INDIA 2010: Nainital and Sat Tal

Dec 7 – After our long overnight train journey, we arrived in Kathgodam reasonably rested and ready to begin the extension part of our trip in the greater foothills of the Himalayas. Karan, our local guide, met us with smiles at 6:30am, and whisked us into a waiting van. We drove up a winding road through broadleaf evergreen forests. As expected, our first bird was the Blue Whistling Thrush, standing on the sides of the road. We stopped to oggle a flock of magnificent Red-billed Blue Magpies (above), sporting their gorgeous lengthy tails. This stop proved very productive, as we also saw Greater Yellownape, Grey-headed Woodpecker, Grey Treepie, and Ashy Bulbuls. We stopped again when Karan spotted a male Grey Goral (below), a type of mountain goat-antelope, my first sighting of this mammal that inhabits steep slopes in the western himalayas.

We reached the Vikaram, our hotel for the next two nights, at 8:30am, in time to enjoy a lovely breakfast. The modern, albeit chilly hotel sits on the edge of Nainital (below) in the heart of Uttaranchal, a picturesque hill town surrounding a lake. This popular summer resort, called the Lake District of India, is reminiscent of Switzerland.

After dropping our bags and freshening up, we went outside to admire the towering rocky ridges close to our hotel. We saw Eurasian Griffon, Himalayan Griffon, Steppe Eagle, and Large-billed Crow soaring high against the ridgeline. We walked up a steep paved road at the edge of town, finding mixed flock that included Green-backed, Spot-winged, and Black-throated Tit as well as Bar-tailed Treecreeper, White-tailed Nuthatch and Grey-headed Warbler.

Then we wound our way down into the rocky fields area, finding a family of Streaked Laughingthrushes (above) foraging on the ground, as well as one Striated Laughingthrush in a tree.

Overall, the area was relatively quiet during the late-morning hours, but we did manage to see an assortment of butterflies that included whites, blues, coppers and Indian Red Admirals and Indian Tortoiseshells (above).

After lunch we headed for Sat Tal (above), an area of evergreen forest and a handful of small lakes (Tal means lake). Our route took us over a one-lane bridge, at which we had to stop and concede to an oncoming vehicle. Several cars lined up behind us, one of which honked on his horn continuously, impatient to proceed. He was obviously not the only agressive driver at this corner, as evidenced by a crushed, overturned vehicle in the ditch beside us. He was so impatient that he pulled out of the line and drove up beside us, trying to go around. The problem was that the car coming over the bridge now had no where to go. The cars behind us had all inched up when the impatient one pulled out. This idiot had now gridlocked the whole road! A policeman attempted to direct traffic after giving the guy a strong bullocking for that stunt. We had a great laugh at this whole scene.

A roadside stop at the lower fields yielded good looks at Russet Sparrow, Rufous-tailed Flycatcher and Himalayan Bulbul, but was otherwise disappointing bird wise. We reached Sat Tal and descended by foot into a small valley looking for Spotted Forktail around a pond, though it was not until the end of our visit that we caught up with this bird. On some small boulders around the shoreline of the larger pond, we watched Common Kingfisher darting for fish, and a Grey Wagtail feeding around the water’s edge. A female Plumbeous Redstart hopped along the rocks.

Down a trail we spotted a pair of Kalij Pheasants in the underbrush, followed by Yellow-bellied Fantail, Lemon-rumped Warbler and Black-lored Tit (above) flitting about in the trees. We saw a lone Black-throated Babbler low in the shrubs, and got excellent looks at Orange-flanked Bush Robin hopping around the ground.  It was a very enjoyable late-afternoon walk.