Bhutan Birding 2019: 16th-19th March

Day 7 – 16th March – Chumey to Yongkola area

Leaving the hotel at Chumey before first light was eventful as a Himalayan Owl was flushed from the side of the road. It perched in a nearby tree and allowed photos by torchlight. This is a good bird for the trip list and is a split from the Tawny Owl that we see in the UK.

Himalayan Wood Owl - A bit of an early morning surprise.

We met up with the Breakfast Boys at a lovely open area of grassland nestled in a valley. We were at home here as we saw Eurasian Magpie, Eurasian Wren and Goldcrest! Of more interest were a Red-throated and a Black-throated Thrush and our only Oriental Skylarks of the trip. A flock of distant Snow Pigeons could also be seen.

A distant Black-headed Thrush delaying breakfast!

Always a dog around to finish off any scraps.

Eusasian Magpie - A familiar sight to us.

After breakfast we travelled over the Thrumshing La pass at 3,780m altitude in the hope of seeing more pheasant species and were eventually rewarded with excellent views of a group of Blood Pheasants, just as we were beginning to lose hope!

Roadside Birding.

Blood Pheasant - One of the loose flock.

The Thrumshing La pass

Later in the day we drove up and down a mountain road in the hope of seeing a Satyr Tragopan. That proven fruitless but we did see five Kalij Pheasant and a very difficult to see Hill Partridge which had been calling close to the road. Other interesting birds seen during the day were Bonelli's Eagle, Himalayan Monal, Green Shrike-babbler, Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo, Rufous-vented Tit, Wallcreeper, Hume's Bush Warbler, Rufous-vented Yuhina, Red-headed Bullfinch and two Little Forktails at the top of a very high waterfall.

Red-headed Bullfinch - The bird was only just visible through the thick vegetation.

Rufous-fronted Tit -

Waterfall - The road can be seen above the top of the falls.

Little Forktail - Photographed from the vehicle on the road above the waterfall.

Himalayan Vultures - More seen on route.

Then on to the Trogon Villa where we would spend three nights. Species count for the day was 61.

Day 8 – 17th March - Yongkola area

This was a cracking days birding where we saw or heard 79 species and saw three of the Bhutan’s Big Five birds. Lots of other species seen but the Beautiful Nuthatch eluded us.
So the Big Five birds seen were Satyr Tragopan and 30 metres away was a Ward’s Trogon; and later in the day we had amazing views of a pair of Rufous-necked Hornbills. Unfortunately the Tragopan was a female, so we missed out on the stunning plumage of a male but we were fortunate to get this as Sonam had thought our chance had gone having missed the species the day before when at a higher altitude.

Satyr Tragopan - seen in extremely poor light

Ward's Trogon - The male above and female below.

Rufous-necked Hornbills - perched conveniently by the side of the road.
A real stroke of luck but they soon disappeared.

Another top and difficult to see species in the form of a Fire-tailed Myzornis was also seen. Sonam had warned us that if we did see one then it would not hang around long and it was a fast mover. It was exactly that but fortunately we all saw it but it was too quick for our cameras.

Other birds seen only on this day included Long-billed Wren-babbler, Golden-breasted Fulvetta, White-gorgeted Flycatcher, Pygmy Blue-flycatcher, Scaly Thrush and Fire-tailed Sunbird.

Pygmy Blue-flycatcher - A tricky bid to photograph!

Other notable birds seen during the day were Mountain Hawk-eagle, Black Eagle, our first Mountain Imperial-pigeon, Crimson-breasted Woodpecker, Rufous Woodpecker, Grey-chinned Minivet, Golden Babbler, Yellow-cheeked Tit, Hodgson’s Treecreeper, Grey-cheeked Warbler, Chestnut-crowned Warbler, Scaly Laughingthrush, Little Pied Flycatcher, Fire-breasted Flowerpecker, Large Niltava and Scarlet Finch.

Fire-breasted Flowerpecker

Olive-backed Pipit

Large Niltava

Yellow-bellied Fairy Fantail - A fairly common species

Capped Langur

A few common roadside plants!

Back to Trogon Villa to recover and get ready for the next day!

Day 9 - 18th March - Yongkola area.

We increased our species day count to 95 with some great birding. The main target bird before we left the Yongkola area was Beautiful Nuthatch as this was the last of the Big Five Bhutan birds left for us to see. Fortunately, it didn’t take too long and we soon had three feeding in some very tall trees. Good views but difficult to photograph.

Beautiful Nuthatch -Constantly on the move and difficult to photograph (as most Nuthatches!)

Beautiful Nuthatch - Certainly a beautiful bird and unfortunately not done justice by these photos.

Other species were coming thick and fast and those only seen here included Crested Serpent-eagle (3 off), Grey-bellied Cuckoo, Blue-bearded Bee-eater, White-browed Piculet, White-browed Shrike-babbler, Black-eared Shrike-babbler, Mountain Bulbul, Dusky Warbler, Slaty-bellied Tesia, Hill Prinia, White-naped Yuhina, Rufous-chinned Laughingthrush, Small Niltava, Rufous-breasted Bush-robin, Spot-winged Grosbeak and Common Rosefinch.

Blue-bearded Bee-eater

White-browed Piculet

Bar-winged Flycatcher-Shrike

Long-tailed Minivet

Orange-bellied Leafbird

Little Pied Flycatcher

Crested Serpent-eagle - We were fortunate to see this bird perched by the side of the road.

A family of Goral (a type of Goat) feeding way below on a steep sided valley was also of note. After this the birding continued until just before dusk.

Goral - Far below us on the steep mountainside.

Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch

White-crested Laughingthrush

Striated Yuhina

Black-throated Tit

Mountain Hawk-eagle

Oriental Magpie Robin

After dinner we drove along a track near the hotel ( in the darkness) to try for Hodgson's Frogmouth. We heard one call but it soon moved away and unseen.

Back to Trogon Villa for the night.

Day 10 – 19th March - Yongkola to Trashigang

This day surpassed the previous day in terms of numbers of species seen and heard with an impressive total of 96. This was a bit surprising as we did quite a bit of travelling. Breakfast was at a picturesque site with plenty of birds to interrupt the eating!

The Langur ECO Tours team at our picturesque breakfast site.

Impressive scenery

Keeping a reasonable distance from our breakfast table

Several more species were seen only on this day and that included Shikra, Common Buzzard, House Swift, Sultan Tit, Grey-sided Bush-warbler, Mountain Tailorbird, Striated Prinia, Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush, Dark-sided Flycatcher, Ferruginous Flycatcher and Plain Flowerpecker.

Mountain Tailorbird

Streaked Spiderhunter

Striated Prinia - also below.

Blue-throated Barbet

Crimson Sunbird

After getting on the road for a longish journey we drove along a valley and crossed a river over an impressive bridge.

Despite hearing Collared Owlet on nine days in all, this was the only day we actually saw one as it kindly posed for our cameras.

Collared Owlet - Heard almost daily but only seen a couple of times.

Rufous-bellied Woodpecker - Seen close to the Owl above. Note the horizontal line of holes that the Woodpecker has created.

On the journey from Yongkola to Trashingang we drove alongside the Dangmii Chhu river in an impressive steep sided valley. Here we saw our one and only group of Crag Martins of the trip, along with a Red-rumped Swallow and Asian House Martins. In the more open habitat, we managed to see Crested Bunting and a little later Himalayan Bulbul.