Date: 06 April 2013
Location: Singalila National Park (~2620m), West Bengal, India
Remarks: At Garibas area of the Singalila National Park, that turned out to be perfect attitudinal height for a rather late March making way into April. The birds were at a huge congregation at this altitude. Habitat: Predominantly, a mixed forest of Oak and Rhododendron, some moss engulfed Magnolia trees in bloom, few shaded mauve colored Daphne shrubs along the sides, and scattered patches of young fresh green shoots of flowing bamboo beside a ravine; the Rhododendron trees (and shrubberies) were in full bloom, with shades of bright hot pink, some softer, lighter shades of pink; and few mesmerising pearly white ones with withered, ochre colored crinkled flowers at their lower branches, yielding a soft cinnamon like-mix-of-vanilla-nutmeg aroma when you pass besides it, perhaps a kitchen smelling of a freshly baked cake (no I wasn't hungry, trust me), as a matter of fact this is how I felt and looked for excuses to walk by a white Rhododendron tree to take in lungful of the delicious fragrance, perhaps a person native of those hills would feel differently of how it smells. The Rufous-gorgetted Flycatcher fancied it too and at least one was assigned to each Rhododendron tree by their respective clans. Moving on to birding, we saw a flock a Rufous-fronted Tits, high up on the moss laden branches along with four Hoary-throated Barwings, few Chestnut-tailed Minlas, and a big flock of Rufous-winged Fulvettas, who were found crawling up and down the moss coated barks, preoccupied ripping out threads of moss by their bills to prey (they really like doing that!). I was tired after bird hiking and decided to crouch down on the aisle of the foot-wide path, submerged in forest undergrowth on either side, had I stayed there a bit longer, some creepers would catch hold of my limb or two. I noticed some intensely busy White-browed Fulvettas biting off from twig to twig in the lower bushes (oh! a sight of them somewhat rare in the Western Himalayas, in the Eastern you would move on and not break to watch them, suggesting how fairly common and easily seen they are in the Eastern Himalayas at altitudes ranging from nearly 2200 meters to 3600 meters, as I observed them at this time of year), a monotonous Rufous-capped Babbler was calling from close quarters, so was a very outspoken Chestnut-headed Tesia. A sudden appearance of a Rufous-fronted Tit on the bush conspiring to grow on me, now having reached a couple meters from my foot, startled me; he was however unperturbed, failing to notice me, now foraging in the bush that appears to be making a genuine effort to crawl inches closer to grope on my foot, while I sat and rested my back and enjoyed watching him and the fulvettas and of course daring the creepy bushes for their ill intentions. The Rufous-fronted Tits and the White-browed Fulvettas were often found foraging in low bushes and forest undergrowth.
Location: Singalila National Park (~2620m), West Bengal, India
Remarks: At Garibas area of the Singalila National Park, that turned out to be perfect attitudinal height for a rather late March making way into April. The birds were at a huge congregation at this altitude. Habitat: Predominantly, a mixed forest of Oak and Rhododendron, some moss engulfed Magnolia trees in bloom, few shaded mauve colored Daphne shrubs along the sides, and scattered patches of young fresh green shoots of flowing bamboo beside a ravine; the Rhododendron trees (and shrubberies) were in full bloom, with shades of bright hot pink, some softer, lighter shades of pink; and few mesmerising pearly white ones with withered, ochre colored crinkled flowers at their lower branches, yielding a soft cinnamon like-mix-of-vanilla-nutmeg aroma when you pass besides it, perhaps a kitchen smelling of a freshly baked cake (no I wasn't hungry, trust me), as a matter of fact this is how I felt and looked for excuses to walk by a white Rhododendron tree to take in lungful of the delicious fragrance, perhaps a person native of those hills would feel differently of how it smells. The Rufous-gorgetted Flycatcher fancied it too and at least one was assigned to each Rhododendron tree by their respective clans. Moving on to birding, we saw a flock a Rufous-fronted Tits, high up on the moss laden branches along with four Hoary-throated Barwings, few Chestnut-tailed Minlas, and a big flock of Rufous-winged Fulvettas, who were found crawling up and down the moss coated barks, preoccupied ripping out threads of moss by their bills to prey (they really like doing that!). I was tired after bird hiking and decided to crouch down on the aisle of the foot-wide path, submerged in forest undergrowth on either side, had I stayed there a bit longer, some creepers would catch hold of my limb or two. I noticed some intensely busy White-browed Fulvettas biting off from twig to twig in the lower bushes (oh! a sight of them somewhat rare in the Western Himalayas, in the Eastern you would move on and not break to watch them, suggesting how fairly common and easily seen they are in the Eastern Himalayas at altitudes ranging from nearly 2200 meters to 3600 meters, as I observed them at this time of year), a monotonous Rufous-capped Babbler was calling from close quarters, so was a very outspoken Chestnut-headed Tesia. A sudden appearance of a Rufous-fronted Tit on the bush conspiring to grow on me, now having reached a couple meters from my foot, startled me; he was however unperturbed, failing to notice me, now foraging in the bush that appears to be making a genuine effort to crawl inches closer to grope on my foot, while I sat and rested my back and enjoyed watching him and the fulvettas and of course daring the creepy bushes for their ill intentions. The Rufous-fronted Tits and the White-browed Fulvettas were often found foraging in low bushes and forest undergrowth.
Regards
Puja Sharma
New Delhi, India
-- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "delhibirdpix" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to delhibirdpix+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to delhibirdpix@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/delhibirdpix?hl=en.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
No comments:
Post a Comment