NORTHWEST HIMALAYAN & INDIAN MONSOON SPECIALITIES – from Orange Bullfinch and White-cheeked Bushtit to Lesser Florican and Finn’s Weaver

PRICE INFORMATION

Birdquest Inclusions: Our tour prices include surface transportation, accommodations, meals and entrance fees.

We also include all tipping for local guides, drivers and accommodation/restaurant staff.

We also include this flight: Mumbai-Jaipur.

Please note that air travel between Islamabad and Mumbai is not included. This journey is more economically included with your intercontinental air travel in connection with the tour.

Deposit: 20% of the total tour price. Our office will let you know what deposit amount is due, in order to confirm your booking, following receipt of your online booking form.

TO BOOK THIS TOUR: Click here (you will need the tour dates)

The single supplement will not apply if you indicate on booking that you prefer to share a room and there is a room-mate of the same sex available.

This tour is priced in US Dollars. Amounts shown in other currencies are indicative.

Air Travel To & From The Tour:  Our in-house IATA ticket agency will be pleased to arrange your air travel on request, or you may arrange this yourself if you prefer.

NORTHWEST HIMALAYAS & INDIAN MONSOON SPECIALITIES BIRDING TOUR: DETAILED ITINERARY

PART 1: NORTHWEST HIMALAYAN SPECIALITIES

Northwest Himalayan Specialities: Day 1  Our tour begins this morning at Islamabad airport. We shall be staying at the clean and well-designed political capital of Pakistan for two nights. Later we shall begin our exploration of the Margalla Hills.

[As we have pointed out earlier, whereas Indian Kashmir is a very insecure ‘no go area’ with severe ‘no travel’ advisories from all major western countries that consequently invalidate all normal travel insurance, this is not the case for the areas we explore in Pakistan where your travel insurance will not be invalidated.]

Northwest Himalayan Specialities: Day 2  During our time at Islamabad, we shall be concentrating on the Margalla Hills that stretch along the northern edge of the city. The avifauna is mostly typical of the Northwest Himalayan foothills.

The star attraction of the area is the uncommon and very localized White-cheeked Tit (a species now virtually endemic to northern Pakistan). Other good birds include Brown-fronted Woodpecker, Slaty-headed (or Himalayan) Parakeet and Black-headed Jay (all endemic to the western Himalayas) and also Scaly-bellied Woodpecker (which also extends into Central Asia).

More widespread birds we could well see in the Islamabad area include Black Kite, Crested (or Oriental) Honey Buzzard, Shikra, White-eyed Buzzard, Spotted Dove, Rose-ringed and Plum-headed Parakeets, Common Hawk-Cuckoo, Grey-bellied and Pied (or Jacobin) Cuckoos, Asian Koel, Little Swift, Blue-throated and Coppersmith Barbets, Speckled Piculet, Black-rumped Flameback, Small Minivet, Himalayan and Red-vented Bulbuls, Indian Robin, Oriental Magpie-Robin, Grey-breasted Prinia, Common Tailorbird, Grey-hooded Warbler, Blue-throated Flycatcher, White-throated Fantail, Indian Paradise Flycatcher, Rusty-cheeked Scimitar Babbler, Black-chinned and Jungle Babblers, Purple Sunbird, Oriental White-eye, Long-tailed Shrike, Rufous Treepie, House Crow, Brahminy Starling, Common and Bank Mynas, Yellow-throated (or Chestnut-shouldered) Sparrow and Crested Bunting.

Northwest Himalayan Specialities: Day 3  Today we will drive northwards into the Kaghan valley for some Western Himalayan forest birding, pausing in drier parts of the valley to look for European Roller and White-capped Bunting.

Eventually, we will reach the Kaghan valley, where we will stay for four nights at an altitude of over 2000 metres (over 6600ft). We will begin our exploration of the area this afternoon.

Northwest Himalayan Specialities: Days 4-6  The Kaghan valley possesses a wide range of altitudes and habitats ranging from the valley floor at about 1500m to the high alpine slopes at over 3300m (10,800ft). After the heat of the plains and foothills, the cool mountains will come as a very pleasant relief.

We shall explore the forested areas for such Northwest Himalayan specialities as Himalayan Woodpecker, Western Crowned, Tytler’s Leaf and Brooks’s Leaf Warblers, Rusty-tailed Flycatcher, Variegated Laughingthrush, Rufous-naped and Spot-winged Tits, White-throated Bushtit, White-cheeked Nuthatch, the uncommon and localized Kashmir Nuthatch, Kashmir (or Larger-spotted) Nutcracker, Spectacled Finch and the boldly-coloured Black-and-yellow Grosbeak.

We also have a very high chance of finding the uncommon Orange Bullfinch, which is a Northwest Himalayan endemic restricted to a small area of northern Pakistan and adjacent Indian Kashmir. We have never missed it on our tours to this area!

Other species we may well see in this habitat include Eurasian Woodcock, Oriental Turtle Dove, Common and Lesser Cuckoos, Collared Owlet, White-throated Needletail, Common and Alpine Swifts, Great Barbet, Eurasian Wryneck, Long-tailed Minivet, Himalayan Black Bulbul, Brown Dipper, Indian Blue Robin, Himalayan Bluetail, Golden Bush Robin, White-bellied Redstart, Plumbeous and White-capped Water Redstarts, Grey Bushchat, Blue-capped and Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrushes, Blue Whistling Thrush, the restricted-range Tibetan Blackbird, Grey-winged Blackbird, Chestnut Thrush, Spotted Forktail, Brownish-flanked and Grey-sided Bush Warblers, Striated Prinia, Large-billed Leaf, Lemon-rumped, Hume’s Leaf and Tickell’s Leaf Warblers, Dark-sided, Slaty-blue, Ultramarine and Verditer Flycatchers, Rufous-bellied Niltava, Streaked Laughingthrush, Green Shrike-Babbler, Black-throated and Green-backed Tits, Bar-tailed and Eurasian Treecreepers, Ashy Drongo, Yellow-billed Blue Magpie, Large-billed Crow, Russet Sparrow, Yellow-breasted Greenfinch, Pink-browed and Himalayan White-browed Rosefinches, and Rock Bunting.

If we are lucky we will encounter Koklass Pheasant, Upland Pipit or Chestnut-eared Bunting.

We shall also ascend on jeep tracks to the high pastures, where we will have access to open areas, scrub and high-altitude forest set amidst a fantastic panorama of spectacular, snow-capped peaks.

Here we may well encounter Himalayan Griffon, Oriental Cuckoo, Rosy Pipit, Rufous-breasted Accentor, the stunning Himalayan Rubythroat, Blue-capped Redstart (another Western Himalayan/Central Asian speciality), Blue-fronted Redstart, Greenish Warbler, Plain Mountain Finch and White-winged Grosbeak.

Himalayan Monal is not uncommon in the area, but very shy due to hunting, and so we will need to be very lucky to enjoy views of this impressive pheasant.

Northwest Himalayan Specialities: Day 7  After some final birding, we leave the Kaghan valley and return to Islamabad for an overnight stay.

Northwest Himalayan Specialities: Day 8  Morning tour end at Islamabad.

PART 2: INDIAN MONSOON SPECIALITIES

Indian Monsoon Specialities: Day 1  Our tour begins this morning at Mumbai in western India. From there we will take the expressway to Pune, a small city at the northern end of the Western Ghats where we will spend the night.

This afternoon we will commence our exploration of the Pune area, including the grounds of an ancient fortress of the Mahratta kingdom.

Indian Monsoon Specialities: Day 2  Broad-tailed Grassbird is definitely an Indian ‘monsoon speciality’. Active and relatively easy to see at this time of year, it is a silent, hellishly difficult skulker during the dry season and very hard to see during South India tours.

As well as the grassbird, we can also expect to see Painted Francolin, another sought-after species that is difficult outside the pre-monsoon and monsoon periods. We also have a good chance for the attractive Vigors’s Sunbird, a Western Ghats endemic that does not reach the parts of South India explored during birding tours to the region.

Other birds of the area include several endemics including both Sykes’s and Malabar Larks, Malabar Whistling Thrush and Indian Blackbird. Jungle Bush Quail is also likely.

This afternoon we will return to Mumbai airport and catch an evening flight to the famous city of Jaipur in the state of Rajasthan for an overnight stay.

Indian Monsoon Specialities: Day 3  Before leaving Jaipur we will pay a short visit to the famous Palace of the Winds, a world-famous ‘facade’ from where members of the royal court could observe processions through this storied city. Just something every visitor should see.

Afterwards, we will drive southwestwards to Ajmer for a three nights stay. This afternoon we will explore the Ajmer area and no doubt have our first encounter with the superb Lesser Florican!

Indian Monsoon Specialities: Days 4-5  The Ajmer region has become famous among birders for its population of Lesser Florican, an endangered species of bustard known in Hindi as ‘Likh’. For sure it will be our number one priority, but fortunately, the population is actually increasing as local farmers move over to crops requiring less pesticide and herbicide use. As a result, we will soon be watching these fabulous birds leaping up out of the crop fields every few minutes!

Another really key bird here, and a species that is so hard to see outside the monsoon, is Rain Quail and we have a very high chance of seeing some during our explorations. The endemic Rock Bush Quail is also quite common in this area.

Many other interesting species occur in the area including Indian Courser, Chestnut-bellied (and sometimes Painted) Sandgrouse, Indian (or Rock) Eagle-Owl,  the pretty Red-necked Falcon, White-bellied Minivet, Marshall’s Iora, Rufous-fronted Prinia and White-naped Tit. Rosy Starlings are also likely to be back on their wintering grounds, the earliest migrant passerine to reappear in the northwest Indian plains.

More widespread species include Indian Peafowl, Eurasian Collared, Red Collared and Laughing Doves, Common Hawk-Cuckoo, Pied (or Jacobin) Cuckoo, Red-wattled and Yellow-wattled Lapwings, Red-naped Ibis, Black and Black-winged Kites, Crested (or Oriental) Honey Buzzard, White-rumped Vulture, Shikra, White-eyed Buzzard, Black and Grey Francolins, Spotted Owlet, Savanna Nightjar, Asian Green Bee-eater, Indian Roller, Common Hoopoe, Indian Grey Hornbill, Yellow-fronted Woodpecker, Black-rumped Flameback, Rose-ringed and Plum-headed Parakeets, Small Minivet, Indian Paradise Flycatcher,Indian Golden Oriole, Ashy Woodswallow, Common Woodshrike, Red-vented and White-eared Bulbuls, Bay-backed and Great Grey Shrikes, Rufous Treepie, House and Indian Jungle Crows, Brahminy Starling, Common and Bank Mynas, Cinereous Tit, Indian and Singing Bush Larks, Rufous-tailed Lark, Ashy-crowned Sparrow-Lark, Dusky Crag Martin, Common, Jungle and Large Grey Babblers, Plain, Ashy and Grey-breasted Prinias, Indian Pied Myna, Pied Bush Chat, Brown Rock Chat, Indian Robin, Oriental Magpie-Robin, Oriental White-eye, Purple Sunbird, Yellow-throated (or Chestnut-shouldered) Sparrow, Baya Weaver, Indian Silverbill and Paddyfield Pipit.

Indian Monsoon Specialities: Day 6  Today we will head for Delhi for an overnight stay. We may arrive in time for a first look for Bristled Grassbird.

Indian Monsoon Specialities: Day 7  This morning we will visit an area in the Delhi region that holds a population of the usually skulking Bristled Grassbird. During the monsoon season, however, the grassbirds perch up conspicuously while singing and we can expect to get great views. Indian Grassbird can also be seen in the area.

Other new birds we may encounter in the Delhi region include Lesser Whistling, Knob-billed and Indian Spot-billed Ducks, Cotton Pygmy Goose, Little Grebe, Spotted Dove, Yellow-footed Green Pigeon, Grey-bellied Cuckoo, Asian Koel, Greater Coucal, White-breasted Waterhen, Grey-headed Swamphen, Sarus Crane, Pheasant-tailed and Bronze-winged Jacanas, Black-winged Stilt, Small Pratincole, Whiskered and River Terns, Little Cormorant, Black-headed and Glossy Ibises, Painted, Woolly-necked and Black-necked Storks, Asian Openbill, Black-crowned Night Heron, Indian Pond Heron, Purple Heron, Great, Intermediate, Little and Eastern Cattle Egrets, Yellow, Cinnamon and Black Bitterns, Little Swift, White-throated, Pied and Common Kingfishers, Brown-headed and Coppersmith Barbets, Common Kingfisher, Alexandrine Parakeet, Long-tailed Shrike, Grey-throated Martin, Zitting and Golden-headed Cisticolas, Chestnut-capped Babbler, Wire-tailed and Streak-throated Swallows, Grey-throated Martin, Streaked and Black-breasted Weavers, Red Avadavat and White-browed Wagtail.

This afternoon we will drive to the Haldwani area, situated in the Terai plain not far from the base of the Himalayas in Uttarakhand state, for an overnight stay.

Northwest Himalayan & Indian Monsoon Specialities:  Day 8  Finn’s Weaver, or Finn’s Baya as it was originally known, has always been an uncommon bird. Even in Northeast India, in West Bengal and Assam, it is not often recorded. In recent decades the species has suffered a massive decline, perhaps over 90%, and it is currently proposed that Finn’s Weaver be reclassified as Critically Endangered! It is hoped that last-minute conservation efforts will arrest the extinction of the species, but its habitat is very vulnerable to agricultural clearance or even industrialization or urbanization in fast developing modern India.

We will be visiting an area where the Indian-endemic Finn’s Weaver still occurs in good numbers and we should be able to watch the brightly coloured males and more sombre females attending their globular nests. An increasingly rare sight in today’s India.

As well as the weaver, the area holds a good number of bird species typical of the north Indian plains and we will have a chance to catch up on anything we missed earlier in the tour.

Likely new species include Indian Cuckoo, Brown Crake, Common Moorhen, Cinnamon Bittern, Striated Heron, Indian Cormorant, Oriental Darter, Chestnut-headed and Blue-tailed Bee-eaters, Stork-billed Kingfisher, Red-whiskered Bulbul, Large-billed Crow, Jungle Myna, Striated Grassbird, Yellow-bellied and Himalayan Prinias, Striated and Yellow-eyed Babblers, Bengal Bush Lark, Sand Lark, Oriental Skylark, Scaly-breasted, White-rumped and Tricoloured Munias, and perhaps Greater Painted-snipe.

Afterwards, we will return to Delhi where our tour ends this evening.