Mukku Chopta Tunganath Birding Tour 25 May -27 May 2014

 Hello Folks

Birding in Himalayas was always a dream ,this dream came true when I was invited by my fellow bird watcher friend from Bareilly ,Mr Kaajal Dasgupta sir to join him on his Himalayan birding venture .Kiran Kadam my birding buddy decided to take leave from his work and join me on this dream trip to mini Switzerland .We were very much excited and thrilled to see the Himalayan exotic species as in past we have always seen them in photographs or field guides ,this was the opportunity to see them in real. Apart from birding ,we were also excited to meet Mr Yashpal Singh Negi , a man who sacrificed his life for bird watching .Negi ji is also the one among the flood victims who lost his famous birding resort on bank of river Mandakini in 2013 Uttarakand Tragedy. Our visit was a new chapter in his life ,after the flood disaster ,as we were the first guest who he welcomed at his brand new  resort called Sparrow Nest .We reached Mr Negi Ji place on 24th evening ,after a tired some journey of 18 hours from Agra we were exhausted ,we were warmly welcomed by his family with traditional “Arti-Tikka Ceremony ” ,dinner and had a nice sleep.

We got up the next day morning at 5 am by natures very own personal alarm ,the bird calls cuckoo,parakeets,whistling thrush and laughing thrush and much more ,we got up and got fresh up and it was our first ever Himalayan birding trip ,so we were all excited .Our plan for day after breakfast was local birding ,we covered few miles close by Negi ji place and sighted 50+ species .The weather was cloudy and it drizzled few a times.Two birding trails in a day and we were excited for more ,birds and birds were everywhere ,simply the best time we ever had . Some of the exciting sightings were nesting of Pied Thrush ,Grey Winged Black Bird ,Ashy Drongo ,Wedge Tailed Green Pigeon  and Tickell’s thrush nestings and call of cuckoos’ through out the trip with a Mountain Scoops Owl call by late evening.

Good Morning 

Spotted Forktail

View Of Himalayas 

Black Bulbul

Black Headed Jay

Rufous Bellied Woodpecker

Common Stonechat

The next day was the trip to exotic location ,Chopta-Tungnath also know by “Mini Switzerland” ,a trek of 3km from chopta to Tungnath reaching the height of 12,073 ft to observe some of best yet exotic bird species of Indian Subcontinent .We started the steep climb around morning 7.30 am and reached the Tungnath temple at 1300hrs ,good number of birds were sighted during the entire trek ,warblers,tits,monal,flycatchers many more were sighted during this climb. 

Himalayan Vulture

Mini Switzerland

Trek View

Weather Conditions

Tungnath Temple

 Tungnath is one among the Panch Kedar and the highest among the five. Not only that, it is the highest Hindu pilgrimage place in world. The history says that the arm of Lord Shiva was found and worshiped by Arjuna here at Tungnath. Actually this is a story of all the 5 temples of Panch Kedar. After the Mahabharat war, to seek pardon from Lord Shiva for killing their own relatives the Pandavas went to Shiva. Lord Shiva, incensed by their deeds, hid himself by taking the form of a bull and hiding in Guptkashi. He later reappeared at five different places as five different parts of the bull’s body. The Pandavas built temples at those places. These five spots are today’s Panch Kedar.

 Birding at such height is completely a different experience ,we trekked 360 degree of temple to sight as many altitudinal species as possible ,we came across Bearded Vulture’s immature and nesting ,Himalayan Monal ,bush robin ,finches and more .The weather conditions were not that good ,as we experience low light ,drizzling ,and hail storm. The entire day of birding was really exciting ,we got to see around 8 Monal males and around 4 bearded vultures .

Hail Storm

The best part and most remarkable experience in the entire birding venture was on this day evening ,when Mr Negi ji sighted a Himalayan Monal (Male) ,at a very close distance ,this male allowed us to approach him at a distance of 15 feet ,understanding the bird behavior & nature ,we took some of the best shots and decided to leave the bird alone .As per Negi ji ,in his 14 years of birding he never came across so close to  this beauty .It was the best we ever had .So far the trip was very exciting as we saw various summer visitors and good number of birds .

Himalayan Monal -Male

We stayed that night at Tungnath enjoyed some local delicious meals.The next day morning our plan was to trek down to chopta and try to get a snap of Monal in sunlight as this was the only time we came across some good light ,as the entire trip was experimenting “Low Light Photography”. 

Monal Enjoying Bright Sun

We managed to sight Monal in bright sunlight and also few other birds like little forktail, redstart and golden bush robin and much more .This was the last day of our trip ,we managed to do some birding on the way to Mukku from chopta and a evening birding trail in dark cloudy weather to sight local birds again .

Highlights of the Trip

1. Kaleej Pheasant
2. Hill Partridge (Call Heard)
3. Himalayan Monal (10 Individuals)
4. Eurasian Hobby
5. Shikra
6. Common Kestrel
7. Oriental Honey Buzzard
8. Bearded Vulture (Nesting Observed)
9. Himalayan Griffon
10. Crested Serpent Eagle
11. Golden Eagle
12. Mountain Hawk Eagle
13. Himalayan Buzzard
14. Oriental Turtle Dove
15. Wedge Tailed Green Pigeon (Nesting Observed)
16.  Eurasian Collared Dove
17. Spotted Dove
18. Slaty Headed Parakeet
19. Large Hawk Cuckoo (Call Heard)
20. Eurasian Cuckoo (Call Heard)
21. Indian Cuckoo (Call Heard)
22. Grey Bellied Cuckoo
23. Mountain Scops Owl
24. White throated Kingfisher
25. Crested Kingfisher
26. White Throated Needletail
27. Great Barbet
28. Speckled Piculet
29. Rufous Bellied Woodpecker
30. Brown Fronted Woodpecker
31. Yellow crowned Woodpecker
32. Himalayan Woodpecker
33. Grey Headed Woodpecker
34. Lesser Yellownape
35. Scarlet Minivet
36. Long Tailed Minivet
37. Ashy Drongo
38. Black Drongo
39. Grey Treepie
40. Red Billed Blue Magpie
41. Yellow Billed Blue Magpie
42. Yellow Bellied Fantail
43. Large Billed Crow
44. Maroon Oriole
45. Long Tailed Shrike
46. Eurasian Jay
47. Black Headed Jay
48. Great tit
49. Green Backed Tit
50. Black Lored Tit
51. Black Throated Tit
52. Rufous Vented Tit
53. Spot winged Tit
54. Grey crested Tit
55. Fire capped Tit
56. Yellow Browed Tit
57. Fire Breasted Flowerpecker
58. Red Rumped Swallow
59. Asian House Martin
60. Nepal House Martin
61. Alpine Swift
62. Red Vented Bulbul
63. Red Whiskered Bulbul
64. Black Bulbul
65. Himalayan Bulbul
66. Hume's Leaf Warbler
67. Greenish Warbler
68. Black Faced warbler
69. Whistler's warbler
70. Grey Hooded Warbler
71. Ashy Throated Warbler
72. Black Chinned Warbler
73. Lemon Rumped WARBLER
74. Blyth’s Leaf Warbler
75. Black chinned Babbler
76. Rusty Cheeked Scimitar Babbler (Call Heard)
77. White Throated Laughing thrush
78. Plain Backed Thrush
79. Pied Thrush (Nesting Observed)
80. Streaked Laughing Thrush
81. Striated Laughing Thrush
82. Blue Whistling Thrush
83. Variegated Laughing Thrush
84. Chestnut Crowned Laughing Thrush
85. Tickell's Thrush (Nesting Observed)
86. Mistle Thrush
87. Grey Winged Blackbird (Nesting Observed)
88. White Browed Shrike Babbler
89. Green Shrike Babbler
90. White Browed Fulvetta
91. Whiskered Yuhina
92. Stripe Throated Yuhina
93. Spotted Forktail
94. Little Forktail
95. Himalayan Bluetail
96. White Tailed Nuthatch
97. Bar Tailed Treecreeper
98. White Capped water Redstart
99. Plumbeous Water Redstart
100. Common Stonechat
101. Grey Bushchat (Nesting Observed)
102. Pied Bush chat
103. Bar Throated Siva
104. Rufous Sibia
105. Oriental White Eye
106. Golden Bush Robin – Good Numbers
107. Chestnut Bellied Rock thrush
108. Blue Capped Rock Thrush
109. Blue Fronted Redstart
110. Dark Breasted Rosefinch
111. Pink Browed Rosefinch
112. Russet Sparrow
113. Common Sparrow
114. Ultramarine Flycatcher
115. Verditer Flycatcher
116. Rufous gorgeted Flycatcher
117. Grey Headed Canary Flycatcher
118. Dark Sided Flycatcher
119. Small Niltava
120. Black Francolin
121. Yellow Breasted Greenfinch
122. Rosy Pipit
123. Olive Backed Pipit
124. Green Tailed Sunbird
125. Mrs. Gould's Sunbird
126. Black Throated Sunbird
127. Crested Bunting

Apart from Birds we also managed to sight following mammals

·      Yellow throated Marten

·      Himalayan Tahr

·      Pika ….

To summarize ,the entire trip was fantabulous and we had best time ever .I would like to thank Kaajal Dasgupta Sir for allowing us to be a part ,Yashpal Singh Negi ji & fly for their wonderful hospitality and finally Kiran Kadam who came all the way from Mumbai to accompany us .And last but not the least thanks to my Nokia Lumia 720 who allowed me to capture some of best memories of the trip. 

Thank You !