Bhutan Part 8

Sunday 29^th

Bags were packed and we left at 6am to start our long drive back to Paro. We made a few stops shortly after departure, seeing some of the familiar birds by now of the area. Blue-winged Minla, Asian Barred Owlet, Yellow-bellied Warbler and Maroon Oriole were among the highlights before breakfast.

Blue-winged Minla

Asian Barred Owlet

Further stops produced our only Velvet-fronted Nuthatch of the trip and a displaying Crested Goshawk. We spent some time at the White-bellied Heron Centre learning about this critically endangered bird and how they hope to save it. 

Part of the interpretive display in the centre

Another shopping opportunity

A spectacular moth

A selection of unidentified butterflies

Tree Sparrow

Chestnut-headed Bee-eaters

Our next stop was beside a river where there was a known breeding pair of herons and we saw both birds, the male flew up to the nest to feed the female while she incubated her three precious eggs.

Watching the nesting herons

White-bellied Heron

Mountain Hawk-Eagle

At lunch we said goodbye to our catering crew as their work was completed for the trip. The afternoon was mostly spent driving but we did make a brief stop beside a reservoir where we saw a few new birds for the trip. We arrived at our hotel in Paro in the evening.

Back to Dzong country

The Bhutan version of a housing estate

And their shopping mall

Back in the mountains

This is just a roundabout (we didn't see a single traffic light!)

Monday 30^th

We left the hotel in Paro at 5.30 for the long climb up to Chelela, picking up lunch along the way. As we climbed we saw Kaleej Pheasant and a Blood Pheasant of a different race. A little higher up there was a superb male Himalayan Monal that posed for us, our best sighting of this species of the trip.

Himalayan Monal

We made a few stops as we ascended with Himalayan Bluetail, White-winged Grosbeak, White-browed Rosefinch and two species of tit: Rufous-vented and Rufous-fronted all seen. 

Rufous-vented Tit

Himalayan Bluetail

We had breakfast at the pass at almost 4,000 metres. It was pretty cold and we were all layered up. With the catering crew gone we had a packed breakfast from the hotel which was pretty crap by comparison.

Breakfast spot at almost 4,000m

Yellow-billed Blue-Magpie

Southern Nutcracker

White-throated Redstart

The sun was out were we where but there was cloud over the higher peaks restricting our view. There was a nearby mountain top where sky burials were still performed for children under the age of seven.

The viewpoint kept disappearing in the clouds

Sky burials are held on the far peak

Wrapped up warm in the thin air

More ash pots

Walking slowly at this elevation

We continued birding around the pass, the best sighting was a Himalayan Serow, a type of goat. 

Serow

We worked our way back down during the morning and by the time we stopped for lunch we had to shed several layers as it had warmed up considerably. We stopped at a small picnic area for a lunch. 

Lunch spot

There was way too much food for all of us so quite a bit was lobbed out to a party of grateful Yellow-billed Blue-Magpies that swooped down and carried off various tit-bits and cached it.

Yellow-billed Blue-Magpie

Paro Airport nestled in the hills

The terminal buildings are covered in solar panels

The children's section of a festival in Paro

Market stalls at the festival

We drove back to Paro and along to a little marshy area where we saw a pair of Black-tailed Crakes and brief views of a couple of Little Buntings, our last new birds of the trip. 

Black-tailed Crake

There was time for a trip to a viewpoint where we could see the famed Tigers Nest monastery perched up high on a cliff face. 

Tigers Nest

Our guides and driver

Bamboo scaffolding

We had a bit of time to spare so walked down the main street, visiting various shops and cafes before returning to our hotel.

Paro High Street

Blue Whistling-Thrush

Our hotel

Group photo

The final bird log was completed and we had a group total of 363 birds seen with many others only heard plus an impressive 21 species of mammal.

Tuesday 31^st

There was only time today for a short wander around the hotel grounds before breakfast, the best bird being a White-collared Blackbird. Bags were packed for the last time and loaded onto the bus for the short transfer to Paro Airport. 

Leaving Bhutan

Arriving in Kolkata

We left Bhutan at 10.35 and headed back to Kolkata where we had a long wait until an evening flight to Mumbai and then a connecting flight to Heathrow on British Airways. We landed on time at 7am the following morning and made our way home. 

Locations visited in Bhutan