Madeira July – August 2012

During this trip all the endemic species were seen as well as most of the endemic subspecies. On the pelagic some good West-Palaearctic species were recorded, although a pelagic later in the year would be more advisable for more pelagic species. However, if the goal is to see Zino’s petrel at sea a pelagic earlier in the year should be considered, for the species appears to be find at sea during summer. During the entire trip a total number of 33 species were recorded.

Itinary:               23 July                  Pelagic (North of Madeira)
                           24 July                  Pelagic (South of Madeira)
                           25 July                  Pelagic (North of Madeira)
                           26 July                  Caniço de Baixo and excursion to Zino’s Petrel colony
                           27 July                  Funchal
                           28 July                  Caniço de Baixo
                           29 July                  São Laurenço Peninsula and Caniçal
                           30 July                  Rabaçal (25 Springs)
                           31 July                  São Vinçente and Seixal
                           1 August               Caniço de Baixo
                           2 August               Pico de Ariero and Ribeiro Frio
                           3-6 August           Caniço de Baixo and Funchal

23 July                  Arrival and Madeira Windbirds Pelagic
Around 10:00 we arrived in our hotel in Caniço de Baixo and I had a few more hours to prepare for the pelagic. These hours also produced the first Plain Swifts and the only Roseate Tern during the entire trip! Unaware of the weather conditions I packed for the worst: rain coat and trousers (necessary), plastic bag for my camera bag (unnecessary), two Optech rain sleeves for my camera and lens (unnecessary) and flip-flops (good choice). I didn’t bring a hat, which can be useful. 
Around 14:00 I got picked up at the hotel and around 15:00 left the Marina. The weather was good with a lot of sun, but we had almost no wind, which is not ideal for petrels as they are prone to rest on the water and are therefore hard to find. After 90 minutes we arrived at the chumming site 12 nautical miles Northeast of the island and we soon started chumming which attracted a lot of Bulwers Petrels and Cory’s Shearwaters and in the end a Fea’s Petrel which showed quite well, but very briefly. It was a Fea’s of the desertas population with a very heavy bill, short tubes, thick neck and a rather heavy jizz in flight. The chum also attracted a Beaked Whale, which remained unidentified (probably Gervais’/ Curvier’s/ Blainville’s). Other animals recored were: a Loggerhead and some Flying Fish.
For anyone doing a pelagic like this (drifting around the chum in a rather small zodiac) I can recommend a getting a good sleep (I slept three or four hours, because our flight left very early in the morning) and maybe anti-seasickness pills, for I got very seasick and it does not add to your experience of the pelagic.

Fea's Petrel (Pterodroma (fea) desertas)

Cory´s Shearwater (Calonectris (diomedea) borealis)

24 July                  Madeira Windbirds Pelagic
I got anti-seasickness pills from Hugo and Catherina (of Madeira Windbirds) and a decent sleep, so after we got out on the sea again at the same time as yesterday to visit the Southeastern part of the ocean, I felt really good. Unfortunately the weather was the same as yesterday, so still not perfect for petrels. Today the chum attracted the same amount of Cory’s Shearwaters and Bulwers Petrels, but after a few hours of waiting a lovely White-faced Storm-petrel turned up and was soon joined by a Madeiran Storm-petrel. The chum also attracted another Fea’s Petrel but this sighting was even briefer than the one yesterday. Using photographs we were able to indentify it as another desertas, due to its very thick bill and neck. Other animals recorded were three Loggerheads (of which we saved one from a fishing net!) and several Flying Fishes.

White-faced Storm-petrel (Pelagodroma marina)

Madeiran Storm-petrel (Oceanodroma castro)

Loggerhead (Caretta caretta)

25 July                  Madeira Wind birds Pelagic
Today we headed tot the same destination as the first day, for this is the best site for Zino’s Petrel. The site we visited yesterday was the best site for seeing Storm-petrels. The weather was the same as the previous two days, but with even less wind. The day started good with two brief pterodroma spec. sightings, a Loggerhead and a pod of at least five Bottlenose Dolphins on the way to the chumming site. However the chum attracted “only” a Madeiran Storm-petrel and an Arctic tern (besides the standard amount of Cory’s Shearwaters and Bulwers Petrels). The chumming ended prematurely when a two or three meter large Blue Shark came and finished 10 Kg of chum in three bites… This meant unfortunately that I was unable to see a Zino’s Petrel at sea during this pelagic. However, the entire experience was well worth it and the other species observed were lovely.
Thanks to Hugo and Catherina I was able to join the excursion to the Zino’s Petrel colony at Pico de Ariero, which would take place the next day.

Atlantic Bottlenose Dophin (Trusiops truncatus)

26 July                  Caniço de Baixo and excursion to Zino’s Petrel colony
During the past 3 days I always birded a little around the hotel in Caniço de Baixo which yielded some Macaronesian endemic  species i.e. Plain Swift and Atlantic Canary and some endemic subspecies i.e. Common Kestrel (ssp. canariensis), Blackbird (ssp. carbrerae), Blackcap (ssp. heineken) and Goldfinch (ssp. parva). A stroll a bit further from the hotel grounds produced the same species but also a lovely male Spectacled Warbler of the endemic subspecies bella.
Around 21:00 we were in the car to Pico de Ariero ready to see the desirable Zino’s petrel at last. When we arrived at the top (1802 meters a.s.l.) Hugo and Catherina provided headlights and then we were ready to walk the last half hour to the breeding site. At the colony we waited nervously for the birds to arrive. At first the tape of the conservation program a couple of slopes further (placed to encourage birds to breed on more than one slope to reduce vulnerability) played tricks with our minds, but in the end we heard some genuine birds. The entire setting in which the hearing (and eventually the viewing) of the birds took place was simply breathtaking: being almost at the highest point of Madeira with a clear sky and an almost full moon which reflected lovely in the Atlantic Ocean. On top of that the birds uttered almost ghost-like sounds that perfectly fitted this atmosphere. (As soon as I’m back in the Netherlands I’ll make sure to upload a sound recording, as well as more pictures) Concluding: besides the pelagic the trip to breeding site of Zino’s Petrel should not be missed!

27 July                  Funchal and Caniço de Baixo
Today we headed towards Funchal where I hoped to get more decent views on Roseate Terns than just a fly-by bird like the one in Caniço de Baixo. Unfortunately the jetty in the harbor did not produce more than 200 Yellow-legged Gulls (ssp. atlanticus) and a couple of Common Terns. Besides this, the capital of Madeira produced little, but I managed to make some nice sound recordings of Cory’s Shearwaters in Caniço de Baixo that evening.

28 July                  Caniço de Baixo
A stroll around the grounds of the hotel resulted in the few common species here and it also produced an early migrant in the form of a Common Sandpiper.

29 July                  São Laurenço Peninsula and Caniçal
After an early start we found ourselves on top of the rocky cliffs of the São Laurenço Peninsula. This peninsula offers for a beautiful hike and it is also one of the few places on the island where Rock Sparrows can be found, so we were delighted to find a group of 40 of these birds, which are of the maderiensis subspecies. The hike also produced a lot of Atlantic Canaries and some lovely Berthelot’s Pipits of the madeirensis subspecies. The endemic Madeira Wall Lizards are also very confiding here and eat banana’s out of your hand (and even might try if your finger is edible as well). The peninsula can be combined with one of the few (black sand) beaches on the islands which offers some reasonable snorkeling (not if you’re used to tropical waters) and we saw some small Barracuda’s. After a swim we went to Caniçal which is the only place on Madeira were Spanish Sparrow can be found. These are easy to find in the palm trees near the small harbor and in the end they even tried to snatch some of our dinner.
At night at Caniço de Baixo I thought I heard a Black-crowned Night-heron, but the bird stopped calling before I could make a recording, so I’m not sure (considering the rarity of this species on the island).

30 July                  Rabaçal (25 springs)

Rabaçal offers some lovely hiking through lush laurel forest, but can be hard to find without a navigation device as Madeira has a serious lack of road signs. Once we had arrived, we were immediately greeted by some Madeira Firecrests which turned out to be abundant and many of them were juveniles; a good sign! Also the madeirensis subspecies of Chaffinch is common here and can even be fed with some bread. The hike eventually produced a nice fly-by sighting of a Trocaz Pigeon, which was the last endemic species on the check list.

Adult Madeira Firecrest (Regulus madeirensis)

Juvenile Madeira Firecrest (Regulus madeirensis)

Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs madeirensis)

Chaffinch  (Fringilla coelebs madeirensis)

31 July                  São Vinçente and Seixal
During a trip to the interesting volcanic caves near São Vinçente some nice birds were seen like Madeira Firecrest and five Trocaz Pigeons which perched in a tree near a pizzeria in São Vinçente while we enjoyed a nice lunch. A good species for the pizza list indeed!

2 August              Pico de Ariero and Ribeiro Frio
After a relaxing day at the hotel we went back up to Pico de Ariero to enjoy the scenery in broad daylight. A short hike to the colony of the Zino’s Petrel, where we’ve been before produced some Linnets of the endemic subspecies guenteri and a nice and uncommon migrant in the form of a House Martin between a flock of Plain Swifts. A hike along the Ribeiro Frio (start at the trout farm) produced some nice(but distant) views of Trocaz Pigeons, as well as the very common Madeira Firecrest and madeirensis Chaffinch (which even ate out of my hand).

3-6 August          Funchal and Caniço de Baixo
Because we had to return the car, the more interesting bird sightings stop here, but a couple of relaxing days on this island were also very nice. They also produced the only sighting of a Sparrowhawk of the endemic subspecies granti.

In summary: two weeks Madeira is a bit long if you just go for the birds, because there are not too many resident species on the island. However a pelagic is highly recommended (especially if you are a WP lister). The same goes for the excursion to hear and see Zino’s Petrel at Pico de Ariero.

Madeira Wall Lizard (Lacerta dugesii)

Species list:
Birds (33 species)

- Cory’s Shearwater (ssp. borealis): seen every day in large numbers during the pelagic and heard (and sometimes seen) daily at Caniço de Baixo.

- Bulwers Peterel: seen ever day in large numbers during the pelagic. Also some birds were seen flying by at Caniço de Baixo.

- Fea’s Petrel (ssp. desertas): seen two birds on the first two days of the pelagic. Both individuals were identified using photographs as classic desertas (according to Hadoram Shirihai’s article). E

- Zino’s Petrel: frustratingly not seen during the pelagic, but heard and seen well during the night excursion to Pico de Ariero, where they breed. E

- Madeira Storm-petrel: two birds recorded on the last two days of the pelagic.

- White-faced Storm-petrel: one bird seen extremely well on the second day of the pelagic.

- Common Buzzard: Seen on several occasions throughout the island.

- Common Sparrowhawk (ssp. granti): one bird seen on the last day in Caniço de Baixo. e

- Common Kestrel (ssp. canariensis): seen on several occasions throughout the island. e

- Ruddy Turnstone: three birds were seen at the marina during the last two days of the pelagic.

- Common Sandpiper: one of these migrants was recorded on 28 and 29 July near Caniço de Baixo.

- Yellow-legged Gull (ssp. atlanticus): very common, seen daily.

- Lesser Black-backed Gull: one bird was seen on the last day of the pelagic and another bird was seen at Camâra de Lobos.

- Common Tern: very common, seen daily.

- Arctic tern: one bird identified on the last day of the pelagic.

- Roseate tern: One bird seen flying by at Caniço de Baixo on 23 July.

- Sandwich tern: One bird seen flying by at Caniço de Baixo.

- Trocaz Pigeon: seen on three different occasions: at Rabaçal (one), at São Vinçente (five) and at Ribeiro Frio (three). E

- Plain Swift: This Macaronesian endemic is very common and was seen daily. E

- Grey Wagtail (ssp. schmitzi): common and seen almost daily. e

- Berthelot’s Pipit (ssp. madeirensis): seen in good numbers at the São Laurenço Peninsula. E

- House Martin: An uncommon migrant which was seen at Pico de Ariero on 2 August.

- Blackcap (ssp. heineken): very common and seen daily. Unfortunately no individual with complete black head was seen. e

- Spectacled Warbler (ssp. bella): one lovely male was seen near Caniço de Baixo on 26 July. e

- Common Blackbird (ssp. carbrerae): common and seen daily. e

- Robin: two seen near Rabaçal and one at Ribeiro Frio.

- Madeira Firecrest: this endemic is surprisingly common in forested areas like 25 springs near Rabaçal and Ribeiro Frio. E

- Atlantic Canary: Common and seen almost daily. E

- Goldfinch (ssp. parva): uncommon species which was recorded only twice: near Caniço de Baixo and at Ribeiro Frio.

- Linnet (ssp. guentheri): only recorded once at Pico de Ariero on 2 August. e

- Chaffinch (ssp. madeirensis): Common in well wooded areas like Ribeiro Frio and Rabaçal. e

- Rock Sparrow (ssp. maderiensis): One flock of 40 birds was seen at the São Laurenço peninsula. e

- Spanish Sparrow: Easy at Caniçal, absent anywhere else.

Atlantic Canary (Serinus canaria)

Other animals:

- Bottlenose Dolphin: a pod of five seen on the last day of the pelagic.

- Beaked whale spec.: Seen on the first day of the pelagic, but to brief to identify (probably Curviers’/ Gervais’/ Blainsville’s)

- Loggerhead: this sea turtle was recorded every day of the pelagic. We even saved one from a fishing net.

- Madeira Wall Lizard: common and seen daily. E

- Blue Shark: one 2-3 m. individual gulped up our last chum on the last day of the pelagic.

E = endemic to Madeira
E = endemic to Macaronesia
e = subspecies endemic to Madeira of Macaronesia

India July - August 2011, Agra

No visit to India is complete without a visit to the Taj Mahal, or at least that is what many travel guides tell you. We followed this advice and paid this monument that is by many named "the most beautiful building in the world" a visit. The Taj Mahal did not disappoint and I agree with its informal name. However next to the Taj, we enjoyed some views of the more common Indian species in this city. Just within the gardens surrounding the Taj Mahal we found several interesting species like Egyptian Vulture, Little Green Bee-eater, Spotted Owlet, Jacobin Cuckoo, Indian Grey Hornbill, Brown-headed Barbet, Jungle-babbler, Rose-ringed Parakeet and Indian Chat. Behind the Taj Mahal flows the Yamuna River. Here we saw some other interesting birds including River Lapwing, Painted Stork, Eurasian Spoonbill, Red-wattled Lapwing, Large Grey Babbler and Rufous Treepie.

Indian Chat (Cercomela fusca)

Indian Grey Hornbill (Ocyceros birostris)

Spotted Owlet (Athene brama) with a damaged pupil

The endangered Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopteros) can be seen soaring above the Taj Mahal

Male Rose-ringed Parakeet (Psittacula krameri)

The Taj Mahal, seen from the Backside. Painted Storks (Mycteria leucocephala), River Lapwings (Vanellus duvaucelii), Red-wattled Lapwings (Vanellus indicus) and Indian Jungle Crows (Corvus culminatus) foraging at the Yamuna River.

Most monuments within Agra have large gardens like the ones at the Taj Mahal and all these gardens hold similar species and more. Next to the gardens of Monuments we also paid the Sur Sarovar Bird Sanctuary a visit. This site is easily reached by taxi from Agra city center. This bird sanctuary was quite disappointing as it did not hold many birds next to a single Asian Openbill, a single Asian Woollyneck, some Oriental Darters, Indian and Little Cormorants and some Indian Rollers and Rufous Treepies. We also visited the Bear Rescue facility that is also located within this bird sanctuary. The rescue center is interesting and the people there are very welcoming and keen to teach you about their bears. However next to this rescue center there is very little of interest in the sanctuary, both for "normal" tourists and birders, as most of the bird sanctuary seemed to be military terrain and therefore off limits. I would not recommend the Sur Sarovar Bird Sanctuary as a birding site.

Oriental Darter (Anhinga melanogaster)

Indian Cormorant (Phalacrocorax fuscicollis) and Little Cormorant (Microcarbo niger) in flight

India July - August 2011, Srinagar

We left Ladakh by the only other motorable road. This road leads through the Zanskar area, which is just as marvellous as the previous valleys we visited, and leads in the end to the capital of Kashmir: Srinagar. We spent a couple of days in this disputed area, but remained unfortunately only inside the city. The lake in the city, on which one can sleep in boats (quite expensive though), offers fairly decent birding and we enjoyed our stay there.

Birds observed on the lake included many Indian Pond, Black-crowned Night, Little, Cattle and Great Egret, Common, Pied and White-throated Kingfisher, Black, White-winged and Whiskered Tern, Citrine Wagtail and Clamorous Reed Warbler. The biggest surprise however was a 1kj Red-headed Bunting male in between a dozen of House Sparrows. The yellow rump was seen well and it also had a red-brown hue on the head, excluding Black-headed Bunting.

1kj male Red-headed Bunting (Emberiza bruniceps). Note the reddish hue on the head and the still very fresh plumage.

Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis)

White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon Smyrnensis)

Pied Kingfishers (Ceryle rudis)

I hope I can come back to this disputed area to try for the three endemics. I regret I did not have time to search for them during this trip, so I highly recommend that people visiting Ladakh, don´t forget to give Kashmir a try, because the people here are very nice and we had no problem at all during our stay and the birds here included some endemic and mythical species! The best trip would be of course to start in the Great Himalayan National park for Western Tragopan and Cheer Pheasant, than go to Ladakh and finish in Kashmir with an Orange Bullfinch. We keep dreaming!

India July - August 2011, Khardung La and Nubra Valley

Khardung La is one of the (often falsely claimed as the) highest motorable passes in the world. The highest point of the pass is above 5.600 MASL. We wanted to check the pass out and combined it with the stunning Nubra Valley, that lies behind. We did both by bicycle, however, if you want to so you need a van to take you up to the pass, unless you are extremely fit (ascending from 3.500 to 5.600 is no joke) and so we did and it was extremely enjoyable.

Besides the scenery we also enjoyed some decent birds, especially on Khardung La. Goodies included Tibetan Snowcock (up to a meter next to the van) and a female Grandala (Unfortunately no male). Other birds which were also observed on other high altitude passes included White-winged (or Gueldenstaedt´s) Redstart and Horned Lark (ssp. longirostris). Around the pass we also observed several groups of Wild Yaks.

 A crappy record shot of a Tibetan Snowcock (Tetraogallus tibetanus), but a reasonable picture when considering it was taken with a 55 mm lens. Yes, we were close!

In the Nubra Valley we did not do much birding, but some interesting birds were still observed like Hume´s Whitethroat, Common Rosefinch and Chukar. I think there are good birding spots in this area, for BirdQuest also visits this area, but none were known to me at that time, so better research might yield better species.

Common Rosefinch (Carpodacus erythrinus)

India July - August 2011, Tso Kar

After doing some research I found out that Tso Kar, one of the three largest lakes in Ladakh, might yield some very good species. Local people confirmed this, so we tried to set out to this site. This is a very remote site and we therefore tried to find other backpackers to join in, but since Pangon Tso is much more popular with the "normal" tourists we failed to find anybody wo was interested. In the end we had to rent a van for two days for the price of roughly $100. The price is this high, because it takes four to five hours to get there and the worlds second highest pass is on the route, making it not the easiest way to drive.

We birded the area for an afternoon and a morning and this yielded some stunning and rarely seen species including the rare Black-necked Crane and the seldom-seen Tibetan Sandgrouse, which turned out to be rather common here! Other species included Ruddy Shelduck, Brown-headed Gull, Upland Buzzard, Lesser Sand Plover (in breeding plumage and performing the famous broken-wing strategy to distract me from its nest!), Hume´s Lark, Spotted Great Rosefinch (split from Great Rosefinch in the Caucasus)  and Hoopoe.Tibetan Snowfinch and Tibetan Wagtail were surprisingly common. Waders were also common with Red-wattled Lapwing, Common Redshank, Green Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper and Temminck´s Stint amongst others. Apparently Groundpecker can also be seen in the area, but we did not find them unfortunately. We however did see some very large larks flying in the distance, but the were to far away to indentify them. This site is also an interesting site for mammals. Kiang, or Tibetan Wild Ass, is common in the area. The site is apparently also good for Grey Wolves.

A pair of Black-necked Cranes (Grus nigricollis) with a single chick

Male and female Tibetan Sandgrouse (Syrrhaptes tibetanus)

Tibetan Sandgrouse (Syrrhaptes tibetanus) in flight

Lesser Sand Plover (Charadrius mongolus)

Male Spotted Great Rosefinch (Carpodacus severtzovi)

Kiang (Equus kiang)

This site is truly spectacular. The numbers and the tameness of the Tibetan Sandgrouse alone make this place worth visiting. Beside that a lot of other good birds and mammals can be seen here. However when visiting this site, be prepared to either camp out or sleep in a very basic hut, which, in my opinion, makes the entire experience even better.

A swamp and lake lined by 7.000+ mountains, what more does a man want? (picture taken by Guido Bonthond)

India July - August 2011, Hemis National Park

Once in Leh we set out to do a multiple day trek into Hemis National Park to enjoy the vastness of the Ladakhi area. We decided to do a trek through the Rumbak area. This is a four to five day trek, but managed to this trek in three days although this required a considerable amount effort. At first we wanted to do the eight days Marka Valley Trek, but we did not have enough time to do this. We skipped the first day of the trek, by taking a taxi into the mountains, for the first day of trekking goes from Leh to the first village inside the national park and during that first day the area that you pass through is rather dull and not very interesting birding wise. The same goes for the way back to Leh at the end of the trek. Once you exit the National Park, the scenery is still stunning, but the trekking is not as nice, so we hitched a ride back to Leh.

During the three days of hiking we enjoyed a lot of good birds and mammals as well as absolutely breathtaking scenery and amiable Ladakhi locals. Birds observed during those days in the Hemis area included Himalayan Snowcock, Himalayan Griffon,Golden Eagle, Lammergeier, Wallcreeper, Chukar, Robin Accentor, Brown Accentor, Alpine Accentor, Asian House Martin, Grey-backed Shrike, Tickells Leaf Warbler, Plain Mountain Finch and Streaked Rosefinch. During second and last day of the trek we also passed through some areas that looked pretty good for Himalayan Rubythroat and White-browed Tit-warbler, but we had no succes in finding these superb birds.

Plain Mountain Finch (Leucosticte nemoricola)

Robin Accentor (Prunella rubeculoides)

Female Wallcreeper (Tichodroma muraria)

Male Streaked Rosefinch (Carpodacus rubicilloides)

Part of a group of Himalayan Snowcocks (Tetraogallus himalayensis)

Brown Accentor (Prunella fulvescens)

Tickell´s Leaf Warbler (Phylloscopus affinis) of the newly described perflavus subspecies

Mammals observed here included real (!) Wild Yaks, Blue Sheep, Himalayan Marmot and Ladakh Pika. This is also the best place in the world to look for Snow Leopards and even BirdQuest has started to organise tours to this area to see this incredible creature. We looked for three days for this species, but according to the locals the Snow Leopards can only be found above 5.000 MASL during the Arctic Summer, so the best time to go would be in September or October, when the mountain peaks are starting to become colder. Even though, during our second night in the area we heard a large cat attacking cows in a local village at night. So it must have been either a Snow Leopard or a Lynx, Lynxes are apparently much rarer in this area..

Blue Sheep (Pseudois nayaur)

Himalayan Marmot (Marmota himalayana)

This area is absolutely one of my favorite places on earth. It is wild, remote, full of life if you know where to look, barely populated and the people that do live here are incredibly nice. So when visiting the Ladakhi area a trek through the Hemis national park should be considered as a must!

Trekking in Hemis is not always easy, but the scenery never disappoints!

India July - August 2011, Spiti Valley

Ladakh can be reached by three ways. The easiest way is to fly straight to Leh, but there are two other much more interesting ways to travel to this remote corner of the world. Both ways lead through even more remote areas and both deserve some attention. Coming from Delhi, the most logical choice is to travel over land via Manali to Leh, but we took a detour through the incredible Kinnaur and Spiti valleys in Himachal Pradesh. We did not spend much time in the Kinnaur valley, which is probably just as interesting as the Spiti Valley, but the extreme remoteness of Spiti was unresistable, so we spent roughly a week in what turned out to be my most favourite part of this wonderfull country so far.

We based ourselves in Kaza, which was a small and very quiet town back then, but I´m afraid that the area has been discovered by backpackers and will soon be a bustling tourist town. We did some birding just outside of the town. To the east of the town flows the majestic Spiti river, which looked like a perfect site for Ibisbill and Solitairy Snipe, but despite intensive searching we did not find them, probably due to the overkill of suitable habitat (the river is more than two km broad with hundreds of riverbeds). However we did observe some interesting birds in the direct vicinty of Kaza. Amongst them were Himalayan Griffon, Tibetan Wagtail (or calcarata subspecies of Citrine Wagtail), Mountain Chiffchaff, Hooded Wheatear, Booted Eagle, Plain and Brandt´s Mountain Finch.  

Tibetan Wagtail (Motacilla (citreola) calcarata)

Mountain Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus sindianus)

After some days in Kaza, we went to the high altitude villages of Ki and Kibber (both are above 4.000 MASL), mainly to enjoy the Tibetan culture (which is absolutely breathtaking here), but we still saw some nice birds including Red-billed and Alpine Chough, Fire-fronted Serin, Rock Bunting, Hill Pigeon and abundant Tibetan Snowfinches.

Fire-fronted Serin (Serinus pusillus)

Tibetan Snowfinch (Montifringilla adamsi)

The best site for birding we visited in Spiti Valley was however the area around Dhankar village and Dhankar lake. We spent two days in this area, also mainly to visit some Gompa´s and to stay at local houses, but we saw a lot of interesting birds, including Lammergeier, Desert Wheatear, Twite (ssp. montanella), Himalayan Snowcock, Sulfur-bellied and Tickell´s Leaf Warbler. On Dhankar Lake we also found some early migrants like Temminck´s Stint, Black-winged Stilt and Garganey, which were all a bit of a surprise. Some mammals were also recorded in this area like a cute Royle´s Pika.

Temminck´s Stint (Calidris temminckii)

Lammergeier (Gypaetus barbatus)

The cute Royle´s Pika (Ochotona roylei)

All of these sites are fairly easy to access by public transport. Starting from Shimla, take a bus to Rekong Peo, Kinnaur Valley and then take a bus to Kaza. Both busrides can take between 12 and 20 hours and are not for the faint hearted. A wheel or two hovering above a 500 meter vertical drop happens more or less every five minutes. On the other hand the scenery is absolutely breathtaking. Visiting Ki and Kibber can be done by bus or taxi. A taxi can also drop you of at the begin of a trail leading to Dhankar from the main road. The hike up to Dhankar takes about two hours and another two hours to get to Dhankar Lake. Be prepared for high altitudes and the possible problems that comes with the altitude. I highly recommend visiting this area, even if all species that can be seen here, can be seen somewhere else. It is an absolutely stunning and remote area and maybe some discoveries are waiting to be made.

Birding near Kaza with the typical Spiti scenery in the background (picture taking by Guido Bonthond)

India July - August 2011, Shimla

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.

Himalayan Bulbul (Pycnonotus leucogenys)

Streaked Laughing Thrush (Trachalopteron lineatum)

Himalayan Griffon (Gyps himalayensis)

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.