Birding with Ram Gopalakrishnan: The Silk Route and East Sikkim

Birding on the Silk Route sounded like a heady cocktail of history, geography and birding: I'm in, I said as soon as I heard about it. Known from ancient times as the land trading route from the Bay of Bengal through Sikkim into Tibet, the name conjures up visions of intrepid explorers trading horses, silk and spices through breathtaking mountain passes into exotic foreign lands. The ancient route from Sikkim to Tibet leads east from Lingtam to Padamchen, and onwards through the Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary to Zuluk, the Nathang Valley and finally Nathu-la Pass. Spice it up with the prospect of seeing some exotic higher altitude Himalayan species such as pheasants, monals and parrotbills, and you can look forward to as thrilling a journey as the ancient traders must have experienced.

Having driven from Bagdogra to Rangpo, where the road turns east along the Rangpo river, we joined the Silk Route just after Rongli at Lingtam and halted for the night at a homestay in Padamchen. The first rays of the sun split through after a night of heavy rain, lifting our spirits as we gazed at the steep and towering green mountains of the Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary on either side. Pheasants prefer taking their morning constitutional at daybreak and our waking schedule had to be adjusted accordingly. Surreal views of Khanchendzonga, snow powdered mountainside all-around and the impossibly winding road we left behind us distracted us from the birdlife. The acute hairpin bends took us past the military camp at Zuluk (alt 9400 ft) and Thambi Point (alt 11600 ft) but iced-up roads, courtesy overnight snow, forced us to turn back at 12000 ft.

Great God, it's the Great Parrotbill! - exclaimed our group leader Mandar Khadilkar of Nature India. This largest and most difficult to spot member of the parrotbill family looks more like a babbler and favors bamboo and rhododendron-covered high altitude slopes: a long awaited lifer for me. When the sun lights up the flowers on a rhododendron tree, who do you expect? The Fire-tailed Myzornis of course, coming almost within touching distance! A Gray-sided Bush Warbler was a lifer for me and Rufous-breasted and Alpine Accentors permittted close-up shots. Hordes of Plain Mountain Finches took off and landed in unison. The male Himalayan White-browed Rosefinch shone bright pink in the sunlight. The birding was even more satiating than the ensuing lunch.

Afternoon was spent racking up a number of commoner lower altitude species in the Sanctuary fringes around Padamchen. A single spot yielded yuhinas, minlas and warblers at a staccato pace. What we hoped was the rare Blue-Fronted Robin, turned out on close inspection of its tail in our photos to be the commoner White-tailed Robin. A Black-throated Prinia was another personal lifer.

Rain gods having relented, we returned to Pangolakha and were promptly greeted by a lovely little Golden-breasted Fulvetta on the way. A resplendent Himalayan Monal contemplated the valley for a while before taking off in flight, white dorsal patch glistening in the sun. A Fire-tailed Sunbird could not make up its mind whether to display its "on fire" back and tail or it's golden belly to the rays of the sun. The long down-curved bill of the Slender-billed Scimitar-babbler would surely be identified by even the beginner. On the way back to Padamchen, photographs of the Rufous-winged Fulvetta preceded an even more treasured sighting: Brown Parrotbills clambering up and down a bamboo tree like little monkeys. As the altitude rises above the tree line, the numbers and species of birds drop, but spectacular indeed are the specialists that inhabit this zone.

We retraced our steps back along the Silk Route, and headed north to Pakyong and then east to a homestay at Khimseeka (alt 7500 ft) for birding in the forest fringes. Morning luck or beginner's luck, whatever you may call it: first bird of the day was a Bay Woodpecker throwing back its head, opening its large ivory-colored bill and letting out its loud shrieking call. The Red-faced Liocichla, an intoxicating mixture of burgundy red and brown, stopped long enough for photos. This being the month of April, a panoply of unseen but raucous cuckoos (Indian, Himalayan, Common and Large Hawk) kept up an unrelenting background score. A Little Pied Flycatcher and a Fire breasted Flowerpecker were seen right near our homestay. Piculets are pocket powerhouses of the Woodpecker family and we saw both the Speckled and the White-browed: the latter permitting us detailed shots while pecking away in staccato fashion at its favorite bamboo. The Golden-throated Barbet had even more golden on its head than it's throat. A Pale Blue Flycatcher obligingly settled on a twig and allowed us to video its call. The piercing metallic tweets of the Pygmy Cupwing were a dead give away for this tiny undergrowth skulker. Fifty-one species for the day!

When you get three different Laughingthrushes in a row (the common White-throated and Striated as well as the rarer Gray-sided) crossing your path, excitement levels run high. After hours of almost going cuckoo from continuously hearing four species of them, we finally saw one: the Himalayan. One led to two, after we managed to survive the brain fever we almost got from struggling to locate the Large Hawk-Cuckoo by its shrill manic rising tones. Surely this one must take the prize for "heard but not seen". Our guide Suraj Khulal took us on a hike through the forest to a remote spot for a magnificent prize, the Spot-bellied Eagle Owl gazing down from its perfectly hidden perch. And there literally was dessert after the main meal: a delicious home-cooked meal with completely home sourced food including ghee, curds and vegetables at Suraj's homestay. Not done yet: its distinctive two toned metallic call led us to a Chestnut-winged Cuckoo, and a Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush followed. What a finale to four days of birding!

Sikkim's natural wealth is under clear and present danger, a matter more acute that ever in this era of climate change. Richly forested land is public and not necessarily under the Forest Dept as Reserved Forest, and therefore subject to rapid depletion to construct houses and to grow crops in terraced fashion. We saw just this, with houses carved out of the middle of dense bamboo forest. There is an urgent need to restrict development to designated areas and enforce forest conservation measures in as yet untouched areas. The rich forest in East Sikkim, east of Pakyong needs sanctuary or at least RF protection before it vanishes. Even on the main road through Pangolakha Sanctuary, uncontrolled tourism, building activity and widespread military presence (an unfortunate necessity in border areas) was obvious.

Meanwhile, the Silk Route and East Sikkim await!