The alarm clock disturbs a great night’s sleep. Not the chill of a Delhi dawn down here at Nameri, it’s pleasantly mild as we leave the cabin in the dark and head for some pre-breakfast birding. We start off along the trail down to the river, scaly thrush soon falls along with great hornbill and greater flameback and that's before the sun has risen!
On the river bank we are met by our armed guard who will
accompany us as we bird the National Park side of the river. The main purpose of the guard is to protect us from elephant, leopard and tiger which roam the park's pristine forests.
The rowing boat soon takes us across and we set off into the forest with white-winged duck being the main target bird. Species of all shapes sizes and colours including Siberian rubythroat and streaked spiderhunter come thick and fast and after a 45 minute walk through the forest we carefully approach a small forest pool and there they are, a pair of white-winged duck. Relief! The birds soon detect our presence and fly off, so we settle down for our packed breakfast.
The rowing boat soon takes us across and we set off into the forest with white-winged duck being the main target bird. Species of all shapes sizes and colours including Siberian rubythroat and streaked spiderhunter come thick and fast and after a 45 minute walk through the forest we carefully approach a small forest pool and there they are, a pair of white-winged duck. Relief! The birds soon detect our presence and fly off, so we settle down for our packed breakfast.
Sultan tit - what a stonker! |
Asian barred owlet |
It’s soon back to the camp for an excellent lunch followed by
a canoe birding trip down the river for Paul, Mandy and Rachael, their species target being ibisbill. Having seen ibisbill in Sikkim, and being a poor swimmer, I opt out and bird around the camp on my own for the
afternoon. Two hours later and they're back having seen, amongst a load of other stuff, ibisbill and Pallas's fish eagle. I have to be content with good views of Asian barred owlet and small niltava.
Rest of today's gallery here
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