BHUTAN

 

‘For the second year running Satyr Tragopan romped home as the easy to predict ‘Bird of the Tour’ poll winner as once again we were blessed with exceptionally lengthy views of this normally secretive forest denizen. We saw two tragopans on this year’s tour – but the first, a resplendent red male, showed superbly, coming close then going away, close and away as we gradually lured him to the edge of the forest. Seen well by everyone, even including our Bhutanese guide and driver, this magnificent specimen even made a bolt around the rear of our coach and across the road!

 

Two other Bhutanese specialities, Ward’s Trogon and Beautiful Nuthatch tied for second place in the same end of tour poll. The trogon, a fabulous male, was the first of the tiny Himalayan Kingdom’s specialities to give itself up but the encounter wasn’t without incident – we had to scramble about 50 metres down a steep forest slope in order to see him. We were left in little doubt that the ensuing scope views more than justified the effort. The nuthatch took a while longer – but then showed himself again and again and again…and this time all seven of our Bhutanese lunch crew also saw it, most of them for their first time as well. Extended scope views of Beautiful Nuthatch within 40 metres of a cooked lunch! Birding in Bhutan is often easy, but rarely as easy as that!

 

Himalayan Monal was ranked fourth – there was some debate over how many individuals we saw, was it four or five. No matter, the first was a female and she flew directly overhead moments after we’d clambered out of our coach. She was soon followed by her escort – he was almost as close as she was but it was still only minutes after sunrise and the light could have been better we mused. We needn’t have fretted since a couple of spectacular encounters ensued on the same conifer clad hillside later that morning. Surely this huge, gaudy, multi-coloured pheasant isn’t designed to climb trees and it came as somewhat of a surprise when our encounter was with a bird that launched it self from a full 50 feet up! Stunning just doesn’t quite do it justice!

 

The tour started very well with a fabulous flight along the southern edge of the Himalayan mountain chain with spectacular mountain views blessing the Kathmandu to Paro leg of the journey. Once in Paro we were met by our knowledgeable guide and our superbly skilled driver, and then we were off. Soon afterwards we were watching the first of our sought after Bhutanese birds - an Ibisbill. Later lunch was again a tasty introduction to Bhutanese cuisine and we didn’t have too long to wait before our second hoped for encounter – that with a Wallcreeper, or rather three of Wallcreepers. Cracking views but this was the last time we’d encounter this gorgeous sprite. Moving on to Thimpu we weren’t the only ones enjoying a special day in Bhutan – it was the country’s first ever national election – a historic day that’ll be remembered by the Bhutanese themselves probably just as long as it will be by us and even though all the shops were closed we still had a quick look around the capital.

 

We were up early the following morning, after a night that never seemed quite long enough and the Dochu La, our first Bhutanese pass, beckoned. True to form it yielded a few of its jewels – the superb pair of Fire-tailed Myzornis and a party of inquisitive Yellow-billed Blue Magpies, Hoary Barwings and some fly-by Snow Pigeons being particularly memorable.

 

Spending the following two nights at a charming guesthouse not far from Punakha, once Bhutan’s winter capital, gave us the opportunity to go birding up the Mo Chhu Valley. We saw a few Tibetan Plateau bound migrants – an adult Pallas’s Gull and a juvenile White-tailed Eagle but it was the region’s residents such as Spotted Wren Babbler and Slaty-bellied Tesia that gave us most satisfaction. After a hectic morning in this bird rich valley Khandu took us on an insightful guided tour inside the magnificent Punakha dzong. Our tour took longer than we expected due, in part, to some of the young monks being punished for swimming in the dangerous river that flanks the imposing building!

After a few hours the following morning adding a handful more Tibetan bound waterfowl we climbed up towards the Pele La where a Yellow-rumped Honeyguide was well appreciated. The undoubted star of the show however was the aforementioned Ward’s Trogon although the lingering Black-necked Crane in the Phobjika Valley pushed it close. This bird had apparently attempted to leave with two congeners the very same morning, but we were grateful that it returned, perhaps to try again the following day?

 

The Pele La the following morning saw us searching for some more high altitude specialities and our primary target, Himalayan Monal gave itself up, in spectacular style, within a couple of minutes of our arrival. After a hearty breakfast (hands up those who didn’t eat too much on this tour) it was the turn of a couple of Great Parrotbills to give equally impressive, long-term views. This, our first parrotbill of the tour, was soon accompanied by a slightly less satisfying encounter with its smaller cousin, Brown Parrotbill and then we ate again.  It was only day four in this, the Land of the Thunder Dragon and we were well on our way to having another fabulous Bhutan tour.

 

We paused our journey south of Trongsa to study a Russet Bush Warbler and then our first Blue-capped Rock Thrushes before continuing on through Zhemgang, and its small dzong. We’d been gazumped at our first camp-site (an incident that was to happen twice more later) but our alternative site proved to be better. A much greater disappointment however was that we failed to find our primary quarry, Beautiful Nuthatch, at either of the two sites that we explored on our way south. Fortunately we scored superbly with this enigmatic species and had some superb views the following day. Other goodies on the Zhemgang road included some fabulous encounters with our first Rufous-necked and Great Hornbills, a pair of Blue-bearded Bee-eaters, our first Rufous-chinned and Scaly Laughingthrushes, Cutias, Long-billed Wren Babblers and Yellow-throated Fulvettas and several parties of rare Golden Langurs provided some much appreciated non-avian distractions. Our introduction to Bhutanese camping went smoothly – everyone slept, the tents were sufficiently spacious and comfortable and, as if we ever doubted it, the camp crew hard working and capable. It was all just as well since we were to have many more days under canvas later on the tour!

 

Heading back up to Trongsa we then continued our eastward traverse. Our next port of call was a comfortable Bumthang guest house, replete with its log burning stoves and buck wheat pancakes and this was the last roof over-our-head for a full six nights.

 

Over the years we’ve found that the drive over Bhutan’s highest road pass, the mighty Thrumsing La between central and eastern Bhutan (effectively between Bumthang and Sengor), provides some of the best opportunities to encounter pheasants and 2008 provided no exception. We had excellent views of a female monal ‘walking the road’ shortly after it was light enough to see and not much later Chador spotted our first Blood Pheasant, a close range, road-side female that was sheltering from the increasingly heavy snow fall.  We’d go on to see seven others, including several males before our concerns shifted to the snow fall and whether it was safe to continue on and drive over the pass. Reassured we journeyed on and up, slowly, very slowly. The snow clad forest vistas were stupendous, but we didn’t dare pause too long to admire them since there was a distinct threat that the looming pass would be closed and we simply had to keep going. We made over to the east without any major incident, thanks almost exclusively to our driver’s impressive skills and sensible judgement. Our next camp, the one at Sengor high up on the fabulous Limithang road was occupied when we arrived and our team had pressed on a little further. It was fortunate that they had since it was near here that we found our tragopan – the ‘Bird of the Tour’ mentioned earlier.


We had just one primary target left on the Limithang road – the often vociferous Sikkim Wedge-billed Babbler and we managed to find a pair even before we reached our second camp site. Frustratingly the bad weather found us at the same time and, in fading light, not all of us saw them. Equally disappointingly we were unable to re-find them during the following two days. It was certainly far from plane sailing – the higher altitudes were quiet, very quite with no Slender-billed Scimitar Babblers to be found anywhere and no Broad-billed Warblers willing to co-operate. We blamed the aseasonally cold weather and persevered. Our final full day however was genuinely first class and of the very highest calibre – a Whistling Hawk Cuckoo, umpteen Greater Rufous-headed Parrotbills, several Grey-sided Laughingthrushes and a single Red-faced Liocichla being pick of the bunch.

 

The hoped for Black-tailed Crakes performed superbly besides our next camp and the following day we headed off towards our fifth and final campsite at Narphung, pausing on route to admire a Speckled Woodpigeon, another Brown Parrotbill, a couple more Spotted Laughingthrushes, a party of Grey-headed Bullfinches and some very distant Fire-capped Tits. Unlike last year we were blessed with glorious weather at Samdrup Jongkhar close to the Indian border – and eventually found a few Dark-rumped Swifts, two new hornbills in the shape of Wreathed and Oriental Pied, umpteen Asian Fairy Bluebirds and several Common Hill Mynas to mention but a few.

 

All too soon it was time to say goodbye to the crew who’d taken such superb care of us over the previous weeks and to leave Bhutan. The drive back to Gauhati in Assam was uneventful and enlivened by a few birds. We didn’t log any more new birds in Delhi and settled briefly in to our comfortable hotel before it was all over. We returned to the airport and headed home.

 

Our memories of Bhutan are sure to fade, but hopefully not too quickly and I’d hope that we’ll long remember our stunning encounters with Satyr Tragopan, Beautiful Nuthatch, Himalayan Monal and Ward’s Trogon.’  Paul Holt.

 

Bird List:   The order, English and scientific names follow those used in Inskipp T., Lindsey, N. and Duckworth, W. An Annotated Checklist of the Birds of the Oriental Region. Oriental Bird Club. 1996. These are the ones also used in the principal field guide to Bhutan - Inskipp, C., Inskipp, T. and Grimmett, R.  2nd ed. 2004. Birds of Bhutan. Christopher Helm, London.  (ISBN 0-7136-5163-6).    However a few taxonomic revisions have recently been made, mostly by Pamela Rasmussen. These are detailed in her book - Rasmussen, P. C. and Anderton, J. C. (2005) Birds of South Asia. The Ripley Guide. Vols. 1 and 2. Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions, Washington D.C. and Barcelona.  All of these changes are highlighted in the following list with an asterisk *.

 

Column A = Number of tours on which this species has been recorded.

Column B = Number of days this species was seen on the last tour.

Column C = Maximum daily count for this species on the last tour.

H                =  denotes a species that was heard but was not seen

(H)              =  denotes a species that was heard more often than it was seen

I                  =  a species that was only recorded in India

 

A

 

B

C

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3

Hill Partridge  

9

4

H

Arborophila torqueola

3

Rufous-throated Partridge  

4

4

H

Arborophila rufogularis

2

Chestnut-breasted Partridge  

 

 

 

Arborophila mandellii

3

Blood Pheasant  

1

10

 

Ithaginis cruentus

3

Satyr Tragopan  

2

5

(H)

Tragopan satyra

3

Himalayan Monal  

2

5

 

Lophophorus impejanus

2

Red Junglefowl  

1

1

H

Gallus gallus

1

Kalij Pheasant  

 

 

 

Lophura leucomelanos

3

Grey Peacock Pheasant  

1

1

H

Polyplectron bicalcaratum

1

Indian Peafowl  

1

1

H

Pavo cristatus

2

Lesser Whistling-duck

1

12

 

Dendrocygna javanica

1

Bar-headed Goose  

 

 

 

Anser indicus

3

Ruddy Shelduck  

2

40

 

Tadorna ferruginea

1

Common Shelduck

1

1

 

Tadorna tadorna

2

Gadwall  

3

6

 

Anas strepera

2

Eurasian Wigeon  

3

40

 

Anas penelope

2

Mallard  

1

1

 

Anas platyrhynchos

1

Chinese Spot-billed Duck*

 

 

 

Anas zonorhyncha

2

Northern Shoveler  

1

1

 

Anas clypeata

3

Northern Pintail  

1

2

 

Anas acuta

3

Common Teal  

2

10

 

Anas crecca

3

Red-crested Pochard

1

1

 

Netta rufina

2

Common Pochard  

1

2

 

Aythya ferina

1

Ferruginous Pochard

 

 

 

Aythya nyroca

3

Tufted Duck  

1

1

 

Aythya fuligula

1

Common Merganser  

2

3

 

Mergus merganser

3

Yellow-rumped Honeyguide  

2

1

 

Indicator xanthonotus

1

Speckled Piculet  

 

 

 

Picumnus innominatus

2

White-browed Piculet   

1

1

 

Sasia ochracea

3

Grey-capped Woodpecker  

1

1

 

Dendrocopos canicapillus

1

Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker  

 

 

 

Dendrocopos macei

3

Rufous-bellied Woodpecker  

1

1

H

Dendrocopos hyperythrus

3

Crimson-breasted Woodpecker  

10

3

 

Dendrocopos cathpharius

1

Darjeeling Woodpecker  

 

 

 

Dendrocopos darjellensis

3

Rufous Woodpecker  

1

1

 

Celeus brachyurus

3

Lesser Yellownape  

3

1

 

Picus chlorolophus

3

Greater Yellownape  

2

3

 

Picus flavinucha

3

Grey-headed Woodpecker  

4

3

(H)

Picus canus

1

Black-rumped Flameback

 

 

 

Dinopium benghalense

2

Greater Flameback  

1

1

H

Chrysocolaptes lucidus

1

Pale-headed Woodpecker

 

 

 

Gecinulus grantia

3

Bay Woodpecker  

8

1

H

Blythipicus pyrrhotis

3

Great Barbet  

13

12

(H)

Megalaima virens

1

Lineated Barbet

1

2

 

Megalaima lineata

3

Golden-throated Barbet  

7

5

(H)

Megalaima franklinii

3

Blue-throated Barbet  

4

20

(H)

Megalaima asiatica

2

Coppersmith Barbet  

1

2

I

Megalaima haemacephala

3

Oriental Pied Hornbill

1

6

 

Anthracoceros albirostris

3

Great Hornbill  

3

15

 

Buceros bicornis

3

Rufous-necked Hornbill  

6

5

 

Aceros nipalensis

3

Wreathed Hornbill

2

2

 

Aceros undulatus

3

Common Hoopoe  

8

4

 

Upupa epops

2

Red-headed Trogon  

 

 

 

Harpactes erythrocephalus

3

Ward's Trogon  

1

1

 

Harpactes wardi

2

Dollarbird

 

 

 

Eurystomus orientalis

3

Common Kingfisher  

2

1

 

Alcedo atthis

1

Stork-billed Kingfisher

 

 

 

Pelargopsis capensis

3

White-throated Kingfisher  

9

8

 

Halcyon smyrnensis

3

Crested Kingfisher  

2

1

 

Megaceryle lugubris

1

Pied Kingfisher  

1

1

I

Ceryle rudis

3

Blue-bearded Bee-eater  

2

2

 

Nyctyornis athertoni

2

Blue-tailed Bee-eater

1

6

I

Merops philippinus

3

Large Hawk Cuckoo  

10

2

H

Cuculus sparverioides

3

Common Hawk Cuckoo  

1

1

I

Cuculus varius

2

Whistling Hawk Cuckoo*

2

2

(H)

Hierococcyx nisicolor

3

Eurasian Cuckoo  

3

1

H

Cuculus canorus

3

Oriental Cuckoo  

9

3

(H)

Cuculus saturatus

1

Banded Bay Cuckoo

 

 

 

Cacomantis sonneratii

2

Plaintive Cuckoo  

 

 

 

Cacomantis merulinus

3

Asian Emerald Cuckoo  

2

1

 

Chrysococcyx maculatus

2

Violet Cuckoo