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Download Full Tour Report 1328kb - Birdquest

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emained hidden, but Thick-billed Green Pigeons showed well along with Asian Fairy Bluebirds in a<br />

fruiting tree. We headed uphill to escape the heat of midday and take lunch among some evergreen<br />

forest, and our camp crew served us with a final feast before bidding farewell and heading back to<br />

Thimphu. Soon after a loud call drew our attention to a pair of Chestnut-winged Cuckoo that noisily<br />

flew hither and thither, and nearby we found a rather furtive Long-tailed Broadbill. Slowly moving<br />

downhill we added Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush, White-browed Scimitar Babbler, Grey-capped<br />

Pygmy Woodpecker, Dollarbird and Plain Flowerpecker. A small group of Amur Falcons passing<br />

overhead was an exciting find, clearly passing through on their epic cross-Asia migration.<br />

A final hour of birding before our departure from Bhutan was spectacularly successful, with a calling<br />

Hooded Pitta that perched for us in clear view high in the trees. A short while later, a second bird<br />

nearby was persuaded to do the very same thing! The first time this has been seen on the tour, they<br />

had clearly arrived recently and were full of beans. With this fitting send-off, we packed up, said<br />

goodbye to our splendid hosts, and headed into the rather more chaotic and noisy road system of<br />

India. We drove slowly towards the Brahmaputra, finding many birds at the roadside including an<br />

Ashy Woodswallow on its nest, many Asian Openbill, a few Lesser Adjutant, Bronze-winged Jacana,<br />

Lesser Whistling Ducks, an errant Great Crested Grebe, Cotton Teal, a flock of summer-plumaged<br />

Pacific Golden Plovers, Blue-tailed Bee-eater and Striated Grassbird. We ended our road journey at<br />

Guwahati airport, and flew to Delhi where the tour ended.<br />

This tour, the thirteenth <strong>Birdquest</strong> to the country, just keeps producing more and more great birds,<br />

and continues to offer some of the very best in Himalayan birding. Each year the tour encounters new<br />

thrills, and when mixed with the character of this very special little nation it always makes for a<br />

memorable journey.<br />

6 <strong>Birdquest</strong>: Bhutan 2012

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