Birding with Ram Gopalakrishnan: Nagaland's birding oases: Khonoma and Benreu

I rested my head on Grimmett's bird guide and dozed off. Not a sound disturbed us other than the chirping of the mynas: not in the forest, not anywhere remote but on a park bench right outside Dimapur airport!

We were here on a birdwatching trip to Nagaland and a local bandh had been called, which was to lift only at 6 pm. So instead of heading off immediately on the two and a half hour drive to Khonoma, we killed four hours at this sleepy airport, where literally nothing happens after the two flights daily land and hurriedly take off after barely stopping, much like a city public bus. We managed to clock up twenty species including a rubythroat, dark-rumped swifts and three species of mynas, before the early sunset typical of the northeast put an end to our airport birding.

Nagaland has the best and the worst: tremendously rich birdlife with many rare endemics, but a reputation for hunting and, over the years, almost exterminating anything that flies. So much so that birds are skittish and difficult to spot in most areas: a great barbet which would hardly notice you and continue with its piew..piew elsewhere in the Himalayas, flew off soon as we alighted from our car. Khonoma (altitude 1500 m), about 20 km from Kohima, is unique in that it is a community conservation reserve and has followed a hunting ban and eco tourism policy for the last decade. It has therefore picked up a reputation as a birding destination, and would be our home for the next few days. We checked in at the brand new Dovipie Inn, the first hotel to be constructed on Khonoma: perhaps a reflection of the increased traffic of birdwatchers and tourists to this picturesque village which carries eco-friendly tag proudly.

A sighting of three rare bamboo mountain partridges lit up our faces in the morning cold the next day. Grey sibias were all over and were equivalent to mynas in a city. The lovely silver eared mesia drew oohs and aahs, and soon lifers flowed: chestnut bellied rock thrush, crested finchbill and black throated thrush. An Asian barred owlet glared at us for disturbing it before flying off. Something is however different here from other northeast birding paradises such as Arunachal or Bhutan: perhaps it was the effect of hunting, perhaps it was the absence of rain in January, perhaps it was because we were south of the Brahmaputra.

Next morning a stop for short-billed minivets threw up a sighting of red-faced liochichlas and a spotted forktail at a stream as bonuses. Good start we thought. We were headed to the Khonoma Tragopan Sanctuary and Nikhil Bhopale, our group leader, had told us that the birdlife would exhibit their usual behaviour in one of the few well protected pockets in Nagaland. Yes, the birds were friendly again! And so it was back to business as usual: numerous great barbets flitted across our trail, a clear sighting of the eyebrowed thrush as it gorged on fruits followed, and whiskered yuhinas were photographed close up. A golden throated barbet and a streak-breated scimitar babbler followed and a flock of beautiful sibias broke the monopoly of their grey sibia cousins. A wren babbler's loud call and movement titillated us but it did not reveal itself, much like a cabaret dancer! We were of course following a strict no bird call playback policy. We did not sight Blyth's tragopan, but quite enjoyed the substitute fare on offer.

The steep kilometer long climb on foot up a rocky path into the sanctuary and the slippery descent had left our quads quivering: breakfast of aloo parathas and omelette washed down with wild apple juice tasted great despite the distraction of black eagles circling overhead. On the way back, a pair of wedge tailed green pigeons posed unconcerned directly overhead, their perfect camouflage among the green leaves leaving us with strained eyes and aching necks. Curtain call for the day was an aaram-se sighting of the little forktail gambolling among the rocks in a stream, with a plumbeous and white capped redstart keeping it company. Quintessential Northeast birding!

The next morning, on the road at the base of the Tragopan Sanctuary, a sighting of yellow breasted greenfinches was followed by two more sightings of mountain bamboo partridges on the road! We finally got our first unhurried view of blue winged laughingthrushes, in close proximity to a pair of spot-breasted scimitar babblers. The insistent pee..pee...pee..pee of the rufous capped babbler from the roadside undergrowth made us stop. Steps to follow this tiny rapidly flitting babbler are as follows: look for the movement, focus the binocs there, try to follow the bird with the binocs and then get really lucky.

After breakfast we set off to Benreu: the disturbance due to road widening ruled out any birding for the next hour or so, but as we approached Benreu, undisturbed evergreen forest took over. This picturesque mountain village clings precariously to a ridge at 2000 meters between two hills, at the top of one of which was the Mount Pauna Tourist Village with a set of scenic and comfortable guest cottages, each with its own balcony. The surrounding 8 square km have been declared a community conservation area like Khonoma but even here we did see youth on two wheelers carrying catapults and rifles, and there was evidence of logging as well.

A flock of flavescent bulbuls which are found only south of the Brahmaputra were a disgrace to the usually noisy and sociable bulbul family, foraging unobtrusively and silently. The yellow cheeked tit's cheek shone bright yellow in dazzling sunlight. Though the early northeast sunset stilled the birds somewhat, the evening walk on the hillside with spectacular views of the setting sun rivalled any south Indian hill station I had visited. We ended the day with a slide show and lecture by Nikhil Bhopale on basics of bird identification: don't recall listening to any lecture in school quite as attentively!

When you hear the machine gun like rapid fire burst clicking of long lenses around you, you know that something is putting on a show: like a Bollywood item number, the yellow-bellied fantail fanned, flitted and tantalized. The male orange-bellied leafbird, black throat and all, competed with the golden-throated barbet in displaying all the rainbow colors. The call of the scarlet finch sent us scrambling to take a shot of this stunner in bright sunlight before it took off a second later! The woodpecker family made its debut with the grey-capped pygmy woodpecker. And finally a warbler even I could identify by myself: the grey cheeked warbler with its trademark cheek and white eye ring. It was back to bird-a-minute typical northeast morning birding which I'd missed somewhat so far on this trip. As the mid morning sun and stiff wind stilled the bird calls, raptor parade started overhead. Two crested goshawks patrolled the bright blue sky, punctuated by the appearance of a Eurasian sparrowhawk and a pair of rufous-bellied hawk eagles.

Afternoon birding with bright sunlight illuminating the hill side revealed a red tailed minla and a blue winged siva (nee minla, its former name) in the same frame. A black-throated sunbird's iridescent plumage glinted in the sunlight as it fed on a wild banana. Grey sibias were in such abundance that one of us said "it was a lifer for me two days ago and I'm disgusted to see it already"! The show-stopper, literally as the light faded, was the rare chestnut-vented nuthatch! The long evening after sunset was filled in most agreeably by a class on raptor identification in flight, leaving us somewhat confident that we wouldn't make an embarassing mistake if tested the next day.

And what does the future hold for Nagaland's rich but persecuted wildlife and birdlife? Certainly the concept of community conservation areas as in Khonoma and Benreu, set down and enforced by the local leaders rather than the government, seems to reduce hunting. Perhaps the concept needs to be extended state wide and policed properly, but that does not seen to be a priority for the government. Logging and creeping habitat loss for human purposes will continue without formal protected area status. However enormous potential exists for making Nagaland a premier birding and nature tourist destination as the state already has enormous cultural wealth.

Our last birding morning started off with tantalisingly brief glimpses of two rare northeast endemics: the striped laughingthrush and a group of rusty-capped fulvettas. Northeast birding is not for those with slow reflexes! On the way back two more lifers banked and dived around us on the sunny hillside: Nepal house martins and striated swallows. We confidently identified the Himalayan griffon with its majestic wing span, thanks to Nikhil's class the previous night.

Twenty six lifers on this trip!