Sattal had always conjured up for me a picture of woodpeckers in places that could be easily be photographed especially a hide. Though my last “hide trip” to Thattekad was from an excitement point of view, super boring, I chose to take a “dekho” at Sattal for the himalayan birdies. My last Corbett trip had thrown up a bunch of new and colourful birdies and the himalayan birdies list was something I wanted to see. Most of my trips were down south and, the western ghats was well covered, mostly.
December is a good time since a lot of high altitude species migrate down. This trip we had also planned in Chopta for the Himalayan Monal which can easily be seen on the Chopta – Tungnath area.
Some Arty edits
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We got out of Delhi on the Sampark Karanti Express which got us into Kathgodam around 2330H. Kathgodam was already pretty cold and we had to pull on an extra layer and the headgear too. The ride to Sattal was a quick one hour or so and we quickly got into our rooms at the “Incredible Birding Lodge” run by Rahul Sharma & Khushboo Sharma. Thoughtfully there was some dal and rice kept in the room for a late dinner. (Thoughtful of you & Thank you Uma !) The rooms are basic but comfy and we dove into the thick quilts to catch a few hours sleep before we headed out early next morning.
We had a 0500H wakeup and we headed out to Surya village to a hide setup there. Its a setup that can use a 800mm comfortably for the small birds. It was a cold clear day and we needed all the jackets to keep ourselves warm. My first birdie of the trip was, a cutie Red Billed Leothrix. They were to keep foraging in the area through out the day. The first “item” was a pair of Black francolins. The show always begins with them appearing ! Another rarity was the Rusty Cheeked Scimitar Babbler and at the end of the day the Slaty Blue flycatcher, the female showed up, but not the male. Through the day I got some 35 species. I was informed that there have been times when folks have got upto 75 species in a half day session here ! Sometime in the afternoon a Besra flew in and grabbed something and got into the bushes. Immediately after, nothing stirred for the next couple of hours !
Black Francolin Male
Black Francolin female
The Surya gaon hide setup
At dinner, the first of the “Ammaji” mentions came up. Some food to be sent to her and some memory card to be done something. She was definitely someone of importance. Everybody seem to know of here surely.
Russet Sparrows Mud Bathing
Next morning out birding spot was “The Studio”.
This is a natural area near a small stream next to the sattal lake. The spot is actually a cremation spot for the locals. Luckily no cremations when we were there! But, the spot turns up a lot of rare birdies coming for a quick drink in the flowing stream. It was bitter cold at 0630H and we setup at the studio. Again a tripod static setup and I pulled out my flash to help with finer details on the birds. Folks have put out a few perches near the stream for the birds to perch and thats where one gets the shots. The first birdie was a shy Rufous Gorgetted Flycatcher at 0914H which flew in and out quickly. But I got my shot :-). A curious red billed blue magpie landed at the perch. The action stopped at around 1230H but, we sat it out till about 1400H. Not too much action but not too bad either. The Mountain and Ashy Bulbuls were the highlights and gave us great shots. At the studio we got some 15 odd species. It was butt hurting cold at the studio. Also sitting on a cold rock didnt help much ! Bring a canvas stool along here ! Later, I pulled a half burnt log to sit on.
The studio: Tech Tip: This is 600mm+ 1.4TC
Slaty Blue flycatcher female
Ashy Bulbul
Red Billed Blue Magpie
Tale of the Ammaji at the studio. The folks at the lodge were regaling us with Amma stories. Seems last season, Ammaji was at the studio and all setup when the locals brought a body in for cremation. Ammaji was totally non plussed and wanted to stay put for birds, despite the nearby cremation. Suddenly even the little Hindi and English with which she usually communicated was not understandable to her at all 😉 Finally she was pleaded to move for the day.
We then went to the “Ashram Hide” and lo behold, I found a spot right next to Ammaji ! Ammajis fingers are like greased lightning. Doubt she will miss a bee in flight. Nary a bird misses her. She runs a two camera canon setup. A 600mm plus 1.4TC and a hand held 100-400 for the larger birds. And she dosent speak much. Totally concentrated on the birds. Should you speak loudly, expect a huge eye roll ! Got only 8 species that evening but great views of the Grey Headed woodie, the Red Jungle Fowls, the Khaleej, a really wonderful Greater yellow naped woodpecker. We closed the day with an unexpected arrival of a Brown fronted woodpecker ! I wanted to see the lesser yellow nape too but that was not to be.
The Ashram: Tech Tip: The 600mm is a bit much for the larger birds. Keep a 200-500mm handy ! But by around 0830 the light gets very harsh.
Tickle’s Thrush
Blue whistling Thrush
Khaleej Pheasant
Greater Yellow naped woodpecker
Khaleej Pheasant ( 2 shot stitched)
Black Throated Thrush
Red Jungle fowl
Brown Fronted Woodpecker
8th Dec 2019 morning, we went to Ashram again. This time hoping to snag the not so common, Common Green Magpie. I had seen this birdies on my Corbett trip in 2018 but the bird was a bit distance away. The news was that the bird had not come in to the Ashram hide for a few days now. We were fervently hoping it turned up today since we were to depart for Choopta the next day. This bird is usually a morning visitor to the Ashram hide. Ashram hide is probably the most popular hide in Sattal and with good reason. One can also spot the Rufous-throated Partridge here. Another rarity that we did not spot. We muttered in hope that we get the “Ammaji luck” and sure enough our Green Magpie luck was in. The greenie popped in at 0706 on a neat perch ! It made 3 – 4 visits to the perches over the course of that morning. Ammaji luck was ON 🙂
Red Vented Bulbul landing
Green Magpie
Back at the lodge, I was able to snag Bar tailed treecreeper foraging quite close. The lodge lawn is a nice place to sit and spot some birds too. There are regular woodpeckers, tits and red billed magpies that visit here. Keep your cameras handy !
Black Lored Tit
Red Billed Blue Magpie
Bar tailed treecreeper
That evening we went back to the Surya hide to try for the Slaty Blue Flycatcher male and get this beauty we did !. It flew in and prettily sat on top of a cactus there. No chance of missing this one ! Bird count by now had crept up to 46. I told Shubham my guide that how about shooting for a 100 on this trip. He assured that it was easy to achieve. I love Sattal for the sheer bird variety here and the ease of spotting. But if you want more arty than documentary pics, well the hides may not be the best place. On the way back from Surya village some stopped to grab “a quarter” for Chopta days ahead and I bought some nuts and almonds to make my own trail mix.
Black Headed Jay takeoff
09 Dec 19: Enroute Mandal, we saw a scarlet minivet,few Olive Backed Pipits, and a spot where you can see Steppe eagles up close. There is a bridge (at Diwalikhal I think) from where we got to see some forktails and a crested kingfisher.
Scarlet Minivet – Male
Great Tit
Scarlet Minivet – Female
Steppe Eagle
Enroute, my shoe gets a stitching
View from Gayatri Hotel ( after Ranikhet)
The road from Karnaprayag to Mandal is quite a mess with all the construction ongoing. So factor sufficient time. Just ahead of Karnaprayag, we got heldup in a rock fall that has happened some hours ago. No mountain trip is complete without a rockfall enroute !
Karnaprayag
Karnaprayag sadhu
Drone view of a spotted forktail
Mandal is a better place to stay than Chopta. The Gurukripa lodge had decent rooms and a much needed heater to boot. The local fare was good too especially, ask for “Maduwe ki roti”. Madua is a local variety of millet and I found it to be quite tasty. https://www.uttarakhand-tourism.com/uttarakhand/madua.php. Worked really well for me since I was on slow carb diet 🙂
At Mandal, the birding is generally around the Herbal Institute and we started with a bang. The very first bird that I spotted was a “Spot winged Rosefinch” sittings amongst a flock of Pink browed rose finches. We snagged the trip marquee the Scarlet finch and also the Golden Bush robin. This is one that I messed up and missed a sitter shot. But Hardeep with his machine gun 200-500 snagged it nice and proper !
Shooting the Scarlet Finch
Scarlet Finch – Male
Pink Browed Finch – Male
Himalayan Bulbul – Male
Tech Tip Mandal: 600mm +TC1.7 / 800mm or a cropped body with 200-500 type lens.
Lunch was back at the lodge and Panku was again ordering maggie and chinese fare. Rahul then quipped, “Eitna maggie khayega, Chinese ban jayega!”
Goldie Chaat Masala the universal favourite on the trip
Post lunch we drove up to Chopta. At the monal point, high up on the slope I spotted my very first Himalayan monal. Then we saw feral dogs. Not a good sign and the Monals kept their distance because of them. A winter wren and an Alpine accentor gave us some great shots. The Nandadevi peak was clearly visible and the clear skys made for some nice landscapes. Hopefully we would snag the Himalayan monal up close the next day.
Alpine Accentor
Eurasian wren
Nandadevi peak
Pano stitch
Himalayan Pika
Kitchen shots, & Portraits
“The Panku”
Shubham
Map of Uttarakhand
The next day (11 Dec) , we started early to Chopta and were at the monal point by 0630H. However no luck at all. The weather too was a getting a bit iffy and we waited out for the sun to come through. Not a bird in sight. But we did manage to see a couple Himalayan Tahrs.
Himalayan Tahr
Himalayan Tahr very next minute cloudy
Shooting Tahr’s
Himalayan Monal
Rahul said we should head out to Tungnath and we started the walk up the trail from Chopta. But the thin ice on the path was making progress slippery. And with gear it was not the best idea. Although we had got along crampons for this exact reason, we had left them down at Mandal. I did a quick recce up the slope but the ice was not conducive to carrying gear on a tripod safely. Bad planning this was and a chance to see a Himalayan monal up close was missed. A car coming up told us that they saw Monals up close near the landscape point and we rushed down there. No luck again. And a troupe of Himalayan langurs on the snow made for some shots. I did see a Himalayan woodpecker.
Himalayan Langur
Himalayan woodpecker
We rode back to the top looking for monals but couldnt see anything. The weather too was getting cloudy. Scanning the slopes ahead of the dhabha, we saw vultures circling and some flying into the trees below. That was a sure sign that there was a kill around. By now it was about 1030H and we headed back to the dhaba for some breakfast. After breakfast we sent Panku down the slopes to see if there was an approach to the kill area. Wile waiting for Panku to return we got lucky with a golden eagle which made an inquisitive pass over head. I was with just too much lens but made a couple hurried shots. Not the best but this will have to do. But Hardeep’s 200-500 snagged it right perfect !
Golden eagle
Himalayan Griffon
Panku came up and reported that there was an easy trail and we followed him down to the kill area. As we approached the area we saw that some other group was sitting literally a few meters from the kill. There would be no chance that any bid would approach with people sitting this near. But, the spot where we halted was as picturesque as could be. Wish one could camp here. Am pretty sure we would encounter bears and even a leopard here !
The ones near the kill 😉
We sat it out for a few hours without seeing anything and then decided to go back up and try the monal point. Rahul was by now getting antsy that we were not getting the monal and the weather to was getting bad with a bad weather warning for the next few days. Given the status of the road, it would be wise to get back to Sattal else good chance we could get snowed out here. Quick lunch and we headed back to the Monal point. Finally a male Himalayan Monal popped out in the gully below the road. We patiently waited and it slowly came out checked out a rock and then flew away giving us enough time to make a few shots. Himalayan Monal snagged 🙂
Shooting the Himalayan Monal
Himalayan Monal
On the way down we tried to get a Koklass pheasant but that was not to be. We heard calls but this shy one pretty much stayed in the bushes.
12th Dec morning was all raining and cloudy and we decided to go back to Sattal. One car left but I was keen to take a quick look around the Herbal Institute one last time. Luck favours the brave and I got the Scarlet finch and this time the Spot winged Rosefinch too !
Spot winged Rosefinch
Scarlet finch protecting territory
Ammaji tale: Shubham showed me a rock on the side of the road facing which Ammaji had laid down on the cold freezing road for over three hours to snag the Himalayan Blue tail !
Enroute we saw a beautiful Mountain Hawk Eagle juvenile sitting right near the road. It was raining pretty much all the way back to Sattal. Good thing we had decided to get back earlier than planned.
Mountain Hawk Eagle
The MHE was the 75th on the tally board and Shubham said another 25 was a breeze at Sattal.
Here is Panku’s song of the trip which was playing in a loop pretty much
Next day, 13 Dec, bad weather put paid to anything much at all. Got throughly bored sitting it out in the room but managed to finally complete a book that I was reading for some months now ! And not to forget a first hot bath of the trip ! Hardeep was running a cold and was grateful for the break and slept the day through.
The 14th morning too it was cloudy and drizzling but we took a chance to get out on the Sattal trail. The trail follows the road where “Ashram” is located. For the first time in a very long while I used a monopod with a RRS monopod head. I had the head flopping all over with my 600mm mounted. I think I might do better with a wimberly gimbal on top the monopod. Mono head is probably ok with a smaller lens though. The only new birdie was a Black Bulbul. A Green Tailed sunbird gave us some good shots.
Green Tailed sunbird
All in all a tame morning overall. That afternoon we headed out to Chafi for the Dipper and forktails. Somewhere enroute Shubham stopped and dug out a rarity, a White Tailed Rubythroat. After a lot of effort , it popped out briefly and this time I didnt miss my shot :-). All the practice of the days before was helping heaps.
White tailed Ruby throat
On the way to Chafi area is a very picturesque stream where we made some good pics of the Forktail and a yellow bellied fantail flycatcher.
Got both the Spotted and the Slaty forktail here.
Spotted Forktail
Slaty Backed Forktail
At Chafi we missed the Brown dipper ( supposed to be a 100% seen) bird. Oh well … But a Plumbeous redstart gave us some nice shots instead.
Plumbeous Redstart Male
White capped Redstart Male
On the way back we stopped at “I heart Cafe” for some hot coffee. A neat cafe in Sattal having the usual “cafe” fare.
15th Dec morning we had one window to bag some more birdies and we chose to stake out the studio ( armed with canvas stool this time ). Zero action and the only saving grace was the Rufous-Gorgetted Flycatcher which was super shy earlier, gave us plenty of poses to shoot. That was the only birdie that morning. The total tally stood at 78 distinct species for the trip. Not bad at all !
Rufous Gorgetted Flycatcher
Gotta end this with yet another epic Ammaji story.
Ammaji is in Ladakh shooting even the penis of a bee in flight at Tso Morori lake. Late evening after almost 10 days of being in the Ladakh sector, she develops signs AMS and faints. The tour leader asked her to rest and she replies that she want to shoot an owl and asks them to go find it ! She is bundled into a vehicle and driven top speed back to Leh through the darkenss. The ladhaki guide while on the drive says ” Ammaji mar gaya” and immediately Ammaji replies, “Tum gaadi chalo, mai jinda hai !” Ammaji was brought in a bad shape int the Leh hospital that the doc initially said, dont bring in bodies here. But she then was administered emergency and brought back from the brink. She stayed some 10 days at the hospital before being in a shape to fly out. Next season, she was back. Thats how tenacious she is. This is one badass bird lady.
Getting there
Old Delhi – Kathgodam Train : Sampark Kranti Express. Dep Del around 1600H
Kathgodam – New Delhi : Shatabdi Express Dep Kathgodam around 1530H
Tech tips for Sattal – Chopta
* The Ashram Hide:The 600mm is a bit much for the larger birds. Keep a 200-500mm handy ! But by around 0830 the light gets very harsh. * The studio (open area): This is 600mm+ 1.4TC zone * Surya village hide setup . Can use a 800mm/ 600mm + 1.4TC * Mandal: 600mm +TC1.7 / 800mm or a cropped body with 200-500 type lens. * Chopta: 600mm+ 1.4TC * Can use a flash everywhere
Winter wear:
My 5 layer principle worked well. 2 layer thermal inners , 1 teeshirt, one light fleece and one heavy fleece. Heavy fleece gets replaced with a down jacket as and when needed.
Best time for birds and wildlife in the mountains is immediately after bad weather. Everything will come out in the sun. Everything. I am sure the trip after us had super sightings. Murphy’s laws rules !
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I took my time so I could read this over the weekend! Loved the beautiful portraits and the remarkable list of species you got! What a treat! Thank you for writing this.
Thanks !
Wow..wonderful pictures with much helpful information..! Thanks for sharing.
Wow! Just spectacular and super narrative to take one there! Bravo Krish
Brilliant narrative and the images crisp as usual
Super Krish! Loved your birds n pics and the narrative.