This was the most impromptu trip I ever made. Usually, these NE birding trips require a long preparation, booking, reservations, etc. but this time it was just a 24 hours decision. I wanted to make this trip in the starting of May however I was applying for my Canada visa and the passport had to be submitted to the authorities. I had to wait for the passport request letter and only then I would have the time to go for birding. So the day I submitted the passport, I immediately pinged Micah if he was available for a good 10 day trip. Luckily for me, his project also got over right now and he said he was available. I told him that I am booking my flight tickets and asked him to finalize the itinerary. The next day I took the flight to Guwahati and there I was, all set for a 10 day birding trip.
When I did my 1st trip with Micah in 2019, I was thoroughly impressed with his knowledge and guiding. It’s been 6 years now, and it was no surprise that he has significantly improved, not to mention, he was already very good last time around. I like one thing about Micah which I usually don’t find in other bird guides. There are many guides who usually won’t show you everything in 1 trip. They try to hold back a few species so that you come back again for the next trip. In that aspect, Micah is completely honest, he is totally transparent and he would do everything in his capacity to show whatever you request him to. This honest approach towards his bird guiding, is what differentiates him from all other guides. Precisely the reason why I like him so much.
Summarizing the entire trip as below,
23/05 Day 1: Land in Guwahati, drive till Lama camp. Overnight stay in Lama camp.
24/05 Day 2: Birding around Lama camp, drive to Dirang, Overnight stay in Dirang
25/05 Day 3: Drive to Sela pass, drive to and overnight stay in Tawang.
26/05 Day 4: Drive to Sela pass, drive to and overnight stay in Dirang
27/05 Day 5: Drive to Mandala, overnight stay in Lama Camp
28/05 Day 6: Birding and overnight stay in Lama camp
29/05 Day 7: Drive to and overnight stay in Shillong
30/05 Day 8: Birding and overnight stay in Shillong
31/05 Day 9: Drive and overnight stay in Guwahati
01/06 Day 10: Drive to Guwahati airport and return to Hyderabad
Detailed Day-wise activities:
Day 1:
Typically during monsson, it is very difficult for birding and my trip wasn't happening at the most idle time. So I prepared myself mentally for a few days of washout. When I landed in Guwahati, it was all sunny and it felt encouraging, thinking I might have a chance for some decent weather. My happiness didn’t last for very long. The driver picked me up from the airport at around 11 am and on-route to Lama camp, he mentioned that some roads in Arunachal might be closed because of the heavy rain. It didn’t rain on the way to Lama Camp though. We picked up Micah from his home and reached Lama Camp around 7 PM. Nothing much was to be done at that time except for freshening up and finishing dinner. The riot of moths in Lama camp is a big challenge. The moment you open the door to enter your room, atleast 7-10 moths enter alongwith you. And these are like massive palm sized moths. Once you are done killing them inside the room, you could possibly try to sleep. The room conditions are although better from what they were 6 years ago, still aren’t good by any standards. The walls have wallpapers, but the moist environment and lack of fresh air inside the rooms have lead to mold growth. The beddings / quilts are technically wet because of the weather conditions. Last time we had a zero degree sleeping bag, I didn’t carry it with me this time because the temperature weren’t so low. So I had to figure out a way to sleep in those moist blankets. That was a big challenge for me. Nevertheless, I had a good sleep as I was quite tired after the drive from Guwahati.
Day 2:
Micah suggested we be ready by 4 AM to start our birding. I got up at 3-30 AM, got ready but realized it was pouring outside. I went to the kitchen wearing a poncho, and we sat there for a few hours wishing the rain would stop. It did slow down a bit after a few hours and finally we got some chance to go out. We went to Bugun’s home territory for some birding. Incidentally I was the only guest in entire Lama Camp, Bompu was already closed. It feels good to do birding alone in these regions as during peak season, the crowd of birding is just too much to enjoy. We did try looking for the Bugun but on this trip we had a very simple objective, and that was to only go after the lifers. Because of this approach, we did not try the species which we have seen before. The objective was to go for lifers and in the process if I get some good pictures of other birds, I will click them. And that is how this entire trip went through.
6 years ago I was having the same lens that I’m using right now. The 400 f/4 prime. But that time, my camera body was 7D mark ii. Now, I’m using R5, so of course the quality of the photos are going to improve significantly than what they were 6 years ago. And you can even witness that below from all the pics that I clicked. Once again, after this trip I realised, that even though I do have the money to buy 600 f/4 prime, but I won’t be doing it anytime soon. It is very hard to carry that big lens during the treks. The 400 f/4 prime itself feels a lot once you start trekking with Micah. The 600 f/4 might be good on certain occasions, but definitely not the ideal choice when you are trekking inside the deep forest.
Micah is a wonderful guide, but you have to put in the hard yards if you want the results from him. He is going to make you walk, if you can match up to his pace, you are in for a treat. Apparently, this time I bought a new pair of woodland waterproof shoes, just 2 days before the trip. My earlier Quechua has lived its life. The first day itself I realized, I cannot use those shoes, they a were a bit too tight for my comfort and I already got a couple of blisters by afternoon.
We were supposed to drive to Dirang and stay overnight there. After lunch I went to Tenga and bought a local boot as I needed a replacement shoe for my Woodlands. Unfortunately tenga is not a very big market and the choices are very limited. Over and above that I have a size of UK 11, which isn’t so easily available too. I still bought a shoe for 2K thinking I might be able to use it, as the only other shoe I had was the one that I was wearing in my flight, and it’s a sneaker. Sneakers are not ideal for trekking as they have no grip, no cushioning and of course no strength.
The pics that I clicked near Lama camp are as below. There’s never a dull moment with this region. And if you are having a mirrorless camera, the enjoyment of birding multiplies manifold. We tried to get hold of our lifer Cochoa, unfortunately they were nowhere to be seen.
Yellow-throated Fulvetta
Look at the clarity of this Bulbul. I can even see the spider web so clearly.
Striated Bulbul
The Grey-winged Blackbird is anyway the most beautiful blackbird out of all. And this time I managed to get a beautiful picture for both male and female sitting on an open perch with beautiful creamy green bokeh backgrounds.
Grey-winged Blackbird male
Grey-winged Blackbird female
Beautiful Sibia
We went to Dirang and I requested Micah to show me the long billed plover once again, because last time the pic that I had was a terrible one. So, before we checked in our hotel in Dirang, he took me to this river site, where I could manage to get a decent eye-level shot of this bird.
Long-billed Plover
We checked in the hotel at Dirang and I was certain I cannot continue wearing neither the woodlands nor the other boot that I bought from Tenga. I had 2 blisters on my left foot, and I was wondering how am I going to do birding in sneakers for the next 9 days, with these blisters. I bought myself about 10 band-aids and I decided to use them on my blisters for the next remaining days of this trip.
DAY 3:
We got up 2-30 AM today. As we need to start our drive to Sela Pass by 3 AM. The idea is to reach just in time in the morning to catch the early light and the early birds. Our target today was White-browed tit Warbler and the Gould’s Shortwing. Tried a lot for both, maybe luck wasn't on our side. That didn’t stop us from clicking other bird pics though.
Plain Mountain Finch
The Winter Wren is an easy bird to see and click. The only thing that one needs to do is be patient and wait for it to come near. It does come very near, I literraly got a full frame shot of this bird. Imagine if one needs to get a full frame shot of such a small bird, how close one has to be to it. It actually just came and sat 10 feet away from me and started singing. Got a beautiful singing shot with a creamy bokeh on a green backdrop. What more do you need.
Winter Wren
This is another bird, one cannot get enough. Although 6 years ago I did click it in the snow, but this time I got it with such a nice placement, that the shot was definitely worth it.
Snow Partridge
I have seen the Ghoral before, but never the Bharal. A great addition to my mammal lifer.
Blue Sheep - Bharal
Disappointed after not getting the Gould’s Shortwing and White-browed Tit Warbler, I thought why not spend some time clicking this beauty of the Grandala, especially when they are in so many numbers all around. I spotted atleast 35-40 individuals, both male and female, and I spent around half an hour to try get the perfect shot. This one is so beautiful, that you really need to have the best exposure setting dialled in your camera, if you really want the picture to come out well. Luckily I got this green bokeh shot. What a beautiful contrst it makes with that blue in front of that green.
Grandala male
Later on, we checked in our hotel in Tawang and finished our lunch there. After lunch we decided to head over to AniGompa to try and search for the Satyr. Micah mentioned that today afternoon we will only ascertain the location of Satyr, and then tomorrow morning we will come back and try to click it. Last time when I clicked the Satyr in Singalila, it was such a terrible photo. I had to give it a try to get a decent one this time.
On the way we saw this beautiful Nutcracker, always lucky to get such eye-level shots.
Spotted Nutcracker
The Coal Tit in eastern Himalayas is quite different from what is there in the Western Himalayas. The west one has those white spots and rufous colour, the eastern is quite simple as below.
Coal Tit
While we were walking beside the road, we spotted the Collared Grosbeak family feeding on the trees. Managed to get a decent enough shot for both male and female.
Collared Grosbeak male
Collared Grosbeak female
And then, at about 4 PM, Micah said, let’s go back now. While we were heading for our car, all of a sudden we heard the Satyr call. And Micah got all excited because it was coming from very near. He said let’s give it a try and take the chance. We climbed down the mountain slope into the forest and waited at a spot. We were waiting there for the next call from the Satyr, however, we could actually see it from there very clearly. I took a shot from there and then Micah guided me to go further down in the forest and try to take an eye level shot.
Satyr Tragopan male
We were just so super lucky that the Satyr was actually resting and perched behind a tree. We could only see the head of the bird from there, but it was very very near. I would say within 20 feet.
Satyr Tragopan male
Then Micah asked to go further down into an open space, in case the bird gets scared of our presence and tries to run. And that is exactly what happened. I was waiting near an open spot and I was sure it would cross that path for me to get a full body shot at eye level. It was indeed super lucky and equally exciting to get the eye level photograph of the entire body of this bird. Micah was jumping with joy at the quality of photos that I got. When our jubiliation was finally settled, the reality dawned on me. In the process of trying to see the Satyr, I climbed down the hill slope so far that now the biggest challenge was to climb back up. I would say this was still okay, because many a times we trek up the mountain to see the bird, which was the case with Blyths Tragopan. However in this case we first see the bird and then we start trekking up. Before or after, I still had to make that steep climb up. I could hear the Yak bells dangling somewhere uphill, and I was trying to follow those. However since Micah was on the other side of the forest, I had to make the return trek all by myself. I kept following those Yak bells thinking they would take me near the road. I kept on cljmbing for 15-20 minutes but the road was nowhere to be seen. Don’t forget that I was wearing my flat-bottom no-grip sneakers with 2 blisters on my left foot. I cannot explain you how hard it was for me to get a grip and over and above that I was also carrying my camera gear. How so glad sometimes I become, for not carrying the 600 f/4 prime. After a short while, I heard Micah calling me from somewhere below. That was a respite as I was getting a bit tensed if I was following the right path inside the forest or not. After a few minutes he caught up with me and then we reached the road. After a successful evening session, we decided to call it a day.
Earlier we had a plan to stay 2 nights in Tawang, but because we already clicked the Satyr this afternoon only, we decided to only stay for 1 night and check out tomorrow and go back to Dirang.
Satyr Tragopan male
DAY 4:
Saving one full day was a big thing for us, now we could once again focus on our lifers. And thus Sela pass was once again going to be on our list this morning. As always, got up at 2-30 AM, left hotel at 3 AM and drove straight to Sela pass once again, to search for the Shortwing and Tit Warbler. We searched them everywhere possible, apparently a month ago, the best spot for the Tit Warbler is now taken up by the army camp. We were not allowed to go there any more, so we had to try elsewhere. At one moment Micah di find the Gould’s Shortwing at quite a distance and he called me immediately to take a click. But within a matter of seconds, the fog came up and killed every possibility to get a shot. We waited for more than an hour for the fog to clear. We even finished our breakfast and decided to continue our search after breakfast and see if the fog clears by that time. But it didn’t happen. During this search, when Micah was somewhere else looking, I managed to spot this Rufous-breasted Accentor quite nearby. I tried to find the best angle possible as I remembered last time I did not have a very nice photo of this bird.
Rufous-breasted Accentor
On this trip the Shortwing and the Tit Warbler were not in my luck. Maybe some other time. Nevertheless I was still quite excited because I found my first lifer of the trip, the Tibetan Blackbird. And such was my luck that I got both the male and the female with a beautiful bokeh perch on the same rock.
Tibetan Blackbird male
Tibetan Blackbird female
Sometimes, luck also plays a part of its own. One way we were not lucky enough to spot the Shortwing, but on the other hand, this Dark-breasted Rosefinch just came and sat in front of me, giving me all the time in the world to compose this beautiful ideally perfect angle of a bird shot.
Dark-breasted Rosefinch male
We even spotted the whole family of Snow Partrige and what a photo opp I got once again.
Snow Partridge
After clicking 1 lifer and a few beautiful photos, we decided to call it off and go back to Dirang as the weather wasn’t improving any bit for us to look for the Shortwing. We came back to our hotel in Dirang, and such was the placement of the hotel, that right opposite that hotel, there was marsh and grass land where Micah said that he would try for the Crake. 6 years ago we spent 2 days trying to look for this Crake, but could not click it that time. This time however, I was holding a mirrorless camera with ultrafast focus capabilities, and I was quite certain I will get it this time. Managed to get a clear shot withing just 5 minutes of our attempt, remimnded me how hard it was 6 years ago.
Black-tailed Crake
We checked-in our hotel, finished our lunch and went out again for trying the Russet Bush Warbler, which we did hear the call for a very long time, but it did not bother to come out from the bush. We kep on waiting for more than an hour for it to change its mind, unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Then we headed on for one of the eucalyptus tree lands to try the slender billed oriole. We tried for more than half an hour but couldn’t find it. However in those eucalyptus trees, I spotted this Eurasian Hobby male and it turned out to be Micah’s lifer. Now that is something very unique. Not only this bird is not found in NE, but Micah having a lifer with me is definitely worth remembering. We have 100s of lifer with Micah, howmany times do they have lifers with us. Very rarely. It was perched on top of the tall eucaluptus trees, but I managed to get a decent shot with my 400 mm.
Eurasian Hobby male
We also spotted this Asian barred owlet at those same eucalyptus trees. Once we saw 2 birds of prey in those trees, we almost were certain that the oriole won’t be seen here considering these birds of prey were sitting there merrily. So we left and drove back to lama camp.
Asian Barred Owlet
DAY 5:
When Day 4 gave me 2 lifers, I got a little optimistic about my prospects. Last night I started contemplating whether should I go back to sela and try Shortwing once again, or go to Mandala and try 4 lifers. And obviously, Mandala was the choice. Within no time we got our 1st one. The brown bush warbler. Not a very difficult bird per se, it did give us time, and I managed to get a pretty decent enough shot.
Brown Bush Warbler
Yellow-breasted Greenfinch male
We were roaming near the grassland of MandaLa and lo behold, once again Micah had his another lifer along with me. Brahminy starling has never been sighted before in the North East, and we have this record from Mandala now. The first ever sighting of Brahminy Starling from NE has been clicked in my camera. Who would believe that a bird which is so popular in the India Mainland, is so scarce in North east.
Brahminy Starling
Finally after that excitement of the Starling, we started our effort to search for the White-bellied Redstart. This one is not at all an easy bird to see. It keeps running from one perch to another but the good part is that, in that landscape it is very easy to get a good bokeh background, and those beautiful rufous colour on the tail. If clicked in proper light, the photo really comes out good. You need to walk a lot inside those wild bushes, if you need to spot this bird. But the photo that you get after that effort id worth every effort that we put. The moment I clicked that photo I was certain it is going to be a blast after post processing.
White-bellied Redstart male
Followed by Redstart, we got another lifer within another couple of minutes. The fact that I had been able to click these birds while they were singing, was another opportunistic moment.
Buff-throated Warbler
Then we went straight up to Mandala spot where last couple of months everyone was clicking the Temminck’s Tragopan. Although, Temminck’s was not generous enough to give us a sighting unlike what it was doing a couple of months ago, we still got another lifer the Large-billed Leaf Warbler.
Large-billed Leaf Warbler
We were just walking along the road, when all of a sudden Micah heard the call of White-browed Shortwing. He immediately told me that this bird is very difficult to click as it never comes out of the bush. But I had the mirrorless and we can set the exposure easily in the viewfinder to ensure we are getting a shot worth keeping. I did manage to click it somehow, and I would say I was quite lucky to get this photo after some heavy post processing. It was indeed a very lucky lifer and a very difficult one too.
White-browed Shortwing
Lemon-rumped Warbler
I am not sure what is happening with my Bird-in-flight photos these days. I’m not abel to get a very sharp shot. Yes, the birds were far, yes they were high up in the sky, and yes they were with the background of the bight lit sky, still I think, I should have been able to click a better shot than this.
Mountain Hawk Eagle
Dark-sided Flycatcher
Indian Cuckoo female
We were coming down from MandaLa and heading towards Lama Camp, when Micah decided that he would be trying for the Ward’s trogon. We were lucky to hear its call and Micah decided to trek inside the forest to check it out. That forest was a dangerous one, one filled with leeches all through. I was wearing leech guard and yet the leeches managed to climb up till my jacket. Once we clicked the Trogon, and we trekked back to the road, the first thing that we did was to remove our jackets and shoes and remove all the leeches that were sticking to it. I have not encountered this kind of riot of leeches anywhere during this entire trip. Although I remember how the situation was in Roing 6 years ago, and how the leeches were falling from the sky in Andaman. But I guess, this is worst leech encounter I had in NE for quite some time now. But I got some really nice photos for both the male and the female. Although I did not get the belly shot, for both the male and the female, but the back shot of male is also not bad. The yellow belly of the female does look really good, however I was not disappointed as I got a good sharp shot from a close distance.
Ward's Trogon female
Ward's Trogon male
Tickell's Thrush female
DAY 6:
Today our target was the Brown-flanked Bush Warbler. We did manage to get it, I was not able to believe my luck on how easily I was able to spot these bush warblers on this trip. Bush warblers and Wren Babblers are never an easy bird to click, but somehow I did manage decent photos this time.
Brown-flanked Bush Warbler
We also tried our luck near the river bed for Crested Bunting. It is a summer visitor to Arunachal which comes here for breeding. It was my lifer, we did manage to get the female, but the real beauty if the male is what we were trying to find. Unfortunately, after many hours of search, we still could not find the male. So we had to be contended with the female only.
Crested Bunting female
After lunch, we started our endevour to search for the long-billed and once again we found it very easilty. It is definitely not an easy bird to see and very difficult to click, but somehow luck was on my side and I managed to click such a beautiful pose for this such a small bird.
Long-billed Wren babbler
Long-billed Wren Babbler
Striated Bulbul
Rufous-bellied Woodpecker female
Spot-winged Grosbeak female and male
We were roaming in the forest trying to track the Bugun, when we got a call froma local friend of Micah about the slender-billed oriole being visible in the vicinity. We ran back to the car and went to the local place where it was getting sighted. We searched for hardly 2 minutes and the male came and perched right on top, giving a great opp to photograph this rare one.
Slender-billed Oriole male
After finishing the big lifer of the Oriole, we decided to head back to the Bugun territory. But it was quite late and Micah was asking if I will be abel to click the bird in such low light. I was pretty confident that R5 can pull it off even at 6 PM when the light was almost on the brink of dying. And then we spotted a bird flying away from us. At first we thought it to be the Indian Cuckoo but the flight pattern suggested that it was the Nightjar. It went and perched on one of the tree branches, not very near but within trekking distance. We entered those bush shrubs forgetting about he leeches, and trying to get a clear sight of the bird so that I could get atleast 1 click. The light was so low, Micah thought I might possibly get one record shot, little did he know that the R5 was capable to pull out a blinder of a photo. I shot this at 1/80 F/4 400 mm and 16000 ISO. At 1/80 handholding was a huge challenge, especially when one it trekking aggressively to reach the bird. But I still managed to get this shot and rest was left for post processing. It turned out to be one of the best shots I clicked for any nightjar, for that matter.
Grey Nightjar
DAY 7:
After finishing quite a successful trip in Arunachal, today we were supposed to drive to Shillong. All this while I’m glad we did not encounter rain except the starting of second day in Lama camp. We did encounter bad weather like heavy fog in Sela pass which costed me the Gould’s Shortwing, other than that the weather was quite open and perfect fpr photography.
On the way to Shillong somewhere on the outskirts of Guwahati, we spotted the Adjutant in one of the farms. We stopped the car, and took one click from inside the car. And then I got down to get an eye level shot. It did give me the opportunity to click without flying away and what a beautiful shot it turned out to be.
We entered Meghalaya, and it started raining cats and dogs all the way. We stopped for lunch, drove through Shillong traffic and finally reached the hotel by evening. It was still raining and we just checked in the hotel hoping things might improve the next day.
Lesser Adjutant
DAY 8:
A total washout. It rained the entire day without any sign of respite. We saw the forecast that rain might slow down a bit in the afternoon. We took our ponchos and drove in our car to see if we could do some birding. We even got down after hearing the call of the Spot-breasted Scimitar Babbler. But in that rain it was nowhere to be seen. We decided we would try our luck again tomorrow.
Day 9:
We saw the forecast that there might be no rain from 4 AM till 7-30 AM. We planned accordingly, got up and got ready by 4 AM only to realize that the homestay where we were staying in, locked all exit gates. We were stuck inside with nobody picking up our call at that hour. I don’t blame them, 4 AM is not the usual time for anyone to pick up calls.
After a lot of effort we finally got hold of the keys from one of the helpers and managed to open the gate. However we wstill lost 40 minutes standing there and trying to figure out what to do. Considering that it will again start raining after 7-30 AM, every minute was crucial for us that morning. There were a lot of lifers to cover and very little time.
We reached our birding spot and luck helped us a bit with the sightings.
Spot-breasted Scimitar Babbler
Long-tailed Shrike
This Fulvetta is a very difficult bird to see, one needs to trek a lot to reach to its location, but for some reason it just took 2 minutes for us to see and click it. We got both the male and female at the same spot and got an amazing shot of the male too.
Rusty-capped Fulvetta male
Rusty-capped Fulvetta female
When we realized that we did not have to spend a lot of time for the Fulvetta, we started focusing on the Tawny-breasted Wren Babler which is literally endemic to Shillong. For some reason, this one also did not trouble us and within a matter of a few minutes without any trekking we managed to click both the male and the female.
This is the bird which all birders target, when they come to Shillong. I was shocked to see how easily we spotted and clicked it. It was already 6-30 AM and we had no time left, maybe just another hour of birding. So we immediately started running for the other lifer targets that we had. By about 7 AM we were able to click both the crested Finchbill and also the Grey Sibia. We did not try for the Flavescent Bulbul because of time constraint but we were happy with the sightings that we got.
Tawny-breasted Wren Babbler male
Tawny-breasted Wren babbler female
Crested Finchbill
Grey Sibia
By 9 AM we were back at the homestay for our breakfast, and since it also started raining again, we decided to drive to Guwahati today itself. Although the earlier plan was to stay one more night in Shillong and then drive to Guwahati tomorrow. But the incessant rain was a threat for road closure and I did not want to miss my flight tomorrow.
We left for Guwahati and since this was going to be our last night of stay, this time I booked 2 rooms in Vivanta Guwahati. I stayed in one room and the other one I got a twin bed for Micah and Krishna. They really enjoyed staying there and it was kind of a parting gift from my side to them.
Day 10:
We decided to do some early morning birding session in Garbhanga Forest Reserve, looking for the hooded Pitta and maybe the Ruby-cheeked Sunbird. We did see the flock of the Ruby-cheeked but could not click it as they did not come any closer. The gate of the reserve is guarded by a forest official. Although there isn’t any organized ticketing system in place but you need to pay some token amount to the man at the gate if you want to enter the reserve. The total driving distance inside the reserve is about 20 odd kilometeres and it is indeed a wonderful place for birding. Maybe some other day, I will have enough time to spend there. It was hot and humid inside, pretty contrasting to what we were used to in our last 10 days of this trip. I wish I got the shot of the Ruby-cheeked but then there is always a next time.
Dingy Bushbrown
Yellow Coster
Indian Cabbage White male
Swinhoe's Striped Squirrel
Overall, we had a great trip with some amazing rare sightings and some awesome photograph opportunities. I even planned my next trip with Micah in December. He told me he would take me to Namdhapa. With Micah, I always have a wonderful luck, hopefully that will continue even in December. Eagerly looking forward to it. But before that my jackpot trip of 3 month in Canada is coming up and I need to do my preparations for the same. Let’s see how many lifers can I add in those 3 months there.
TRIP 1: April 2019
If somebody plans a birding trip to West Arunachal - Eagle's Nest (Lama Camp and Bompu Camp) and Sela Pass Mandala Pass, then here are the most important species that define those places.
Lama Camp is known for the Bugun Liocichla
Bompu Camp is known for the Blyth's Tragopan
Sela Pass is known for Snow Partridge
Apparently, luck was so good to us that we managed to click all the above. A big part of the credit goes to Micah Rai aka Kami who is a research assistant working at Eagle's Nest and was also our guide during this trip. He knows the forest in-and-out and exactly knows where and how to spot the rare ones. This made our first challenge (to spot the birds) very easy, however the difficult part was to click those in low light and dense vegetation. Now that is where Eagle's Nest is tough and sometimes so tough that even my 400mm f/4 prime lens was not enough to pull-in adequate light to get a decent exposure.
Enjoy the video and clicks below.
The most important bird of Lama Camp: Bugun Liocichla. We were hearing stories that bird watchers make 4-5 visits to Eagle's Nest and yet they are not able to see the Bugun, forget clicking it. They are so rare. But Micah was so adept with the forest and he showed us the Bugun so easily that we never felt it was such a huge challenge.
Bugun Liocichla (lifer)
The most important bird of Bompu Camp: The call of Blyth's Tragopan is heard almost every morning at 5 am in Bompu Camp but nobody knows how to reach the bird through the forest trek. Micah knew the way and I was also ready for one of the toughest birding trek I ever did. The reward was a sighting and a click of Blyth's Tragopan Male. The steep trek all through the mountains and through those dense foliage wasn't easy. It was not only steep and we also had to do it very fast to catch up with the bird call. Finally when I reached the spot from where we could spot the bird, it was sitting under a very dense canopy - making it almost impossible to click. The below shot was at 1/15 shutter speed and 3200 ISO at f/4 400mm. Now you can imagine how tough the conditions were.
Blyth's Tragopan male (lifer)
Anybody who visits Sela Pass, only desires to click the Snow Partridge. But then again, they don't oblige anybody and everybody. We were the selected few who managed to click them up-close. Once again thanks to Micah who made this possible.
Snow Partridge (lifer)
Let's go into these three locations one by one and see in details what all we saw. Our lifer count wasn't much on this trip as we already did Mishmi and Sikkim. Still we managed to get 45 lifers in all. A lot of repetitions were there from Mishmi and Sikkim, hence we didn't click the ones that we already found elsewhere. Only on a few occasions, when the birds were very near to us or in good light, that we clicked it again.
Bird Watching in Eagle's Nest Wildlife Sanctuary (Lama Camp and Bompu Camp): Altitude of around 10,000 feet.
Bay Woodpecker male
Bhutan Laughingthrush (lifer)
Golden-naped Finch male
Common Rosefinch male
Scarlet Finch male (lifer)
Maroon Oriole female
Yellow-rumped Honeyguide female (lifer)
Yellow-rumped Honeyguide female (lifer)
Coral-billed Scimitar Babbler (lifer)
Beautiful Nuthatch (lifer)
Wreathed Hornbill (lifer)
Long-tailed Broadbill (lifer)
Red-billed Leiothrix
Rufous-throated Wren babbler (lifer)
White-tailed Robin male (lifer)
Yellow-throated Fulvetta (lifer)
Greater Rufous-headed Parrotbill (lifer)
Lesser Rufous-headed Parrotbill (lifer)
Grey-headed Parrotbill (lifer)
Rufous-necked Hornbill male
Bar-winged Flycatcher-Shrike (lifer)
Pale-headed Woodpecker female (lifer)
Hill Blue Flycatcher male (lifer)
Rufous-backed Sibia (lifer)
Blue-capped Rock Thrush male
Large Woodshrike
Yellow-bellied Warbler (lifer)
Pale Blue Flycatcher male (lifer)
Black-throated Sunbird male
Tickell's Thrush female (lifer)
Red-throated Thrush female
Snowy-browed Flycatcher male (lifer)
White-tailed Nuthatch
Grey-headed Bullfinch female
Rufous-winged Fulvetta
Long-tailed Shrike
Himalayan Cutia male (lifer)
Greater Yellownape male (lifer)
Brown-throated Treecreeper (lifer)
Himalayan Swiftlet
Grey-bellied Tesia (lifer)
Slaty-bellied Tesia (lifer)
Chestnut-headed Tesia (lifer)
Spotted Nutcracker
Red-headed Trogon female
Sultan Tit
Green-tailed Sunbird male
Barred Cuckoo Dove (lifer)
Beautiful Sibia
Streak-throated Barwing (lifer)
Mountain Imperial Pigeon (lifer)
Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo (lifer)
Golden Babbler (lifer)
Black-chinned Yuhina (lifer)
Blue-throated Barbet
Crested Serpent Eagle
Mountain Hawk Eagle
Silver-eared Mesia
Elephant sighted from lama camp dinner area
Bird Watching in Sela Pass: Altitude of 13,600 feet above mean sea level. We started early morning at 3 am from Dirang to reach Sela before the sunrise with the objective to see the Snow Partridge and what a sight it was to spot 3 of them so close. The light was a little tricky in the early hours, but we managed some good sightings and clicks. We spotted the last Grandala flock in Sikkim before they went off to higher altitude, however here the Grandala was foraging almost everywhere.
Snow Partridge
Black-lipped Pika
White-browed Rosefinch male
Rufous-breasted Bush Robin
Fire-tailed Sunbird female
Fire-tailed Sunbird male
Himalayan Buzzard
Rufous-breasted Accentor
Red-billed Chough
Golden Bush Robin male (lifer)
Alpine Accentor
Winter Wren
White-capped Redstart
Grandala female
Grandala male
Rosy Pipit
Griffon Vulture (lifer)
Bird Watching in Manda La Pass: Altitude of 9000 feet above sea level. Once again to reach Mandala from Dirang, we had to start at 3-30 am. this time we were trying for the Temmick's Tragopan, although many advised us that it was a tough sighting these days because of the road construction. We didn't hear it call all morning so we started focusing on the other avenues. Also tried a lot for the Myzornis, searched for it in atleast more than 1000 Rhododendrons but it was nowhere to be seen. Also missed the Goldcrest which is a pretty regular sighting otherwise. The weather in general was good and we managed some good sightings and decent clicks.
Crimson-browed Finch male
Grey Bushchat male
Russet Sparrow male
Long-billed Plover (lifer)
Dark-sided Flycatcher
Black-eared Kite
Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush male
Eurasian Jay
Grey-sided Bush Warbler
Slaty-blue Flycatcher female (lifer)
Tibetan Siskin or Tibetan Serin female (lifer)
Eurasian Cuckoo male (lifer)
Slaty-blue Flycatcher male (lifer)
Little Bunting (lifer)
Oriental Skylark
Aberrant Bush Warbler (lifer)
Whistler's Warbler
Rufous-capped Babbler
Himalayan Buzzard
Bar-throated Siva
Blyth's Leaf Warbler
Blue-fronted Robin male (lifer)
Red-tailed Minla male
Red-tailed Minla female
Blue-winged Siva
Rufous-bellied Niltava
Some tips for those who are planning a trip to Eagle's Nest, Sela and Madala.
Be ready to put in the hard yards, no effort no gain. It's easy to have a wish list of birds and it's tough to actually see it and sometimes almost impossible to click. So be ready for some extensive trekking and mountain climbing and low light photography challenges.
If booking a trip, never go directly through Indi Glow, he owns Lama camp but is least bothered about the guests. Book the trip directly through a Bird Guide. It will be less expensive and more rewarding.
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