Birds of Himalayas - Pangot

After a long hiatus I am back.

A few of us ( Ajith, Akanksha and Sasidhar) went to the Himalayas as part of the Great Himalaya Bird count late Oct. It was a fabulous trip.

We started off at Pangot. Amazingly on the way to Pangot the road was under construction and we started birding. The colour and variety instantly struck us. In spite of the overcast conditions we could see the Rufous bellied woodpecker, Himalayan wood pecker, a Great barbet patiently posing for us and Eurasian Jay.


From 2011 Nov Pangot, Sattal, Dhanolti



From 2011 Nov Pangot, Sattal, Dhanolti




From 2011 Nov Pangot, Sattal, Dhanolti



From 2011 Nov Pangot, Sattal, Dhanolti


Pangot is a birder's paradise. That evening we went around and saw green finches, black headed jays, warblers, thrushes and Himalayan bulbuls


From 2011 Nov Pangot, Sattal, Dhanolti



From 2011 Nov Pangot, Sattal, Dhanolti



From 2011 Nov Pangot, Sattal, Dhanolti



From 2011 Nov Pangot, Sattal, Dhanolti



From 2011 Nov Pangot, Sattal, Dhanolti



The blue whistling thrush with its distinctive whistle and shining blue colour is a treat to watch.

From 2011 Nov Pangot, Sattal, Dhanolti


Bush chats are common. We also saw long tailed shrikes and a spotted forktail near a small spring.


From 2011 Nov Pangot, Sattal, Dhanolti



From 2011 Nov Pangot, Sattal, Dhanolti



From 2011 Nov Pangot, Sattal, Dhanolti




After a very productive Day-1 and a nice bonfire in the evening, Day-2 was cold and overcast. We saw the Koklass Pheasant but it was too fast for me. We could see plenty of Nuthatches, rock thrushes and rufous sibias. Pangot is kind of a Rufous Sibia territory as we saw so many of them.


From 2011 Nov Pangot, Sattal, Dhanolti



From 2011 Nov Pangot, Sattal, Dhanolti



From 2011 Nov Pangot, Sattal, Dhanolti



From 2011 Nov Pangot, Sattal, Dhanolti



From 2011 Nov Pangot, Sattal, Dhanolti


A bit more shooting on Day3 morning where we saw a lot of feeding outside the camp. Oriental white eye, chestnut bellied rockthrush, brown fronted woodpecker and the rather shy Rufous Niltava.


From 2011 Nov Pangot, Sattal, Dhanolti



From 2011 Nov Pangot, Sattal, Dhanolti



From 2011 Nov Pangot, Sattal, Dhanolti



From 2011 Nov Pangot, Sattal, Dhanolti



From 2011 Nov Pangot, Sattal, Dhanolti



We then pushed off to Sattaal......

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