The early morning drive from Pangot to Vinayak on April 10th held the promise of the Koklass family seen by Delhi birders only a day before. The guide was bemused as I negotiated with him to change our departure time from 6 AM to 5.30 AM, and finally we settled on a compromise. First encounter was a female Khaleej which scampered away before we could get a decent look. Vinayak yielded a group of mistle thrushes which didn't allow any photo ops... we continued on Kok-less with the guide telling us to ignore other calls as "yeh baad mein mil jayega".
A steep hillside a few km on from Vinayak yielded two lifers in quick succession - upland pipit and Altai accentors, and while we were busy with them the guide went ahead to scan the slope. Soon he was beckoning to us excitedly and we ran up to him as he pointed out a couple of specks far away foraging on the hill - a male and female cheer pheasant! We watched the pair for nearly half an hour as they s-l-o-w-l-y made their way feeding. The male seemed a bit adventurous and accident-prone as he occasionally fell off a bush that couldn't support his weight, while the female politely ignored his antics.
Here is a record shot of the pair together. They were very far away so we couldn't get any better shots, but were happy to have ticked this one!
-- Here is a record shot of the pair together. They were very far away so we couldn't get any better shots, but were happy to have ticked this one!
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