song and tracked down a couple of Oriental Magpie-robins. They have an amazing repertoire of songs!

We were only staying at the camp one night, so I threw my stuff in my suitcase and grabbed my leech socks. The rest of the group was waiting for me, so I was rushing. I put on my leech socks, but they were a little uncomfortable, as I had on heavy wool socks. I didn't want to dig around in my suitcase looking for lighter weight socks, so I decided to forego the leech socks. After all I hadn't needed them the previous morning. (Can you guess what is coming?) I ran out to the car and joined our group.

We stopped at the headquarters to get our entrance permit and pick up the forest guard. As always, this took a bit of time. While we were waiting several Indian dogs came up and we made friends with them. All of the dogs I met in India were incredibly sweet. Mike made over them and they about turned themselves inside out with happiness. After the guard joined us and we drove down to the river the dogs followed us all the way there. If I were to get a dog, I would definitely want one of these! Almost every dog we saw in Assam looked alike, very similar to Basenjis. Coat colors varied, but most were tan or red. Some of them were black and tan. They are medium size dogs with short coats, pricked ears, and tightly curled tails. They always look like they are smiling. I was surprised at how healthy all the street dogs looked.

When we got to the river our canoe was waiting. Anyone who knows me well knows that I have very poor balance, and am always afraid of falling. The thought of getting into one of these canoes was daunting, but I was able to do it. I worked my way back to the very narrow board seat and bent my rickety knees to sit down. I promptly went over the board and landed on my ass on the floor of the canoe. Mike and Dorjee hauled me up and I planted myself on the seat, a little bit embarrassed.

We crossed the river and walked through the grasses on the edge. A Golden-headed Cisticola sang, and Bengal Bushlarks were displaying. Our armed guard walked in front of us. This was the first time I had ever birded with an armed guard! Most people would think the danger would be tigers, but actually elephants are much more likely to kill you. The guards are also there to protect the animals against poachers. 

We entered the woods and I was determined to not look at butterflies, even though they were everywhere. You really have to chose if you are going to concentrate on birding or butterflying. We walked the forest path heading to the pond where we might see White-winged Duck. The birding was great and we were delighted to see a Black Giant Squirrel, a species we saw in Thailand. Who doesn't love a giant squirrel?

As we approached the pond where the White-winged Ducks are seen I felt something on my foot. I looked down and saw something brown and squishy looking where my shoe met my ankle, a leech. I decided to ignore it, knowing from experience in Australia that it would drop off when it was full. I pressed ahead with the group. We turned off of the main path and then walked a path I found a bit precarious on a mud bank. The ducks were no where to be seen, but we got great looks at Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch, which were building a nest. There was some movement at the far end of the pond and two Guars, very large wild cows, came in to drink. The ducks did not show, but the Guars were a great consolation prize. I pulled off several more leeches.

We headed back to the camp to get ready to go north into Arunachal Pradesh. I found even more leeches. I had at least ten bites, thus the subtitle to this post,  LOL = Lots of Leeches. When I pulled off my socks I was covered in blood. I put some antibiotic cream and slapped on a bunch of band-aids. A few years prior I would have flipped out, but this time I just felt like they were a bit of a hassle. The bleeding was no fun, but they didn't hurt. The worst part is pulling them off, as they are really squishy feeling. 

We arrived on the border of Arunachal Pradesh and Dorjee and the driver went into an office to get our permits to enter. This province requires special permission to enter, as there have been border conflicts with China for years. We had a bit of tension before the trip when the government had quit issuing permits. While they were hashing out the bureaucratic details, Mike and Willie ran into a "wine shop" to get some libations to help us get through the cold evenings. I am not sure why they are called wine shops, as they don't have wine. They also didn't have gin. (Hello! Have they not heard of Bombay Sapphire?) We had to settle for whisky. Dorjee and the driver finally returned and the gate opened for us to enter.

Our first destination in Arunachal Pradesh was Dirang, where we stayed for four nights. We birded along the Sessa River, where we had a gorgeous Red-headed Trogon. We had seen this bird in Thailand, but you can't possibly see too many trogons. We picked up a few river birds, like Plumbeous  and White-capped Redstarts. It was a beautiful drive. We arrived at our hotel, the Mandela, in Dirang. We were on the fourth floor. The elevator music was classic Kenny G! The food at the restaurant was really nice. We had a very early start the next morning, going up to Sela Pass, so we made it an early night.

Photos for the day: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sngcanary/albums/72177720299008122

Bird list:

1. Indian Spot-billed Duck

2. Kalij Pheasant

3. Red Junglefowl

4. Rock Pigeon (feral)

5. Oriental Turtle-dove

6. Spotted Dove

7. Green Imperial Pigeon

8. Greater Coucal

9. Asian Koel

10. Square-tailed Drongo-cuckoo

11. Large Hawk-cuckoo

12. Indian Cuckoo

13. White-breasted Waterhen

14. River Lapwing *

15. Red-wattled Lapwing

16. Little Ringed Plover

17. Common Sandpiper

18. Little Egret

19. Cattle Egret

20. Striated Heron

21. Crested Serpent-eagle

22. Black Kite

23. Asian Barred Owlet

24,. Spotted Owlet

25. Red-headed Trogon

26. Wreathed Hornbill

27. Common Kingfisher

28. Ruddy Kingfisher *

29. White-throated Kingfisher

30. Pied Kingfisher

31. Chestnut-headed Bee-eater

32. Indochinese Roller

33. Dollarbird

34. Great Barbet

35. Lineated Barbet

36. Blue-throated Barbet

37. Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker

38. Lesser Yellownape

39. Rose-ringed Parakeet

40, Red-breasted Parakeet

41. Vernal Hanging Parrot

42. Scarlet Minivet

43. Rosy Minivet *

44. Black-hooded Oriole

45. Large Woodshrike

46. Common Iora

47. Ashy Drongo

48. Gray-backed Shrike

49. Large-billed Crow

50. Cinerous Tit

51. Bengal Bushlark

52. Common Tailorbird

53. Golden-headed Cisticola

54. Gray-throated Martin

55. Red-vented Bulbul

56. Red-whiskered Bulbul

57. Dusky Warbler

58. Greenish Warbler

59. Pin-striped Tit-babbler

60. Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch *

61. Chestnut-tailed Starling

62. Common Myna

63. Jungle Myna

64. Great Myna

65. Oriental Magpie-robin

66. Blue-whistling Thrush

67. Plumbeous Redstart *

68. White-capped Redstart

69. Blue-capped Rockthrush *

70.Siberian Stonechat

71. Golden-fronted Leafbird

72. Eurasian Tree-sparrow

73. Paddyfield Pipitb

Life birds marked with *

Tea time, then off to Nameri.

 

Our time at Kaziranga was coming to an end. We had one more morning to bird around the resort. A pair of Oriental Pied Hornbills were above the parking lot of the resort. Blue-naped Pittas were being seen not far from the hotel, so that was our target. Mike said there was a possibility of leeches, so I unpacked my leech socks. For the uninitiated leech socks are basically cloth bags with draw-strings that you wear over your socks and under your shoes. They come up to the knee and prevent leeches from attaching on your feet, ankles, and lower legs. Fortunately, they were not needed on this day, as we did not encounter any. 

We birded several nearby locations and did hear the pittas calling, but never got a glimpse of one. I was very excited to see a Common Green-magpie feeding young. Unfortunately I was unable to get any photos. I did get a shot of an Indian Cuckoo, which was calling. Mike commented that they sound like they are saying "One more bottle."We picked up a few more birds, spending part of the morning in a tea estate. Our guide Jintu told us how the tea is grown shaded by large trees, which have peppercorns growing on vines around them. The tea bushes are about waist high. There were women with large baskets on their backs working. A lot of tea is grown in this area.

It was time to move on to our next location. We had to say goodbye to our guide Jintu. I just realized that I didn't say anything about him. He was a really nice guy, and very knowledgeable. His area of expertise is cats, which makes the incident with the house cat the previous day even more embarrassing! He also knew butterflies well, which endeared him to me greatly. He was wonderful at finding birds and I was very grateful for our time with him. We were meeting Dorjee, our next guide at Nameri later in the afternoon. We said our goodbyes and headed off. 

I have to admit I remember absolutely nothing about the drive to Nameri, which is about an hour and a half from Kaziranga. We arrived at our lodge, Baligora Eco Camp, and checked in. The cabins are named for birds. Ours was White-winged Duck, which we hoped was an omen of good luck. Nameri National Park is one of the best places to see White-winged Duck, an endangered species. The bird is exceedingly shy and difficult to see. We hoped to take a canoe to the park that afternoon and hike in to one of the ponds to look for it. We got settled in and then headed to the park headquarters. 

Going into Nameri is a bit complicated. As I said, it involves a canoe ride across the Jia Bhoroli River. All birders must be accompanied in the park by an armed forest guard, a first for me! Unfortunately, there were no guards available to go with us, so going into the park was out for that afternoon. We were able to talk them into letting us walk the road to the river for an hour. We had a good number of birds and quite a few butterflies. I tried to resist the bugs and concentrate on the birds, but it was difficult. The highlight, bird wise, for me, was watching Wreathed Hornbills flying across the river. I can't begin to explain how impressive hornbills of any kind are!

We finally met Dorjee, who was to be our guide for the rest of the trip. He is a really nice young man, still a college student majoring in geography. He is amazing at finding birds and exceedingly kind and helpful. We really could not have gotten a better local guide. 

We went back to the camp and settled in for the night. As I tried to fall asleep I heard an Indian Cuckoo calling. And calling. And calling. He went on and on all night long. As I listened to him his call changed from "One more bottle" to "I'm an asshole." 

Photos for the day: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sngcanary/albums/72177720298973160

List of birds:

1. Oriental Turtle-dove

2. Spotted Dove

3. Asian Emerald Dove

4. Green Imperial Pigeon

5. Greater Coucal

6. Green-billed Malkoha

7. Asian Koel

8. Plaintive Cuckoo

9. Sqaure-tailed Drongo Cuckoo

10. Indian Cuckoo

11. Red-wattled Lapwing

12. Common Sandpiper

13. Little Cormorant

14. Little Egret

15. Cattle Egret

16. Oriental Honey-buzzard

17. Crested Serpent-Eagle

18. Brown Hawk-owl

19. Oriental Pied Hornbill

20. Wreathed Hornbill

21. White-throated Kingfisher

22. Pied Kingfisher

23. Chestnut-headed Bee-eater

24. Indochinese Roller

25. Dollarbird

26. Blue-eared Barbet

27. Lineated Barbet

28. Blue-throated Barbet

29. Greater Flameback

30. Rufous Woodpecker *

31. Rose-ringed Parakeet

32. Red-breasted Parakeet

33. Blue-naped Pitta (heard only) *

34. Large Cuckooshrike

35. Black-hooded Oriole

36. Common Iora

37. Black Drongo

38. Hair-crested Drongo

39. Bronzed Drongo

40. Brown Shrike

41. Gray-backed Shrike

42. Common Green-magpie

43. Rufous Treepie

44. Large-billed Crow

45. Common Tailorbird

46. Gray-throated Martin

47. Black-crested Bulbul

48. Red-vented Bulbul

49. Red-whiskered Bulbul

50. White-throated Bulbul *

51. Greenish Warbler *

52. Indian White-eye

53. Pin-striped Tit-babbler

54. Rufous-necked Laughingthrush *

55. Greater Necklaced Laughingthrush

56. Common Hill Myna

57. Asian Pied Starling

58. Chestnut-tailed Starling

59. Common Myna

60. Jungle Myna

61.  Oriental Magpie-robin

62. Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker

63. Crimson Sunbird

64. Gray Wagtail

Life birds marked with *

 

Sometimes I don't handle missing birds well.

 We had another day planned at Kaziranga. I again woke up very early, so I went outside and walked around. White-breasted Waterhens were poking around on the shore of the little pond next to our cabin. A Koel called incessantly and a couple of White-throated Kingfishers zipped around. I had an argument with a Rhesus Macaque. Willie came out and told me the macaque was going to bite me if I wasn't careful.  I gave it a dirty look and we walked up to meet the driver. 

Mike was not able to get a room at the same place as us, so we stopped by the home stay he was at to pick him up. A few Chestnut-tailed Starlings were along the road there. We also found some nesting Baya Weavers. Their nests are amazing feats of avian engineering. We piled in the jeep and headed off to the central Bagori range of the park.

When we arrived at the park and waited to get our entry passes. I eyed some hand crafts at a little open air shop and wondered if I could fit a giant carved wooden rhino in my luggage. I decided it might be better to resist. I ate my box breakfast and shared the hard-boiled eggs with a couple of street dogs. Then I fed my banana peels to one of the goats standing there. I was becoming very popular with the animals there. 

I had been completely distracted by the mammals the day before. This day was more about the birds, though we certainly didn't ignore the elephants and rhinos. A gorgeous male Red Junglefowl strutted and crowed. (Our barnyard chickens are descendants of these birds.) We had some shorebirds, aka waders, including a breeding plumaged Spotted Redshank, a bird I would very much like to find in Texas someday. Two Dark-necked Tailorbirds put on a great show, with one flying within six feet of us. We had several species of babblers, including Chestnut-capped, Puff-throated, Striated, and Pin-striped Tit-babbler. A Lesser Coucal, a type of cuckoo, was very cooperative. 

Then there was a little incident. We came across a group of birders looking at something in the tall grass. One of the group was Peter Kaestner, who has the largest life list of any birder in the world, with over 9,000 species.They had a Slender-billed Babbler, a new bird for Peter, and not an easy bird to get. Mike and Willie got on the bird pretty quickly, but I had no clue where it was. Describing the location of a brown bird in tall brown grass is not easy. The babbler retreated and I missed it. I wish I blew it off and didn't mind, but that was not the case. My frustration squeaked out with a few snippy words.

We stopped at one of the park towers to scan. There were several Indian families there and we had our photos taken again by several people. I walked to the edge and looked down and was stunned to see a sand-colored cat getting a drink of water on the side of the tower. I knew there were a number of wild cats found in this area, including Jungle Cat, which is sand colored. I started yelling "CAT!" and pointing. Our driver came over, looked down and said it was a house cat. I have never seen a house cat that color. He said it probably had some Jungle Cat genes in its background. Needless to say, I was embarrassed. Luckily, Willie found some butterflies coming in on some mud, so I spent some time photographing a few.

 

We went back to the resort for lunch, which was great, and then came back to the Western range of the park. We did well with raptors, including Himalayan Griffon, Changeable Hawk-Eagle, both Pallas's and Gray-headed Fish Eagle, Shikra, and two gorgeous Pied Harriers. An Asian Emerald Dove strolled around in front of the jeep. There was a flock of over 100 Spot-billed Pelicans. I was delighted to see a couple of Pied Kingfishers, which are one of my favorites. A River Tern cruised up and down. We got fantastic looks at another babbler, a Yellow-eyed, which actually has orange eyes. Who names these birds?

 Of course there were elephants, including a young one crashing through the woods looking for the rest of his herd. He did end up finding them. Luckily we kept out of his way. It is worth mentioning, elephants are very dangerous animals. We have a rather romantic idea of them in America, but they kill more people than tigers do. They are beautiful animals, but you do not want to tangle with one.

We went back to the resort for our final night there. I had been told that Kaziranga was not to be missed. That is absolutely right. It is an amazing place! It was a wonderful introduction to the birds and mammals of northeast India, much better than the Guwahati dump! 

Photos for the day:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sngcanary/albums/72177720298940717

Bird list for the day:

!. Lesser Whistling Duck

2. Ruddy Shellduck

3. Gadwall

4. Indian Spot-billed Duck

5. Red Junglefowl

6. Swamp Francolin

7. Rock Pigeon (feral)

8. Oriental Turtle-dove

9. Spotted Dove

10. Asian Emerald Dove

11. Yellow-footed Green Pigeon

12. Greater Coucal

13. Lesser Coucal *

14. Asian Koel

15. Indian Cuckoo

16. House Swift

17. White-breasted Waterhen

18. Gray-headed Lapwing

19. Red-wattled Lapwing

20. Bronze-winged Jacana

21. Spotted Redshank

22. Common Greenshank

23. Wood Sandpiper

24.River Tern

25. Asian Openbill

26. Black-necked Stork

27. Lesser Adjutant

28. Greater Adjustant

29. Oriental Darter

30. Little Cormorant

31. Spot-billed Pelican

32. Gray Heron

33. Purple Heron

34. Grat Egret

35. Little Egret

36. Cattle Egret

37. Indian Pond-heron

38. Black-headed Ibis

39.Himalayan Griffon

40. Crested Serpent-eagle

41. Changeable Hawk-eagle *

42. Pied Harrier

43. Shikra

44. Pallas's Fish-eagle

45. Gray-headed Fish-eagle

46. Oriental Pied Hornbill

47. Stork-billed Kingfisher

48. White-throated Kingfisher

49. Pied Kingfisher

50. Blue-bearded Bee-eater

51. Green Bee-eater

52. Chestnut-headed Bee-eater

53. Indochinese Roller

54. Coppersmith Barbet

55. Linneated Barbet

56. Blue-throated Barbet

57. Streak-throated Woodpecker

58. Eurasian Kestrel

59. Alexandrine Parakeet

60. Rose-ringed Parakeet

61. Blossom-headed Parakeet

62. Red-breasted Parakeet

63. Large Cuckooshrike

64. Black-hooded Oriole

65. Ashy Woodswallow

66. Common Iora

67. Black Drongo

68. Hair-crested Drongo

69. Rufous Treepie

70. Large-billed Crow

71. Cinereous Tit

72. Bengal Bushlark

73. Common Tailorbird

74. Dark-necked Tailorbird

75. Plain Prinia

76. Striated Grassbird

77. Gray-throated Martin

78. Barn Swallow

79. Black-crested Bulbul

80. Red-vented Bulbul

81. Red-whiskered Bulbul

82. Yellow-eyed Babbler *

83. Chestnut-capped Babbler

84. Pin-striped Tit-babbler

85. Puff-throated Babbler

86. Striated Babbler *

87. Common Hill Myna

88. Asian Pied Starling

89. Chestnut-tailed Starling

90. Common Myna

91. Jungle Myna

92. Great Myna

93. Oriental Magpie-robin

94. White-rumped Shama

95. Pale-chinned Blue Flycatcher

96. Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker

97. Golden-fronted Leafbird

98.Baya Weaver

99. Scaly-breasted Munia

100. White-rumped Munia

101. Eastern Yellow Wagtail

102. Citrine Wagtail

103. Rosy Pipit

Life birds marked with *

Not the India I imagined.

 Our trip was in the far northeastern part of India, starting in Assam and going up into Arunachal Pradesh. There are challenges to visiting this area. Arnunachal is claimed by both India and China. India has control now, but it is not settled. I have marked the area on the map above. Bhutan and China are to the north, Myanmar (Burma) is to the east, Bangladesh is to the south. This part of the country is attached to the rest of the nation by a thin strip of land. A special permit is needed to enter. Luckily, Mike Prince of Bubo Birding and Asian Adventures were able to secure what we needed, though it was a little tense, at one point looking like it was not going to happen. I hope through my writing I can dispel some of the stereotypes people hold of India. 

We started our trip at the Infinity Resort near Kaziranga National Park in Assam. We arrived in the dark the previous night, so we only had a rough idea of the grounds. The room was lovely, with a nice balcony overlooking the gardens. After the 36 hour journey I was out like a light. My sleep came to an abrupt end at about 4AM, when a big racket on the roof woke me up. It was already light. India has one time zone, so the sun rises ridiculously early in the northeast! I slipped into some clothes and stepped outside. I quickly discovered the source of the noise. A troop of Rhesus Macaques were scrambling around. We gave each other dirty looks and I proceeded to explore quietly. The gardens were full of bird songs. I struggled to see much, as everything was pretty skulky, a problem everywhere we went with many of the birds. Of course, I would be skulky, too, if people had been trying to hunt and eat me and my kind for eons.

I returned to the room to get ready for the day. We were starting our exploration of Karizanga NP. The park is best known as a refuge for One-horn Rhinoceros. Other animals protected there include Indian Elephants, Tigers, Water Buffalo, Wild Boar, Smooth-coated Otters, Swamp Deer and many other animals and birds. It is spread across the flood plains of the Bhamaputra River, with swamps, grassland and forests. It has been a protected area since 1905. The park can only be visited between November and the end of April, as in May the risk of flooding increases. Tourists are limited to taking jeep or elephant safaris. (There is a lot of controversy about taking the elephants. I won't go into it, but I would not recommend it for ethical reasons.) There are only a few places you are allowed out of the jeeps, due to the risk from wildlife. Believe it or not, the tigers are not the main danger. Elephants and buffalo are far more likely to kill you. 

Willie and I packed up our stuff for the day. We went outside to meet Mike, our jeep driver and guide. I was a little nervous about climbing in and out of the back of the jeep, but was able to do it, though I had a few tense incidents due to my lack of confidence. We got our box breakfasts, which were not the best part of our culinary experience, and took off for the eastern range of the park. We stopped for our camera permits and to get the paperwork in order. I slipped the street dogs part of my breakfast. I will be writing more about the dogs later. I fell in love with them!

We drove into the park and my jaw dropped. The flood plain stretched out in front of us and I got my first look at rhinos, elephants, buffalo, and deer. It was like being dropped into a movie. We missed seeing elephants in Thailand, and from what I had read about Kaziranga, I wasn't sure I would see them there. But I shouldn't have worried. They were scattered across the grasses and water. Rhinos were a cinch. Most of the animals were a bit distant, looming in the mists, but that made it even more magical, though we had plenty of close up encounters during our visits. It is hard to not drag out the cliches in describing it.

There were plenty of birds to look at, too. We saw more adjutants of both species, Open-billed Storks, Black-necked Storks, Wooly-necked Storks, ducks of various kinds, Pheasant-tailed and Bronze-winged Jacanas, egrets and herons of various species scattered across the grassland. The background noise consisted of calling koels, various barbets, and other birds.  We drove into drier grasslands, and the forest, where we added even more birds. A heavy rain came in, so we put the canvas top up and drove to one of the towers, where we were allowed to get out. Some Fox-tailed Orchids, the state flower of Assam, hung from one of the trees. 

The rain stopped and we drove on. We had Pallas' and Grey-headed Fish-eagles, Spotted Owlets, several species of bee-eaters, including my favorite, Blue-bearded, and several new parakeets for me, Alexandrine, Blossom-headed, and Red-breasted. Rose-ringed were new the day before, at least new in the wild, as I had bred them back in my cage-bird days. I love psitticula parakeets, so I was very happy!

We returned to the resort for lunch, which I did not share with the street dogs! It was excellent. As we were walking into the resort grounds a photographer asked if we wanted to see a snake. I love herps, so of course I said yes. It was a Golden Flying Snake, and completely adorable! Don't worry, they aren't venomous. We "rested" after lunch before our next foray into the park. I was able to photograph a few butterflies and see some birds in the garden.

After lunch we entered the Central Bagori Range part of the park. We added Smooth-coated Otters to the mammal list, though all we saw were heads swimming across the river. I spotted a Great Hornbill flying across the tops of the trees. A Brown Hawk-owl, aka Brown Boobok, showed well. We had a few birds that were heard only, but I am not too proud to count those! (Don't judge me.) We had some very exciting encounters with the rhinos and elephants, and really nice sighting of a buffalo swimming very close to the car. But the best sighting for me, was a scope view of a Bengal Florican at the end of the afternoon. At first we could only see its head and neck, but eventually we could see the entire body. The bird was doing a partial display. As we were watching a couple of Wild Boars came in to sneak some of the food from the domestic cattle, who didn't seem too put off by them. 

Here is a link to my photos for the day:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sngcanary/albums/72177720298884336

Bird list for the day: 

1. Lesser Whistling Duck

2. Ruddy Shelduck *

3. Gadwall

4. Indian Spot-billed Duck *

5. Red-junglefowl

6. Swamp Francolin *

7. Rock Pigeon (feral)

8. Oriental Turtle-dove

9. Red Collared-dove

10. Spotted Dove

11. Asian Emerald Dove

12. Yellow-footed Green-pigeon *

13. Green Imperial-pigeon*

14. Bengal Florican *

15. Greater Coucal

16. Green-billed Malkoha

17. Asian Koel

18. Indian Cuckoo *

19. Asian Palm-swift

20. White-breasted Waterhen

21. Red-wattled Lapwing

22. Pheasant-winged Jacana

23. Bronze-winged Jacana

24. Green Sandpiper

25. Common Greenshank

26. Whiskered Tern

27. River Tern *

28. Asian Openbill

29. Wooly-necked Stork *

30. Black-necked Stork

31. Lesser Adjutant

32. Greater Adjutant

33. Oriental Darter

34. Little Cormorant

35. Spot-billed Pelican *

36. Gray Heron

37. Purple Heron

38. Great Egret

39. Intermediate Egret

40. Little Egret

41. Cattle Egret

42. Indian Pond-heron *

43. Himalayan Griffon *

44. Crested Serpent-eagle

45. Pallas's Fish-eagle *

46. Gray-headed Fish-eagle *

47. Spotted Owlet

48. Brown Hawk-owl *

49. Great Hornbill

50. Oriental Pied-hornbill

51. Stork-billed Kingfisher *

52. White-throated Kingfisher

53. Pied Kingfisher

54. Blue-bearded Bee-eater*

55. Green Bee-eater

56. Blue-tailed Bee-eater

57. Chestnut-headed Bee-eater

58. Indochinese Roller

59. Lineated Barbet

60. Blue-throated Barbet

61. Gray-capped Pygmy Woodpecker

62. Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker *

63. Streak-throated Woodpecker *

64. Gray-headed Woodpecker

65. Alexandrine Parakeet *

66. Rose-ringed Parakeet

67. Blossom-headed Parakeet *

68. Red-breasted Parakeet *

69. Black-hooded Oriole

70. Common Iora

71. Black Drongo

72. Hair-crested Drongo

73. Brown Shrike

74. Gray-backed Shrike

75. Rufous Treepie

76. Large-billed Crow

77. Cinereous Tit*

78. Bengal Bushlark *

79. Common Tailorbird

80. Dark-necked Tailorbird

81. Plain Prinia

82. Zitting Cisticola

83. Striated Grassbird

84. Gray-throated Martin *

85. Red-vented Bulbul

86. Red-whiskered Bulbul

87. Dusky Warbler

88. Indian White-eye

89. Chestnut-capped Babbler

90. Pin-striped Tit-babbler

91. Puff-throated Babbler

92. Abbott's Babbler *

93. Aisan Pied Starling

94. Chestnut-tailed Starling

95. Common Myna

96. Jungle Myna *

97. Great Myna

98. Oriental Magpie-robin

99. Pale-chinned Blue Flycatcher *

100.Purple Sunbird

101. Crimson Sunbird *

102. Golden-fronted Leafbird

103. Chestnut Munia

104. House Sparrow

105. Eastern Yellow Wagtail

106. Citrine Wagtail

107. Paddyfield Pipit

108. Rosy Pipit

Life birds marked with *

Northeast India, finally back to traveling! Getting there and the first stop.

This is a total cliche, but I have always dreamed of going to India. Martin and I had decided after getting our second Covid vaccination that it was finally time to get on a plane. He started looking and some international trips and contacted Mike Prince of Bubo Birding considering a trip to Northeast India. After some correspondence they came up with a plan. I booked tickets and sent in a deposit. I then went to do our eVisas and discovered Martin, being a citizen of the United Kingdom, did not qualify for an eVisa. We were sickened to discover that there would not be enough time for him to get a regular visa. He suggested that our friend, Willie Sekula, step in to take Martin's place, allowing me to go. Willie said yes and was able to get the time off. Martin had put so much work into planning this, I was heartbroken he could not go. 

The trip over to India was grueling. Willie picked me up at 130PM for the drive to Houston. What should have taken three and half hours took almost five due to long traffic delays. I was getting white knuckled thinking we might not make the flight. We got to the airport and went to check in. Everything went well until the agent asked for a document concerning covid vaccination. I handed him my vaccine card, but he said that was not what he needed. We had to fill out an actual online form which included PDFs of the cards, our eVisas, and passports, none of which I had on my phone, but were on my computer at home. To make a long story short, I called Martin and he was able to get the documents for me. It took about a half hour to get it all done and I was beside myself, certain we weren't going to make it. Finally we finished checking in and rushed upstairs, where the passengers were in line to board. The flight from Houston to Istanbul on Turkish Airlines was eleven hours. We had a layover of about three hours, where we saw several birds, giving us an eBird list for Turkey, which in my mind means I have been in Turkey. Our next flight, which was to Delhi, was six hours, then we had a layover of almost six more hours before our Spicejet flight to Guwahati in Assam, which is in the far northeast part of India. That flight took another two and a half hours. Turkish Airlines was great. The food on our flights was actually very good, the best airline food I have had in years. Spicejet is a budget carrier. Their luggage allowance is very limited and we ended up paying a hefty fee for excess baggage. Poor Willie had his knees crammed into the seat in front of him. But in the end, after over 36 hours, we arrived.

Mike met us outside of baggage and we loaded the car up. Our driver was great, I will be writing more about him as my posts progress. We discussed where to start before our drive to Kaziranga National Park, another three hour drive away. Mike suggested either a wet land area, or the local landfill, one of the best places to see Greater Adjutant, a huge stork which is critically endangered. We picked the landfill. I have birded a lot of landfills, which can be great places to find gulls. In fact, Martin and I spent our first Valentines Day at the Corpus Christi Landfill. Of course landfills and gross and smelly, but this landfill was indescribably horrible. The stench was indescribable. Huge hills of refuse were being picked over by men, women, and children, eking out a miserable existence finding scrap metal and anything else that might be sold. 

The first storks we saw were standing next to the people, along with many cows. The birds were massive and seemed completely unbothered. They also were the ugliest birds I have ever seen. I loved them! We got out and walked deeper into the landfill. I tried not to think about what was getting on my shoes. We saw over 300 Greater Adjutants, and a number of Lesser Adjutants, a smaller stork, not quite as ugly as the Greaters, but close. A few other birds were scattered around, including Citrine Wagtails and Rosy Pipits. It was not the best first impression of India, but things would only get better and better from this point. There will be a lot less travel and a lot more birds in upcoming posts.

Bird photos:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sngcanary/albums/72177720298792086

Bird list for day:

 Rock Pigeon

Spotted Dove

Asian Koel

House Swift

Wood Sandpiper

Lesser Adjutant

Greater Adjutant

Cattle Egret

Black Kite- in Guwahti and at the Delhi Airport

Black Drongo

House Crow

Striated Grassbird

Red-vented Bulbul

Asian Pied Starling

Common Myna

Great Myna

Bank Myna- Delhi Airport

Eurasian Tree Sparrow

Citrine Wagtail

Rosy Pipit

Not traveling, but still birding. Our amazing postage stamp yard.

 

I normally use my posts to tell about our birding travels, but all of that screeched to a halt in mid-March, when the Covid 19 pandemic hit Texas and the rest of the world. Today I was thinking about how this changed our birding for the year. I am not sure if it is of interest to anyone, but what else do I have to do?

We live in an apartment complex in the middle of the medical district in San Antonio, TX. We moved here a little over eight years ago. When the manager showed us this apartment we walked into the front door, saw through the sliding glass door to the backyard and said that we would take it, even before seeing the rest of the apartment.  The balcony of our second floor apartment sits in the canopy of a group of mature live oaks. Even though the yard it not much bigger than a basketball court we immediately saw the potential for birds. We knew it would be good, but we had no idea just how good it would be.

We started a "balcony list" as soon as we moved in. As it was July, there wasn't a lot of variety, but it was nice to see breeding birds, like Black-crested Titmice and Golden-fronted Woodpeckers. As soon as fall migration kicked in we added quite a few new birds. We ticked along, adding winter residents and then spring migrants, particularly warblers. I was working full time, so my home birding was limited. By the end of the first year we had 56 species for the balcony. We continued to add birds. I switched to working from home about a year and a half after moving, which helped a lot. We finally got to 100 species in April of 2019. We had a number of extremely good birds, including a Broad-billed Hummingbird visiting my shrimp plant in January 2015. Spring migration was the most fun. We had accumulated an impressive list of warblers.

Then 2020 came along. I was furloughed from my job in corporate travel in March. We took covid very seriously, self-quarantine immediately.  Martin stopped doing his consulting work. There was very little to do other than sit on the balcony and look for birds. My time birding went from less than an hour a day to all freaking day long every day. OK, maybe not all day, but I was probably averaging five or six hours. Martin was spending a good bit of his time there, too. When we starting sheltering at home our list was at 106 species. We thought we wouldn't add much, but we were wrong. 

The first new bird I found was a Louisiana Waterthrush that literally dropped in on March 23. We have no water in the yard, other than a couple of clay plant saucers under the trees. I had never seen a Louisiana away from water before. We would go out close to dawn and scan the tree tops. Birds would come in and feed, then take off moving north. Some of the fly-over birds, like Upland Sandpiper, and Black-necked Stilt were surprising, to say the least. As I said, we had a great warbler list, 24 species before quarantine. We had repeats of almost all of them, including a couple of Golden-winged Warblers. In the past we had seen three or four Ovenbirds total; this past spring we had at least ten. Our "best" sighting was a female Cerulean Warbler on May 12, a new county bird for me! 

 

Even after Spring migration I continued birding every day, though not for as long a period. I can only stand so much Texas heat. I had some surprises in summer like a Eastern Wood-pewee in June and a female Painted Bunting in July who stayed just a minute before she took off.  A pair of Black-and-white Warblers, also in July, were a surprise.

Soon some fall migrants started arriving like empidonax flycatchers and Summer Tanagers. In early September I spotted an Eastern Kingbird and numerous Baltimore Orioles. I was lucky to find another new warbler species, a Mourning. I added balcony bird #131 a couple of days ago, a migrating Northern Harrier flying over,

As I said earlier we had 106 species for the back yard when the pandemic started. We now stand at 131. More surprising is our total list for the balcony just this year is 109 species! Considering it took almost seven years to get to 100 species, we were very pleased. This included 25 species of warblers, 12 species of flycatchers, and six species of vireos. Our all time warbler total is 27 species! 

As I said, the yard it tiny. The only under-story we have are two tiny clumps of ligustrum. We worked very hard this year. Other than a very few day trips to close areas we have stuck to birding the apartment complex. I believe many people could significantly increase their yard lists if they put in the time. We do have a bird feeder and the plant saucer "water features", but most of the sightings have been in the trees. We pay attention to weather patterns. We found that frontal passages would cause drop-ins. The Cerulean Warbler was here during a little rain shower. 

Here is a link to Martin's album of photos on Facebook from the balcony.- https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=martin.reid.142&set=a.10202516606008801Martin's photos