Hi there
First an apology - I did not sign the first four parts of this report - the
rest (there are 9 parts) will be signed
John McAllister
Wakkerstroom
South Africa
THE TRIP (CONTD)
19TH MAY
The day was spent birding in the Mo Chhu valley along the road from Punakha
to Tashitang. On the way we picked up Ram, a Forest Guard and friend of
Tshering’s. Ram had a wonderful knowledge of the plants in the forest and
we thoroughly enjoyed his company. The road passed through some very
beautiful scenery along the banks of the fast-flowing Mo Chhu. The river
has apparently been classified as a Class A1 rafting river.
We saw a total of 62 bird species today. Of these three are considered to
be globally threatened = the Endangered WHITE-BELLIED HERON (Bhutan’s most
threatened species) and the Near Threatened TAWNY FISH-OWL and YELLOW-VENTED
WARBLER. It was a real toss up between White-bellied Heron or Tawny Fish
Owl for bird of the day. It was only the second time that Tshering had seen
this bird while on a birding trip and only the third time ever for him so he
was of course very excited about this. On the basis of its rarity though I
guess the honours really have to go to the heron, although I must confess
the owl won hands down on charisma. Other lifers included LESSER
YELLOW-NAPE, GREAT BARBET, GOLDEN THROATED BARBET, BLUE-THROATED BARBET,
COMMON KINGFISHER, CRESTED KINGFISHER, LESSER CUCKOO, HIMALAYAN SWIFTLET,
WEDGE-TAILED PIGEON, ORANGE-BELLIED LEAFBIRD, SLENDER-BILLED ORIOLE, MAROON
ORIOLE, SMALL NILTAVA, SLATY-BACKED FORKTAIL, HILL MYNA, WHITE-TAILED
NUTHATCH, SLATY-BELLIED TESIA, STRIATED LAUGHINGTHRUSH, RUSTY-CHEEKED
SCIMITAR-BABBLER, NEPAL FULVETTA, WHISKERED YUHINA, BLACK-THROATED SUNBIRD
and EURASIAN TREE SPARROW. Today was also the first time that we saw
ASSAMESE MACAQUES on the trip.
On returning to Punakha we found that the main building of the Meri Puensum
Resort had burnt down during the day. The Culture Vultures had in the
meantime arrived in Punakha and Karma had already made alternative
arrangements for us at the nearby Zangdho Pelri Hotel.
20TH MAY
After an early breakfast at the hotel we got underway at around 05:30.
Tshering had a few arrangements to make at the hotel so the three of us
started walking down the road towards Punakha. Our first new bird for the
day was GREATER COUCAL, seen along the roadside here.
On the outskirts of Punakha we were pulled off the road by a local traffic
policeman. The road was lined by schoolchildren who were soon joined by
adults approaching from all directions. The main monastic body has its
winter headquarters at Punakha Dzong and we had come across their annual
trek to the summer headquarters at Thimphu. We were treated to close up
views of the procession which included the Je Kenpho, the religious head of
Bhutan. Only the Je Kenpho and the King, the secular head of Bhutan, are
permitted to wear yellow kabneys (scarves).
The morning was spent birding along the Mo Chhu valley again. We headed
back to the area where we had seen the White-bellied Heron, but no sign of
it this morning. Jo, however, did find the Tawny Fish-Owl roosting in a
tree on the opposite riverbank. While we were still admiring the owl in the
scope the Musso with the Culture Vultures made an appearance and they soon
joined us on the river bank. The owl was a lifer for Karma, another
indication of how lucky (skilful?) we were to find this bird on two
successive days. Karma soon revealed the true reason for joining us. He
had been to the Punakha Hospital to find out more about their diagnosis of
Jo’s problems. The doctor there stated that Jo should have at least one day
’s absolute rest before we continued on our journey and Karma had come to
collect him and take him back to the hotel by force if need be. Jo
surprised us all by leaving quietly with Karma who took him back to the
Zangdho Pelri. Life birds for the morning were BAY WOODPECKER, MOUNTAIN
HAWK EAGLE, GREY-CHINNED MINIVET, CROW-BILLED DRONGO, BLUE-THROATED
FLYCATCHER, SCALY-BREASTED MUNIA (me only as Elize could not get onto them
before they disappeared) and CRESTED BUNTING. Today was also the first time
that we saw the very attractive CAPPED LANGUR or Capped Leaf Monkey.
We returned to the hotel for lunch and took an afternoon trip along the road
leading south past Wangdue Phodrang. We drove past the construction site
for the Basochhu hydroelectric project and carried on for a while towards
Kamichu. Our target species here was Great Hornbill. Tshering knew of a
roosting site for these birds, but unfortunately we did not find them this
afternoon. Life birds for the afternoon were HOUSE SWIFT (a possible
split - Apus nipalensis - from our Little Swift) and SPOT-WINGED STARLING.
Tshering was quite excited about the latter as, while he had seen them here
before, they were listed in Birds of Bhutan as ‘rare’ and only recorded from
Tashigang Province in the far east of the coubtry. We returned to Punakha
for another overnight stop at the very comfortable Zangdho Pelri Hotel.
21ST MAY
Jo joined us for an early breakfast. He was feeling and looking much better
after the forced rest yesterday and we set off at around 06:00. Our first
stop was 21 km later at Wangdue Phodrang, the nearest filling station to
Punakha.
>From here we made our way up the Dang Chhu valley to Nobding and the Gaden
Tashiding Restaurant for lunch.
At first the habitat was quite different to what we hand been in over the
last few days. The hillsides here were comparatively sparsely covered with
smallish shrubs and open grassy areas. Here we saw our first BAR-WINGED
FLYCATCHER-SHRIKE of the trip. Soon the vegetation became denser, however
and we made several stops, birding from the roadside. At one of these we
stopped at the base of a high cliff where Tshering pointed out some very
large beehives on the cliff face.
'Check all the shrubs and bushes in the area' he instructed.
We scanned all the likely-looking shrubs and suddenly there was a slight
movement and a flash of yellow in one of the cliff-side shrubs.
'Got it' I yelled. 'YELLOW-RUMPED HONEYGUIDE.'
We saw a total of 59 species of birds along the roadside on the long climb
out of the Dang Chhu valley. Other life birds seen along this stretch of
road included FORK-TAILED SWIFT, YELLOW-BILLED BLUE MAGPIE, WHITE-THROATED
FANTAIL, WHITE-CAPPED WATER REDSTART, STRIATED BULBUL, LEMON-RUMPED WARBLER,
BLYTH’S LEAF-WARBLER and CHESTNUT-CROWNED WARBLER.
After lunch we continued over Lawa La to Gangtey Goempa and our overnight
stop at Gangtey Goempa Guest House where we were reunited with the Culture
Vultures. It rained on and off all day and we arrived at Gangtey in quite
heavy rain. At the turn-off to Gangtey and the Pobjika Valley we saw our
first OLIVE-BACKED PIPIT and DARK-SIDED FLYCATCHER. In the forest between
the turn-off to the Lawa La summit we saw a total of seven birds before rain
stopped play for the day.
22ND MAY
After another early start we were birding in the wide expanse of dwarf
bamboo between Gangtey Goempa and Lawa La. The antennae-eared Tshering told
Schatzi to stop. He had heard BROWNISH-FLANKED BUSH-WARBLER calling in the
roadside shrubbery. Over an hour later and several brief glimpses of a
small brownish bird darting around a few centimetres off the ground in the
dense shrubbery, calling loudly all the time, we decided that this was
probably as good a view as we were going to get.
The next bird heard was HIMALAYAN MONAL. Suddenly a single bird rose out of
the dwarf bamboo on whirring wings and flew over to a lone roadside conifer.
This large bird was surprisingly well hidden in the topmost branches of the
tree and we only got views of small, but very colourful, parts of the bird.
Suddenly it decided to fly again and we were treated to magnificent flight
views of this magnificent bird.
Tshering spotted a GREY-SIDED BUSH-WARBLER flying low and fast over the
bamboo before disappearing again. After staring at the patch of bamboo
described by him the bird did another flight for us. As with the
Brownish-flanked Bush-warbler we would have liked a better view, but decided
that this was probably as good a view as we were going to get given the time
constraints imposed by a birding trip. Other life birds that we saw in the
dwarf bamboo included DUSKY WARBLER and GOLDEN-SPECTACLED WARBLER.
It was while looking at the Grey-sided Bush-Warbler that the Culture
Vultures caught up with us and stopped at the roadside. Shirley had taken a
step backwards while talking to an American fellow-guest at Gangtey and had
fallen off the step at the entrance to the guest house. She was unable to
walk and had to be carried into the vehicle. Karma thought that it may well
be a bad bruise or sprained muscle and was going to take her straight
through to our next stop at Trongsa where there was a doctor who could
examine her. We would meet up with them there later in the day.
After crossing Lawa La we were back in coniferous forest again. On a short
walk through the forest we found many more Dark-sided Flycatchers,
Olive-backed Pipits with their heavily streaked underparts and colourful
Collared Grosbeaks. Among the many Green-tailed Sunbirds there was a single
MRS GOULD’S SUNBIRD. Other lifers here included RED-TAILED MINLA, COMMON
ROSEFINCH and RED-HEADED BULLFINCH. On the way up to the summit of Pele La
we saw a flock of NEPAL HOUSE MARTINS.
Below Pele La we searched a dense stand of bamboo for Parrotbills. We had
good views of GREAT PARROTBILL and STREAKED LAUGHINGTHRUSH, but Brown
Parrotbill eluded us for the moment. After lunch at Tshering’s Restaurant
(nothing to do with our guide) at Sephu the rain set in once more putting a
virtual end to the day’s birding. We drove straight through to Trongsa
where we joined up with the Culture Vultures once again at the Sherubling
Lodge. When we arrived Shirley was being examined by the Bhutanese doctor
and her nurse. It was decided that she should go through to the Bumthang
Hospital near Jakar for X-rays the following day.
The total number of bird species for the day was a humble 44 species, but
taking into account that all of these were seen during the course of the
morning this was probably not too bad a total.
This evening we had our first taste of Bhutanese whisky. Even for one of
Scottish descent I have to admit that Special Courier was not a bad whisky
at all!
John McAllister
Wakkerstroom
South Africa
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