Thursday 19th
An early start, leaving the hotel at 5.30 in the rain. It
was already very cold and I was wearing seven layers. We headed up to the pass,
pausing briefly to check for the cranes again but there was no sign; they had obviously all left early this year. It soon stopped raining which
was just as well as this would have meant it was snowing where we were going.
There was already a light snow covering as we ascended and
we checked all the roadside slopes for pheasanty things. First up was a female
Himalayan Monal, one of our main target species. We walked on, looking for
birds in the woodland as well and there were plenty to be seen despite the
mountain chill. White-browed Rosefinch, White-winged Grosbeak, Red-headed
Bullfinch and Hoary-throated Barwing were some of the new birds we encountered
before our picnic breakfast.
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| Himalayan White-browed Rosefinch |
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| Rufous-vented Tit |
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| Hoary-throated Barwing |
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| Red-headed Bullfinch |
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| Breakfast in the snow |
We’d only just started tucking into our porridge when a
Himalayan Monal suddenly appeared and started calling which we could see from
our breakfast table. The light wasn’t very good but eventually we could see
some colour in the scope.
We continued walking upwards and almost immediately saw our
number one target – Satyr Tragopan which crossed the track and went up a steep
slope, disappearing fairly quickly. A small party of Southern Nutcrackers fed
on the roadside verge and as we wandered back down, a pair of Fire-tailed
Myzornis were seen fairly well but there was no sun out to turn the dull green
into a bright emerald.
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| Darjeeling Woodpecker |
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| Southern Nutcracker |
Further down the road we sent our driver into a meadow where
he put up a Solitary Snipe which we then watched feeding in a small stream.
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| Solitary Snipe |
A
couple of flocks of Snow Pigeons flew past and a large flock of Plain
Mountain-Finch actually pitched down while we stopped at Tronga Stupa.
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| Plain Mountain-Finch |
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| Trongsa Stupa |
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| An impressive bit of dry-stone walling |
After another picnic lunch, the sun came out and we were able to shed some layers. We drove up and down a couple of times going through
mountain passes and made a few more stops. New birds continued to be added with
the likes of Himalayan Bluetail, Bhutan Laughingthrush, Brown Parrotbill and
Rufous-vented Yuhina.
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| Himalayan Bluetail (female) |
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| Rufous Sibia |
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| Another Dzong on a hill top |
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| There were many pictures of the royal family on buildings |
We arrived at our hotel just after six in the evening.
Friday 20th
Another early start as we left the hotel at 5.30. We spent
most of the day at over 3,000 metres so it was pretty cold and we were all
layered up again. We drove slowly along the road looking for ‘chickens’ and one
of the first birds seen was a male Himalayan Monal. It was in good light albeit
obscured behind bushes but it was our best sighting so far.
As we drove into a small settlement we got out of the bus
for a walk and I finally caught up with Black-rumped Magpie after missing some
yesterday [this is one of the four splits of Eurasian Magpie]. There was also Beautiful Rosefinch, Plain Mountain-Finch and a small
flock of Crossbills flew over.
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| We needed a shelter for breakfast as it was actually snowing |
We carried on driving and saw several Common
Pika, a small montane rodent. The first of several flocks of Blood Pheasant
were seen, the first ones were inside the forest so difficult to see well but
we later encountered two other flocks out in the open.
Topping these was bird of the day – a stunning male Satyr
Tragopan that sat by the roadside long enough for everyone to get good views
and many photos, even if it was slightly hiding. This was high on most people’s
targets and after a less than satisfactory view yesterday it was great to see
one properly.
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| Satyr Tragopan - bird of the trip |
We also saw a pair of Himalayan Monals, the male was sat up on a
rock but took flight before anyone managed to rattle off a photo.
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| White-collared Blackbird |
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| Himalayan Monal - we had to wait until the last day to get the best views of one |
A large flock of about 130 Snow Pigeons were feeding in a
field and several Himalayan Griffons slowly cruised over. A pair of
White-throated Redstarts were seen although we spent some time before we could
see why they were named as such as the white throat on the male was a small dot
only visible when viewing the bird head on. The first pass was crossed at 3,850
metres and we then descended just a few hundred metres.
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| Snow Pigeons |
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| Black-throated Laughingthrush |
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| Plain Mountain-Finch |
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| Red-billed Chough |
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| Large-billed Crow collecting nest material |
The rest of the day continued in the same vein, driving
along the virtually deserted road and walking sections of it looking for forest
birds, as well as having our excellent breakfast and lunch in the field. It was
rather cold for alfresco dining and we needed the shelter as there was a bit of
light precipitation.
The afternoon highlights included two Little Forktails on
about the fifth waterfall that we looked for them, Chestnut-crowned Warbler and
a flock of at least 20 Black-throated Parrotbills that skulked inside a bamboo
thicket before having to break cover and fly into the next one.
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| Blood Pheasants |
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| Himalayan Buzzard |
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| Little Forktail |
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| Rufous-vented Yuhina |
We carried on
birding until after 5pm as the road ahead was closed due to bridge repairs and
arrived at our hotel in the rain at 6pm. We were going to be spending three
nights here, a real luxury as we’d moved on every day so far.
