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 aka Kami who is a research assitant 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.
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.
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.
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 repeatitions 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.
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.
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 focussing 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.
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 aka Kami who is a research assitant 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) |
 |
| Blyth's Tragopan male (lifer) |
 |
| Snow Partridge (lifer) |
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 focussing 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 |
- 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 impossile 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.
