It was now time for the meat and potatoes part of the trip, Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary. Mike said the typical way to do the trip we were doing was to go to Eaglenest first to get the hard part of the trip out of the way, and then relax at Nameri and Kaziranga. But Kaziranga closed in May, so we had to do it first. Eaglenest is hardcore. The accommodations are extremely basic, but it is well worth the effort. This reserve has recorded over 350 species of birds, including one of the rarest birds in the world, Bugun Liocichla, which was only discovered in 1995 and described as a new species in 2006. I will write more about this later.
We started the day walking down the four floors of stairs again. (I wonder if the elevator is fixed yet?) After a cup of tea we left to pick up Mike at his home stay. It sounded like he had a wonderful time with the family there the night before. As I had predicted the previous evening, there were a couple of Black-tailed Crakes in the pond by the house. It was not fully daylight, but I was able to get a few photos. Crakes can be so sneaky it was great to see them out in the open!
I am going to be honest, I don't remember much of the drive to Eaglenest. I know from the eBird lists that we saw a lot of birds, but the locations are not that clear in my mind.gray We stopped to eat and had some of the prettiest momos of the trip, as well as a cup of Nescaff. No, I didn't misspell it. The cups said Nescaff! We stopped at a "wine shop" for another bottle of whiskey and headed up the road to Lama Camp, where we were spending the night. We had to pass through a gate, which took a little time, getting permits in order.
We stopped to bird a couple of times and saw a number of really nice birds, including Striated Laughingthrush, and Rufous-bellied Woodpecker. A stream crossing had a beautiful Spotted Forktail. When we went to Thailand we had looked hard for one of the forktails, but had no luck, so I was excited to see this one. We came to a trail where the Bugun Liocichla is routinely found. We walked down and Dorjee and Mike quickly found a couple. Willie saw one, but guess who didn't? And guess who had a very bad attitude about not seeing one? Mike assured me we would be laughing the next day when I saw it, but I was not convinced that would happen. I was feeling really incompetent. There are estimated to be between 50 and 100 of these birds in existence. Mike said that may be a high estimate. I REALLY wanted to see this bird.
We arrived at Lama Camp and checked into our accommodations, which are pictured above. This camp is at about 7,700 feet. It is very cold at night. The tents do have cots with several incredibly heavy blankets, so we did stay warm, though I couldn't move under the weight! The building on the right is the bathroom, which did have western style toilets, a real luxury! Bathing was only with a bucket of hot water and a mug. Due to the chilly nature of the weather I decided I was going to be grungy. We had to climb a rather rickety staircase up the hill to the tents. There was no electricity in the tents, though they provided a solar charged lantern. In the evening they run a generator in the dining room where you can charge any cameras, phones, or other devices. Meals were vegetarian, but very satisfying. I didn't miss meat at all! For someone who considers camping to be staying in a hotel outside the loop, this was going to be challenging! I still was certain I wasn't going to get the star bird in the morning.
Photos from the day: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sngcanary/albums/72177720299140507
Bird list for the day:
1. Kalij Pheasant
2. Oriental Turtledove
3. Square-tailed Drongo-cuckoo
4. Large Hawk-cuckoo
5. Lesser Cuckoo
6. Indian Cuckoo
7. Himalayan Cuckoo
8. Common Cuckoo
9. Black-tailed Crake *
10. Great Barbet
11. Golden-throated Barbet
12. Rufous-bellied Woodpecker *
13. Short-billed Minivet
14. Black-winged Cuckoo-shrike
15. Slender-billed Oriole
16. White-throated Fantail
17. Ashy Drongo
18. Yellow-bellied Fairy-fantail
19. Gray-headed Canary-flycatcher
20. Green-backed TitBrown
21. Black-throated Prinia
22. Russet Bush Warbler
23. Red-vented Bulbul
24. Black Bulbul
25. Buff-throated Warbler
26. Gray-cheeked Warbler *
27. Blyth's Leaf-warbler
28. Black-faced Warbler *
29. Brownish-flanked Warbler
30. Whiskered Yuhina
31. Streak-breasted Scimtar Babbler
32. Striated Laughingthrush *
33. Bhutan Laughingthrush
34. Beautiful Sibia
35. Rusty-fronted Barwing *
36. Red-billed Leiothrix *
37. Gray-sided Laughingthrush *
38. Gray-winged Blackbird *
39. Dark-sided Flycatcher
40. Small Niltava *
41. Rufous-bellied Niltava
42. Verditer Flycatcher
43. Indian Blue Robin
44. Spotted Forktail *
45. White-tailed Robin
46. Slaty-blue Flycatcher
47. Gray Bushchat
48. Mrs. Gould's Sunbird
49. Green-tailed Sunbird
50. Russet Sparrow
51. Olive-backed Pipit
No comments:
Post a Comment