Bird Watching in Sikkim

TRIP 2: MARCH 2022

Our first trip with Lakpa was covering only the North Sikkim so this time we decided to cover the east and west sikkim too alongwith the Gurudongmar area which we missed last time. Since we were staying in Kalimpong for 3 months, so decided to cover entire Sikkim in this trip. 

10 nights 11 days 

Covering entire Sikkim - pick and drop from Kalimpong  

3 nights in Okhrey - covering Hilley and Barsey areas

3 nights in Padamchen - covering Zuluk and Gnathang valley areas

1 night in Mangan 

3 nights in Lachen - covering Thangu and Gurudongmar 

Blue-winged Laughingthrush (lifer)

Yellow-cheeked Tit

Spotted Nutcracker

Maroon-backed Accentor (lifer)

Eurasian Sparrowhawk

Hume's Short-toed Lark (lifer)

Alpine Chough (lifer)

Solitary Snipe (lifer)

Snow Pigeon

Robin Accentor (lifer)

Little Owl (lifer)

White-rumped Snowfinch (lifer)

Guldenstadt's Redstart (lifer)

Horned Lark female (lifer)

Horned Lark male (lifer)

Rufous-necked Snowfinch (lifer)

Hume's Groundpecker (lifer)

Red-billed Chough

Striated Laughingthrush

Scaly Laughingthrush

Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker male

Red-faced Liocichla (lifer)

White-gorgeted Flycatcher (lifer)

White-naped Yuhina

Rusty-fronted Barwing

Plumbeous Water Redstart male

Plumbeous Water Redstart female

White-capped Water Redstart

Rufous-bellied Niltava

Fire-breasted Flowerpecker male

Fire-breasted Flowerpecker female

Spot-winged Grosbeak male female (lifer)

Spot-winged Grosbeak male (lifer)

Red-billed Leiothrix

Buff-barred Warbler

Bar-throated Siva

Stripe-throated Yuhina

Fire-tailed Sunbird male

White-collared Blackbird male

White-collared Blackbird female

Russet Sparrow male

Russet Sparrow female

Blue Whistling Thrush

White-browed Bush Robin female (lifer)

Common Kestrel male

Collared Scops Owl

Great Parrotbill (lifer)

Himalayan Wood Owl (lifer)

Small Niltava male

Small Niltava female

White-browed Rosefinch male

Hodgson's Treecreeper (lifer) 

Himalayan Monal male

Large Niltava

Black-headed Shrike Babbler male (lifer)

Scaly-breasted Wren Babbler - ruphous

Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush female

Brown-throated Treecreeper (Sikkim Treecreeper)

Long-tailed Minivet female

White-throated Laughingthrush

Rufous-breasted Bush Robin female

Rufous-breasted Bush Robin male

Hume's Bush Warbler (lifer)

Rufous-vented Yuhina

Chestnut-crowned Laughingthrush

Asian Barred Owlet

Himalayan Bluetail female

Yellow-browed Tit

Chestnut-crowned Warbler

Blue-fronted Redstart female

White-browed Fulvetta

Dark-breasted Rosefinch male

Himalayan Vulture

Mountain Hawk Eagle

Rufous-winged Fulvetta

Green-tailed Sunbird male

Green-tailed Sunbird female

Black-throated Tit

Rufous-throated Wren Babbler 

Slender-billed Scimitar Babbler

Large-billed Crow

Black-faced Laughingthrush

Grey-sided Bush Warbler

Brown Parrotbill

Olive-backed Pipit

Golden Bush Robin female

Spotted Laughingthrush

Kalij male

Himalayan Forest Thrush (lifer)

Alpine Thrush (lifer)

Pygmy Blue Flycatcher male (lifer)

Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher 

Hoary-throated Barwing 

Grey Bushchat female

Grey Bushchat male

Some Mammal Sightings (Primarily in Gurudongmar, Gnathang Valley and Okhrey): 

Black-lipped Pika

Wooly Hare

Tibetan Gazelle female

Tibetan Gazelle juv

Tibetan Gazelle male

Himalayan Goral

Himalayan Goral

Wooly Hare

Wooly Hare

And lastly a very very rare butterfly sighting too in Mangan, 

Common Tan Wave

And finally some landscapes, 

View from our room @ Padamchen

View @ Thangu valley 

@ Gnathang valley

View @ Zulluk 

@ Okhrey 

TRIP 1: APRIL 2019 

6 nights 7 days 

Bird watching from Gangtok to Lachen to Thangu, North Sikkim

Pick and drop from Bagdogra Airport (Siliguri) 
Elevation of 5,500 feet to 14,000 feet.
With guidance from Lakpa Tenzing, spotted 40 lifers with some amazing sightings.
Enjoy the Images below.

The luckiest sighting was of the Grandala, as if it was only waiting for us to say goodbye. Usually they migrate up to the higher altitudes by the 1st week of March however this year for some strange reason they were still available to be spotted, albeit only once.

Grandala Male (lifer)

Grandala Females and Male (lifer)

Some extensive trekking and mountain climbing was needed to spot the Blood Pheasant. By the time we climbed the mountain and got to a vantage point to click it, I hardly had any muscle strength left in me, even to pick up my super light-weight 400 f/4 gear and start shooting. However they obliged us with a lovely sighting for a few seconds, just enough to click both male and the female.

Blood Pheasant Male (lifer)

Blood Pheasant Female (lifer)

Trekking doesn't seem to end with the sighting above and every bird was a new challenge thereon. This time it was about crossing the river stream. The most excruciating feeling was of the foot deep inside the freezing water of the river stream, coming right down from Gurudongmar Lake. Being a birder for 5 years, I even forgot that I have to maintain my silence to reach the proximity of the Ibisbill. But the reward of the intense pain was a beautiful sighting of this camouflage bird amongst the boulders.

Ibisbill (lifer)

Ibisbill (lifer)

The first attempt to click the Black-throated Parrotbill was futile as it only gave a chance of approximately 1 second to click before it flew off. The last day we again got lucky and this time it was there to be clicked for more than a couple of seconds.

Black-throated Parrotbill (lifer)

Lakpa says, good things happen in birding to good people. I am not sure about the good people part, but we definitely got lucky with some great sightings and this time it was the White-browed Piculet which just landed in front of us without any effort.

White-browed Piculet (lifer)

Golden-breasted Fulvetta (lifer)

Nepal Fulvetta

Blue-winged Siva (lifer)

Mrs Gould's Sunbird Male (lifer)

Mrs Gould's Sunbird Female (lifer)

Black-throated Sunbird Male (lifer)

This rare Black-throated Prinia which usually won't come out of the bushes, was there to be clicked in full breeding plummage trying to woo the female.

Black-throated Prinia (lifer)

White-browed Rosefinch Female (lifer)

Dark-breasted Rosefinch Female (lifer)

Plain Mountain Finch (lifer)

White-throated Dipper (lifer)

This sighting of White-throated Dipper (rare brown morph) was definitely the biggest catch. So similar to Brown Dipper yet so different. Some sightings are recorded in Leh Ladakh and luck was on our side when we managed to click this subspecies in North Sikkim.

White-throated Dipper (rare brown morph) - NOT Brown Dipper (lifer)

Darjeeling Woodpecker Female

Darjeeling Woodpecker male

Rufous-bellied Woodpecker Female

Rufous-capped Babbler (lifer)

Green Shrike-babbler

White-browed Shrike-babbler (lifer)

Black-eared Shrike-babbler Female (lifer)

Red-tailed Minla (lifer)

Blue-capped Rock Thrush Male

Blue-capped Rock Thrush Female

Black-winged Cuckooshrike (lifer)

Verditer Flycatcher Male

Rufous-breasted Accentor

Rufous-fronted Tit (lifer)

Rufous-vented Tit (lifer)

White-winged Grosbeak Male

White-winged Grosbeak Female

Northern Raven

We got the news that the locals spotted the Tibetian Snowcock about 300 metres above Thangu. I decided to trek all the way up to spot the bird, since the roads were closed because of heavy snowfall. Coming from Hyderabad, leading a sedentary lifestyle, and all of a sudden a vertical trek and climb of 300 metres was excruciatingly painful. After about half an hour of the stressful trek, I was down on all-four doing monkey crawling since the vertical elevation behind me was too scary to look back to. Snowcock was nowhere to be seen but managed to get a full frame shot of Red-billed Chough in a blizzard of snowfall.

Red-billed Chough (lifer)

Himalayan Bluetail Male

Rosy Pipit

Blyth's Leaf Warbler (lifer)

Whistler's Warbler (lifer)

Ashy-throated Warbler

Red Crossbill Male (lifer)

Red Crossbill Female and Male (lifer)

Oriental Turtle Dove

Himalayan Buzzard (lifer)

Blue-fronted Redstart Male

Grey-cheeked Warbler

Golden-throated Barbet

Himalayan Swiftlet (lifer)

Eurasian Tree Sparrow

Scarlet Minivet Female

Short-billed Minivet Female

Ashy Drongo

Long-tailed Minivet Male

Bay Woodpecker (lifer)

Maroon Oriole

White-tailed Nuthatch

Large Hawk Cuckoo (lifer)

Spangled Drongo (lifer)

Crested Serpent Eagle

Great Barbet

Little Pied Flycatcher (lifer)

Rufous Sibia

 Some Mammal Sightings:

Orange-bellied Himalayan Squirrel 

Some Yaks were coming over to us to get the taste of salt (We came to know that all herbivores need their quota of salt to survive). But we even encountered a Yak that came charging towards us, maybe it was territorial.

Yak

Himalayan Grey Langur

 Some Landscapes:

Thangu

Thangu

Lachen

Lachen

Lachen