Birdwatching in Bhutan – Part I

The beautiful landlocked nation of Bhutan is like an Emerald studded within the mighty Himalayan Range. With a rich diversity of wildlife, Bhutan is a birdwatcher’s paradise. I went birdwatching in Bhutan to see the colourful, tiny to large, winged creatures in their natural habitats. Birdwatching in Bhutan was like a pilgrimage to the nature Gods. On this pilgrimage, we were blessed, with excellent bird sightings and views of the breathtaking landscapes. Allow ‘Footlooseinme’ to take you on this pilgrimage of birdwatching in Bhutan.

I have been to this magical nation of Bhutan before. (Read my previous post on Bhutan.) Here nature, religion and faith flourish side by side. They are intertwined in perfect harmony. Nature is protected, revered and nurtured and in turn, the nation is blessed with the bounty which leads to happiness among the residents and the visitors.

After my first visit to Bhutan a few years ago, I always wished to return to this land of ‘Thunder Dragon’ where almost every temple, lhakhang, dzong, river, forest and hill are associated with interesting legends. These legends were intriguing stories that kept me fascinated. (Read the legend of Ugyen Guru Lhakhang.) And nature has always played an important role in these legends.

To explore the natural wonder or (shall I say?) for birdwatching in Bhutan, we planned our week-long trip to the land of Sentient Beings. Little did I know, that a week too would fall short to complete birdwatching in Bhutan. With no proper idea or contacts of any birding guide, I approached our trusted friend in Bhutan – Lakey Drakpa. (Read my previous post to know about him.) 

Our good old friend managed to get us an excellent knowledgeable Birding guide for birdwatching in Bhutan. After overcoming the initial obstacle of our flight cancellation from Kolkata to Paro (due to airport closure for the landfall of cyclone Remal) we were back on track losing a day and a good amount of money and finally changing our route to Paro from Pune via Delhi.

We arrived at the new terminal of the Paro Airport. Here we paid the ‘Sustainable Development Fees (Regional)’ amounting to 1200 BTN per person per night. After paying this fee we were free to move within any part of Bhutan for our mentioned period of stay without any additional permit. The Sustainable Development Fee was introduced in 2022. The fund is used in various initiatives and programmes to protect the environment, culture and tradition. This in turn helps in reducing the carbon footprints generated by the visitors. No additional permit is required to visit any part of the nation. We cleared the immigration and then met our friend Lakey.

We were highly delighted to be Paro again. While driving to the city, our archer friend (Lakey) informed us that the Archery ground had moved to another place and the market had moved into its place. (Read my previous post on Paro to get a glimpse of the Archery ground and the market.)

Our birdwatching in Bhutan started early the next day. The target list of the birds we wanted to see was sent to our birding guide through Lakey. We now met him in person at Thimphu. (Read about my previous visit to Thimphu.) Our birding guide Jigme Tshering (Instagram) planned our route based on our target list of birds. So our route was from Paro – Dochula Pass – Punakha – Nobding – Pelela Pass – Trongsa – Zhemgang – Tingtibi and back. From the very first moment of our interaction, he said that this was a very short trip for birdwatching in Bhutan.

We thought to ourselves, how can a week-long birdwatching in Bhutan be a short trip? Gradually when the sighting began from Dochula Pass, we got the taste of actual birdwatching in Bhutan. The area around the cafeteria in Dochula Pass helped us check almost all the Laughingthrushes on our list with an addition of a few more species.

Jigme had sharp attentive eyes on the trees by the side as Lakey drove through the winding roads. As we drove we stopped in between and walked a few steps and captured dozens of birds ( 😊 not in a cage) but in our frames. The bright, tiny fluttering beauties were hyperactive and we had a tough time capturing them. But we did enjoy this hide-and-seek game with the little birdies.

We stopped at every possible place where Jigme got the hint of birds (through sounds or sights.) This took us a long time to reach Punakha. We wanted to see the Punakha Dzong in the violet hues of the blooming Jacarandas. (Read about my previous visit to Punakha.) Although we were late for the Jacaranda season, we still hoped to see a few. 

In this way, we included a cultural spot in our tour meant for birdwatching in Bhutan. The Punakha Dzong at the confluence of the Mo Chhu and Po Chhu Rivers, is always a spectacular sight to behold. And this time there were Jacarandas too. At the last leg of the blooming season, it still had the touch of violet with some drooping flowers left on the trees and the rest carpeting the floor.

We took a tour of the holy Punakha Dzong and then returned back to our birdwatching in Bhutan. You must be wondering, that I am not mentioning the name of the birds in my story. I have a genuine reason for that. We were experiencing a ‘Birdwatching’ high, with many birds at every stop and almost all of them were lifers. So if I keep mentioning the names of the birds, this post will turn into a bird list rather than my story of birdwatching in Bhutan.

I plan to introduce them with their photos; trust me, the list will be pretty long. Meanwhile, we met a couple of mountain goats, whom the dogs chased to the side of the slope. They silently hid by the bushes till the dogs went away, while we watched from the other side of the gorge. Swift-flowing mountain rivers accompanied us along the road and serene vistas welcomed us in every turn.

Meeting many birds, and a few groups of Assam Macaque and Grey Langur on our route, we reached Nobding. Patches of thick white clouds flew through the gorge sometimes revealing the mountains and sometimes veiling them behind their thick shroud. As we reached the hotel we were welcomed by heavy showers. Jigme booked our stay at Hotel Kuenphen Norbuding Nobding. We were highly delighted to have this beautiful hotel with all the basic amenities and clean rooms for a comfortable stay in this remote location.

The next morning we started very early at 5 AM. This became our regular time to start birdwatching in Bhutan for the next few days. The early hours of the day were gloomy with dense clouds and mist shrouding the view. We reached the Pelela Pass. Then we took a detour through the old highway to meet the Pheasants. The weather worsened and the visibility decreased. Even in this tough condition, we were lucky enough to spot the Himalayan Monal and the Satyr Tragopan. 

I curse the weather conditions for not getting good shots of these birds. To get better shots Jigme played the call of the birds on his Bluetooth speaker but the birds did not respond, and neither did they return to give us a show. Still, we were in complete awe of the situation – we spotted two large magnificent birds in one location (not to mention the other birds that came along with the pack 😃.)

By then we were well aware of the avian life in Bhutan and it was clear why Jigme said that a week of birdwatching in Bhutan was too little. We returned from our detour of Pelela Pass and were back on our regular track. I don’t intend to overcrowd this post with too many bird photographs. So I decided to split my post on birdwatching in Bhutan into two parts. Stay tuned for my next post as you say ‘Hi’ to my new winged friends from Bhutan.

(Read about my previous birdwatching in Bhutan.)

(Read about my journey to Chukha.)

(Read about Haa Valley.)

Read about the Black Necked Cranes of Bhutan.