2009 Tour Narrative
In Brief: For the third year running, Satyr Tragopan won the “Bird of the Tour” poll, as once again we were blessed with exceptionally lengthy views of this normally secretive forest denizen. It’s no longer a surprise when this species comes out tops: the resplendent red males can be incredibly co-operative, as this year’s was. He showed superbly, climbing up on top of a tree stump and staying there. Thirty minutes later, he was still there, just starting to look bored. And ten minutes after that he clambered off his podium—and came even closer! Superbly well seen by everyone, this magnificent specimen was in view for well over an hour, at one point sharing the scope field with a pair of almost equally stunning Blood Pheasants.
Ward’s Trogon, another Bhutanese specialty, pushed the tragopan hard to come in a close second in the same end-of-tour poll. We had to scramble about 50 yards up a forest slope to see these fabulous trogons, but there was little doubt that the long, close views were more than sufficient reward. Next in the rankings was Sultan Tit, seen feeding, calling, and interacting at distances down to 20 feet. And sharing fourth place were two more Bhutanese specialties, Himalayan Monal and Beautiful Nuthatch. Both performed superbly, coming fairly close and then sitting still for fabulously long periods to be admired by all.
In Detail: There’s far, far more to any tour than the star birds, and as always, this year’s Bhutan tour was simply brimming over with memorable moments and stupendous encounters. It got off to a good start with a panoramic flight along the southern edge of the Himalayan Mountains. Once in Paro we were met by our knowledgeable guide and our superbly skilled driver, and we were off. Soon enough we were watching our first Bhutanese specialty, an Ibisbill, and then we visited a site where our guide had recently seen Black-tailed Crake—and sure enough, the bird appeared within 15 minutes of our arrival and showed superbly to the admiring crowd. Lunch was a tasty introduction to Bhutanese cuisine, and we didn’t have long to wait before our third major encounter of the day, this time with an obliging male Wallcreeper. Welcome to Bhutan!
Next morning, Dochu La, our first Bhutanese pass, beckoned. True to form, it yielded such memorable jewels as parties of inquisitive Yellow-billed Blue Magpies, Darjeeling Pied Woodpecker, Chestnut Thrush, and a very inquisitive Rusty-flanked Treecreeper. Here, too, we watched our first Crested Kingfisher, battering and then attempting to swallow a fish that was surely way too large.
The following two nights at a guesthouse not far from Punakha, Bhutan’s former winter capital, gave us the opportunity to go birding up the Mo Chhu Valley. Here we saw a few more of the region’s residents, such as a cracking male Kalij Pheasant that just wouldn’t leave the road, a Spotted Wren Babbler, and a fine adult Pallas’s Fish Eagle. After a morning in this bird-rich valley, we enjoyed an insightful guided tour of the magnificent Punakha dzong.
The following morning added more Tibet-bound waterfowl and a couple more Wallcreepers to our list, and then we climbed up towards the Pele La, where a Yellow-rumped Honeyguide, a party of Tibetan Serins, and a Bhutan Giant Flying Squirrel were all well appreciated. The undoubted star of the day was a lingering Black-necked Crane in the Phobjika Valley.
Our second major pass, the Pele La, found us searching for more high-altitude specialties. Our primary target, Himalayan Monal gave itself up in spectacular style within a couple of minutes of our arrival. Other pre-breakfast goodies included what must have been the world’s most obliging Slender-billed Scimitar Babbler, a Great Parrotbill that sat out and sang, and a party of magnificently colored Grandala.
We paused the next morning before starting the journey south of Trongsa to study a Russet Bush Warbler near our guest house— paused again moments later to admire some Chestnut-crowned Laughingthrushes—and paused a few seconds after that for some cooperative Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-babblers. But we had to pull ourselves away or there’d be no breakfast. Even in the face of that threat we still stopped to admire our first party of magnificent Golden Langurs and our only Little Forktails of the tour. Other goodies on the Zhemgang road included some fabulous encounters with our first Rufous-necked and Great Hornbills, a Blue-bearded Bee-eater, our first Rufous-chinned Laughingthrushes and Red-faced Liocichlas, Greater Rufous-headed Parrotbills, and a White-tailed Robin seen superbly well from inside the bus. Our introduction to Bhutanese camping went smoothly: everyone slept, the tents were spacious and comfortable, and the camp crew hard-working and capable.
Heading back up to Trongsa, we continued our eastward traverse. Our next port of call was a comfortable Bumthang guest house, complete with wood-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, offers some of the best opportunities to encounter pheasants. 2009 provided no exception. We saw another monal and no fewer than 14 Blood Pheasants, and this was also where we had the stunning tragopan encounter described above. Our camp crew had gone ahead the previous evening to set up our next camp. It rained torrentially that night; we later found out that it had snowed heavily near Sengor, and tent zippers there had frozen solid! We backtracked the following day to catch up with Bar-winged Wren Babbler and Black-headed Shrike-babbler and all the higher-altitude species we needed.
We reached the Limithang road with just two primary targets remaining. The often vociferous Sikkim Wedge-billed Babbler soon gave itself up, and the following day produced a magnificent pair of Ward’s Trogon. We were blessed with glorious weather at Samdrup Jongkhar, close to the Indian border, and eventually found a few distant Dark-rumped Swifts, umpteen Asian Fairy Bluebirds, and a pair of Pale-headed Woodpeckers.
The drive back to Gauhati in Assam was uneventful but enlivened by a few birds. Once back in Delhi, we settled briefly in to our comfortable hotel before returning to the airport and heading home.
Our memories of Bhutan won’t quickly fade, and we’ll long remember our stunning encounters with Satyr Tragopan, Beautiful Nuthatch, Himalayan Monal, and Ward’s Trogon. Perhaps the memories that linger longest won’t be avian at all: perhaps our most savored impressions will be of the Bhutanese scenery, of hillsides cloaked in dense forest with magnificent snow-capped peaks as a back drop, and of our crew’s magnificent efforts to keep us happy and entertained.
- Paul Holt
Updated: May 2009