Bird watching

Update from Nepal June 2008

Birdwatching

My recent weekends have taken me out to the countryside again - this time to go birdwatching. I have met up with a few enthusiasts led by Vimal Thapa who get together very early on a Saturday morning to take off to a birding spot around the Kathmandu valley.

Nagurjun end May 2008

So armed with my binoculars and 'Birds of Nepal' the birdwatching bible that I got for my birthday I first joined the group at the end of May and headed for the lower part of Nagurjun forest a protected area which houses one of the ex-kings residents on the edge of Kathmandu. It was a lovely sunny morning after a rain fall so there were lots of puddles in the forest which attracted lots of bright coloured butterflies and dragon flies.

The forest was also bright with colours lilac jacanda trees and pink bounganvillia as well as various white flowering trees and orange flowery vines. It was quite hard spotting birds in the forest at first - but once I got used to it I saw many new Nepali birds as well as the Nepali versions of some of our UK favourites. Some of the birds we saw included:

• Black lorded t*** - a big yellow and black tufty tit

• speckled piculets - mini speckled woodpeckers

• The greater yellow nape -a large grand woodpecker with a yellow crest

• Drongos - we saw lots of these - large glossy black birds the size of a magpie with long forked tails

• Many common Miner birds

• A falcon

• The home and big babies of the many big black kites that fly over Kathmandu - they had a big nest on the branch of a pine tree

• Bright common king fisher

It was a real nature trail - we saw and heard little barking deer, saw lots of dragon flies and heard sikardas buzzing away as well as the bird song. We also found some rocks and climbers - including an area of clean bolted rock! I plan to go back and climb - but may have to wait a few months now the monsoon has begun!

Kelkani

The next day I headed back up to the valley rim on the langtang road with my binoculars and bird book - after Tinpipple I saw :

• 2 golden oreoles

• 2 kingfishers with big red bills

• a stunningly bright green barbet with red and blue head

• and at Kelkani I saw the long tailed minivets - the scarlet male and the yellow female hopping around in the pine trees

It was also giant radish season - and all the mountain folks were washing their radishes at the road side ready to catch the bus down to the Kathmandu markets

14 June 2008 - Shivapuri National Park - Budanakantil

I met Vimal and Gopi by the temple in Budanakantil at 6.30 am - they were having breakfast at one of the snack stands - although it may be early by western standards the place was already buzzing with people coming to visit the sleeping Vishnu at the temple.

We climbed up the steep hill to Shivapuri the watershed national park of Kathmandu that covers 150 km2 and is home to leopards and bears and 177 species of bird. The area was looking very green after the early monsoon rains and people were starting the plant their rice crop. The day was cloudy and the hills were shrouded in mist - which suited me as Kathmandu has been very hot recently. Once in the park we took the forested track that headed towards Sundarijal the starting point for treks to Helambu and Langtang. Enroute the birds we saw and heard are listed below - this time it is is Vimal and Gopi's list and is a lot more extensive than mine - and illustrates how knowledgable these guys are!

These birds are:

1. Speckled Piculet -1

2. Great Barbet (call)

3. Golden-throated Barbet (call)

4. Blue-throated Barbet

5. Large Hawk Cuckoo (call heard from Nagi Gompa)

6. Eurasian Cuckoo - 2

7. Rock Pigeon

8. Spotted Dove

9. Black Kite

10. Crested Serpent Eagle (call-Gopi)

11. Long-tailed Shrike - 2

12. Red-billed Blue Magpie

13. Rufous Treepie

14. House Crow

15. Large-billed Crow

16. Maroon Oriole (call)

17. Long-tailed Minivet

18. Black Drongo

19. Bronzed Drongo ?

20. Blue-capped Rock Thrush - 2 male and female both (female with S. Piculet and GH Warbler)

21. Blue Whistling Thrush

22. Verditer Flycatcher

23. Small Niltava

24. Pale Blue Flycatcher-? not seen well but heard the distinct call like PB Flycatcher along the trail

25. Blue-throated Flycatcher

26. Oriental Magpie Robin

27. Pied Bushchat (2- male and female)

28. Common Myna

29. Black-lored Tit

30. Black-throated Tit

31. Barn Swallow

32. Red-rumped Swallow

33. Red-vented Bulbul

34. Himalayan Bulbul

35. Mountain Bulbul (call)

36. Oriental White-eye

37. Common Tailorbird

38. Grey-hooded Warbler

39. White-crested Laughinghrush (call)

40. Rusty-cheeked Scimitar Babbler -

41. Streak-breasted Scimitar Babbler

42. Nepal Fulveta

43. House Sparrow

44. Tree Sparrow

We also saw more barking deer, one of the 100 plus variety of fungi - which was bright orange - various flowering plants and ate a Nepali version of Blue/bil berry. We called in at the nunnery on the hill -at Nagi Gumba - where the nuns and monks have taken a vow of silence - but they were all doing sign language - including to me - borrowing our binoculars - it was a pleasant spot with superb views over the surrounding forest, nice gardens, a few grazing holy cows and monkeys swinging around in the nearby trees.

When we were about to return home to Kathmandu there were no minibuses to take us back and the road to Kathmandu was closed. There was a 'bandh' a strike and the folks of Kathmandu had blocked the roads with their vehicles. Apparently there had been a bomb in Kathnmandu and a taxi driver had been killed - . So I went back to Kathamandu on the back roads on the back of Vimal's moped.

Sundarijal

The bandh continued the next day too- there was no public transport or government services - this meant that the roads were quiet so I took advantage of this and I headed out to Sundarijal on my bike, past all the rice planting activity (seemingly done by women only!) to the start of the Helambu trek along a trail next to the beautiful tumbling mountain Bagmati river (before it flows through Kathmandu and becomes a stinky dead river - they actually use the river as an official rubbish dump for the city!!!!). Unfortunately I didnt have my binocular's - but here I saw:

• fantail birds by the river - (white throated fan tails) they did exactly as their name suggests - spread their tails out and wave them like a fan -

• a small owl perched in a tree by the river -(maybe a barred owlet???)

I came back via Boudahnath,a large white Stupa and one of the 6? UNESCO heritage sites in the athmandu valley and the largest Bhuddist Stupa in Nepal -

For more on birdwatching / bird conservation in Nepal visit the website www.birdlifenepal. org