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emained hidden, but Thick-billed Green Pigeons showed well along with Asian Fairy Bluebirds in a
fruiting tree. We headed uphill to escape the heat of midday and take lunch among some evergreen
forest, and our camp crew served us with a final feast before bidding farewell and heading back to
Thimphu. Soon after a loud call drew our attention to a pair of Chestnut-winged Cuckoo that noisily
flew hither and thither, and nearby we found a rather furtive Long-tailed Broadbill. Slowly moving
downhill we added Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush, White-browed Scimitar Babbler, Grey-capped
Pygmy Woodpecker, Dollarbird and Plain Flowerpecker. A small group of Amur Falcons passing
overhead was an exciting find, clearly passing through on their epic cross-Asia migration.
A final hour of birding before our departure from Bhutan was spectacularly successful, with a calling
Hooded Pitta that perched for us in clear view high in the trees. A short while later, a second bird
nearby was persuaded to do the very same thing! The first time this has been seen on the tour, they
had clearly arrived recently and were full of beans. With this fitting send-off, we packed up, said
goodbye to our splendid hosts, and headed into the rather more chaotic and noisy road system of
India. We drove slowly towards the Brahmaputra, finding many birds at the roadside including an
Ashy Woodswallow on its nest, many Asian Openbill, a few Lesser Adjutant, Bronze-winged Jacana,
Lesser Whistling Ducks, an errant Great Crested Grebe, Cotton Teal, a flock of summer-plumaged
Pacific Golden Plovers, Blue-tailed Bee-eater and Striated Grassbird. We ended our road journey at
Guwahati airport, and flew to Delhi where the tour ended.
This tour, the thirteenth Birdquest to the country, just keeps producing more and more great birds,
and continues to offer some of the very best in Himalayan birding. Each year the tour encounters new
thrills, and when mixed with the character of this very special little nation it always makes for a
memorable journey.
6 Birdquest: Bhutan 2012