NEPAL BIRDING TRIP REPORT 17 DECEMBER 2011 – 6TH JANUARY 2012

Participants:- Oscar J Campbell (UAE) & Chris H Mills (UK)

Gillian Ensor (UAE) 30th Dec – 6th Jan & Jacky Mills 18th – 31st Dec

Above: Dhaulagiri from near Poon Hill, Annapurna region

Getting there

CHM took a flight from Heathrow to Abu Dhabi (AD), taking in five days birding in the UAE before

heading with OJC to Kathmandu (KTMD). In principle, this is a regular and straightforward route to fly

to KTMD even if you didn’t want a stopover in AD. Most connections are around 2 hours in AD and on

my return leg to the UK this is what I faced.

We flew with Etihad whom were very good; we were fortunate both on the AD to KTMD & KTMD return

to AD to get upgrades to business class by simply asking at the check-in desk. Even in economy

service & food was good, plus there was a good choice of films, all from individual screens.

Flights are generally cheaper prior to the mad Christmas rush from around 18th Dec and after 3rd

January; this year it turned out to be around £150 cheaper: CHM paid £780.00 London-Kathmandu

return whereas JM whom joined up with us later was tied to the Christmas dates and paid over

£900.00. Flight timing is around 7 hrs to AD from London, then 4 hrs from AD to KTMD.

Trekking & birding On the trip we did the following:

1. Pulchowki mountain: Day trip from Kathmandu; next day we took an internal flight to

Pokhara.

2. A 6-day trek on the Poon Hill loop from Pokhara. After this we also had a day relaxing in

Pokhara; where there is very good and easy winter birding at the delta on the lake and in the

good forest behind Fishtail Lodge. After this we took a taxi (about 4 hours) to Chitwan.

3. Three days of birding at Chitwan National Park, based at Sauraha. We then took a bus

(all-day trip on the Ibisbill express; see below) back to Kathmandu.

4. A 4-night / 5-day trek in the Sunderjal / Chisopani hills on the edge of the Kathmandu

valley.

Details of how we organized each part of this is outlined below:

1 Arranging to get to Pulchowki mountain from Kathmandu is straightforward and makes for a very

good day trip but we warned that a robbery and some other incidents had taken place recently in this

area; we don’t not recommend going alone. We did however have a trouble-free visit and saw a great

selection of forest birds.

2 For our accommodation in Pokhara and our trek in the Annapurna region (where we spent 6 days

on the Poon Hill loop) we used http://www.northfaceinn.com/. Raju (the owner) did an excellent

job of organizing transport to and from the starting point and set us up with a great guide and porter.

3 As in Pokhara, we pre-arranged our visit to Chitwan National Park by booking with Hem Subedi

(email: blackbaza@hotmail.com) of Mowgli’s Eco Adventure Tours

(http://www.mowgliecoadventure.com/ ). Hem is a great birder and we had a good time birding with

him in Chitwan, although you may prefer not to use the accommodation he suggested (see below).

4 Organising trekking for the in the hills and mountains around Kathmandu is very

straightforward; there are many different companies working from shop-fronts in the city, with a

particular concentration in the main tourist area of Thamel. You could easily just turn up and organize

a trek with one of these companies, and that is what we did. Many of these companies are able to

organize treks all across Nepal and to Tibet as well. Using an agency right outside our Kathmandu

hotel, we ended up with Chhiring Sherpa who guided us and made a very good job of the

arrangements.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nepal-Travelling-Tours-Trekking/282692585108716

Itinerary & Accommodation

Date Location Accommodation Comments

17/12/12 18/12/12

KTMD Tibet Guest House

We stayed here on 3 occasions during the trip. We started in the basic rooms. These are not great, noisy, not clean & cold; there was little hot water! But they only cost about £10 per night if there are two of you sharing a room. Deluxe & Super deluxe was much better, the latter with heating, hot water, comfy beds & clean en-suite

bathroom. Great grub in the restaurant! http://www.tibetguesthouse.com/

19/12/12 Flight to Pokhara

We got an internal flight from KTMD to Pokhara with Yeti airlines. The flights are all similar & there are about 3

airlines. Cost was about $90.00 & Raju at North Face Inn organised our tickets for us.

19/12/12 25/12/12

Pokhara North Face Inn

Very nice place, with clean rooms, good breakfast & Raju the owner is an experienced ex-guide who organised our guides & porters for the trek, plus transport. All of this was done very quietly & efficiently. http://www.northfaceinn.com/

20/12/12 Trek day 1 Nayapaul –

Ban Thanti

Tea-house (didn’t note the name)

Long 1st day with final leg of 2500 steps up to Ban Thanti! Plenty of choice of tea-houses in Ban Thanti; you can usually get hot water - ask beforehand.

21/12/12 Trek day 2 Ban Thanti

- Gorepani

Sunny Hotel Basic room with toilet, no heating, so make sure you have a good sleeping bag; it is below freezing overnight.

Hot shower, warm communal dining area, good food.

22/12/12 Trek day 3 Gorepani -

Tadapani

Fishtail Lodge Up very early 5am for Poon Hill sunrise, personally I reckon sunset was much better, plus less people.

However, the birding is obviously far better on the way down in the morning. Very basic rooms, no heating. Toilet & shower separate to rooms but clean & good hot shower. Food good.

23/12/12 Trek day 4 Tadapani -

Jhinu

Hot Spring Cottage Good rooms with comfortable mattress, toilet & shower in room. Dining area cold. Nearby hot springs well worth a visit, fantastic to lie in after a long day of trekking. The

only downside they are about 25 minutes walk downhill from the accommodation. So it is uphill all the way back!

24/12/12 Trek day 5 Jhinu - Tolka

Namaste Lodge Very busy & hot shower not working, but hot bucket of water provided. Only one room with toilet & not working properly. Dining area cold, so not great but maybe ok

when there is less people & big camping group were staying & they struggled to cope with all the people.

25/12/12 Trek day 6 Tolka – Kande &

then

Pokhara

North Face Inn As above; excellent.

26/12/12 Pokhara North Face Inn Day spent recovering from the night before; easy birding on the lake, and we rented a bike and headed out for the afternoon at the delta of the lake.

27/12/12 Pokhara – Chitwan

Chitwan

Suaraha Resort

We birdwatched in the morning around the famous Fishtail Lodge; there is a free ferry across. We then took

a 4 wheel drive taxi to Chitwan, took around 4 hours. Rooms not great, dirty bathrooms, plus noisy & uncomfortable beds.

28 & 29/12/12

Chitwan Suaraha Resort We moved rooms but it wasn’t much of an improvement!

30/12/12 Chitwan Jungle Safari Lodge

After a stomach upset & being less than impressed with Saurahu resort we moved next door to Jungle safari lodge which was much, much better. Nice & clean with hot water & comfortable beds.

31/12/12 Chitwan to KTMD

Tibet Guest House Took a Super Deluxe double room! £20 for single occupancy, £30 for 2-person occupancy. Room even had

heating, nice clean bathroom with hot water.

1/12/12 KTMD Tibet Guest house Organised our next trek into the edge of the Helambu

district using the tour operator on the opposite side of the road to reception. We found out that he is affiliated

to the Tibet Guest house! See details above for Chirring, the guide we used here; he was great.

2/1/12 Day 1 Trek Sundarijal

to

Chisapani

Teahouse in Chisopani

There are 3-4 teahouses in Chisopani, all of a similar standard. The food was good, the accommodation is basic. The weather was brutally cold.

3/1/12 Day 2 Trek Chisapani

to Thodong

Thodong Tea House

A nice friendly place run by an Austrian guy married to a Nepalese girl. Food was very good. Rooms simple. Toilet & shower external to room.

4/1/12 Day 3 Thodong to Chisapani

Teahouse in Chisopani

See above

5/1/12 Day 4 Chisapani

to

Nagarkot

Hotel View Point This area is full of more expensive lodges & this one was ok. It probably looks more glamorous & upmarket than

it is. Showers were just about warm with a tiny

sprinkling of water. Rooms clean, food ok, but no better than the teahouses

5/1/12 KTMD Around £15 got us a room in the Tibet Guest House to shower & pack etc in the afternoon.

Weather, timing and birding overview Christmas is outside the main trekking season in Nepal (October – November and March – April). The

main reason for this is that it is bloody cold at night. We had fantastic clear weather throughout apart

from few days in and around Kathmandu; days were warm and sunny but it was brutally cold at night.

You need some decent warm gear and a good sleeping bag if trekking at this time of year is not going

to become a miserable ordeal. This is particularly true away from the Poon Hill loop which is really

popular and so the tea houses have often got very good facilities, as they are geared up to having

dozens of guests every night. Chisopani and Thodong were not like this; it really, really was cold at

night there and there wasn’t too much to do between getting to the teahouse at late afternoon and

going to bed at around 9pm. Nice warm fires that we had got used to on the first trek were distinctly

harder come by.

Himalayan birding is some of the most exhilarating and rewarding in the world. All the places we went

forest birding were full of birds; the montane forests are really rich and relatively easy to work; nearly

always we had at least something to see and we found some mega flocks as well. This was true of both

the Poon Hill and Chisopani treks, although there is a lot more pristine forest on the former. However,

the scrubby terraced hillsides and bushy scrub and forest edge that predominated on the latter gave us

a lot of good wintering species. To OJC, who trekked in Nepal in April 2010, altitudinal differences in

bird distribution on the Poon Hill loop were very obvious. The upper forests, above about 2800m were

much quieter, having been vacated by many warblers. However some of the specials such as

parrotbills and White-browed Bush-Robin were still there and we also were compensated by some

monster wintering species that you would never find in spring; redstarts were abundant and we were

also lucky with seed-eaters such as Gold-naped and Spectacled Finches, amongst many others. See

the species lists below for the breakdown.

Above: a few of the many species we enjoyed on our Poon Hill trek. Clockwise from top right: Little Forktail, Blue-fronted Redstart, Pink-browed Rosefinch and, best of all, Spectacled Finch.

Left: not bad for a non-birding day!

Chitwan was warm and sunny when

were there. It was also very birdy

indeed, although some of the tough

specials such as Slender-billed Babbler

and Bengal Florican eluded us; after two

trips to Chitwan I would say that these

are very tough for the short-term visitor

to get to grips with. Hem tipped us off

that it was sometimes possible to get

Ibisbill from the bus between Chitwan

and Kathmandu. OJC went back a day earlier than the others and scored; the others coming next day

dipped. You go along some fantastic rivers on this otherwise long and uncomfortable journey but it

would not be much fun trying to spot an Ibisbill a moving bus. Instead, what you need to do is get

your bins handy for the lunch stop. We cannot remember the name of the stop that you want to make

but pull in on the left with a café / restaurant beside (and, beyond, a steep slope down to the river

beyond) and there is an old, grubby swimming pool just behind (and over to the left a bit as you get

off the bus) you could be in the money: go through restaurant area (restaurant on right, pool on left)

and get down the steep slope on the track that leads to a large sandy beach on the river edge (about a

5 minute walk). OJC easily found two Ibisbills here and had 30 minutes to enjoy them whilst all the

other travelers had lunch. However, there a number of possible lunch stops on this route, and it is luck

of the draw which one you end up at. Fingers crossed!

Species List for Pulchowki Mountain, Kathmandu

Visited on: December 18th We walked up the hill after being driven halfway up the hillside by our driver, a car cannot go much further than halfway up, a 4 wheel drive would get you higher. But the birding was good from here. Although we had no issues, we were told later that some robberies from tourists had taken place in this area earlier in the year – so probably best not to go alone & to be vigilant when in this area. P = Present, not counted c = heard only

Species Number Comments

Speckled Piculet 2

Grey headed Woodpecker 2

Lesser Yellownape 1

Greater Yellownape 2

Little swift 10

Asian House Martin 20

Asian Barred Owlet 1

Black Kite P

Himalayan Griffon P

Booted Eagle 1

Steppe Eagle 2

Accipiter sp. 1 Probably Sparrowhawk

Feral Pigeon / Rock Dove P

Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon 2

Long-tailed Shrike 1

Large-billed Crow P

House Crow P

Jay 2

Marron oriole 1

Spangled Drongo P

Long-tailed Minivet P

White-throated Fantail 2

Yellow-bellied Fantail 2

Blue Whistling-Thrush 2

Red-flanked Bluetail 3

Plumbeous Water-Redstart 3+

White-tailed Nuthatch 5+

Grey Tit 3

Black-lored Tit 5+

Green-backed Tit 5+

Yellow-browed Tit 3+

Common Myna P

Mountain Bulbul P

Red-vented Bulbul P

Black Bulbul c 20

Himalayan Bulbul P

Oriental White-eye 10+

Buff-barred Warbler 10+

Ashy-throated Warbler 2+

Lemon-rumped Warbler 6+

Hume’s Warbler ?

Grey-hooded Warbler 10+

Chestnut-crowned Warbler 2

White-throated Laughing-Thrush 10+

White crested Laughing-Thrush 25+

Black-eared Shrike-Babbler 1

Red-billed Leiothrix 1

Whiskered Yuhina 10+

Rufous Sibia 10+

Nepal Fulvetta 2

Fire-breasted Flowerpecker 2

Mrs. Goulds Sunbird 5

Black throated Sunbird 3+

Rufous-gorgetted Flycatcher 2

Olive-backed Pipit 20

Grey Wagtail 1

Species List for Annapurna area trek

Route: Nayapul / Ghorepani / Poon Hill / Tadopani / Jinhu / Landruk / Tolka / Pothana / Kande Dates:- 20th – 25th December 2011 P = Present, not counted c = heard only See http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/nepal/nepal-15/nepal-list-april-2010.htm for a trip report detailing OC’s visit here in April 2010 for more details and some additional comments and suggestions.

Day Species

1 2 3 4 5 6 Additional comments

Common Kingfisher 1

Great Barbet c c 4

Golden-throated Barbet 1 2

Scaly-bellied Woodpecker 1 By teahouse at Banthanti

Grey-headed Woodpecker 1

Darjeeling Woodpecker 2

Himalayan Swiftlet 10 20 40 5 100

Slaty-headed Parakeet 2

White-rumped Vulture 1 1

Himalayan Griffon 3 2 12 2 10

Lammergeier 2 1

Bonnelli’s Eagle 5 1 3

Steppe Eagle 1 1

Hen Harrier 1

Eurasian Sparrowhawk 1

Common Kestrel 1 2 2 2

Peregrine 2

Collared Owlet c Calling from summit of Poon Hill

Oriental Turtle Dove 1

Snow Pigeon 1 On rock face by river at c1400m

Grey-backed Shrike 1 1

Long-tailed Shrike 1

Nutcracker 2 Distant flying at Poon Hill

Yellow-billed Blue-Magpie 8 1km below Ghorepani

Large-billed Crow 2 100 50 6 4 P

Grey Treepie c 6 10

Bronzed Drongo 2

Long-tailed Minivet 4 20

Bar-winged Flycatcher-Shrike 1

White-throated Fantail 1

Yellow-bellied Fantail P 3 4

Brown Dipper 4

Scaly Thrush 1

Grey-winged Blackbird 10 3 Two flocks in moist forest

White-collared Blackbird 12 At Tadopani teahouse

Chestnut Thrush 2 At Tadopani teahouse

Chestnut-bellied Rock-Thrush 1 3 6

Blue Whistling-Thrush 4 3 4 3 6

Red-flanked Bluetail 2 1 10 10 were 2-3km below Tadopani

White-browed Bush-Robin 1 1km above Deurali

Grey Bushchat 4 1 1

Siberian Stonechat 2

White-capped Water-Redstart 6 1 1 2

Plumbeous Water-Redstart 15 1

White-throated Redstart 2 Pair, Poon Hill

Blue-fronted Redstart 10 15 4 2

Blue-capped Redstart 2 12 Common on treetops, Poon Hill

Little Forktail 2 2 1

Slaty-backed Forktail 1

Wallcreeper 1

White-tailed Nuthatch 4 30 P 12

Rusty-flanked Treecreeper 2 1

Eurasian Treecreeper 1

Grey Tit P

Black-lored Tit 8 4 P

Green-backed Tit 4 2 4 4 P

Rufous-vented Tit 8 100 1

Grey-crested Tit 20 12

Yellow-browed Tit 15 3 P P

Black-throated Tit 20 10 8

Eurasian Crag Martin 6 2 1

Nepal House Martin 30 10 6 100 P

Striated Bulbul 1

Black Bulbul 3 30 100 6 200

Mountain Bulbul 6 4

Himalayan Bulbul 2 15 10 P

Common Tailorbird 1

Buff-barred Warbler 6 2

Ashy-throated Warbler 10 10 4 P

Grey-hooded Warbler P P 6 P P

Chestnut-crowned Warbler 1

Grey-sided Bush-Warbler 1

Striated Laughing-Thrush 2 2

White-throated Laughing-Thrush 50 Just below Tadopani in large flock

Chestnut-crowned Laughing-Thrush

6 1 2

Black-faced Laughing-Thrush 12 Poon Hill only

Variegated Laughing Thrush 3 1km above Deurali

Green Shrike-Babbler 2 Not far above Banthanti

Black-eared Shrike-Babbler 1

Black-chinned Babbler 3 2

Golden Babbler 1 2km above Tolka

Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babbler 1

White-browed Fulvetta 8

Rufous-winged Fulvetta 50

Nepal Fulvetta 8

Whiskered Yuhina 10 20 12 P

Stripe-throated Yuhina 30 3 40

Rufous Sibia P 10 15 P

Red-billed Leiothrix 1

Chestnut-tailed Minla 20 20 P P

Hoary-throated Barwing 3 In mossy forest well below Ghorepani

Great Parrotbill 3 1km above Deurali

Fulvous Parrotbill 12 2km above Deurali

Fire-breasted Flowerpecker 2 2

Black-throated Sunbird 4 P

Mrs Gould’s Sunbird 5

Fire-tailed Sunbird 20

Green-tailed Sunbird 1 15

Rufous-gorgetted Flycatcher 4 2

Olive-backed Pipit 1 1 30 15 6

Grey Wagtail 1

Pink-browed Rosefinch 1 6

Dark-breasted Rosefinch 10 2 Commonest around Tadopani

Beautiful Rosefinch 5

Common Rosefinch 10

Spot-winged Rosefinch 1 Female by last teahouse at bottom of Poon Hill

Brown Bullfinch 8 In moist forest well below Tadopani

Red-headed Bullfinch 3 At Tadopani

Yellow-breasted Greenfinch 2

Scarlet Finch 6 In group 1km above Tolka

Spectacled Finch 4 In gorge just below Deurali

Crimson-browed Finch 4 At bottom of Poon Hill

Tree Sparrow 8

Russet Sparrow 1 2 2 4

Species List for Pokhara area

Day One: 19th Dec – North Face Inn, Pokhara lake south shore only + hillside to Peace Pagoda. Day Two: 26th Dec – Pokhara Lake east shore & marshes. Day Three: 27th Dec – Fishtail lodge grounds & forest edge. P = Present, not counted Num = numerous

Species Day

19th 26th 27th Additional comments

Ruddy Shelduck c50

Gadwall c20

Wigeon 1

Mallard c150

Shoveler 2

Teal c30

Pintail c60

Ferruginous Duck 6

Purple Swamphen c100

Coot 15+

Great crested Grebe 2

Great Cormorant P

Grey Heron P

Little Egret c10

Intermediate Egret c10

Cattle Egret c20

Indian Pond Heron 100+

Woolly –necked Stork 3

Smyrna Kingfisher 5+

Common Kingfisher 2+

Great Barbet 2+

Rose-ringed Parakeet 2+

Fulvous Breasted Woodpecker 1 drumming

Asian Barred Owlet 1

Himalayan Swiftlet Num Num 100+

Little Swift 1

White-breasted Waterhen 1

Bronze-winged Jacana c15

Little Ringed Plover 1

Green Sandpiper 1

Common Sandpiper 2

Black Kite Num c25 P

White-tailed Eagle 1

White-rumped Vulture 1

Himalayan Griffon 6+ 5+

Egyptian Vulture 4+

Booted Eagle 1 1

Steppe Eagle 1 1

Red-billed Blue-Magpie 1

Grey Treepie 2

Large-billed Crow P P

House Crow P P

Grey Treepie 2

Ashy Drongo 1

Black Drongo 50+

Long-tailed Minivet c10

Yellow-bellied Fantail 2

Pied Bushchat 1

Grey Tit 5

Black-lored Tit 2

Jungle Myna P P

Common Myna P P

Nepal House Martin P

Plain martin P

Barn Swallow P P

Red-vented Bulbul P

Himalayan Bulbul 2 P

Common Tailorbird 3+

Slaty-bellied Tesia 1 Seen well & definitely this scarcer species. Very dark grey underparts, + velvet green nape & lack of eyestripe.

Aberrant Bush-Warbler 1

Ashy-throated Warbler 1

Hume’s Warbler 10+

Grey-hooded Warbler P 3+

Crimson Sunbird 1 5+

Small Niltava 1

Rufous-bellied Niltava 1

Plumbeous Water Redstart

Stonechat 10+

Brahminy Starling 1

Rosy Pipit 12

Paddyfield Pipit 1

Richards Pipit 1

White Wagtail 2 10 P

Grey Wagtail 2 1 P

Barn Swallow P

Species List for Chitwan NP area December 27th PM – December 31st AM. Guided birding was led by Hem Subedi. December 27th – 2 hours late afternoon around the river & entrance gate area at Suaraha December 28th – Day’s walking in the Park from the river & then walked around 3 kilometers along the track December 29th – Morning in the Park this time heading much further into the Park by jeep with several stops. Afternoon boat ride along the river & evening & overnight in Tower hide in the buffer zone December 30th – Afternoon at Bishagar lakes, visited by jeep; secondary forest with lots of lakes December 31st – early am only before catching bus to Kathmandhu, only new birds for area, listed. See comments at the bottom concerning Ibisbills! P = Present, not counted C = heard only Bird Species 27th 28

th

& 29th

30th 31st

Black Francolin 1

Red Junglefowl 3 8+

Indian Peafowl 2 5+ 5+

Ruddy Shelduck 100+ 250+ P

Mallard 2+

Goosander 4 8

Wryneck 1 5+

Grey capped Pygmy Woodpecker 1 3+

Fulvous Breasted Woodpecker 1pr 2+

Rufous Woodpecker 2

Speckled Piculet

Grey headed Woodpecker

Greater Yellownape 2+

Lesser Yellownape

Black-rumped Flameback 2

Greater Flameback c6 3+

Himalayan Flameback 1

Greater Yellownape

Greater Flameback

Great Barbet 2+

Coppersmith Barbet 1

Blue-throated Barbet 2+

Lineated Barbet 4+

Great Hornbill 2

Oriental Pied Hornbill 3 1c

Blue-bearded Bee-eater 3

Green Bee-eater 1

Stork-billed Kingfisher 2+ 2

Common Kingfisher 2 1 5

Pied Kingfisher 1 4

Smyrna Kingfisher 2+ 1 2

Green-billed Malkoha 2

Rose-ringed Parakeet 2+ 4

Plum-headed Parakeet c100

Alexandrine Parakeet c20

Red-breasted Parakeet

White-rumped Needletail c10

Lesser Coucal 1

Eagle Owl 1c

Jungle owlet 1

Large-tailed Nightjar 1

Lesser Whistling Duck c30

Himalayan Swiftlet 100+ P 2

Little swift 1+

Nepal House Martin 2

Spotted Dove 1 20+ P

Collared Dove P P

Emerald Dove 2 2

Pompadour Green Pigeon 5+

Yellow-footed Green Pigeon 2+

White-breasted Waterhen 2 1 P

Ruddy-breasted Crake

Brown Crake 2 1 P

Moorhen P

Redshank 1

Greenshank 3

Red-wattled Lapwing 2

River Lapwing 2

Green sandpiper 1 2

Temminck’s Stint 1

Little Ringed Plover 3 2

Kentish Plover 1

Stone Curlew 6

Bronze-winged Jacana

Asian Barred Owlet

Black-shouldered Kite 1 1

Black Kite P 3+

Hen harrier 1 r/t

Shikra 1

Oriental Honey Buzzard 2 2+ c10

Himalayan Griffon Vulture 5+

Booted Eagle 1

Steppe Eagle

Osprey 1 1

Crested Serpent eagle 1 1

Accipiter sp.

Kestrel 2

Great Cormorant c25 200+ P

Darter 2+ 12

Little Egret P 2 P

Intermediate Egret P

Great Egret 3+ P

Grey Heron P

Purple Heron 1

Indian Pond heron 1 P

Black Ibis 2 2 2

Asian Openbill c10

Wolley-necked Stork 2 2

Black Stork 1 6 1

Lesser Adjutant c12 3

Brown Shrike

Long-tailed Shrike 2+

Grey Treepie

Rufous Treepie 2 2 P

Large-billed Crow P

House Crow P

Maroon Oriole

Black-headed Oriole 8 2

Ashy Woodswallow 5+

Large Cuckoo Shrike 2+ 8

Scarlet Minivet c6 2

Long-tailed Minivet

Black Drongo 2 P

Ashy Drongo 2

White-bellied Drongo 1 1

Black Drongo P

Ashy Drongo

Greater racket-tailed Drongo 2

Blue Whistling-Thrush

White-throated Fantail 2+

Yellow-bellied Fantail

Taiga Flycatcher

Grey headed Canary Flycatcher 3 3+ 1

Verditer Flycatcher

Small Niltava

Common Iora c25

Red-flanked Bluetail

Siberian Rubythroat P 1f

Himalayan Rubythroat 1m

Oriental Magpie Robin 1

White-rumped Shama 2

Common Stonechat c10

White tailed Stonechat 1f 2

Pied Bushchat 1 2 1f

Asian Pied Starling 1 2

Jungle Mynah c20 P

Common Mynah P P P

Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch 3 2 6

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch 3+ 3

Grey Tit 2 2+

Plain martin c150 100+ P

Barn Swallow 10+ P P

Red whiskered Bulbul c20

Red-vented Bulbul c30 P

Ashy prinia 2

Grey breasted Prinia c20

Common Tailorbird

Smoky Warbler 1

Grey-sided Bush Warbler 1

Thick-billed Warbler 1

Blyth’s Reed Warbler 2 5

Tickell’s Leaf warbler 1

Blyth’s Leaf Warbler 2

Hume's Warbler C 5

Common Chiffchaff 1

Greenish Warbler c25

Whistler’s Warbler 1

Chestnut capped Babbler 2

Yellow eyed Babbler 1

Striped Tit Babbler c20

Puff-throated Babbler 4

Jungle Babbler 1 2 5

Fire-breasted Flowerpecker

Crimson Sunbird 1

House Sparrow P c150

White Wagtail P P

Citrine wagtail 1 2

Grey Wagtail 2 2

White-browed Wagtail 2 P

Sand Lark 2+

Rosy Pipit 1c

Olive-backed Pipit 1 C 5+

Bayar Weaver c10

Scaly-breasted Mania c20

Common Rosefinch 2

Mammals at Chitwan

Mugger Crocodile 3+

One Horned Rhino 1

Gavial Crocodile 1

Languor Monkey 2

Wild Elephant 1

Species List for Chisopani area trek

Route: Kathmandu / Sunderjal / Chisopani / Thodongo Darda / Chisopani / Nagarkot January 2nd – 6th 2012 P = Present, not counted c = heard only

Species Day 1 2 3 4 5 Additional comments

Khaleej Pheasant 2 1 Pair right outside Thodongo Darda at dawn

Great Barbet c 20 2

Golden-throated Barbet 3

Speckled Piculet 1

Himalayan Swiftlet 10 10 15

Black Kite 6 20 50

Himalayan Griffon 4

Black Eagle 1

Booted Eagle 1

Steppe Eagle 1 2 4

Mountain Hawk-Eagle 1

Eurasian Sparrowhawk 2

Buzzard sp 2 1 1 Probably all Common

Common Kestrel 1 2 4

Oriental Turtle Dove 2 30 5

Feral Pigeon / Rock Dove 3 P

Grey-backed Shrike 1

Long-tailed Shrike 1

Orange-bellied Leafbird 2 3

Yellow-billed Blue-Magpie 2 3 15 Very obvious and easy at dawn

Large-billed Crow 1 2 1 200 150

House Crow P 10

Grey Treepie 1 4 4 8

Ashy Drongo 1 1

Long-tailed Minivet 1 1

Large Cuckoo-shrike 2

White-throated Fantail 1

Yellow-bellied Fantail 4

Black-throated Thrush 1 1km from Chisopani

Blue Whistling-Thrush 1 4 1 1

Red-flanked Bluetail 1 1 Both in good forest

Golden Bush-Robin 1 1 Both in scrubby terraces

Grey Bushchat 3 4 1 1

Siberian Stonechat 1 2

White-capped Water-Redstart 4

Plumbeous Water-Redstart 1

Blue-fronted Redstart 8 20 12 12 4

Spotted Forktail 2 At Sunderjal

White-tailed Nuthatch 6 4 2

Grey Tit 2 4

Black-lored Tit 12 15 2

Green-backed Tit 12 2 25 2 6

Yellow-browed Tit 4 2

Black-throated Tit 20 6 10 30 30

Common Myna 2 10

Red-vented Bulbul 6 1 1 4 4

Black Bulbul 50 50 150 100 5

Himalayan Bulbul 8 20 10 20 20

Oriental White-eye 20 15 20 5 10

Aberrant Bush-Warbler 4 3 3

Grey-sided Bush-Warbler 1

Buff-barred Warbler 40 30 6 15 1

Ashy-throated Warbler 1 2 1 2

Hume’s Warbler 2 1 1

Grey-hooded Warbler 50 30 12 25 20

Chestnut-crowned Warbler 1

Whistler’s Warbler 1 In good forest c5km above Sunderjal

Goldcrest 2

Blyth’s Reed Warbler 1

Common Tailorbird 2

Striated Laughing-Thrush 20

White-throated Laughing-Thrush 30

Chestnut-crowned Laughing-Thrush 8 2

Streaked Laughing-Thrush 6 3 6

Black-chinned Babbler 1 10 4 3

Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babbler 1 1 1

Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-Babbler 2 In scrubby terraces c4km above Sunderjal

Whiskered Yuhina 4 12 20

Stripe-throated Yuhina 2

Rufous Sibia 12 25 20 4

Chestnut-tailed Minla 2 12 2

Red-tailed Minla 1 In good forest c5km above Sunderjal

Blue-winged Minla 2 1 2

Nepal Fulvetta 1

Rufous-winged Fulvetta 4

Rufous-breasted Accentor 8

Altai Accentor 150 On ploughed terrace c1km above Thodongo Dardo

Yellow-bellied Flowerpecker 2 c 2-3 km from Chisopani towards Nagarkot

Fire-breasted Flowerpecker 8

Crimson Sunbird 1

Green-tailed Sunbird 12 2 4 2

Fire-tailed Sunbird 2 10 6 5 1

Rufous-gorgetted Flycatcher 2 1 2

Small Niltava 1 Above Sunderjal

Rufous-bellied Niltava 1 Above Sunderjal

Verditer Flycatcher 1

Olive-backed Pipit 1 50 25 30

Grey Wagtail 1

Barn Swallow 6

Dark-breasted Rosefinch 15 30 4

Common Rosefinch 3

Yellow-breasted Greenfinch 50

Gold-naped Finch 2 c 2-3 km from Chisopani towards Nagarkot

Little Bunting 30 In terraces on steep descent below Chisopani

Below: A collage of mountains, sunsets a, sunrises and skies from the Poon Hill trek: