The final full days birding was to be spent in the eastern range of Kaziranga and if time permitted late afternoon we'd have another crack at blue-naped pitta in the tea plantation.
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| Entrance to the eastern range. |
We were soon in the park looking at another large flooded area complete with a whole bunch of birds that were hard to miss...Pallas's and grey headed fish eagle, white-rumped, slender-billed and himalayan griffon vultures, black-necked and woolly-necked stork as well as lesser adjutant. Amongst the greylags, tufteds, common and red-crested pochard and ferruginous ducks, Paul spotted a superb male falcated duck which soon had Abid telling his mates about on his mobile.
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| We got a bit too close to this guy! |
Moving on we had the only plaintive cuckoo of the trip, followed shortly after by an eastern marsh harrier and a couple of stork-billed kingfishers. Mammals were well represented with elephant and rhinoceros and a water buffalo that allowed a very close approach. In fact, myself and Paul got so close to it, our guard was preparing to shoot just in case it charged! Later on we watched a group of seven smooth-coated otters.
All too soon it was time to leave the park and head back to Jupuri for lunch. I had been joking with the staff in the dining room about how much I liked their spicy chillies which I had been eating raw with some of our meals. A little audience gathered behind me and I was presented with a saucer on which there were a couple of small round chillies. Smelling a rat, I was told that if I liked spicy chillies then I should try one of these. It turned out they were the 'spiciest chillies in Assam' and I was glad to only have only tried a small piece!
We had no luck at all back in the tea plantation with the pitta but had a nice blue-eared barbet as compensation.
Our final meal was tinged with sadness as we realised that the trip was drawing to a close. A couple of beers were drank, the final checklist completed and it was back to the cabins to pack and an early night.
Image gallery for the day is
here
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