Shimla, the capital of Himachal Pradesh, is located in the green foothills of the Western Himalayas, was used by us as a gateway city to the remote valleys of Kinnaur, Spiti, Lahaul. The city is easily reached by public transport. We used the old "Toytrain" to get to the city, which I can highly recommend. I don't think there is a more scenic way to reach this city. Due to illness of my travel companion several days were spent in this lovely town. This enabled me to check out some pockets of forest around the city and to do some birding. I mostly concentrated the birding around the Hanuman Temple that lies close to the city and can be reached on foot. The temple is surrounded by some decent forest. Here I observed Himalayan Bulbul, Streaked Laughingthrush, Verditer Flycatcher, Rufous Sibia, Grey-hooded Warbler, Green-backed Tit, Black-throated Tit and Grey Bush-chat. The skies proved good for several Himalayan Griffons, a Peregrine Falcon and a Booted Eagle next to the ever present Lineated Kites. Be carefull at the Hanuman temple itself, as there are loads of annoying Macaques here that apparently also steal, so bring a bag.
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| Himalayan Bulbul (Pycnonotus leucogenys) |
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| Streaked Laughing Thrush (Trachalopteron lineatum) |
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| Himalayan Griffon (Gyps himalayensis) |
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| Booted Eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus) taken with a 55 mm lens. Yes it was close. |
I can highly recommend to visit this city, as it is a lovely city with some reasonable birding spots close by. I guess with better preparation one can see much more species here. Also it is very well worth it to consider visiting the Great Himalayan National Park from this city, as this park hosts Western Tragopans! We missed this opportunity as we visited the remote valleys to the east of this park.
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