Streak-Throated Barwing
In March 2013 I visited Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary a protected area in the Himalayan foothills of West Kameng District, Arunachal Pradesh which is a notable prime birding site due to the extraordinary variety, numbers and accessibility of bird species there. Access to Eaglenest is via an old military road originating in the valley, set up during the 1960's when China briefly attempted to invade Arunachal Pradesh.This road cuts through the heart of the sanctuary, allowing access to elevations from around 1000m to 2800m, and there is almost no traffic to disturb birding. There are camps like the Ramalingam, Lama, Sunderview, Bhompu and Sesani which are situated at different elevations. During my this visit, the Lama, Bhompu and Ramalingam camps were active while Sunderview and Sessni were closed.
As mentioned earlier I had a wish list of five species….One of them other than Ward's Trogan was the Bugun liocichla (Liocichla bugunorum) a passerine bird species from the Leiothrichidae family first spotted in 1995. It was described as a new species in 2006 by Ramana Athreya. It is currently seen only at Eaglenest in Arunachal Pradesh and the sightings are very rare and very difficult, as only 14 pairs of Bugun liocichla have been recorded so far! It could be like searching a needle in the haystack! :) People specially visit Eaglenest just to get a glimpse of this beautiful rare bird.
An indepth study and observations from earlier sightings interestingly have revealed that the Bugun liocichla a rare bird has been seen along with the flocks of Barwings .… a behavioural adaptation for survival perhaps? Hence, it would be advisable for birders to look out for the flocks of Barwings for sightings.
Armed with this knowledge I set out with Adesh and others. In the evening somehow the group got split into half as we walked along the roadside bordering the dense forest. A flock of Barwings appeared from nowhere, all of us set our tripods and took our positions and waited, when suddenly a Streak-Throated Barwing came and perched very close to me. I was elated but stumped at the same time as I had a 500mm lens, I had no choice. So, with the handicap of lens limitation and overcoming my frustration and gathering my wits, I had to frame it very very tightly. The tightly framed result is uploaded for all to view.
Observe the tiny white spots around its beak; these are the dustings of pollen the leftovers of its feeding binge…. Once again I was unable to fulfill the wish of photographing the Bugun liocichla, though later I did get a sighting. I just thought that I would share with you my experience of not only the highs and lows but even the peculiar situation that a birder and photographer faces… Till then… keep birding!!
Place: Eaglenest WLS,Arunachal Pradesh.
Date: 11/3/2013.
Camera: Canon 7D
Lens: Canon 500mm f/4 IS USM
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