 |
| Approaching Khonoma |
In 1998, the village council, recognising the local decline in wild species, became the first Naga village to ban hunting as it declared the 69 square km Khonoma Nature Conservation and Tragopan Sanctuary. You have to understand how embedded hunting is in Naga culture to appreciate what a bold action this was. Wild meat is often preferred to domestic meat, and with guns a common sight in rural Nagaland, hunting is very much the norm.
My wife's family live in Kohima, so I have made several trips to Khonoma in the past, and always found it exciting and well worth going, not only as a birding destination but as a village with this incredibly rich culture and history.
This year, I decided to spend three days of our family holiday birding around Khonoma with Angulie Meyase. Angulie is Nagaland's only bird guide so I was very much looking forward to the trip, but, given it was April and the rains about to begin, I must admit to being very nervous about leeches.
Angulie picked me up from Mission Compound at 5am and, armed with a kilo of salt to deter leeches, we set off for Khonoma. On the way, we stopped and walked up a side road. First bird was a spot-breasted parrotbill, followed by blue-throated barbet and a great barbet. I found a puddle full of tadpoles, which the kids would have loved, and Angulie pointed out a stunning Mrs Gould's Sunbird, alone in a tree below us. We saw an olive-backed pipit, a flock of black bulbuls in trees and deeper in the woods, a sapphire blue flycatcher. An oriental cuckoo was heard but not seen as we watched a squirrel work its' way along treetops.
A large bird of prey was flying well above the forest, diagnosed by Angulie as a changeable hawk eagle. We birded the road Khonoma, the bypass, and encountered the ubiquitous grey sibia, followed by green-backed tit, red-vented bulbul, flavescent bulbul and a mixed flock of warblers, including grey-cheeked leaf warbler and Blyth's warbler.
A walk into the forest produced spot-breasted scimitar babbler, below us as the hillside was steep, rufescent prinia, a great sighting of a chestnut-vented nuthatch, as well as black-throated tit. Continuing along the road, brown shrike, verditer flycatcher, which is one of my favourites and often seen around Khonoma, then a grey bushchat flitted across the track, and we saw a single common rosefinch, which I thought was unusual as they are normally in a flock. Even more unusual had been the morning before, seeing a flock of common rosefinches in the trees outside my wife's house in Kohima Village, where any bird apart from swifts and house martins is an event.
Continuing towards the coppiced alder forests above Khonoma, we spied maroon oriole, small niltava, a large hawk cuckoo, oriental white-eye, Indian blue robin and a beautiful black-breasted thrush, followed by blue rock thrush.
Now past the meadows above Khonoma, gaining height through the long hairpins on the road, I was shocked by the impact of the road widening, however, Angulie was confident that after a couple of years, vegetation will recover over the present scars. At a point where the road narrows, we stopped to investigate the honeycombs below the cliffs, in the hope of seeing a honeyguide. Unfortunately, the hives were gone, but we spotted a yellow-throated martin , also on the hunt for honey, before it disappeared into the woods.
Angulie played recordings of a golden babbler near a bamboo stand, and brought one out to within ten feet of us. The next highlight came as we stopped at the Gerard Durrell monument, commemorating the inception of the Tragopan Sanctuary. After seeing rufous-bellied fulvetta, crested finchbill and a mountain tailorbird, not forgetting an unidentified female sunbird, we walked into the scrubby forest behind the pond. Rufescent prinia was followed by a rare striped laughingthrush, which was revealed by Angulie's recordings, in the base of a small bush. Its' shape was visible, and Angulie positioned me on the far side of the bush from where he was. Out it came, for a brief second, in the cover of the bush but in the open, long enough for me to think I should have tried a photo. Not the bright, relatively garish colour of Mrs Gould, but beautiful in its' own way.
Then it was lunch ! I felt a tickle on my finger - looked and saw the wavering black line, ahhh !! I flicked my finger away and off went the leech before it had a chance to bite. A brief shock and I sat on my feet instead of parking myself on the grass. Was it worth all the worry ?
Readying to head down to Khonoma, a male scarlet minivet was next, stunning, followed by crested finchbill. We tried to attract a Naga wren babbler, which we managed to hear but did not see. A great day for small animals brought out another orange-bellied squirrel. I had never seen so many in Nagaland.
In the afternoon, we slowly birded through the alders adding little spiderhunter, large niltava, whiskered yuhina, a little pied flycatcher, blue-winged laughing thrush and a black-winged cuckoo shrike. Angulie's bird spotting ability is just stunning. Next came crested finchbill, black-breasted thrush, another sighting of a striped laughingthrush ... we saw a ferruginous flycatcher close to the car, and as the light was beginning to go, slaty-blue flycatcher. We slowed in the hope of mountain bamboo partridge, and eventually a pair crossed the road, followed further down by another pair.
A final stop at a football pitch, all on its' own in the forest, in the cool air and surrounded by mountains, brought an Asian barred owlet calling, among the barbets, sibias and cuckoos, along with a hoary-bellied squirrel working its' way through the fir trees beside the pitch.
And so a long and great day ended and it was off to the homestay. As I changed, I discovered it was actually 2 - 0 to the leeches, as I found a bite on my leg that I had not even been aware of. I washed it carefully to make sure it was not a tick and all was well. I had expected much worse !
Another early-ish start, and the plan was to slowly make our way through the alders and either down to the next valley, Dzelakie, on the road west to Benrue, or, weather permitting, go up through the forest above the meadows where the path leads eventually to the Dzukuo Valley.
The combination of the relatively small alders and low, dense vegetation beneath allows a huge range of species to thrive here, supported presumably by an enormous population of insects. Grey wagtail, first bird of the day, was followed by black-breasted thrush, olive-backed pipit and a scarlet minivet. Angulie's recordings pulled in a large hawk cuckoo, and his sharp eyesight caught a khaleej pheasant, which I missed, but heard, and a rusty-capped fulvetta. Great barbet and the amazing screeching of a mountain bamboo partridge was next, another grey sibia and lesser shortwing.
Birding through these forests is a fantastic experience, as small flocks of warblers pass over, tits and flycatchers abound and, if you are lucky to be with Angulie, there is the chance to pull in some rare skulker that would otherwise go unseen.
Indian blue robin, slaty-blue flycatcher, another beautiful bird, and then a flock of greenish warblers passed over. A tri-coloured shrike sat on a post at some distance, and, Angulie's recordings eventually brought out a streak-breasted scimitar babbler, though I only saw it in flight.
Next up, some disused fish ponds, where I wandered around hoping to see frongs or even a snake. More recordings brought a rattling response ... black-tailed crake ! The crake was responding to the recordings, and was finally brought into the open. Angulie explained just how rare these are and how even rarer sightings like this are. At this point, after a couple of photos, my camera batteries died and I had to rely on the phone. The crake was so inquisitive, suspicious of a new rival, that it came to within a few feet of us. Unbelievably exciting and special moments. Then, incredibly, another appeared, more shy, but definitely a pair. I would never have expected a bird like that in Nagaland.
We emerged into the meadow, beneath the sheds and, after lunch, braved the rain, and set off up into the forest. We did not get too far before the rain put paid to the idea and, after great barbet and mountain bulbul, returned to the road and set off for Dzelakie.
After you pass the Gerald Durrell sign, you enter another valley, still part of the Sanctuary, steep sided with dark forest interspersed with rhododendrons (the tallest in the world is in this area). As the valley opens up, a stream develops on the valley floor, and there is some small settlement and paddy fields. The stream holds a very rare, local species of trout.
I have never been down to the stream so we took the car down near a dam and immediately saw the waterside specialists plumbeous water redstart and grey wagtail, as well as pied wagtail. The stream was fairly fast flowing but wherever there was a sheltered part, thousands of tadpoles were holding on. We crossed the stream, seeing little bunting on a hedge, and saw some old fish ponds. More in hope than expectation, Angulie played the black-tailed crake recording and to our great surprise, got a response ! We kept playing for twenty minutes, it kept responding, but unfortunately, it was more introvert than its' counterpart of the morning. As we gave up and started to walk off, it ran between two clumps and that was all we saw. A fantastic, unexpected surprise.
We took a short walk into the forest, amidst loud calls of mountain bamboo partridge, as a bird of prey flew out, to fast and low to identify. This forest is very dense and covers a large area and would definitely be worth further exploration in the future. After seeing a striped laughingthrush, we set off to cross the fields.
Walking over a small, marshy patch, a bird flew up from a tussock in front of me. I remember it as brown, and quite streaked, and it only flew up to three or four feet before dropping straight back down where it had come from. Hoping for it to show again, I waited, and was shocked when it actually ran into another tussock beside the original one. At first, I thought it was some kind of rodent running, like a rat, but it was my bird, with it's head down, running in a covert dash between the two clumps of grass. Its' backparts were quite plain and lightish brown.
Unfortunately, Angulie was further ahead trying to locate a pipit we had seen earlier. I waited and it did not emerge so I went off to catch up with Angulie hoping my description would bring a quick identification, but unfortunately, it did not. Since then, my research lead me to suggest marsh babbler, but I have not found any record of it in Nagaland, and, though it is obviously a wetland bird, I do not know whether it is a reedbed bird or at what altitude it would live, so if anyone has any suggestions, they would be welcome.
We caught up with the pipit, moving south across the dry paddies. It was very light, with a greyish head, front a light, streaked orangey hue and the wings a darker, though still light, brown, with two bars that I could see. The bird was at a distance so unfortunately also escaped definition.
After lunch, we continued west, towards Benrue, but turned off towards the village of Polwa. We birded along the road, with a stunning view down the valley which dropped away below us, layers of mountains as far as the eye could see. Grey bushchat, and a Eurasian sparrowhawk were seen, before Angulie focused on a flock of swifts and house martins. Nepal house martins, red-rumped swallows and forktail swifts shared the sky with rare dark-rumped swifts, a great find. Below the Khonoma - Benrue road are cliffs where Angulie suspected the dark rumped swifts to be nesting. After watching them for some time, with an appearance of a verditer flycatcher, we headed back for Khonoma. The last species in that area was a pair of slaty-backed forktails working their way up the Dzelakie stream.
Instead of heading into Khonoma the same way, Angulie took us down a narrow forest track. Spot-breasted scimitar babbler was followed by mountain and striated bulbuls, crested finchbills, and a pair of kalij pheasants. The beauty, or one of the many beauties, of birding in these mountainous areas is being able to see into treetops of the forest below the road. This allowed us to see a bay woodpecker going from tree to tree. Next were black-breasted thrush, and excitingly for me, a tree shrew, a pair of large hawk cuckoos, and a pair of mountain bamboo partridge. We heard, with Angulie's recordings, golden bush robin, but we did not see it.
As we walked down the track, a scimitar babbler flew off its' nest. We found the nest, in the mossy growth at the roadside, obviously taking care not to disturb it, and found two cream eggs and one blue egg - victim of a cuckoo ?
Our final day again started early. I was tempted to walk down to the paddy fields and streams below Khonoma, having been fruitful in Dzelakie, plus, a photo looking up the terraced paddies would be excellent, but lacking took longer so we set off under the original plan when Angulie arrived.
We had only gone a couple of hundred yards, still really in the village, when high in a tree Angulie spotted a white-browed laughingthrush. We checked our books and there was no doubt, sitting calmly was a white-browed laughingthrush. The white patch at the eye was very clear. Angulie mentioned coming back the next day to try for a picture, as this was out of range of my mobile's capability. What a start !
Spot-breasted scimitar babbler and rufous-necked laughingthrush followed, both just as we were on the edge of Khonoma. Incredible. We reached the alders and found a red-faced liochicila, a beautiful bird, followed by grey bushchat and rufous-bellied niltava. A glimpse of a rusty-capped fulvetta, a top skulker, followed, then more of the small birds that typify the alders, little pied flycatcher, leaf warblers, and always the sound of barbets, sibias and cuckoos.
 |
| Spot-breasted babbler through binoculars held up to mobile |
Slaty blue flycatcher, silver-eared mesia and we went down a little track to a small stream in the hope of attracting a pitta. Unfortunately, there was no pitta in the vicinity, but we did see a crested serpent eagle high above the forest, Nepal house martins, long-tailed shrike, ferruginous flycatcher, slaty-bellied tesia, small niltava and excitingly, a white-bellied piculet, followed by a large niltava, and near the stream, a blue-fronted redstart.
After lunch, we decided to walk as far up the path to Dzukuo valley, above the meadow, as time would allow. It was dry so we did expect too much trouble from leeches ! I did put salt round my socks just in case.
The forest becomes progressively thicker as you go higher, the steep walk made easier by steps cut out of stones. Further up, the steps stop and beyond, according to Angulie, is a good area for Blyth's tragopan, though early morning is best. First sighting was a grey-headed canary flycatcher, and Angulie's recordings attracted a pygmy wren babbler, which I managed to film and photograph on my mobile, grey-bellied tesia and we heard a Naga wren babbler though could not encourage it into the open.
The forest is like a lost land that time forgot, huge trees, moss-covered, with fallen trees lying at angles and damp overhangs, dripping into small pools. As we were ascending, bearing in mind, this is steep, and after some time, the steps stop, we came across two old gents from Mumbai on their way down ! We had not seen them going up before us so they had to have walked over the range from Mount Japfu and through the Dzukuo Valley. That would be an impressive achievement for anyone, far less two boys in their seventies and eighties.
We reached close to where the steps stop, and decided to descend, as we were heading back to Kohima that day. We saw a rufous-bellied niltava, another extremely beautiful bird, and, again with the recordings, located a Naga wren babbler, which this time was far more accommodating, coming into the open and singing for a good ten minutes. (Unfortunately, the file size of the video exceeds 100MB, this site's limit - I will provide a link to wherever I can find to post it). Close to this point, we found the scat of a civet cat, good to see evidence of animal life. Further down, we came across porcupine quills, and I was imagining a battle but Angulie's view was it was much more likely to have been shot.
Back to the car, and it was time to start heading slowly back to Kohima and the family. There was time for one or two more excursions though, and we walked up one of the valleys that round down onto the road. The one we chose had a small stoneworks at the bottom, and and then suddenly becomes steep, with cliffs and dense forest. One cliff holds the face of a warrior who, according to legend, protects the forest. It was stunning, with mist drawing in, and a primeval feel.
Rusty-fronted barwing, long-tailed shrike watching over some dense bushes, white-capped water redstart, inevitably, grey sibia, and another rufous-bellied niltava. Moving higher, the path twisted and came out into what was practically an alpine meadow, invisible from the road below, below the forested mountain-side. Here we saw black-throated prinia, Mrs Gould's sunbird and a green-backed tit. There was a herd of mithun's, the cowherd putting salt down for them, and we sat on a boulder in the middle of them. Angulie heard a broadbill, but could not locate it. I gave the cowherd what was left of my salt, which was, admittedly, most of it, my paranoia about leeches having been largely unnecessary.
We had one more stop, back at the fish-ponds, and, as the recordings played, the black-tailed crake responded to form. This time, it took longer for the birds to appear, the bolder one skirting the edge of the ponds, before giving up and going back to the thick marshy vegetation it had come from. Eventually, as the light was failing, it came back, and walked the edge of a pond, in and out of the water, sometimes swimming. I was breathless as this was all only a few feet from us. Finally, the second bird appeared, and it actually swam across the whole pond in front of us. A stunning end to a trip that far exceeded expectations.
Not only had we seen some very rare birds, but the diversity of species around Khonoma, and the sheer number of birds, made this an incredible trip. Alongside seeing the speciality birds, I was greatly encouraged by the glimpses and evidence of animals in the area. I have been to Khonoma before, but to go there with an expert like Angulie, brought up in the area, took the experience to a completely different level.
The Final List
| Latin Name | English Name | Alternate Name |
| Bambusicola fytchii | Mountain Bamboo-Partridge | |
| Lophura leucomelanos | Kalij Pheasant | |
| Spilornis cheela | Crested Serpent-Eagle | |
| Accipiter nisus | Eurasian Sparrowhawk | Sparrow Hawk, Northern Sparrowhawk |
| Spizaetus cirrhatus | Changeable Hawk-Eagle | Crested Hawk Eagle |
| Porzana bicolor | Black-tailed Crake | |
| Cuculus sparverioides | Large Hawk-Cuckoo | |
| Cuculus saturatus | Oriental Cuckoo | Himalayan Cuckoo |
| Glaucidium cuculoides | Asian Barred Owlet | Barred Owlet |
| Apus pacificus | Fork-tailed Swift | Large White-rumped Swift |
| Megalaima virens | Great Barbet | Great Hill Barbet, Great Himalayan Barbet |
| Megalaima asiatica | Blue-throated Barbet | |
| Blythipicus pyrrhotis | Bay Woodpecker | Red-eared Bay Woodpecker |
| Coracina melaschistos | Black-winged Cuckooshrike | Smaller Grey Cuckooshrike, Dark-grey Cuckooshrike |
| Pericrocotus flammeus | Scarlet Minivet | Orange Minivet |
| Lanius cristatus | Brown Shrike | |
| Lanius schach | Long-tailed Shrike | Rufous-backed Shrike |
| Oriolus traillii | Maroon Oriole | |
| Dicrurus leucophaeus | Ashy Drongo | Grey Drongo |
| Rhipidura albicollis | White-throated Fantail Flycatcher | White-throated Fantail Flycatcher |
| Parus monticolus | Green-backed Tit | |
| Delichon nipalensis | Nepal House-Martin | Nepal Martin |
| Hirundo daurica | Red-rumped Swallow | Striated Swallow |
| Aegithalos concinnus | Black-throated Tit | Red-headed Tit |
| Prinia atrogularis | Hill Prinia | Black-throated Hill Warbler, Prinia |
| Prinia rufescens | Rufescent Prinia | Beavan’s Wren Warbler, Rufous Prinia |
| Orthotomus cucullatus | Mountain Tailorbird | Golden-headed Tailorbird |
| Spizixos canifrons | Crested Finchbill | Finch-billed Bulbul |
| Pycnonotus striatus | Striated Bulbul | Striated Green Bulbul |
| Pycnonotus cafer | Red-vented Bulbul | |
| Pycnonotus flavescens | Flavescent Bulbul | Blyth’s Bulbul |
| Hypsipetes mcclellandii | Mountain Bulbul | Rufous-bellied Bulbul |
| Hypsipetes leucocephalus | Black Bulbul | |
| Tesia olivea | Slaty-bellied Tesia | Slaty-bellied Ground Warbler |
| Tesia Cyaniventer | Grey-bellied Tesia | Dull Slaty-bellied Ground Warbler |
| Phylloscopus trochiloides | Greenish Warbler | Dull Green Leaf Warbler |
| Phylloscopus reguloides | Blyth's Leaf-Warbler | Crowned Leaf Warbler |
| Seicercus castaniceps | Chesnut-crowned Flycatcher Warbler | Chestnut-headed Flycatcher Warbler |
| Pomatorhinus ruficollis | Streak-breasted Scimitar-Babbler | Rufous-necked Scimitar Babbler |
| Pnoepyga pusilla | Pygmy Wren-Babbler | Brown Wren Babbler |
| Spelaeornis formosus | Spotted Wren-Babbler | |
| Spelaeornis chocolatinus | Naga Wren Babbler | Long-tailed Wren-Babbler, Streaked Long-tailed Wren babbler |
| Stachyris ruficeps | Rufous-capped Babbler | Red-headed Babbler |
| Stachyris chrysaea | Golden Babbler | Gold-headed Babbler |
| Garrulax ruficollis | Rufous-necked Laughingthrush | |
| Garrulax merulinus | Spot-breasted Laughingthrush | Spotted-breasted Laughing Thrush |
| Garrulax sannio | White-browed Laughingthrush | |
| Garrulax virgatus | Striped Laughingthrush | Manipur Streaked Laughingthrush |
| Garrulax squamatus | Blue-winged Laughingthrush | |
| Liocichla phoenicea | Red-faced Liocichla | Crimson-winged Laughingthrush |
| Leiothrix argentauris | Silver-eared Mesia | |
| Actinodura egertoni | Rusty-fronted Barwing | Spectacled Barwing |
| Alcippe dubia | Rusty-capped Fulvetta | Rufous-headed Tit Babbler |
| Heterophasia gracilis | Grey Sibia | |
| Paradoxornis guttaticollis | Spot-breasted Parrotbill | White-throated Parrotbill |
| Zosterops palpebrosus | Oriental White-eye | White-eye, Small White-eye |
| Sitta nagaensis | Chestnut-vented Nuthatch | Common Nuthatch, Eurasian Nuthatch |
| Turdus dissimilis | Black-breasted Thrush | Dark-breasted Thrush |
| Turdus ruficollis | Dark-throated Thrush | Red-throated/Black-throated Thrush |
| Brachypteryx leucophris | Lesser Shortwing | |
| Luscinia brunnea | Indian Blue Robin | Blue Chat |
| Tarsiger chrysaeus | Golden Bush-Robin | |
| Phoenicurus frontalis | Blue-fronted Redstart | |
| Rhyacornis fuliginosus | Plumbeous Water-Redstart | Plumbeous Redstart |
| Chaimarrornis leucocephalus | White-capped Water-Redstart | White-capped Redstart |
| Enicurus schistaceus | Slaty-backed Forktail | |
| Saxicola ferrea | Grey Bushchat | Dark-grey Bushchat |
| Monticola solitarius | Blue Rock-Thrush | |
| Muscicapa ferruginea | Ferruginous Flycatcher | |
| Ficedula westermanni | Little Pied Flycatcher | Westermann's Flycatcher |
| Ficedula tricolor | Slaty-blue Flycatcher | |
| Ficedula sapphira | Sapphire Flycatcher | Sapphire-headed Flycatcher |
| Eumyias thalassina | Verditer Flycatcher | |
| Niltava sundara | Rufous-bellied Niltava | |
| Niltava grandis | Large Niltava | |
| Niltava macgrigoriae | Small Niltava | |
| Culicicapa ceylonensis | Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher | Grey-headed Flycatcher |
| Aethopyga gouldiae | Mrs. Gould's Sunbird | Gould’s Sunbird |
| Arachnothera longirostra | Little Spiderhunter | |
| Motacilla cinerea | Grey Wagtail | |
| Motacilla alba | White Wagtail | Pied Wagtail |
| Anthus hodgsoni | Olive-backed Pipit | Indian Tree Pipit, Olive Tree Pipit |
| Carpodacus erythrinus | Common Rosefinch | |
| Emberiza pusilla | Little Bunting | |
| Garrulax Chrysopterus | Assam Laughing Thrush | |
| Apus acuticauda | Dark-rumped Swift | Khasi Hills Swift |
| Pomatorhinus erythrocnemis | Spot-breasted Scimitar-Babbler | |
| Phylloscopus magnirostris | Large-billed leaf warbler |
