After a dramatic last minute frantic chase from Delhi airport to old Delhi railway station - we finally succeeded to jump into the Delhi~Ramnagar train within the last 4 minutes of its departure and were able to touch down next morning to Ramnagar – as scheduled!
Staying in the wonderful Tiger Camp resort which deserves a full score, our entry into the
Bijarani area started with a beautiful morning. Crossing over popular while pebbles of the river
Ramganga, the welcome spell included some excellent sightings of
Wallcreepers, River Lapwings, Changeable Hawk & Crested Serpent eagles, Woodpeckers (
Flamebacks and Scaly billed), Blue Whistling thrushes,
Redstarts topped up by amazing arrival of Great Pied
hornbills. Scattered Spotted Deer and
Sambars always keep the count ticking as the vehicle continues through this wonderful jungle. Occasional Barking Deer sightings tend to keep your eyesight alert over the side bushes. Shrikes and
Drongos keep flapping across. Orioles and
Minivets keep the canopies busy.
Later part of the day was in Jhirna section which is approached by passing through a couple of small villages on the outer periphery of the jungle. Surprisingly there was no guide available to accompany the safari at the entrance gate of Jhirna and the gate forest officer happily (or helplessly) allowed us to enter without a guide ! Our gypsy "captain" Diwan singh himself had a good feel of the wildlife spotting and he was much more enthusiastic than some of the routine guides. This Jhirna area has a slightly different landscape and geographical profile compared to the Bijrani area and is a habitat hosting sloth bears, junglefowls, vultures and hornbills.
Driving around a turn to look for a Crimson sunbird that vanished fast into the bush, we landed near a ficus tree that was full of figs as well as loaded with Hornbills ! There were 8 Great pied hornbills and 3 Oriental pied hornbills on this singular tree and surprisingly they all were hidden so well that none of them could be seen unless they moved inside the thicket of the leaves. I could never believe that huge birds like Great Pied Hornbills, that too in big numbers could remain unnoticed in spite of being so close to the tree. The same tree was also dotted with about 20-22 barbets (they were all very silent – for a change !) and could be counted only when flew away from the tree. Up in the sky were circling White rumped vultures together with Griffons and made a very exciting cyclic appearance & disappearance behind a hillock.
While the sunlight was getting more into its setting hues, the road further yielded some excellent sightings of Plum headed parakeets, several Red jungle fowl pairs whizzing across the route and a beautiful flock of Emrald Doves which flashed their greens while roaming in and out of the side bushes. In the background, the Francolins were heard on and off.
Staying only in peripheral resorts at Ramnagar does not reveal you the full of what this park has to offer. To get a true flavor of the wealth here, one has to essentially stay in the Dhikala area and move around the wonderful habitat that surrounds the government rest house overlooking the reservoir. The experience is certainly different when you stay inside the park at Dhikala. In fact the road from Ramnagar to Dhikala is in itself something that needs to be explored and is a wonderful area for some exclusive sightings.
Just entering a few hundred meters of the Dhangadia gate and settling our binoculars on a Crested Serpent Eagle – a huge sloth bear appeared suddenly out of the thicket giving us a unique lifetime sighting. Wandering in the Indian Jungle for whole of last decade, this was only the third sighting of a Sloth bear for me and was certainly a hair raiser at the beginning of the jungle round.
Some exclusive sightings from this area included rarities like Tawny Fish Owl, Collared Falconet, Grey Winged Balckbird, White Crowned Laughing thrushes, Asian Barred Owlet, Chestnut Belied Nuthatches, Long Tailed Minivets, Short Eared Owl, Hog Deer and Yellow Throated Martens.
The Chaurs (grasslands) around the reservoir are an excellent venue for some raptors crossing across the jeep routes and spending some quiet time here provides a good time with Harriers and Eagles. Otherwise also, this is a very interesting landscape – changing its looks with changing moods of the sunlight.
The canteen at Dhikala Guest house is being run by contractors and is indeed a very pleasant experience. The chef here tries to fully treat you with his culinary excellence and is creditable to see this superb quality of food deep inside the heart of the jungle with such a limited bandwidth of supplies and support facilities. Two days at Dhikala were sumptuous in both ways – the wildlife and the food in the guesthouse.
Bidding goodbye to Corbett, we climbed up the hills to touch “Pangot” - a lovely village with barely a dozen cottages around. Pangot is naturally carved in an extremely beautiful location…. and situated on the edge of a scenic cliff overlooking the vast expense of the graceful Kumaon range, it has a great potential for most of the sought after Himalayan species. Nestled amidst “Cheed and Deodar” trees, the atmosphere here is simply splendid.
Staying at the Jungle Lore resort is definitely an added benefit as this is at a strategic location for some good birding…but talking of the essential support for birding (local guides-vehicle-logistics), I would certainly expect and anticipate a much better support from a lodge meant and specialized for birding. There are some obvious loose ends that need to be tied up irrespective of the type/race/ skin color of the person visiting this place, otherwise it does not justify to be called a “birding resort”.
The search for
Koklass pheasant started in the morning on a breathtaking route to
Vinayak. Our driver
Harish was keenly observing on either side of the road for any surprises and was keeping a good control of the Bolero 4x4 with equal dexterity. This search did not reveal any
Koklass to us but ended up in a unbelievable sighting of
Ghoral – which darted speedily with a slight noise of the vehicle door.
Enroute we had some excellent activity of Himalayan
Griffons circling over a scenic valley. Altai
Accentors were happily flocking on the edge of this valley.
Taking the scary turns through the steep mountain roads, we reached the woodpecker point. At the first sight this area looked quite inert and static….but soon was flooded with some astounding activities of
Rufous Sibia, Tree creepers, Mountain Hawk Eagle Himalayan and
Rufuous bellied Woodpeckers. There is some inherent haze here in the atmosphere and the photographs reflect that as a thin hazy blue curtain on the images. Even if the sun is high up in the sky and the day heats up, the haze still continues to linger.
A short stroll down the valley easily covers species like Himalayan
Bulbul,
Slaty Headed parakeets, Black
throated Tit, Blue Whistling thrush,
Steaked and
Whilte throated Laughing thrush, Russet Sparrow, Great
Barbet, Black headed jay, Chestnut Crowned Laughing Thrush, Green Backed Tit etc.
To multiply this exhilaration, the sighting of Brown Wood Owl near the ravine left us stunned ! This beautiful specimen perched atop a tree near a culvert made a permanent impression on our minds which will last the whole life !
On the way towards Sat Taal area, we peeped at a water stream that is known for Forktails and we surely saw two of the Slatybacked forktails along with a Brown Dipper and 3 Lesser Spotted Eagle on a nearby tree.
By the time we reached Sat taal, it was a bit late for the day and the sun was rushing fast behind the hills cutting down the light in the area that we were in. However a brisk walk in a nullah turned out to be quite rewarding with some unusual encounters with numerous Blue Magpies,Scaly Billed Woodpecker & Black throated accentor and a Mountain Bulbul hidden in the clumsy thickets…both were lifers for me !
Overwhelmed by the beauty of Pangot and rewarded with some excellent bird sightings, it was surely a difficult proposition to take the train and return to Delhi.
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