2012 Tour Narrative
Our pace quickened…we could hear our quarry, a Satyr Tragopan, and it wasn’t far away…We approached the bend up ahead very cautiously, the tragopan wasn’t immediately in view, but clearly wasn’t very far away and after a brief spell of playback it stopped calling altogether. We waited, nervously and fortunately the calling resumed a couple of minutes later – but on the opposite side of the road! How it had eluded us we’ll never know – but now it was even closer. Heartbeats quickened as he bird continued to approach, and then, suddenly, there it was, apparition-like peering over a small mound of earth on the edge of the road. We stood similarly motionless and as if we’d written the script ourselves, out it walked. Slowly at first, then breaking into a typically tragopanesque lolloping run it crossed the road no more than 30 metres away, paused briefly before clambering up the steep hillside and then vanished from view. A fantastic encounter – and what an aptly-named, gorgeous creature it was. As I wrote about Himalayan Monal a couple of years ago surely birds shouldn’t be this colour and this big and, if they are, aren’t they supposed to stay well hidden? We were on the Yotong La, and were just a week into what was fast developing into another fabulous Bhutan tour.
This, the only tragopan that we’d see on the holiday, romped home with the end-of-trip ‘Bird of the Tour’ poll. Other Bhutanese specialities, Himalayan Monal, essentially an oversized, fluorescent Turkey-like bird and the aptly named, Beautiful Nuthatch, pushed it hard but eventually came in second and third with Rufous-necked and Wreathed Hornbills fourth and fifth. Ward’s Trogon, once the ultimate prize for any Bhutan tour, was relegated to a relatively lowly sixth place.
Everyone saw the tragopan, everyone saw the nuthatch, both hornbills, the Ward’s Trogon that sat and sat and sat, everyone even saw the Sikkim Wedge-billed Babblers that sang in our faces. Only an unfortunate illness prevented everyone from seeing the monals. Virtually everyone saw ALL the best birds in Bhutan.
All our more exciting birds had their own encounter stories. Some of them such as Ward’s Trogon had, for some of us, involved a largely fruitless clamber up a steep hillside for an elusive female. Those of the group with more sense waited back on the road, seemingly aware that we’d see and ‘scope her mate from that very road less than half-an-hour later!
On our previous 15 Bhutan tours we’ve found umpteen new birds for the country. It’s clearly getting harder and this year we found just one – a solitary Ashy Minivet near Gelephu. Close to the Indian border and the end of our time in Bhutan it put on a less than spectacular performance and didn’t come close to relegating any of the regional specialities that we did see well. The latter also included Blood and Kalij Pheasants, Yellow-rumped Honeyguide, Blue-bearded Bee-eater, Pin-tailed Green Pigeon, two lingering Black-necked Cranes, a pair of Black-tailed Crakes, several Ibisbill, Greater Adjutant, six species of wren babbler including Long-billed, Rufous-throated, Bar-winged and Spotted, Sikkim Wedge-billed Babbler, Nepal Cutia, Black-headed Shrike Babbler, Golden-breasted and Yellow-throated Fulvettas, White-naped Yuhina, Great, Brown, Black-throated and Greater Rufous-headed Parrotbills, Blanford’s and Dark-rumped Rosefinches, Crimson-browed and Scarlet Finches. What a list!
But there’s far, far more to any tour than the star birds and, as always, our Bhutan tour is simply brimming over with memorable moments and stupendous encounters. The tour got off to a superb start with a fabulous panoramic flight along the southern edge of the Himalayan Mountain chain with spectacular mountain views blessing much of the journey. Once in Paro we were met by our knowledgeable guide, and superbly skilled driver, and then we were off. Soon afterwards we were watching our first Bhutanese birds – our first Ibisbill strutted among riverine pebbles while nearby a small roadside marsh again held a pair of Black-tailed Crakes. Lunch was a tasty introduction to Bhutanese cuisine and we didn’t have too long to wait before our third major encounter of the day – this time with an obliging male Wallcreeper. What a day – and what a welcome to Bhutan!
We were up early the following morning, after a night that never seemed quite long enough, with the Dochu La, our first Bhutanese pass, beckoning. True to form it yielded a few of its jewels – the best of which included two very co-operative Fire-tailed Myzornis and a pair of Ward’s Trogon.
The following two nights spent at a guesthouse near Punakha, once Bhutan’s winter capital, gave us the opportunity to relax a little and look at a few of the regions more common species. These included a pair of Grey Nightjars in the hotel grounds; good numbers of waterfowl on a nearby river, and a close range Crested Kingfisher. After an enjoyable and relatively leisurely, morning we headed off on an insightful and thoroughly enjoyable guided tour inside the magnificent Punakha dzong. Even the most fanatical birders among us felt that our time had been well spent.
A Yellow-rumped Honeyguide was the highlight of the following morning with a couple of lingering Black-necked Cranes being the afternoon treat as we descended into the flat-bottomed Phobjika Valley. Our second major pass, the Pele La, welcomed us the following morning and it was here we spent time searching for some more high altitude specialities. The day’s primary target, Himalayan Monal gave itself up, spectacularly and in quick time, as did a couple of often elusive Rusty-flanked Treecreepers that sat out and sang.
Heading on to Trongsa we continued our eastward traverse heading up and over the Yotong La. It was here the aforementioned tragopan encounter occurred. Our next destination was a comfortable guest house replete with log burning stoves and buckwheat pancakes.
Over the years we’ve found that the drive over Bhutan’s highest road pass, the mighty Thrumsing La between central and eastern Bhutan provides some of the best opportunities to encounter pheasants and despite the crew’s truck breaking down and a lengthy halt at some road works threatening to spoil things, 2012 eventually provided no exception and we finally found our hoped for Blood Pheasants (our only ones of the entire tour). We’d been scheduled to camp that night, but the non-arrival of our camp crew’s truck forced us into a surprisingly comfortable local guest house further down the same road.
The following next night’s introduction to Bhutanese camping went smoothly – everyone slept, the tents were sufficiently comfortable and spacious and, as if we ever doubted it, the camp crew hard working and capable. It was all just as well as we were to have five more nights under canvas!
The middle Limithang road easily yielded more of our remaining target species including a pair of vociferous Sikkim Wedge-billed Babblers, an even more obliging Long-billed Wren-babbler, several Slender-billed Scimitar-babblers and Golden-breasted Fulvettas. After a frustratingly brief encounter with an elusive Kalij Pheasant it remained to Chador to find us another male just at the moment it was about to cross the road right in front of our vehicle! Our very last bird on the mighty Thrumsing La pass was one of our best – a gorgeous male Rufous-breasted bush Robin.
It took us a while, largely due to a lasting bout of bad weather, to find our final remaining major target species, Beautiful Nuthatch, down the Zhemgang road but our perseverance was eventually rewarded and first a pair, and later three birds, put on a superb, prolonged show. And then we could relax and enjoy the birds we’d come so far to see – we revelled in views of multiple Blue-capped Rock Thrushes, in myriad Golden Langurs, Sultan Tits and White-naped Yuhina. Unfortunately however our last remaining wren-babbler, a Spotted, only gave itself up to a couple of intrepid off-roaders.
The hills of Bhutan spill out into the plains of Assam at Gelephu, our final Bhutanese halt and it was here that we had our best encounters of Blue-winged Laughingthrush as well as both Rufous-necked and Wreathed Hornbills.
All too soon it was time to say goodbye to the crew who’d taken such superb care of us over the previous weeks and to leave Bhutan. The drive back to Guwahati in Assam was uneventful (or as uneventful as any drive in India ever is) and was enlivened by a good number of birds, many of which were new to us. These didn’t include Greater Adjutant however and we had to scramble to find this global rarity on our final day. We needn’t have worried as the site we spent the late morning at, while being ripe and unpleasant, was simply full of adjutants! With the region’s primary target firmly in the bag we started to head home via a brief interlude in a comfortable Delhi hotel.
Our memories of Bhutan are sure to fade, but hopefully not too quickly and I’d hope that we’ll long remember our encounters with Satyr Tragopan, Himalayan Monal, Ward’s Trogon, the hornbills, Beautiful Nuthatch and Sikkim Wedge-billed Babbler to mention but a few. I wrote the following at the end of a previous Bhutan tour report ‘or perhaps the memories that will linger longest won’t be avian at all – perhaps our most savoured memories will be of the Bhutanese scenery, of hillsides cloaked in dense forest with magnificent snow-capped peaks as a back drop, or of our crew’s magnificent efforts to keep us happy and entertained’.
The birding in Bhutan is awesome, really awesome and there is little doubt that this tiny kingdom hosts what’s some of the best birding on the planet. After a tour like we’ve just had, who could argue? Paul Holt
Updated: April 2012