I planned to visit Pedong during the Durga Puja vacation. Its a beautiful hamlet nestled amist the lush green hills of the lower Himalayas. The resort Silk Route Retreat where I stayed for about 5 days was located a few kms away from the main town. A small hill-steam flowed beneath the staircase- that lead to a large garden and lovely cottages. And thankfully there were no more tourists in that resort during my stay. So i enjoyed the tranquility of the surroundings a lot. But I was shocked to find that it was so difficult to get birds in the hills in October. The vegetation had become dense after the monsoon rains and that made bird photography even more difficult. The lone omnipresent Grey bushchat greeted me at almost every bend and I felt even more irritated. I was getting just one or two good birds during each birding session and felt really bad, as i had to spend a good sum for hiring the car.
One fine morning, I decided not to hire a car, and just to do some birding on foot in the adjoining areas of my resort. Not a single bird cud be seen on the trees beside the main road. So I walked up a narrow trail through a village and reached a desolate patch of forest- where there was no human disturbance. The area seemed to have some potential. I waited there for a few minutes anticipating to get at least something. But believe me-- the hill was completely silent. A lone Grey-backed Shrike stared at me and flew away. I was wondering- where have all those yuhinas, leiothrix, minlas and warblers gone. To which birdless zone of the Himalayas, have i come?
Then suddenly a miracle happened. I perceived some movements inside a shrubbery. A small colourful head of a bird peeped out for a moment. I mistook the bird for the commonly-seen red-billed leiothrix, and tried to take its shots. Its better to get something, than nothing.
Finally it came out and perched on a clear branch. It was certainly not a leiothrix, but something even more colourful. I had never thought of getting this bird in Pedong. It gave me just a few seconds and again concealed itself. But those few seconds were enough for me to get some shots. I thanked God for giving me such a lovely gift, What more can I expect. Sharing a shot of that gem on this auspicious occasion of Dewali.
Its undoubtedly the "Star bird of my Trip".
Silver-eared Mesia (Leiothrix argentauris)
Location: Pedong. Darjeeling district.
4500 feet altitude. West Bengal.
2nd October-2014
Canon 60D Sigma 150-500mm.
Shantanu Bhattacharya.
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