travelogue-ketki

 Bhutan - west to east 

BLACK TAILED CRAKE

The first pheasants early on the road were the Khalij . We saw about 3 pairs at the sides of the road and would scuttle away as our jeep passed by.
3 Himalayan monals  males were also seen running up the hill as we passed . The early morning lighting was poor for any photography,but bird sightings were excellent. The Male and Female blood pheasant the western subspecies Ithaginis cruentus, were also near the road .
 lovely views of hodgson's treecreeper,(mandelli subspecies),blue fronted redstart-male, female, coal tits, roufous fronted tits, large billed warblers,whistler's warblers,lemon rumped warbler,buff barred warbler, blythe leaf warbler,roufous vented yuhina, dark rumped rose finch,white browed rose finch etc....after coming in to Paro for a quick bite we left for Thimpu.

   
darjeeling woodpecker male






              Mrs Gould's sunbird male
 

yellow billed blue magpie





                           collared Gosbeak
                             
             
blue fronted redstart female with  nesting material and we were lucky to find her nest as well and male too was sitting a distance away.


                    ultra marine flycatcher                    

Thimpu Noon:
we went to local markets selling all Bhutan handicrafts.They were series of small shops. Then we to a hill top to see a Huge Buddha statue. The eye was worth 5 million NU,and donated by Singapore. It was too windy there.
we checked in at hotel Migmar.

May 3 :
Birding around Tango and cheri area - Part of Jigme Dorji National Park.
Morning started with the laughter of white throated laughing thrushes and russet sparrows. Honey guide was the star attraction for me .Brown dipper mother was teaching her Juvenille child to feed, though she was busy hunting for her little one as well. speckled Wood pigeon sat for a long time. mammals -Himalayan langur, orange bellied squirrel and Long eared Pica

 we had total 3 sightings of honey guide in the trip . Speckled doves were also seen on 3-4 occasions.                        
             



           
 


this brown dipper mother feeding
her juvenile baby.


                              


blue whistling thrushes were seen commonly.




orange bellied squirrel.(left)

Takin -to the right is their national animal. It is like goat -antelope or Musk ox. Their status is Vulnerable in IUCN.This one is in zoo in Thimpu.


    
                                   
oriental turtle doves and  red billed choughs were the commonest birds in Paro and Thimpu      


Ruseset sparrows and plumbeous water starts were also commonly seen birds.
                         
                   


The hotel Migmar in Thimpu was comfortable and clean .


the statue of Lord Budhha was so tall and at a great height.. It was too windy up there for my liking. Stupa was very beautiful and scenic.In the evening left for Dochula  Pass ,looking for fire tailed Myzoris ,but no luck with overcast clouds, went  and settled in DOCHULA RESORT. Magnolia trees were flowering and showing their white flowers and yellow billed magpie would come on the terrace to feed. Fork tailed swifts filled the sky and the evening went in enjoying the scenic mountain ranges and setting sun,with the backdrop of great barbet calling continuously.

scenic hills around dochula pass

Stupa at Dochula pass and Dochula resort . Mind you ,it gets very very cold in the night. They had provided us electric blankets but you feel so suffocated using them, and all of us had a story to tell with this funny blanket.
As i call this experience Blanket experience.

May 4
Dull day with rain, spoilt our morning birding around this area, and again fire tailed Myzoris search was in vain. Few birds to label and tick, made me very sad.But such is nature - enjoyed the sunrise and after a good breakfast  left to go to visit a botanical garden near by. Here fairly good views of grey winged blackbird,snowy browed flycatcher,rufous bellied Niltava,black headed cuckooshrike,red billed liothrix, grey sided and striated laughing thrushes and white throated laughing thrushes playing in the bushes.
we were happy to witness the courtship ritual of rufous bellied woodpeckers and even the mating.We were so awestruck that photographs were forgotten and admiration took over our hearts.




Driving down from Dochu la pass to Punakha on dusty winding roads reaching hotel Damchen on the riverbed. The hotel was clean and the remaining day hot and humid.
lovely towel decoration on the right picture of white bellied Heron indicated that particular endemic bird is conserved by the queen and king of Bhutan as well. We quickly got into our car to try our luck for this bird after a quick Lunch .But we were not so lucky and we only spotted Stripe throated pirinia and river lapwings and paddyfield pipit and tricolour Shrike.
Stripe throated Pirinia, to the Right,was photogenic. After a quick rest all of settled down with books and diaries to update all birds seen and heard and Mr Sujan and Dorjee would explain the next day's itinerary to us. Punakha was the first place where we stayed in for 2 nights.

May 5 :
 6.00 am on our way to jigme Dorjee National Park. This is along the Mo-cho river.We started well with grey treepies every where,black bulbuls,scaly breasted munias, grey headed woodpecker,black chinned yuhinas,Black winged cuckooshrike. But our luck evaded us where red headed Trogon is concerned. Good sightings of Black Eagle and Mountain Hawk Eagles
rofous woodpecker (left) sat there pecking and eating the ants while grey wagtail (right) was in full breeding plumage.  On our way back we happened to see a swamp deer pass by.





fishing in the waters of Mo Cho river was a Himalayan pied Kingfisher.


                               
Punakha Dzong:the palace of great happiness. It is the second oldest and second largest dzong in Bhutan and one of its most majestic structures. Punakha is the winter capital of Bhutan. The head of the clergy of Bhutan with his entourage of monks spend the winter in this dzong. Jacaranda trees grow around the dzong, blooming with mauve flowers in the spring. 
MAY 6 : LUCKIEST DAY IN BHUTAN
Early morning Dorjee woke us up at 6.00 a.m in great excitement since some locals had spotted the bird -critically endangered Imperial heron also called white bellied grey heron.It is mostly solitary and we were lucky to see a pair . It is found near the Po Cho River waters and is disturbed easily. There is great effort by the locals and the queen and king of Bhutan to save this bird from extinction.
Very very happy leaving Punakha for the eastward journey.Normally all Indians who tour Bhutan come only upto this point and return back to India.We travelled eastwards more remote areas .Lesser travelled roads, non touristy. Traveling eastwards ,little ringed plover,little egret,common sandpiper,oriental white eye, blue throated barbets and huge rock bees were spotted. looking up close by the rock bees was our honey guide. There is a lot of road constructions on this pathways and we had to stop till work is completed, where we started birding . 
Beauty of bhutan with orchids and flowers and scenery really started with this sector .
with lovely day                            
There was a Ward's Trogan family .The juvenille was on one side of the road and mother and father were on the opposite side of tarred road and the baby was calling away .this occupied us till the road block was cleared and we could move on to our destination the land of black necked cranes -Phobijikha.                 


   



the black necked cranes breed in Tibet and in October they start to come in this valley called Phobijikha. they come in large numbers and stay on till mid February.