Saturday, September 12, 2015

Bird Photography at Dalhousie Kalatop Khajjiar

Bird watching at Kalatop Sanctuary and the hills of Dalhousie and Khajjiar



Day 1: This was my first instance to photograph the beautiful birds of Himalayas. It was more of a family vacation where I tried to fit in a few hours of birding in and around it. My primary hope was lying with the Kalatop Forest but I had the least of idea that my birding luck would favour me so much, even in Dalhousie.
The hotel location couldn’t have been any better to spot the beautiful Himalayan avian species. There were just 3 big trees near the hotel premises and those trees turned out to be a floodgate of Himalayan birds when we reached there in the evening. Those 2 hours I spent standing next to those trees in the evening, gave me 15 new species to add to my list. Whatever I saw was new and I was so excited to get such beautiful shots of those birds standing so near to them.

Day 2: Morning birding again standing next to those 3 trees and I added another 5 new species. Late afternoon it was the turn of Kalatop Forest to throw me its surprises. Kalatop was indeed a memorable experience. It is highly advisable to walk on the trek of 3+3=6 km otherwise you will never feel and understand what Kalatop is all about. It was the densest jungle I have even seen in my life. Appropriately called the Kalatop – the top of that forest is completely dark “Kala” and sunlight can hardly enter it even in the day time. The entire forest trek is through the hills and walking through the mist of the clouds hitting the trek of the forest hills was a journey of a lifetime. Listening to the sound of the crickets and insects so loud that you find hard to believe it is day. Trekking through those deodar trees so huge, you immerse yourself in the midst of nature’s ultimate creation. As far as birding is concerned, I couldn’t come there in the morning hours, so late afternoon helped me add only 5 new species to my list.

Day 3: The day of Khajjiar where I had my first paragliding experience. That first jump from the cliff of the mountain and soaring at a height where I could see the booted eagle gliding at my eye level, it was worth every penny spent for that dive from thousands of feet above the ground level. For the first time in my life I could feel and imagine how those birds feel from the top.

Day 4: Birding in Khajjiar – It was a riot of woodpeckers that morning and I was able to add 5 new species to my list without much effort.

A very successful trip indeed – enjoy the pics below.


Great Barbet

Verditer Flycatcher Female

Verditer Flycatcher Female

Verditer Flycatcher Male

Rufous Sibia

Black-throated Tit (iredalei)

Grey-hooded Warbler

Grey-hooded Warbler

Green Warbler

Blue Whistling Thrush

Grey Bushchat Male

Ultramarine Flycatcher Juvenile

Ultramarine Flycatcher (superciliaris)

Ultramarine Flycatcher Juvenile

Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon

Yellow-billed Blue Magpie (cucullata)

Yellow-billed Blue Magpie (cucullata)

White-throated Laughingthrush

Variegated Laughingthrush (similis)

Streaked Laughingthrush

Green-backed Tit

Grey Bushchat Female

Grey Bushchat Juvenile

Brown-fronted Woodpecker Male

Brown-fronted Woodpecker Female

Scaly-bellied Woodpecker Male

Scaly-bellied Woodpecker Female

Grey-headed Woodpecker Female

Black-eared Kite Juvenile

Booted Eagle Pale Morph

Oriental Honey Buzzard

Northern Raven

Oriental Turtle Dove (meena)

Bar-tailed Treecreeper

Grey-winged Blackbird

White-tailed Nuthatch

Western Tragopan female


Kalatop Forest

Kalatop Forest

Bottlebrush

Himalayan Bulbul


Paragliding at Khajjiar

Paragliding at Khajjiar

Paragliding at Khajjiar

Paragliding at Khajjiar

Khajjiar

18 comments:

  1. The kite looks like the Black eared Kite , Post the picture in ask IDs of Indian Birds for confirmation .

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    Replies
    1. You are correct, it is indeed a black-eared kite. Thanks for the correction.

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  2. nice sighting. I'm planning to go to dalhousie-khajjiar-dharamshala in mid may 2016. could you please share contact details for hotels, travel agent, guide if any.

    vasant
    vasant.bhagwat@gmail.com
    9930521931

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vasant, I stayed at Grand View Hotel in Dalhousie near the bus stand. There standing on the hotel balcony i spotted all these species. I didn't take any guide,it's not needed. The location is too good, you stand there and keep adding lifers to your list.
      In Khajjiar, I stayed in Shining Star Resort, that place is also having close proximity to apple orchard and on the way i spotted those beautiful woodpeckers. No guide needed again. It's very easy to spot these on your own.

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  3. Hi
    Can you give details of camera body and lens you have used to capture those beautiful birds? Good work done
    Atul.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Atul, Thanks for the encouraging words. I use Canon 70D and Canon 400mm f5.6 Prime Lens.

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  4. Your Blog is very much helpful for bird lovers. you had done really amazing job. and thanks for sharing images of various spices. i'm wildlife photographer from kutch, gujarat, i'm planning my trip of dalhousie and at that i want to cover kalatop and other birding places. can you reccomand me some particular birding spots.

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    Replies
    1. Dalhousie and Kalatop are just too good, especially if you have never seen himalayan birds. Grand View Hotel near Dalhousie bus stand was great spot to watch a lot of birds. In Kalatop, i suggest go in the morning hours, take the trek of 6 km to and fro by foot and Im sure you will be spotting a lot of lifers. Good to hear you from Kutch - even i went to LRK for birding and it was equally rewarding - here is the link for the post of LRK http://highwayodyssey.blogspot.in/2015/10/bird-photography-at-little-rann-of.html

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  5. These are awesome Sumeet! I'm going to Dalhousie this weekend and thought of looking up about Birding there and found this Blog! So thankful you wrote this. Atleast I have an Idea of what I can expect and where (I'm staying at grand view as well)

    Can you share some tips about Kalatop sanctuary? Is guide important for the trek or is it safe enough for me and my wife to cover it by ourselves on foot? Also, If you can suggest some trek route, It'll be awesome!

    Again, Thank you so much for writing this blog post!

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    Replies
    1. Kalatop is tough for birding. Guide is not needed. Trek on from the start till the top otherwise you will not see the birds. Trek is very easy and can be done without much effort and it is completely safe unless you decide to venture into the woods where bears can be confronted. Stick to the main road and you should be completely safe. Good luck, there are a lot of laughingthrush and woodpeckers. Good luck.

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  6. Beautiful Himalayan Avian wonders captured by your lens. Thanks for the guidance from your blog, before my departure to Dalhousie.

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  7. Beautiful Himalayan Avian wonders captured by your lens. Thanks for the guidance from your blog, before my departure to Dalhousie.

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  8. Nice picture and its look so beautiful to see bird, Amazing blog.

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