Wallcreeper at Chobar Quarry, Kathmandu

Sunday 4th November 2012

So, here's the first of my catch-ups and it's a special one as on this half-day trip to a site on the southern edge of Kathmandu, I finally got to see Wallcreeper, a lifer I've tried for and failed to see on many occasions over the years.

With final departure from Nepal rapidly approaching, I arranged to meet up with local birder Arend van Riessen on his monthly survey of the Bagmati River from Chobar Gorge to Taudaha Lake and back again. You can read about my first outing with Arend in an earlier post 'A day out in Kathmandu' dated 9th April 2012 (http://markdread.blogspot.com/2012/04/day-out-in-kathmandu.html).



Which Bus? Ratnapark, Kathmandu

As anyone who's ever visited Kathmandu will know, getting about on the local buses can be a bit of a challenge as the buses (actually minibuses on the whole) aren't 'labelled', there don't appear to be regular stops/starts/pickups, they're often overcrowded and very few people speak English. However, they are a cheap way to explore the valley with relative ease and certainly take you places you'd never normally see. So after a short walk to Ratnapark, I managed to find the correct bus within a couple of minutes (excellent), get on knowing pretty well where I needed to get off (good) and headed off across the city with my neck bent at an awkward angle trying to look out of the window (painful). Needless to say, I missed my stop by almost 2km and had to walk back to where I'd hoped to be and then continued an extra 15-20 minutes to meet up with Arend at a small teashop at Chobar Gorge. However, I was still bang on time and ready for some Autumn birding.



'Spider Bush' - Chobar Quarry, Kathmandu

Long-tailed Shrike - Chobar Quarry, Kathmandu

We had a quick breakfast, consisting of masala tea, fried chickpeas and a hard-boiled egg, at the teashop whilst waiting for another friend, Stephen Biggs, to arrive. Within a few minutes he was with us and by 7:30am we were ready to get going. However, as Arend wasn't feeling so good, he suggested we perhaps visit the nearby quarry, a site he'd not been to for some time and one where he thought I just might have the chance of seeing Wallcreeper. Of course I was all for that, so off we went, up the side of the gorge passing several spider-infested bushes, back across the road and down into the old disused quarry. On this short walk we saw Black Drongo, a lovely Long-tailed Shrike, Tree and House Sparrows, Black Kite and always a stunner - White-capped Water Redstart. Not a particularly big site, the quarry had been abandoned some years ago but a few locals could be seen still working it, breaking rocks down into small thumb-sized chips. Later in the day, we talked to one old lady who said she could fill 3 large baskets with chippings a day - making, on average, 40 rupees (about 50 US cents) per basket.



Male Red Avadavat - Chobar Quarry, Kathmandu 

Unsure which route we should follow, we began our morning at the south-eastern edge and just scanned the rough grass around the top. We were immediately rewarded with an obliging pair of Red Avadavat apparently nest building. They both performed very nicely and after a short while were joined by a couple more birds too. After enjoying our fill, we picked an obvious trail that followed the inner wall of the quarry to the west and set off. Within 2 minutes, we were rewarded with our quarry (pun definitely intended) - a single Wallcreeper! It was flushed from the rock face right in front of us and flew leisurely across our path and back to a small pinnacle of rock, right back where we'd been watching the avadavats. None of us could really believe that we had actually found our target so quickly and easily - me least of all. Trembling with excitement, we all enjoyed some good views before I edged much closer and obtained some fantastic views, perhaps within 30 metres or so. However, the bird was in deep shade so my pictures didn't come out as well as expected. However, this one isn't too bad.

Wallcreeper - Chobar Quarry, Kathmandu

So that's how I saw my first Wallcreeper. It was all rather easy in the end - just took almost 30 years! Moving on, we began to have a bit of a raptor fest with (over an hour or so) numerous Black Kites, 4 Booted Eagles, 1 Steppe Eagle, 1 Common Buzzard and 1 Long-legged Buzzard. I later questioned the Long-legged as I wasn't convinced that Upland had been excluded as a possibility but after much back and forth between Arend, Birdforum and I we eventually came back to Long-legged Buzzard. However, the whole discussion did highlight the point that these buzzards can be quite tricky, even with good views. Arend actually had Long-legged up with Black Kite a few days earlier which helped him clinch that ID, and I had another Long-legged the following day on a trip to Shivapuri. I would certainly be interested in sightings of Upland Buzzard in Kathmandu Valley.



Booted Eagle (light phase) - Chobar Quarry, Kathmandu

Booted Eagle (dark phase) - Chobar Quarry, Kathmandu



    Long-legged Buzzard - Chobar Quarry, Kathmandu    

 Long-legged Buzzard - Chobar Quarry, Kathmandu  

Zitting Cisticola - Chobar Quarry, Kathmandu

Continuing west along the southern edge of the valley we encountered Siberian Stonechat and Pied Bushchat as well as a prinia which was most likely non-breeding Grey-breasted. On close-cropped grass a little further on we added both Paddyfield and Olive-backed Pipits as well as a singing Grey-backed Shrike, watching us intently from some nearby bushes. Coming back along the northern grassy slopes allowed Arend some 'butterfly time' with him showing us what he described as 'probably Nepal's tiniest butterfly', Least Grass Jewel, probably just 5-6mm in size. Still on the northern slope, we then saw Wallcreeper again, this time with great flight views of not one but two of these magnificent birds directly overhead. Superb. Rounding off our trip to the quarry, we had great views of Zitting Cisticola crawling through the undergrowth before perching out in the open. I must admit I felt an initial flush of excitement when seeing the bird crawling through the undergrowth, believing I was onto a Locustella warbler of some sort.



Grey-headed Plover - Bagmati River, Kathmandu

We returned to Chobar Gorge and decided to have a quick walk along the river to add a little variety to the day's birding. Without going more than about 500m, we added a number of birds to the tally including Cinereous Tit, Oriental Magpie Robin, Large-billed Crow, Grey and White Wagtails (including a single leucopsis among the many alboides), numerous Cattle Egrets and the odd Indian Pond Heron and Little Egret. Waders were a little thin on the ground but as we hadn't really gone too far the Green and Common Sandpipers encountered weren't too bad. However, the true highlight for me were the 36 Grey-headed Plovers nervously proceeding downstream ahead of us as we walked along the bank. Returning back to Chobar, we added probably the last goodie of the day, 2 Hodgson's Redstarts. Relatively common in the winter, these cracking birds are always a delight to see.

All in all, it was yet another good day out in the Kathmandu Valley. Of course, Wallcreeper was my 'Bird of the Day' but the supporting cast wasn't too bad either.

Thanks again to Arend and Steve for their company and local knowledge!

Till next time,

Mark.

Nagarjun NP, Kathmandu (Part 2)

Thursday 7th June 2012



Trail to Jamacho Gumba, Nagarjun NP

After a very pleasant Saturday morning spent at Nagarjun with BCN last weekend, I felt inspired to visit the park once again and waking early on Thursday morning, I just went for it. The entrance to the park is only 40 minutes walk from where I am currently staying in Kathmandu so I was at the gate for a little after 6am. However, it took 15 minutes or so for the soldiers stationed at the gate to find a park official who could sell me a ticket and let me in. At 250 Rupees (about £2), it's not too pricey in the grand scheme of things but it is 25 times the price a local pays! As a volunteer on a local salary this does seem a little unfair at times.



Scorpion - Nagarjun NP

Just inside the gate, on the right, is a trail that heads steeply upwards for a few hundred metres before reaching a military post where it joins a more gradual trail that winds its way to the peak. From the park gate to Jamacho Gumba summit is approximately 5 kilometres - it took me less than two and a half hours at a very comfortable pace. The birding was actually a bit slow on the way up though I did see both male and female Kalij Pheasant on numerous occasions, though it was this freshly dead scorpion that was the first sighting of the day.



Blue-capped Rock Thrush - male

Red-billed Blue Magpie, White-crested Laughingthrush and Grey Treepie were all seen well but the highlight on this section of the trail was a pair of mating Blue-throated Flycatchers. I arrived at the summit just after 9am and spent half an hour or so birding the shrubby slopes. First up were two birds I never mannaged to identify; obviously freshly fledged, I would guess at some type of flycatcher/niltava but unfortunately they didn't stay around for long. Next up was this cracking male Blue-capped Rock Thrush. I must say I was unaware that these birds have such a yellow gape.

However, the highlight for me was the first of 2 Nepali ticks for the day - Bonelli's Eagle. Even better, there were at least 3 birds, with a possible 4th. Two of the birds were an adult pair in full (but silent) display. The third bird was an clearly an immature and I'm pretty certain the fourth bird was an immature Bonelli's too, though I didn't get very good views of this latter bird. I did manage to get a couple of interesting record shots though, one of them highlighted against a smoggy Kathmandu.


Bonelli's Eagle - adult

Jamacho Gumba



Bonelli's Eagle - immature



Bonelli's Eagle - adult

One of my side-hobbies is to track all the trails I follow using GPS and then compile them into maps for later use. Since there was an access road to the Gumba, I decided to follow this back down to the gate - I'd already been along some of it the previous week with BCN but I had no idea how long it would be. In total, I walked more than 30 kilomteres over the day but I must say the road down provided good birding and I'd do it again - though with an extra bottle of water next time. Still fairly near the top, I had some goodies with White-tailed Nuthatch perhaps unexpected. This was followed by a pair of Orange-bellied Leafbirds, Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker, several Verditer Flycatchers, House Swift, Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush and a very close pair of Velvet-fronted Nuthatches working the lichen covered trees. A Great Barbet allowed me to take its picture - and for once the shot wasn't too bad.



Great Barbet

As I continued down the trail, other goodies were encountered. In particular, I had more raptors - quite unexpected really for the time of year. Of course Black Kite were everywhere but I also disturbed a perched Crested Serpent Eagle, again an adult with a massively impressive immature Crested Goshawk a little later. The goshawk came in very low around a corner of the trail and landed less than 10 metres from me. I would guess it was a female due to its size. Unfortunately, the process of aiming the camera at the bird scared it off but the memory will certainly remain. Much later on, a male shikra did almost the same though it flew directly towards me instead, getting larger and larger through the bins - just like a BBC wildlife documentary!

Other birds picked up along the trail were Large Cuckoo-shrike, Eurasian Cuckoo, Black-throated Tit (a personal favourite), Speckled Piculet, Maroon Oriole and to round off the day, Lesser Yellownape.

Other wildlife sightings of the day included fresh Leopard faeces packed full of fur, Barking Deer and numerous butterflies. Unfortunately, I don't have my butterfly book with me but one of them I've since discovered is a Grand Duchess. I think the yellow-striped one is a lascar of some sort but that's as good as gets.


Grand Duchess

Lascar?

Till next time - Mark.

Nagarjun NP, Kathmandu (Part 1)

Saturday 2nd June 2012

Last weekend, I finally managed to get out to Nagarjun - forested hills that rise to about 2000m just to the NW of Kathmandu. The site actually forms part of the Shivapuri-Nagarjun National Park complex and is remarkably easy to reach. I went as part of a trip organised by Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN) and led by Rajendra Gurung. Being aware that the trip was partly aimed at attracting new members I wasn't expecting to see anything too extraordinary but was pleasantly surprised at the results, whilst at the same time very impressed that 29 people would get up early on their only day off to go birding. As you can see from this picture (borrowed from Rajendra - sorry for not asking), the participants were of all ages.



Birding at Nagarjun (by Rajendra Gurung)

After the obligatory milk tea (or two), we eventually entered the park at about 7:30 and set off along the periphery road inside this walled conseravtion area. At times the larger group stayed together and at others we split into 2-3 smaller groups, so the following is an account of my day rather than others'.

Despite the rather long wait at the park gate, the birding was actually quite good right there and, although I saw some of the same species later inside the park, over half of the day's total were seen whilst having tea! Although I failed to get any photos at the gate, the tally included Red-vented, Himalayan and several noisy (and unexpected) Black Bulbuls, Oriental Turtle and Spotted Doves, lovely views of a calling Eurasian Cuckoo, Black-lored Tit, Red-rumped Swallow, the ubiquitous Black Kites, Blue-throated and Great Barbets, Verditer Flycatcher, Blue Whistling Thrush, and numerous Long-tailed Minivets. So as you can see, quite a haul! However, the highlight for me was a lone Dark-sided Flycatcher, briefly entertaining the crowds directly above the tea stall.



Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher

Just inside the park, this Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher finally allowed itself to be photographed. These birds are literally everywhere but I really struggle to catch them stationary.




Besra

Not much further along the road/trail, I ended up in front of the group while they watched macaques and a Barking Deer and had good views of a Besra behaving somewhat strangely. It was obviously on the hunt and was very interested in a hole in one of the trees. At times it would stick its head in (not particularly strange I guess) but then it had a real go at getting its right leg in as if trying to pull prey from the hole. It failed but did try on at least 2 more occasions. I managed to get this poor record shot of it perched later.

Apparently, a Besra was also seen eating what was believed to be a Mountain Bulbul, and was quite possibly the same bird. Not much further on we came across a Nepali tick for me, Rufous Woodpecker. Three birds were seen and they all performed well. One bird was busily excavating a hole in an ant's nest 8 metres up in the trees but catching this one on film was tricky.


Rufous Woodpecker (at nest?)

This bird however, allowed a series of cracking shots - this one perhaps the best...




Rufous Woodpecker

As we continued along the trail, the birding seemed to become rather quiet - but a few goodies still revealed themselves including calling (and then reasonable views) of Rusty-cheeked Scimitar Babbler, an obliging Spotted Owlet, Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker, several Chestnut-bellied Nuthatches, Grey-hooded Warbler and Ashy Drongo.

After a couple of hours slow walking, we all reached a 'pheasant farm', all specimens of the non-native Golden Pheasant. For some reason I didn't take any pictures of the caged birds but did find a pair of cracking Orange-bellied Leafbirds instead. This male, carrying food, would perhaps indicate breeding.



Male Orange-bellied Leafbird

We decided to turn back from here as some members were getting hungry. At first I was a little reluctant and considered continuing but before long the birds were once again providing the highlights - a series of 3 'heard only' included Drongo Cuckoo, Blue-throated Flycatcher and Indian Cuckoo. However, many of the earlier birds were still showing well with the addition of, what at first caused confucion due to lighting conditions, an immature male Shikra. The following photo has been heavily 'worked' in Photoshop but only in terms of lighting and contrast - colours remain as they were at the time. Hard to see, but this bird still has the immature's gular stripe, white flecks on the back, and a terminal bar to at least one of the tail feathers.



Immature male Shikra

Very shortly after this we were rewarded with a couple of Lesser Yellownapes - my second Nepali tick of the day. Despite others getting some decent shots, I struggled. Here are my best two.



Lesser Yellownape

Lesser Yellownape

As we slowly wound our way back to the park gate, a calling Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush was added to the list along with a daring Stick Insect trying to disguise itself as a pine needle right in the middle of the trail. However, the final bird of the day was a lovely Orange-headed Thrush just metres from the park gate.

Orange-headed Thrush

In total, I saw 42 species of birds. Maybe not as many as could have been but all in all a very enjoyable trip with fellow and new birders. Thanks to Rajendra for leading and everyone else for participating.

You may wonder why this is 'Part 1'. Well, I was so intrigued by the place that I went again yesterday, with quite a different set of birds seen. More to follow... 

Mark.

A Day Out in Kathmandu

Sunday, 25th March, 2012

Over the next week or so, I’ll try to catch up on some of the trips I’ve done and birds I’ve seen over the last two months. I’m going to start with a great morning out in the Kathmandu Valley at the end of March with ‘resident’ Dutch birder Arend van Riessen. Arend has been doing the same walk along the Bagmati River from Chobar Gorge to Taudaha Lake every month for almost 10 years and kindly let me join him on his rounds. I knew I was ‘late in the season’ for many wintering birds but having read his reports over the last few months, I was anticipating at least a couple of Nepali ticks for my list.



Bagmati River at Chobar Gorge, Kathmandu

The first challenge of course was getting across the city (at 6am) without much in the way of language skills or money. Struggling to find a reasonably-priced taxi, I gave up and walked through the old city to the southern ring road, where I eventually found a very decent cabbie who 1) knew where I wanted to go, and 2) wasn’t going to rip me off (too much). So bang on time, if not a little early I met Arend at a little tea shop right at Chobar Gorge – a very impressive sight (if not smell) to start the day.
 
The Bagmati River is absolutely stunning… in all the worst ways! Catch it in Shivapuri National Park near the source and, yes, I’d probably drink from it but as soon as it reaches habitation (and that’s before it passes through Kathmandu) it becomes an open sewer and repository of rubbish. As I said, the foaming water through the gorge was impressive (due to the detergents) but the stench was… just that!



Green (back) and Wood (front) Sandpipers, Bagmati River

Anyway, back to the birds because that’s what it’s all about. Freshly equipped with my new camera, I was keen to not just see some goodies for the valley but also, if possible, get off a picture or two for the record. Before I got to taking pictures though, my first Nepali tick – a Thick-billed Warbler – gave itself away by chacking as we walked by.  This was swiftly followed by a couple of superb Grey-headed Lapwings –another local tick for me. A female Black Redstart was just the first of the day, and along with a Eurasian Cuckoo, was an indicator of spring passage.


Green Sandpiper, Bagmati River

After a lovely male Hodgson’s Redstart, we started to see a few waders foolishly sampling the water quality, with Common Sandpiper and Common Snipe (the latter another tick) being the first of the morning. However, to kick off the photo record I managed to get these Green and Wood Sandpipers posing together for comparison as well as this lone Green Sandpiper giving a little more detail. With Grey-backed and Long-tailed Shrikes already bagged, I had my fourth Nepali tick of the hour with a couple of (not red) Red Avadavats. Many more were seen later in the day but none in their resplendent breeding plumage.




Steppe Eagle, Bagmati River

Steppe Eagle, Bagmati River

More snipe were flushed as we proceeded along the ever-deteriorating river bank. At one point we had to scale a crumbling and eroding mud bank poised above the sludge of the river – it did however provide the inspiration to hold on! It was at about this point that the other bank, of course, revealed 8 Steppe Eagles feasting on ‘something’ dead. They were a bit nervous of us and as we clambered over and along the river’s edge, they gradually moved on. I managed to get off these few shots though before they all left.

A few more waders were ticked off before we reached Bosan Khola, a small stream heading up to Taudaha Lake. These included another Nepali tick (the last of the day) Temminck’s Stint, as well as Little-ringed Plover and Greenshank. We also added White and White-browed Wagtails along the river’s edge as well as a distant 47 Yellow-breasted Greenfinches perched high up in distant trees.

Just before heading up the stream we came across a recent Christian burial, right on the edge of the river, with home-made cross and piled stones/sand. I can only wonder how long it will be until the jackals and then raptors get to work. Further upstream, at Pashupatinath for example, many Hindu cremations take place, but this was the first Christian ‘use’ of the river I’d come across.

Taudaha Lake, Kathmandu

After a brief rest along the stream, we came out at Taudaha Lake having added Ashy Drongo, Hume’s Warbler, Rufous Treepie and a calling Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-babbler. As predicted the number and diversity of birds on the lake was lower than in mid-winter. However, I was surprised and disturbed by the ‘commercialism’ of the site – the lake is regarded as sacred but this has been interpreted as a need to build up the banks with stone walls, fill the lake with catfish, sell fish food, and serve tea at numerous ‘Lakeside Restaurants’ around this surprisingly small last wilderness. For some reason (disappointment?) I didn’t even try to get any shots of the wildfowl. However, we did clock a couple of Ferruginous Ducks amongst the numerous Teal, Wigeon and Gadwall.



Rosy Pipit, Bagmati River

Arend back at Chobar Gorge, Kathmandu

Cutting across the fields, we got back to the river by a shorter route and returned back to Chobar Gorge in no time at all. Being now midday, bird sightings were less than in the morning, but we did add this cracking Rosy Pipit along the way.

Himalayan Bulbul, Chobar Gorge

After a quick look around the impressive Jal Binayak Temple, situated on the western bank of the Bagmati River, we went back up to the road bridge where Himalayan Bulbul was seen, with a pair of Shikra on the ridge above the bridge and yet another Steppe Eagle in the pine woods higher up. Arend kindly invited me back to his house for a cold drink before sending me in the right direction to catch a 20 rupee bus ride back into town. In total, I recorded 66 species that morning – Arend may well have recorded more, and he certainly keeps a more detailed account of numbers.

All in all, a great day in the valley and one I’m looking forward to again on my return to the capital. Thanks Arend!

Mark.