In Search of the Bugun Liocichla and Other Parables from Eaglenest: 28 February–8 March 20091 Bikram Grewal
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In search of the Bugun Liocichla and other parables from Eaglenest: 28 February–8 March 20091 Bikram Grewal Grewal, B. 2009. In search of the Bugun Liocichla and other parables from Eaglenest. Indian Birds 5 (3): 65–69. Bikram Gewal, B 197 Sheikh Sarai–1, New Delhi 110017, India. Email: [email protected] t the end of 2008, at a birder’s hug-fest in Bangalore, I had In due course of time the army constructed a new highway the pleasure of meeting Dr Ramana Athreya of whom I connecting Tenga to Bhalukpong, on its way to Tezpur, and our had heard much. He had not only found a new species of famous road fell into disuse and disrepair, which is probably Abird—the Bugun Liocichla Liocichla bugunorum (of which more anon) why the forests on either side are still intact. A few years back but also had, almost single-handedly, converted Eaglenest into the the Border Roads Division revived a plan to convert it in to an hottest birding spot in India today. I had, over the last few years, all-weather highway and started blasting some cliffs to correct read tantalizing reports of birders returning from this little-visited certain alignments. Luckily the Supreme Court intervened and spot in western Arunachal, with names of birds like Ward’s Trogon the army pulled out, but not before destabilizing parts of the area, Harpactes wardi, Beautiful Nuthatch Sitta formosa and Slender-billed which are still prone to landslides during the rains. The road is now Scimitar Babbler Xiphirhynchus superciliaris, birds that I had dreamt of maintained by the Bugun tribe and used mostly by birders, bar an and reconciled not to seeing in this lifetime. I returned to Delhi and occasional thief or murderer fleeing the authorities! soon managed to erase Eaglenest from my mind. A few months later Birders might consider Eaglenest a paradise, but in the eyes Ramki Sreenivasan and I were birding in the Sat Tal area of Kumaon, of the Forest Department, it is completely insignificant, and in the when he casually mentioned that he was going to Eaglenest in a few eight days we were there, we did not meet a single forest personnel, weeks’ times and had made all the requisite arrangements and I was which might be a good thing in the long run! In fact, Eaglenest is, more than welcome to join him. All I had to do was to buy a ticket! administratively, under the officer-in-charge of the Pakke Tiger He made it sound so simple. Without hesitation I nodded my head Reserve, who sits in splendid isolation in far-away Seijusa. This in affirmation and started reading up all I could find on the area, forest is now effectively “looked-after” by members of the resident which incidentally wasn’t a great deal. Bugun tribe and its elder, the splendidly named, Indi Glow. Ramana The first thing I learnt was that it was simply called Eaglenest— has fashioned things in such a manner that the Buguns are now not Eagle’s Nest or even Eagles Nest. This 218 km2 park was stakeholders in the continued existence of the sanctuary. They run supposedly named after the 4th Indian Army division, which had the birdwatching camps, generating income and therefore it is in a red eagle as it’s standard and which was posted in the area in the their interest to stop traditional hunting, jhoom or shifting cultivation 1950s. I still don’t know the veracity of this claim but it is a good and to prevent the poaching of timber from these forests. story anyway. The second thing I learnt was that Eaglenest lay along The area we were going to visit lies mostly in the districts of an abandoned, but jeep-able track, that ran from approximately East Kameng, and West Kameng, which are located in western the Lama Camp 2,350 m through the highest point on the road at Arunachal Pradesh and are high in elevation. They are named after Eaglenest Pass 2,800 m (the official starting point of the sanctuary), the fast flowing Kameng River (known downstream, in Assam, as then descended to Sunderview 2,465 m, Chakoo 2,405 m through the Jia Bhorelli), and which drains both the basins of Gori Chen and the abandoned GREF camps at Bompu 1,940 m and Sessni 1,250 m, Kangto peaks and the Buddhist Monastery of Tawang. This region and finally down to Khellong 750 m in the plains. As can be seen lies below the Himalayan watershed and borders Tibet in the north from the relative heights, it covers a vast range of altitudes, and and Bhutan in the west. Eaglenest is contiguous with the Pakke Tiger this is reflected in the changing habitats and, in turn, in its birdlife. Reserve and the Sessa Orchid Sanctuary and along with Nameri The road has a rather interesting history. Till India’s defeat in the in Assam, forms the last great stretch of pristine forest left in India. war with China in 1961, this was the only road that connected the If you add the adjoining Dirang-Tawang area, then you certainly Tawang Monastery to lowland Assam. From Tawang, the road went have the greatest birding hotspot in India, comparable to any in over the Sela Pass before reaching Bomdila and then on to Tenga, the world. Luckily the pressures of human population are minimal before turning right and taking the route mentioned above, till it here in Arunachal and this, along with its logistical isolation, has passed Khellong, and went on via Doimara and Missamari before helped in its continuing existence. hitting Assam near Balipara and Tezpur. It was on this road that the So it was with great excitement that we all met at Kolkata Dalai Lama fled, when he escaped the Chinese in March of 1959. He airport on the last day of February 2009 to catch the red-eye flight was weakened by dysentery and could not ride a horse as befitted to Guwahati. Ramki had arranged for us to be guided by Shashank his stature. Instead he had to be carried on a ‘dzo’, a hybrid between Dalvi, who had helped Ramana document the fauna of Eaglenest. a yak and a cow and considered the lowest form of transportation. I had heard many good things about him, but when I espied this I wondered what he made of this evergreen forest, and did he tarry man-child through sleep-ridden eyes I was suddenly filled with to admire the birds? doubt. How can this boy, barely out of his teens, lead us veterans, 1 I asked Ramki, who just smiled back ominously. Never in my life [Editors’ Note: A slightly modified version of this article was earlier published have I been happier to be proved wrong, for this adolescent not only on http://www.kolkatabirds.com/hillbirdsofind/eaglenesttrip2009.htm. We are grateful to the author as well as the owners of the website for permitting us to knows Eaglenest like the proverbial back-of-his-hand, I have never use this article.] met anyone who knows bird-calls better. I strongly advocate that Indian Birds Vol. 5 No. 3 (Publ. 1st August 2009) 65 Grewal: Eaglenest anyone venturing into Eaglenest should have him by his side. He of the charming lodge. In between wolfing our lunch Ramki will surely double the number of birds you will see. An uneventful managed to get his photographer’s itch out of the way by shooting hour later we were at Guwahati airport and made our acquaintance Red-breasted Parakeets Psittacula alexandri, Hill Mynas Gracula with the first of the several eccentric charmers who make a visit to religiosa, and Black-hooded Orioles Oriolus xanthornus that screech Eaglenest so memorable. This was our driver, Gopal, who was to their way through the leafy compound. As we drove on we saw chauffeur us for the entire trip, through some rather treacherous the eastern Indian specialties—the Black-billed Roller Eurystomus stretches of mountain roads. Gopal spent the first day testing how orientalis and the Black-headed Long-tailed Shrike Lanius schach far he could push us, but once he accepted that we were hard nuts tricolor sitting on telephone wires. It is also along this section that to crack, he quickly fell into line and was pleasant and helpful for several hundred Amur Falcons F. amurensis congregate during the rest of the trip. He was passionate about his mobile phone, their migration, making for a thrilling sight. Our next stop was on which he constantly played music, and often, simultaneously, Bhalukpong where we entered Arunachal Pradesh, after getting games. He also knew every pretty woman on the stretch between our permits checked by a desultory guard. We drove along the Bhalukpong and Eaglenest. For some unknown reason he was re- Kameng River, through the Pakke Tiger Reserve and then the Sessa christened “Gopley” by the end of the first evening and the name Orchid Sanctuary. The forests on either side seemed so tempting and stuck, an occurrence he took with equanimity. inviting but we had to move on if we were to reach Lama Camp at Our first stop was the rubbish dump, just west of Guwahati a sensible hour. The only time when Shashank allowed us to stop city. It is tucked away from the road, but soaring adjutants give was when we got down to scan promising looking streams for that away its location. The rubbish dump held two kinds of scavengers, most elusive of kingfishers—Blyth’s Alcedo hercules.