Assam Extension I 17Th to 21St March 2015 (5 Days)
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Trip Report Assam Extension I 17th to 21st March 2015 (5 days) Greater Adjutant by Glen Valentine Tour leaders: Glen Valentine & Wayne Jones Trip report compiled by Glen Valentine Trip Report - RBT Assam Extension I 2015 2 Top 5 Birds for the Assam Extension as voted by tour participants: 1. Pied Falconet 4. Ibisbill 2. Greater Adjutant 5. Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon 3. White-winged Duck Honourable mentions: Slender-billed Vulture, Swamp Francolin & Slender-billed Babbler Tour Summary: Our adventure through the north-east Indian subcontinent began in the bustling city of Guwahati, the capital of Assam province in north-east India. We kicked off our birding with a short but extremely productive visit to the sprawling dump at the edge of town. Along the way we stopped for eye-catching, introductory species such as Coppersmith Barbet, Purple Sunbird and Striated Grassbird that showed well in the scopes, before arriving at the dump where large frolicking flocks of the endangered and range-restricted Greater Adjutant greeted us, along with hordes of Black Kites and Eastern Cattle Egrets. Eastern Jungle Crows were also in attendance as were White Indian One-horned Rhinoceros and Citrine Wagtails, Pied and Jungle Mynas and Brown Shrike. A Yellow Bittern that eventually showed very well in a small pond adjacent to the dump was a delightful bonus, while a short stroll deeper into the refuse yielded the last remaining target species in the form of good numbers of Lesser Adjutant. After our intimate experience with the sought- after adjutant storks it was time to continue our journey to the grassy plains, wetlands, forests and woodlands of the fabulous Kaziranga National Park, our destination for the next two nights. We stopped briefly for a fly-over Steppe Eagle, while many Indian Rollers, White- throated Kingfishers and Green Bee-eaters adorned the lines along the drive. A roadside stop for a flock of Lesser Whistling Duck proved most rewarding as it turned up a whole suite of other wonderful birds including Blue- Alexandrine Parakeet throated Barbet, Black-hooded Oriole, the spectacular Green-billed Malkoha, Common Tailorbird, Great Myna and a flock of Yellow-footed Green Pigeons, among others. Trip Report - RBT Assam Extension I 2015 3 We arrived at our comfortable lodge near the edge of the reserve in the early afternoon and, after a delicious lunch, embarked on our first of many open vehicle safaris within Kaziranga National Park. This is a great way to experience the wilderness that remains here and guarantees great sightings of several mammal species such as Asian Elephant, Wild Water Buffalo, prehistoric-looking Indian One-horned Rhinoceros, Hog Deer, localized and threatened Swamp Deer and Wild Boar. Small parties of Smooth-coated Otters were also found socializing at the edge of the many wetlands in the area. An Elephant-back ride afforded us the unique Bar-headed Goose opportunity to get extremely close to family groups of Indian One-horned Rhinoceros that included several mothers with their calves. This intimate encounter with one of the world’s great mammals was undoubtedly among the trip highlights and the Elephant ride also yielded some good birds that otherwise would not have been seen, including Barred Buttonquail, Pin-tailed Snipe, Oriental Skylark and Bengal Bush Lark. We spent some time working our way through the huge stands of Elephant Grass and this gave us a flock of Striated Babbler, several attractive Chestnut-capped Babblers and a shy and secretive flock of the very rarely-seen Slender- billed Babbler. Other noteworthy species found in this habitat included a covey of near- endemic Swamp Francolin, Striated Grassbird, pairs of gaudy Red Junglefowl, a male White- tailed Rubythroat and Bluethroat, non- breeding Baya Weavers and several Rosy Pipits that had just begun acquiring their beautiful breeding plumage. Kaziranga’s vast network of wetlands also teemed with birds and we enjoyed further views of Greater and Lesser Adjutants, as well as such sought-after species as Pallas’s and Bronze-winged Jacana Grey-headed Fish-Eagles, Indian and Greater Spotted Eagles, Black-necked Stork, Stork-billed Kingfisher and Grey-headed Lapwing. Many more widespread but no less exciting species were also enjoyed during our time birding around the wetlands and these included Bar-headed and Greylag Geese, the miniscule Cotton Pygmy Goose, Gadwall, Indian Spot-billed Duck, Northern Shoveler, handsome Northern Pintail, Eurasian Teal, Asian Openbill, Oriental Darter, Western Yellow Wagtail, Northern and Red-wattled Lapwings, Spot-billed Pelican, Western Osprey, Pied Avocet, Bronze-winged Jacana, Common Snipe, Spotted and Common Redshanks, Green and Wood Sandpipers and Temminck’s Stint. Two rare birds in north-east India, Black-headed and Glossy Ibis, were also surprisingly encountered. Trip Report - RBT Assam Extension I 2015 4 Wooded areas yielded several species of woodpecker including the tiny Grey-capped Pygmy and larger Streak-throated Woodpeckers, as well as several magnificent Greater Flamebacks. Other noteworthy finds included good numbers of the huge Himalayan Vulture, a few of the rare and endangered Slender-billed Vulture, Changeable Hawk-Eagle, regal Crested Serpent Eagle, Green Imperial Pigeon, Asian Barred and Spotted Owlets, very attractive Rufous Treepie, surprisingly cooperative Abbott’s Babbler, exquisite Chestnut-headed and Blue-bearded Bee-eaters, Lineated Barbet, Cinereous Tit, a host of phylloscopus Spotted Owlet warblers, the impressive Hair-crested Drongo, melodious White-rumped Shama, a large flock of Oriental Pied Hornbill and four species of noisy parakeet including the scarce Blossom-headed Parakeet. We also spent one early morning and late afternoon birding the edge of a tea plantation and the lowland forest that cloaks the foothills adjacent to Kaziranga. Here we managed to find a wide range of exciting forest species and among the many highlights were the magnificent Great Hornbill, a rather surprising flock of Rufous-necked Laughingthrush, widespread but splendid Oriental Dollarbird, scarce Large Woodshrike, the outrageous Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Rosy and Scarlet Minivets, gorgeous Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker, Black-crested Bulbul, Grey Treepie and Golden-fronted Leafbird. Flocks of gregarious Ashy Woodswallow and Striated Swallow perched conspicuously at the forest edge, while troops of Rhesus Macaque and Capped Langur cavorted in the nearby canopy along with Irrawaddy Squirrels. After our two full days in Kaziranga we made our way north towards the less-visited national park of Nameri near Assam’s border with Arunachal Pradesh. Our comfortable tented camp at the border of the Park proved to be the perfect base from which to explore Nameri’s riverine and forest habitats. Crimson Sunbird Our first morning was spent searching the accessible forest ponds and wetlands for the very rare, endangered and elusive White-winged Duck, but unfortunately without any luck. We did however find a number of other good-quality forest birds during our morning’s foray and highlights included the incomparable Sultan Tit, scarce and much- desired Pied Falconet, Blue-eared Barbet, several Fulvous-breasted Woodpeckers, Large and Black- winged Cuckooshrikes, Long-tailed Minivet, Maroon Oriole, Chestnut-bellied and Velvet-fronted Nuthatches, White-throated Bulbul and Pin-striped Tit-Babbler. Trip Report - RBT Assam Extension I 2015 5 Unusually large flocks of Vernal Hanging Parrot were found feeding in the flowering trees along with Orange- bellied Leafbirds, dazzling Crimson Sunbirds, Streaked Spiderhunter and Plain Flowerpeckers. The Jia Bhoreli and its banks gave us a family groups of roosting Indian and Great Stone-curlews, as well as several Mallard, a flock of Ruddy Shelduck, Eurasian Wigeon, Common Merganser, Great Crested Grebe, River Tern, Small Pratincole, River Lapwing, Black Stork and Sand Lark among others. Crested Honey Buzzard, Crested Goshawk and flocks of Common Hill Myna were seen in flight overhead, while Barred Cuckoo-Dove, Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon and Spot-winged Starlings were scoped on exposed perches in the tops of the tall, forest canopy. The late afternoon rafting Black-necked Stork trip down the Jia Bhoreli River yielded many of the morning’s river-side species as well as a fabulous pair of the much-prized Ibisbill, while those that chose to re-enter the forest were rewarded with flocks of Pin-tailed Green Pigeon, a surprise pair of Black-backed Forktail and were very fortunate to have a pair of White-winged Duck in flight. In the evening the resident pair of Brown Hawk-Owl was coaxed out, while Asian Barred Owlets Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon serenaded us through the night. One of the major highlights during our time in Nameri came in the form of a massive flock of Wreathed Hornbills that flew lazily across the forest in front of us during both the morning and late afternoon sessions. These are mightily impressive birds indeed and it was fantastic to see so many of these usually scarce and low- density hornbills! Our final early morning at Nameri saw us birding along the entrance road where we managed to pick up a few more new birds Great Stone-curlew including Rufous Woodpecker, Asian Koel, Trip Report - RBT Assam Extension I 2015 6 Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo and Ruby-cheeked Sunbird before making our way back west towards the Bhutanese border where our incredible Bhutanese birding adventure began. Photo credits: All photos taken by Glen Valentine on Rockjumper’s Assam Extension and Bhutan tours. ANNOTATED LIST OF BIRDS RECORDED 214 Species recorded including 7 heard only Note: Names and taxonomical order of the bird species list follows that of IOC (International Ornithological congress), Gill, F. and M. Wright. 2015; Birds of the World: Recommended English Names. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press (version 5.1). Names in round brackets represent alternative names. A notes section can be found where the taxonomy differs between Clements and IOC. (E) = Endemic, (NE) = Near-endemic, (H) = Heard Ducks, Geese & Swans Anatidae Lesser Whistling Duck Dendrocygna bicolour Large numbers were seen along the drive to Kaziranga NP and from Nameri to the Bhutanese border.