India part 1, southern Himalayas.
1st of march (2023) I went to India for 38 days. This was a special trip in many ways as I travelled alone and purpose was not only to do birding/ wildlife watching. India has been interesting me for many years and I also wanted to go there to "feel the essence" of this, in many ways, dramatic and complex country. I also had two dreams that I wanted to fulfill, seeing the peaks of the Himalayas and see a wild tiger. The first part is about my first 12 days which was spent in Sattal and vicinity (Birder's Den).
I landed in Delhi and spent the first day there for a classic sightseeing tour. I saw the most popular sites, for example Qutub Minar and the big and quiet Lodhi Garden with many Black Kites flying around the different fort buildings just before dusk.
I made quite a few trips by train which was a special experience. It had expected rather high quality in the 1 class wagons but it all felt rather simple. It was also quite uncomfortable with the beds as seats. Most trips I took were during the nights. Here a picture from Delhi major city terminal.
In the morning I arrived to Kathgodam and was picked up by Trilok who is working at Birder's Den, which is the main birding lodge in the Sattal area. Sattal is a hot spot for the lower parts of the Himalayas and most birders stay here a few days during their trips. I stayed for 10 days and it is a great place to see the best birds. You need to go to different places though, so if you don't have your own transport/ guide you need to hire Trilok at the lodge to take you around. The view is from my room.
There is a hide just at the lodge and many people stay most of their time there. Photographing has become so popular these days and many visitors are not birders in the general (old) way. Obviously I spent some time there as well. One of the star birds is the Kalij Pheasant which shows up every day to our delight. Here the male and the female.
The lodge has some surroundings (not big) where you can walk by your own and look for passarines which are resident but also migrants passing through. Birds nesting right in the garden are the very handsome Black-throated Tit and the ever present Himalayan Bulbul.
My first afternoon here, I started a walk down the mountain towards Sattal village and Sattal Studio Point by the small lake. The distance is much longer than expected and it took a while to get there. On the way down I meet a few active photographers. They were watching a Scaled Thrush in a slope. This bird is very shy and also almost impossible to find on the ground if you don't know exactly where it is because of its camouflage. Even a "brown" bird can be attractive!
I finally reached the studio but activity was quite low so I walked a little bit further before I went back. On the way back I started to feel sick and my stomach got more and more upset. Totally exhausted, I finally reach back home and made it to the toilet before hell broke out. Apparently I had got the infamous Delhi Belly. The next 36 hours were spent in bed with a few exceptions to make it to the dining hall for some rice and bananas. This stomach infection continued all 5 weeks though I went to different doctors. The good thing in this story is that I still manage to complete my plans every day, though quite tired some days.
Good to know that one of my true favorites during the trip, the White-throated Laughingthrush, made every day joyful. This bird is so funny with its very special sounds and social behaviour. It needs to be experienced to make justice.
Even though not like South America, this garden and adjacent areas are full of interesting birds. Here the common Grey Bushchat and Red-vented Bulbul.
Also common at the lodge and also sometimes at the hide were Great Barbet, Grey-winged Blackbird and Blue Whistling Thrush.
At the hide you can see around 20-25 species in a good day, depending on weather and time of the year. 4 woodpeckers frequently visit the hide. Here Greater Yellownape and then Grey-headed. The Grey-headed WP is very common and unshy here in contrast to Sweden where it is both shy and rare.
Other frequent birds at the hide but also in the garden are the very social and noisy Plum-headed Parakeet, the attractive White-crested Laughingthrush and Grey Treepie.
For many photographers, the colourful Red-billed Magpie was a mega bird and you could hear all the cameras taking pics in great numbers.
One evening there were a lot of flies which have just been hatched and they became a dinner party. On the lawn just a few meters away we all enjoyed Streaked Laughingthrush, Green-backed Tit, Blue-winged Siva (Minla), Red-billed Leiothrix, Russet Sparrow and as the strawberry on the cake a fabulous Slaty-blue Flycatcher.
Other nice species seen most days here were the strong coloured Verditer Flycatcher and striking Mountain Bulbul.
On day I hired Trilok to go birding further south, down the mountain where other species would be possible. I saw quite a few new species and among them the powerful Steppe Eagle and the absolutely smashing Crimson Sunbird.
If you go to Sattal, Chaffi which is a smaller village/ area about 30 minutes away with car, is a must. There's a stream here where you can see 2 Forktails, Chestnut-headed Tesia and many more. The Tesia and the Forktails are two of my favourites from this whole trip but light was poor in the creek so I didn't manage to get any decent photos. However I got good photos in Chopta of Forktails which is described in that blog part. Brown-capped pygmy Woodpecker, Black-throated Sunbird and Whiskered Yuhina were cooperative enough for photos though.
I will finish this part one with the most wanted bird for this part of the trip, an absolute stunner, the Himalayan Rubythroath, which stayed a few days in the village close to a lawn.
In this region I spotted 97 different species.
Next, part 2: Pangot and Chopta further north and higher altitude.
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