Saturday 14 March 2015

Lava - Neora Valley Main Trail

One last time in Neora Valley and this time I got a Jeep to drop me off by the cowsheds, this meant I was along the trail and in the good birding area by 07:30. Birds came thick and fast, a flock of 27 Scarlet finches to start with and then a Scaly Thrush flushed from the edge of the path followed by a White-tailed Robin. Then I came into one of the big bird waves, with birds in every direction, as a large mixed flock worked its way down the hillside. In the half hour that it took I picked out 12 Red-tailed Minla, 20 Chestnut-tailed Minla, 13 Short-billed Minivets, 2 Streaked Spiderhunter, 2 Fire-breasted Flowerpeckers, 6 Gold-naped Finch, plus a rake of Warblers. As I reached the area that I had the Tragopan in on the 10th, I played it cool and slowly snook up to the area, but it didn't matter how stealthy I was the 2 Satyr Tragopans (m+f) that were there took flight immediately and flew right past me up the hillside.
I then headed slowly back towards the cowsheds and came into another wave of birds, obviously different from the first flock. This one consisted of 10 Black-faced Warblers, 2 Grey-cheeked Warblers, 22 Golden-breasted Fulvettas, 20 Rusty-fronted Barwings, 2 Hoary-throated Barwings, 11 Striated Laughingthrush and 8 Brown-capped Laughingthrush. On top of this there was a flock of 100+ Tibetan Siskins at the bottom of the valley and somewhere along the way I picked out a Buff-barred Warbler as well.

Red-tailed Minla
Buff-barred Warbler
Brown-throated Treecreeper
Short-billed Minivet
Streaked Spiderhunter
Tibetan Siskin
Moths from last night
Neora Valley Gully

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