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Indian Birds Vol. 5 No. 3 ISSN 0973-1407 Editor Emeritus Zafar Futehally Editor Aasheesh Pittie Contents Email: [email protected] The magical monals of Mishmi—a week’s birding in eastern Arunachal: Associate Editor 18–25 November 2007 V. Santharam Bikram Grewal 62 Editorial Board Maan Barua Anwaruddin Choudhury In search of the Bugun Liocichla and other parables from Eaglenest: Bill Harvey 28 February–8 March 2009 Farah Ishtiaq Bikram Grewal 65 Rajah Jayapal Madhusudan Katti R. Suresh Kumar Taej Mundkur Photo gallery: birds of Arunachal Pradesh Rishad Naoroji Ramki Sreenivasan 70 Suhel Quader Harkirat Singh Sangha C. Sashikumar A bibliography of ornithology in Arunachal Pradesh, India: 1870–2009 S. Subramanya Aasheesh Pittie 80 K. Gopi Sundar Contributing Editors Praveen J. Ragupathy Kannan Lavkumar Khachar Contributing Photographer Clement Francis Layout & Design K. Jayaram Office P. Rambabu NEW ORNIS FOUNDATION Registration No. 314/2004 URL: www.indianbirds.in Trustees Zafar Futehally Aasheesh Pittie Photo: V. Santharam, PhD. Rishad Naoroji Ramki Sreenivasan Taej Mundkur, PhD. S. Subramanya, PhD. Suhel Quader, PhD. Aims & Objectives • To publish a newsletter that will provide a platform to birdwatchers for publishing notes Found in the lower reaches of Eaglenest, below Sessni, and classified as vulnerable, the Rufous-necked and observations primarily on birds of South Hornbill Aceros nipalensis is a breeding resident, and we located two breeding pairs in May. Eaglenest is one of its last strongholds. Asia. • To promote awareness of birdwatching Date of publication: 1st August 2009 amongst the general public. • To establish and maintain links/liaison with Front cover: We found these aggressive Streaked Spiderhunters Arachnothera magna at other associations or organized bodies in India eye-level in a flowering erythrina tree along with leafbirds and sibias. They were constantly or abroad whose objectives are in keeping chasing other birds (especially leafbirds) from their feeding stations, probably to claim the with the objectives of the Trust (i.e. to support best nectar in the tree! amateur birdwatchers with cash/kind for Photographer: Ramki Sreenivasan projects in ornithology). v Indian Birds Vol. 5 No. 3 (Publ. 1st August 2009) 61 The magical monals of Mishmi—a week’s birding in eastern Arunachal: 18–25 November 20071 Bikram Grewal Grewal, B. 2009. The magical monals of Mishmi—a week’s birding in eastern Arunachal: 18–25 November 2007. Indian Birds 5 (3): 62–64. Bikram Gewal, B 197 Sheikh Sarai–1, New Delhi 110017, India. Email: [email protected] ur collective curiosities about the Mishmi Hills were first spent the one-hour journey eating our packed lunch and scanning aroused when we learned that Julian Donahue and Ben the river, which was speckled with Brahminy Shelducks Tadorna King had ‘re-found’ the enigmatic Rusty-throated Wren- ferruginea. A lone Osprey Pandion haliaetus flew in the distance. OBabbler Spelaeornis badeigularis, now re-christened, Mishmi Wren- We drove on to the small town of Roing, the district Babbler, in 2004. This bird was known to the world from only a headquarters of the Lower Dibang Valley, once the entry point single skin of a female that landed in the mist-nets of Drs Sálim to the erstwhile North East Frontier Agency, popularly known as Ali and Dillon Ripley during their survey of the area in the late NEFA. We topped up our supplies that included meat on the hoof, forties. It lay hidden from the ornithologists’ eyes till the venerable live chickens and, most important of all, fuel for the cars. This was duo lured it by playing the tape of similar species and managed to be our last outpost before we entered the true Mishmi Hills. to not only photograph, but also record its song. We scoured the Essentials would now onwards become scant and cell phones Internet in the hope of getting more information, but other than would (mercifully) be dead. Fortified with enough food, drink and establishing that it was supposed to be locally common, little was such necessities, we moved on, bypassing the broken bridge on the available. Ben King’s reports were brief, but full of allusions about Itapani River, to finally reach the grand-sounding ‘Dibang Valley the birdlife of this little-visited area. We managed to make contact Jungle Camp’. This rustic camp consisted of a typical Mishmi with Julian, who was more than helpful and gave us maps, details ‘long-house’ built on stilts. Charmingly located, overlooking the of routes, and most importantly, names of places where we could Lohit and Dibang River systems, it sat in a forest clearing, now stay. To him our grateful thanks. Another celebrated birder, James planted with nascent orange trees. Adequate would be a good Eaton, visited the Mishmi Hills, but did not complete a trip report, term to describe the resort, though it must be said we were the limiting himself to listing the birds seen. The list made tantalizing first occupants, and plans for improvement are underway. Sitting reading and was full of birds like Purple Cochoa purpurea and Green in the covered portico, we could see Common Buzzards Buteo C. viridis Cochoa, Violet Chrysococcyx xanthorhynchus and Asian buteo and a Crested Goshawk Accipiter trivirgatus fly over the river Emerald C. maculatus Cuckoos, not to mention Satyr Tragopan basin, and a Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus perched on a wire Tragopan satyra and Blood Pheasant Ithaginis cruentus. Names like near the camp. A pair of Grey Bushchats S. ferrea flickered in the Gould’s Shortwing Brachypteryx stellata, White-hooded Babbler shrubs. All of this boded of good birding, and after having had the Gampsorhynchus rufulus, Pale-headed Woodpecker Gecinulus first of many excellent meals, prepared by our camp cook, Jibon, grantia and Purple Wood-Pigeons Columba punicea dotted the lists we retired to await a 0330 hrs wake-up call. We rose to the call of and made mere mortals like us toss in our sleep. hoolock gibbons Hoolock leuconedys and shivered in anticipation Armed with what little knowledge we had, but with a high (and the cold!) of what lay ahead of us in this mystic land. sense of anticipation, we contacted Help Tourism with a request First-time travellers to north-eastern India will marvel at how to organise a trip to the Mishmi Hills. To their eternal credit, the early the sun rises and how soon it sets. It is always sensible to be intrepid Asit Biswas and Raj Basu undertook two recce trips before out in the field thirty minutes before sunrise to take advantage of proposing that we travel on the sensible road, i.e., to Hunli, via the day’s best birding hours. So it proved on our first day of serious Roing and the Mayodia Pass. And so one sunny morning we birdwatching in these fabled hills. It is best to point out at this arrived in Dibrugarh, in eastern Assam, the north-eastern-most stage that most of our birding, on this trip, took place on the main airport in India. We met up with Raj and the support team and road to Hunli, and beyond, and this was because the habitat was proceeded straight to Saikhowa Ghat, where we had to ferry our so pristine and dense, with no paths leading into the woods, and two jeeps across the Lohit River. The journey took us through with the forest-edges and scrub limited. The birds were truly shy, splendid tea gardens with familiar names and we spent some and this we attributed to the many small-bore guns in evidence, pleasurable time seeing the affinisrace of the Indian Roller Coracias and the fact that almost every Mishmi tribal carried a slingshot. benghalensis, while the dark race of the Common Stonechat Saxicola We saw several birds, particularly of the laughingthrush family, torquatus stejnegeri had us temporarily foxed. but due to the heavy foliage, and their skittish behavior, we could The crossing was one the most perilous that any of us had ever not identify them all with any certainty. Bird densities were low, undertaken and included the transfer of our vehicles, with the help the species less varied and hunting parties smaller than the ones in of two thin planks, onto two country boats joined together to form a northern West Bengal and Sikkim. Similarly, the warblers were few primitive raft. Having successfully managed this arduous task, we and far between, with Yellow-browed Leaf-Warbler Phylloscopus inornatus being the commonest. Others, over the days, included 1 [Editors’ Note: A slightly modified version of this article was earlier published on http://www.kolkatabirds.com/mishmi/mishmi_tripreport.htm. We are a few Grey-cheeked Flycatcher-Warblers Seicercus poliogenys, grateful to the author as well as the owners of the website for permitting us to Orange-barred Leaf-Warbler P. pulcher, Grey-faced Leaf-Warbler use this article.] P. maculipennis, and a single Blyth’s Leaf-Warbler P. reguloides. 62 Indian Birds Vol. 5 No. 3 (Publ. 1st August 2009) Grewal: Mishmi Hills This not withstanding, we soon had the first of our many lifers chestnut banding on the tail, could possibly be an intermediate of the trip. These included Long-tailed Heterophasia picaoides and variety between the nominate race and the white-tailed one. We Beautiful H. pulchella Sibia, and White-throated Bulbuls Alophoixus await expert advice. flaveolus. Grey-backed Shrikes Lanius tephronotus were common Chuffed by our success we continued birding down the and Short-billed Minivets Pericrocotus brevirostris made a brief road, but that day was to prove the leanest, with only few birds appearance. A pair of Large-billed Blue-Flycatchers Cyornis seen. This surprised us no end, for the habitat was verdant with banyumas surprised us all, and due to their rarity in India, we little disturbance, but the only birds of any note where Red- marked them as only a possibility till experts later confirmed from headed Garrulax erythrocephalus and Black-faced Garrulax affinis our photographs.