Seven of us – six from the UK plus Hannu Jannes from Finland – spent two weeks’ birding in Northeast India, visiting three sites: Namdapha National Park in Arunchal Pradesh, then Dibru Saikhowa and Kaziranga National Park in Assam. With the exception of Sandra, all had previous experience of Indian birdwatching, but these two weeks provided us all with lots of new and rarely seen birds, as well as some excellent mammals at all three sites. We saw 347 species and heard a further 23, though the group’s total trip list was slightly higher.
1. Getting there and getting around
Sources of information
Grimett, Inskipp and Inskipp’s Pocket Guide to Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (Helm, 2001) was our field guide of choice, partly because it is more lightweight. Kazmierczak’s A Field Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (Pica Press, 2000) is also excellent, and in some instances has more useful and detailed information, though I felt that some of the plates were not so good. However, within the group, we had both field guides.
An alternative is Grimett and Inskipp’s Field Guide to the Birds of Northern India (Helm, 2003), based on the Helm 2001 guide (with the central and southern species removed, obviously). We also stuffed a copy of Tritsch’s Traveller’s Guide to the Wildlife of India (HarperCollins 2001) in the rucksack to give us a basic coverage of mammals and a few plants, though we barely used it.
Kazmierczak and Singh’s A Birdwatchers’ Guide to India (Prion 1998) covers all the sites, though the book should serve as an introduction rather than a bible. As it is now several years old and each site is very large, I wouldn’t use it as your only source of information, and in each case local knowledge is very definitely needed to get the best out of the sites.
We supplemented the information with trip reports on the web, particularly www.surfbirds.com and www.birdtours.co.uk, though there is relatively little on Namdapha.
For other background information, we used The Lonely Planet guide to North India, published in 2001, since this was more lightweight than the Rough Guide, which covers the whole country, and Nelles Guide to Northern, Northeastern and Central India, which includes a 1:1,500,00 map.
Travel and documentation
The first decision that we made was to arrange the internal travel, accommodation and guiding through Gurudongma Tours (http://www.gurudongma.com/). This proved to be the smartest move of the trip. We were particularly fortunate that Peter Lobo was our guide, not just because he knows the birds of northeast India so well but also because he knows everyone necessary to cut through red-tape and fix the arrangements (even after our vehicles were suddenly commandeered by the authorities in Assam). He’s also great fun.
UK residents require a tourist visa to visit India. My wife works in London, so we obtained ours in person, which saves the frustration of relying on postal applications. Arunchal Pradesh requires a Restricted Access Permit; at the time of our visit, these were issued only to groups, so were obtained by Gurudongma using photocopies of our passports and India visas. Do not consider trying to enter Arunchal Pradesh without a RAP; a few days after we arrived, a group of US birdwatchers reportedly bribed their way over the border, but were picked up by the security forces after visiting Namdapha.
Originally scheduled to fly with Gulf Air via the Middle East, just a few weeks before we left, the airline cancelled our flight. So we elected to fly overnight, direct from London Heathrow to Delhi with Virgin, which saved a great deal of time and, I felt, was worth the extra cost. Flight time was about eight hours. However, this is only two-thirds of the journey.
We flew with Sahara Airlines from Delhi to Dibrugarh (via Guwahati), but there is only one flight each day and it leaves before the Virgin flight arrives so we had to overnight in Delhi. Note that international and domestic flights use different terminals, which are on opposite sides of the shared runways, but allow at least an hour to get from one to the other if your flight times do permit you to make both legs of your journey on the same day.
The flight to Guwahati takes around 2.5 hours; Dibrugarh is one hour farther east, from where it was a five-hour drive to the Arunchal Pradesh border. It closes at 8 pm; if you arrive late, you have to overnight in Tinsukia or Digboi. Crossing the border was very straightforward.
Travel between the airports and the birding sites was in two fairly modern four-wheel drives, essential if you are going to visit Arunchal Pradesh because the road is badly deteriorated for several miles before the border and beyond Miao, in Namdapha National Park. Travel within Namdapha and Dibru Saikohwa was on foot, and in open-top four-wheel drives at Kaziranga.
Accommodation and food
There is no permanent accommodation in Namdapha National Park, besides a resthouse at Deban, the ‘base camp’ for visitors. Here, there are a small number of twin rooms with adjacent/en suite bathrooms; electricity is solar-powered, but dependent on the Park staff remembering to connect the storage batteries to the solar panels during the day! Some bathrooms have cold running water; others have none, but Park staff will provide large buckets of hot water for bathing.
Within the Park are several ‘camps’, essentially forest clearings close to streams that are regularly used by visitors. This is where Gurudongma came into their own; they pre-organised a group of local Lisu tribesmen and two elephants as porters, who carried tents, cooking equipment, food and our bags. They broke our camp each morning and then passed us during the morning, preparing the next camp in readiness for our mid-afternoon arrival.
For Dibru Saikhowa, we stayed at the Hotel Urmila in Tinsukia. We were almost the only guests, and the hotel feels a little faded but was perfectly adequate, each room having an en suite bathroom. For Kaziranga, we stayed at the Bon Hami Resort, one of several just off the main road that runs along the south side of the National Park. The twin rooms were large ‘chalets’ in the garden, each of which had a shower, though the water was only hot in some of them. At both hotels, electric power was intermittent, but each had a generator as back-up.
Money and costs
There are currently around 80 Rupees to the UK pound and I recommend changing all the cash you need at Delhi International, as there were no facilities at Dibrugarh airport nor the hotels, and we were not in towns with banks during opening hours. None of the hotels accepted credit cards. As we had booked an inclusive package with Gurudongma, we only required cash for tips for drivers, guides, boatmen, and drinks. This was difficult to budget for, and I suggest £100 per person (there were 17 porters at Namadapha, plus a local guide).
Food, climate and health
We took the usual precautions for eating in a less developed country (avoiding unbottled water, ice cream, ice in drinks and unpeeled fruit) and had no problems with ‘Delhi belly’. All the food we ate was well-cooked, and since the north east of India is temperate, most of the fruit and vegetables were very familiar. None of us are vegetarian, but visitors who are may have a limited choice over two weeks.
All the food was excellent, with a three course meal every evening: usually a soup, a range of curries with rice/Chinese with noodles, and fruit or cake. At Namdapha, Gurudongma provided a chef, who also prepared a hot meal every lunchtime, brought to us by one of the porters, and cake/biscuits in mid afternoon when we arrived at camp. I don’t think I’ve ever had such good and varied ‘bushcamp’ food. Alcohol is not permitted at Namdapha, but beer is available in the hotels in Assam. Note that the hotels didn’t appear to stock western soft drinks (cola, fanta, lemonade).
Temperatures ranged from a few degrees above freezing at night in Deban to around 30 Centigrade during the day at Kaziranga, so you need a wide range of clothing. Thick clothing was necessary for the first few hours of each day in Kaziranga and Namdapha, especially at Deban where a strong, cold easterly wind blew down the valley each morning.
Leeches are a notable feature of Namdapha (and we also encountered them along one trail at Dibru Saikhowa). This was the dry season, but nevertheless the trails were damp and the leeches were plentiful. Leech socks were essential, if not a fashion statement. £20 is a wise investment, since those on our trip who did not have them spent a great deal of time pulling leeches off their clothing and their legs. Tucking trousers into walking socks is no substitute, as leeches bury through sock fabric inside your boots very easily (the locals wear blue wellies, but they’re more sure-footed around the muddy trails than me). Long sleeved t-shirts, with a tight neck, are also valuable, as leeches drop from overhanging vegetation.
Mosquitoes are not a major problem in January/February, and we saw few and were bitten by fewer (though the wetland and Dibru Saikhowa provided at least some). My wife and I opted for Malarone as an anti-malarial, costing around £60 each, as we had used it previously and had no problems.
At Namdapha, in order that our porters had only to carry our essential needs, we were able to leave the majority of our belongings at Deban and take just a couple of changes of clothes and washbag. A telescope was very useful when birding the river, and occasionally in forest clearings, but elsewhere I rarely used mine and after the first day’s trek, gave it to the porters. In retrospect, it would have been better for the group to have taken just one or two ‘scopes on the trek and shared the carrying, leaving the remainder at Deban. Two of us had invested in a Scopac, to carry the tripods on our backs, before leaving the UK. This proved to be an excellent move, especially as we walked significant distances without requiring a telescope.
Communications
Mobile phones work in Delhi and Assam, but not in Arunchal Pradesh. However, none of the UK networks used by our group worked outside Delhi. Peter Lobo carried a mobile that did work in Assam and provided this as an emergency contact.
Hustle and hassle
We had very little, partly because we had local guides, but also because only Kaziranga is used to western tourists. When we stopped in Miao as we left Namdapha, we were the object of a few stares and smiles but nothing more. Several of the northeastern states of India have militants seeking greater political autonomy from India. However, in Assam and Arunchal Pradesh, there have been no major problems for tourists in recent years (though we did meet a group of militant soldiers on the road close to the border, but without incident).
2. Sites
2.1 Okhla, Delhi (27th January)
Hannu’s KLM flight from Amsterdam did not arrive until after midnight, so Gurudongma arranged for a minibus (with a guide from Bharatpur, whom I had met in 1995!) to take us to Okhla, a wetland on the edge of the city. The marshy edges of the Yamuna River on the east side of Delhi provide a respite from the urbanisation of this growing city. Better in the morning, we had only an afternoon to visit, with heat haze and the low sun making viewing difficult. A telescope is essential here. The deeper part of the lake held thousands of wintering wildfowl, including little and Indian cormorant, greater flamingo, painted stork and intermediate egret. Raptors were excellent, including (steppe) buzzard, eastern marsh harrier, imperial eagle, but sadly no vultures. At the north end, grassland hosted several prinias, including ashy prinia and plain prinia, pied bushchat and white-tailed chat, and shallow pools contained citrine wagtail, white-tailed plover, black-winged stilt, ruff, black-tailed godwit, wood sandpiper and snipe. Collared dove and common starling were among the other sightings, neither of which are abundant in the area.
2.2 Namdapha National Park (29th January-4th February)
The journey through Assam from Dibrugarh airport takes you through the flat plains of the Brahmaputra, mile-after-mile of tea plantations and rice fields followed by many miles of coal slag heaps and oil extraction around Digboi, interspersed by the chaos that is Tinsukia. Lots of Indian rollers, long-tailed shrikes and Indian pond herons, but by the time low hills appeared in the distance, the sun was setting fast.
We awoke to a freezing cold morning in Deban and could finally see our habitat for the next week. Deban sits at the confluence of two rivers, the wider being the Dihing that runs down from the Myanmar border a few dozen miles to the east. Somewhere in the middle of the half mile of shingle ran the icy green water. It is almost impossible to comprehend the volume of water that must run through here in the monsoon. The confluence of these steep-sided valleys also provides a wide vista for watching aerial birds, particularly raptors. Beyond the river lie mountains that rise to 4000 metres, the highest snow-capped, with the tree-line here one of the highest in the world. Our first pre-breakfast walk produced a good variety of birds, including blue whistling thrush, white-capped water, daurian and plumbeous redstarts, long-billed plover, crested kingfisher, brown dipper, Pallas’ (great black-headed) gull and four ibisbills. I was amazed how easy the latter species was – I had imagined us trekking for days before finding one; not spotting four before the sun had risen on the first day!
We spent the first day walking several miles up the Camera Point Road, which 60 miles farther on crosses the border into Myanmar. It is now used only by Lisu, who walk or elephant-ride between their villages and Miao, the only source of produce that they do not hunt or gather. We used the day to become familiar with the commonest forest species, such as large, small and rufous-bellied niltava, black-chinned, white-naped and whiskered yuhinas, rusty-fronted barwing, red-headed trogon, ashy, white-throated, striated and silver-headed bulbuls, blue-throated barbet, white-hooded babbler, red-billed scimitar-babbler, mountain imperial pigeon and the stunning sultan tit and green magpie. We heard blue-naped pitta regularly, as we would every single day in the forest, but never would we even glimpse one. As we headed back to Deban in the late afternoon, a black-backed forktail flashed across the path, and as we looked into a gloomy cleft, we scoped not only it, but also spotted and white-crowned forktail.
The first day’s trekking started with a boat expertly punted across the Dihang by a Lisu guide, then a mile walk up the dried Deban riverbed before we entered the thick forest. The vast scale of the landscape becomes apparent as you look back down the valley and the Deban resthouse is a mere dot below the dark green hillsides. We quickly added little and slaty-backed forktails to the list, along with excellent views of two of the other forktails again.
The forest edge revealed grey treepie, scarlet minivet, black-winged cuckoo shrike, chestnut-bellied nuthatch and white-browed shrike-babbler, and once in the forest, the neck-craning began with blue-winged leafbird, maroon oriole, striped tit babbler and greater flameback. Like most forest birding, there would be half hours of very little followed by five minutes of manic activity as a feeding flock of small birds rushed across the trail, trying to ensure that we all saw the specialties: white-browed piculet, rufous-winged fulvetta, chestnut-crowned warbler, white spectacled warbler, pygmy blue flycatcher to name but five.
We had excellent views of red junglefowl feeding on the trail, which is lucky because the larger birds (such as the hornbills and partridges) tend to be wary near humans as they are actively hunted for food by the local tribes. We also had good views of both greater and lesser necklaced laughing thrush, although we heard them close by regularly in the late afternoons. The hornbills proved difficult to see because of their caution and the thick canopy, though we quickly learned to distinguish the depth of their wingbeats and eventually had good views of wreathed, great and rufous-necked. The massive blue bearded bee-eater, lesser racket-tailed drongo and pin-tailed green pigeon all gave good views as we headed to Haldibari camp (the site of a former turmeric farm) for our first night in the forest.
On our second day, we climbed higher into the forest, with fewer clearings and views a rarity, though we did see crested serpent eagle in one of the few gaps in the canopy. Bay woodpecker, orange-flanked bush robin, pale blue flycatcher were all added to the list, though this section was relatively birdless. The sight of a baby hoolock gibbon with its parents in a tree was a welcome diversion, especially since we’d been hearing the wailing calls echoing across the valleys since we arrived. We arrived at Hornbill camp early in the afternoon, only shortly behind the elephants, so enjoyed the sight of four pied falconets perched in the top of a bare tree while lunch was prepared. An afternoon walk into the forest around Hornbill camp gave us lesser yellownapes, rufous-gorgeted flycatcher and large masked shrike, as well as several species that we heard but couldn’t see: grey peacock pheasant, grey throated babbler and white-crested laughing thrush.
We decided to keep the camp at Hornbill for the remainder of the trek rather than move on further, so our third day was spent walking in the forest above Hornbill. Nepal fulvetta, bar-winged flycatcher, eye-browed wren babbler and purple-throated sunbird were among the skulkers we saw, not least because of Peter and Hannu’s knowledge of songs and calls. Around lunchtime, rain started to fall and it was soon hammering on the leaves and eventually filtered through to the forest floor. This made birding difficult because most birds ceased calling and the light faded rapidly, so picking out features on dots in the damp canopy was tough. However, just as our morale was starting to dip, our local guide Japang spotted three beautiful nuthatches in the trees above us. Another of the very special birds of Namdapha.
The rain continued throughout the night and, save for an hour’s break at dawn, through the next morning. We headed along the trails we had walked the previous day, but with few birds calling or moving, we paced quickly beyond the beautiful nuthatches and over the crest of the hill, dropping into a valley that was entirely different: the bamboo zone of Burnala. Once here, the weather gods relented and it eventually brightened up, meaning that our views of collared treepie, grey-throated minivet, greater and lesser rufous-headed parrotbill, rufous-throated fulvetta, green-billed malkoha, rufous-backed sibia and another beautiful nuthatch were all in good light. Viewing wasn’t always easy, and it took a while before we all caught up with all the birds, but the topography meant that birds were at eye-level or below us rather than high in the treetops. The birds weren’t numerous, but they were high quality, and this was probably my favourite day of the trek.
In the darkness on our final evening at Hornbill, I fell down a hole in the camp and tore the ligaments in my left ankle. Thus, I limped back down the hill to Deban on the final day’s trek. We caught up with a few of the outstanding specialities in our last few hours: red-faced liocichla, chestnut-headed tesia and black-throated sunbird, but a coughing fit by me at the wrong moment blew our chances of seeing the secretive white-cheeked partridge when one was only moments from emerging from the undergrowth. The forest just below Hornbill held a fantastic great slaty woodpecker and half a dozen brown hornbills, and a brief glimpse of the sky contained 10 Himalayan swiftlets and a crested goshawk. A flock of small birds included grey-chinned minivet, blyth’s leaf warbler and yellow-browed warbler, and farther down the slope we had cracking views of a golden babbler. A female sapphire flycatcher and spotted wren babbler were also new, and after a great deal of searching, we found a green cocchoa, another local specialty. The trick is to find a fruiting tree, then wait for a very long time. As we emerged from the forest onto the dried riverbed, we were surprised to see a pair of dhole (wild dogs) on the opposite bank.
On our final morning at Deban, a pre-breakfast walk around the resthouse and the river added slaty-bellied tesia, grey-headed woodpecker, grey-headed fish eagle, yellow-vented warbler, oriental honey-buzzard, rufous-bellied eagle, another ibisbill, and a distant oriental hobby. The road journey to Tinsukia began with several other new birds, including jungle, hill and white-vented mynas, barred cuckoo dove and emerald dove. After a brief stop in Miao, we headed for the border through lowland secondary forest, with only a very short delay to do the necessary paperwork. The Assam countryside produced relatively little in the way of birds, though a roadside stop caused by the exhaust falling off one of the vehicles gave us oriental turtle dove, (steppe) buzzard and a crowd of wide-eyed kids.
2.3 Dibru Saikhowa (5th-6th February)
Our first day at Dibru Saikhowa started with a boat ride at dawn, several kilometres up the Dibru river to Maguli Beel, a grassland at the east end of the island reserve. The centre of the state-owned reserve is a tropical forest that ‘sank’ several metres during an earthquake in the 1950s, when it became seasonally-inundated by the river. The boat ride gave us excellent views of several Brahmaputra river dolphins, while ruddy shelducks ‘honked’ their way overhead and a black-shouldered kite glided alongside us. Once ashore, with our mandatory armed guard, we walked through the eight-foot high elephant grass to a more open area, where we could hear our third parrotbill of the trip. After some coaxing, we had blinding views of a stubby-billed black-breasted parrotbill for some 20 minutes. We went in search of a marsh babbler, which was more audible than visible, though a couple of us caught a brief glimpse, but paddyfield warbler and Jerdon’s babbler were more obliging.
As the day warmed, 56 vultures moved for a nearby kill, giving us the challenge of telling slender-billed from white-backed and Eurasian from Himalayan griffon. Back in the boat, we spotted a greater scaup among a flock of tufted ducks, a scarce bird in India.
After a break for lunch, served in a straw-roofed cattle byre but excellent nonetheless, we forayed across grazed grassland on the south bank of the river. Several oriental skylarks sang above us and long-tailed shrikes perched on the fences, but the surprise was two painted snipes, flushed towards a muddy pool but not relocated. Another pool provided three rosy pipits and six black-faced buntings, and as daylight faded, some of us picked up striated grassbird, aberrant bush warbler, yellow-bellied prinia and a couple of Richard’s pipits in the long grass, and two Asian openbills and hundreds, perhaps over a thousand, yellow wagtails flew to roost as we watched a superb sunset.
The second day dawned to the sound of thunder and no electricity, but thankfully the rain stopped hammering down by the time we met the boatman at the river. Today’s boat ride was much shorter, directly across the Dibru to Kolomi, as we watched hundreds of little cormorants, oriental darters and little egrets streamed out from a roost. Once on the north bank, the scrub turned to woodland and we finally saw a smoky warbler (an ever-present sound the previous day), dusky thrush, long-tailed minivets, hooded oriole and stork-billed kingfisher. We waded through shallow pools, where two sand larks fed on the muddy banks, and into more mature forest where three greater flamebacks were noisy and showy, and common iora, lineated barbet, black-throated thrush and verditer flycatcher all showed well. A stake-out next to a camp was ‘guaranteed’ for Jerdon’s bushchat, and it wasn’t long before a stunning little blue and white bird perched on the top of stems below us.
Forest clearings gave us flight views of Oriental pied hornbill and lesser adjutant, and among a flock of mynas in a fruiting tree were several spot-winged starlings. A smart white-rumped sharma perched briefly on the trail edge, and after lunch at a camp, we landed velvet-fronted nuthatch, speckled piculet and grey-hooded warbler in a mixed flock across one of the many waterways that criss-cross the reserve. As we walked back to the village where the boatman would meet us, the habitat became more open and we ‘scoped grey-headed lapwing and pheasant-tailed jacana in a well-vegetated pool, and then took a brisk walk in the opposite direction from a very large and scarred wild water buffalo!
2.4 Kaziranga National Park (7th-10th February)
The journey to Kaziranga started with a peregrine flying round the radio tower next to the Urmila Continental Hotel (is this the bird reported as oriental hobby in at least one trip report?). The roads west of Tinsukia were distinctly better than those to the east and we made good time towards Kaziranga, the land-use being predominantly rice-growing, so great for Indian pond herons, kingfisher and bronze jacanas.
We arrived at the Hotel Bon Habi late morning and after an excellent lunch, headed for a ‘tea garden’ owned by Tata a few miles to the east. It was a slow start, with few birds, though red junglefowl were less wary than at Namdapha and we saw our first little pied flycatcher. Then, with just an hour before sundown, the clumps of broad-leaved bushes between the tea plants came alive. A red-whiskered bulbul perched high, its soft calls drowned out by a flock of a dozen manic rufous-headed laughing thrushes. Red-breasted parakeet, white-browed scimitar babbler and blue-throated barbet were also ticked before dark.
Our first full day at Kaziranga started at daybreak with a one-horned rhino stomping around the grassland close to the Central Range gate, while skeins of bar-headed geese flew from their roosts, a brahminy kite flapped slowly past and a paddyfield pipit landed in the grass while we waited for a security convoy protecting an Indian army chief to pass. From the back of three elephants, our group saw woolly-necked stork, Indian spotted eagle, grey-headed fish-eagle, bluethroat, rufous-winged bushlark, pintail snipe and spot-billed pelican as well as hog deer, swamp deer and wild boar, but not the hoped-for tiger or Bengal florican.
Back in the open-top jeeps, we spent several ours driving the tracks overlooking scrub, pools and vast grassland. We were able to stop the jeeps on demand, though this proved a little frustrating as the three drivers were not good at keeping us together. We met to view the pools from tower hides, with great views of Asian elephants, (a family of?) eight smooth-haired otters and wild water buffalos plus a good range of Palearctic waders and wildfowl. Black-necked stork, river terns and dozens of lesser adjutants around the pools, and oriental honey-buzzard, greater spotted eagle and crested hawk eagle perched in mature trees. In the scrub, passerines included taiga flycatcher, Tickell’s leaf warbler, Blyth’s reed warbler, little green bee-eater and crested myna.
Visitors are not permitted in the National Park between noon and 2 pm, so we headed for the exit, where uniformed officials jumped into our jeeps and, after raised Assamese voices, drove us back to our hotel and then drove away. It turned out that the government had insufficient vehicles to police the Park’s centenary celebrations and so had taken ours for the next ten days! Our drivers were pretty livid, but could do nothing and within two hours Peter had managed to magic another couple of vehicles for the remainder of our trip.
After lunch, we ‘lost’ the third jeep as we drove along the road to the Western Range gate at Baguri. After 10 minutes, one jeep sped back, fearing the sight of a broken down vehicle or worse, to find Hannu and Les standing on the roadside with in-your-face views of a patient Oriental hobby perched in a bare tree above a plantation. After that, we were on a roll. The western pools didn’t give us very many new birds, but two male Bengal floricans, several small pratincoles, a male and two female Kalij pheasants, two swamp francolins and a cinnamon bittern made a memorable few hours’ birding.
The second day saw us at Agartoli in the Eastern Range, a much drier area of grassland with a narrow belt of woodland that brought us plaintive cuckoo, black-rumped flameback, spotted owlets and streak-throated woodpecker. Two cinereous vultures loafed with white-rumped and slender-billed vultures next to a huge lake, while pygmy cotton geese fed alongside thousands of bar-headed geese and other waterfowl and waders that were fodder to the ever-expanding list, even if most are abundant in Europe. Back in the woodland, we eventually all saw green imperial pigeon, black bulbul, blue-bearded bee-eater, slaty-blue flycatcher and blossom-headed parakeets, while two immature steppe eagles tore flesh from dead spot-billed pelicans that had fallen from a colony in a flame-of-the-forest copse.
In the more open grassland, our hunt for tiger got no further than some tracks, but short-toed eagle, five large cuckoo shrikes, river lapwings, Pallas’ fish eagle and, as we drove back through the woodland at dusk, 4 male and a female Kalij pheasants were some recompense.
Our final day began with oriental white-eye, scaly-breasted munia and rufous-rumped grassbird from the hotel garden, before we had superb views of a pair of great hornbills engaged in pair-bonding, the male delicately presenting its mate with a small lizard. We returned to the Eastern Range, but drove a different route, to Hatigari, ending on the shores of the Brahmaputra. Once again, the day went from very cold to baking hot in little more than an hour. Many of the birds were the same as the previous day, but with opportunities to see some far better. Nevertheless, graceful prinia, ashy wood swallow, ruby-cheeked sunbird, striated babbler, chestnut-capped babbler and scarlet-backed flowerpecker (at last, a flying dot positively identified!) were all new for the trip.
The final day’s driving took us from Kaziranga to Guwahati, for the Sahara Airways flight to Delhi. We stopped in Nagaon to view a nesting colony of 33 greater adjutants amidst a busy shanty town, the juveniles standing atop the messy nests. Somewhere farther along the road, we lurched to a halt to watch a male pied harrier thermalling over an adjacent field.
The final couple of hours of the journey were spent in a frantic rush, and some first-rate weaving through miles of queuing traffic on a mountain road a few miles east of Guwahati. Our drivers did a great job ensuring that we didn’t miss the flight, but it meant that we had barely time to thank them as we ran for check-in and prepared for airport officials to dismantle our optical equipment and Hannu’s sound recording gear!
3. Birds
The following checklist is not exhaustive, and any errors are mine. Other participants may have seen species not listed below. The number indicates the number of days on which we saw a species at each site. The code in brackets indicates IUCN/BirdLife global threat status: CR = Critically Endangered, EN = Endangered, VU = Vulnerable, NT = Near Threatened
Species
Occurrence
Swamp francolin [VU]
3: Kaziranga
White-cheeked partridge [NT]
Heard only. 5: Namdapha
Red Junglefowl
1: Namdapha, 5: Kaziranga
Kalij Pheasant
3: Kaziranga
Grey peacock-pheasant
Heard only. 5: Namdapha
Indian peafowl
1: Delhi
Greylag goose
1: Okhla, 2: Kaziranga
Bar-headed goose
4: Kaziranga
Ruddy shelduck
2: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Common shelduck
1: Kaziranga
Cotton pygmy-goose
2: Kaziranga
Gadwall
1: Okhla, 1: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Eurasian wigeon
1: Okhla, 3: Kaziranga
Mallard
3: Kaziranga
Spot-billed duck
1: Okhla, 2: Dibru Saikhowa, 4: Kaziranga
Northern shoveler
1: Okhla, 3: Kaziranga
Northern pintail
1: Okhla, 3: Kaziranga
Garganey
1: Kaziranga
Eurasian Teal
3: Kaziranga
Common pochard
1: Okhla
Ferruginous duck [NT]
2: Kaziranga
Tufted duck
1: Okhla, 1: Dibru Saikhowa, 2: Kaziranga
Greater scaup
1: Dibru Saikhowa
Goosander
3: Namdapha, 1: Dibru Saikhowa
Speckled piculet
1: Dibru Saikhowa
White-browed piculet
3: Namdapha
Fulvous-breasted woodpecker
1: Kaziranga
Rufous woodpecker
Heard only. 1: Namdapha
Lesser yellownape
2: Namdapha
Greater yellownape
3: Namdapha
Streak-throated woodpecker
2: Kaziranga
Grey-headed woodpecker
Heard only. 2: Namdapha, 1: Kaziranga
Black-rumped flameback
2: Kaziranga
Greater flameback
1: Namdapha, 1: Dibru Saikhowa
Bay woodpecker
1: Namdapha
Great slaty woodpecker
1: Namdapha
Great barbet
6: Namdapha
Lineated barbet
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 2: Kaziranga
Blue-throated barbet
6: Namdapha, 1: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Coppersmith barbet
1: Namdapha
Oriental pied hornbill
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Great hornbill [NT]
3: Namdapha, 1: Kaziranga
Brown hornbill
1: Namdapha
Rufous-necked hornbill [VU]
5: Namdapha
Wreathed hornbill
3: Namdapha
Red-headed trogon
2: Namdapha
Indian roller
3: journey between sites, 2: Dibru Saikhowa, 4: Kaziranga
Common kingfisher
1: Namdapha, 3: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Stork-billed kingfisher
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
White-throated kingfisher
1: Okhla, 3: Dibru Saikhowa, 4: Kaziranga
Crested kingfisher
1: Kaziranga
Pied kingfisher
2: Dibru Saikhowa, 4: Kaziranga
Blue-bearded bee-eater
1: Namdapha, 2: Kaziranga
Green bee-eater
2: Kaziranga
Large hawk cuckoo
Heard only. 1: Kaziranga
Plaintive cuckoo
1: Kaziranga
Green-billed malkoha
2: Namdapha, 1 Kaziranga
Greater coucal
1: Okhla, 4: Kaziranga
Alexandrine parakeet
1: Okhla, 1: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Rose-ringed parakeet
1: Okhla, 1: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Blossom-headed parakeet
2: Kaziranga
Red-breasted parakeet
4: Kaziranga
Himalayan swiftlet
2: Namdapha
Asian palm swift
2: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Brown wood owl
Heard only. 1: Namdapha
Mountain scops owl
Heard only. 1: Namdapha
Collared scops owl
Heard only. 1: Namdapha
Collared owlet
Heard only. 6: Namdapha
Asian barred owlet
1: Namdapha, 1: Dibru Saikhowa, 4: Kaziranga
Spotted owlet
3: Kaziranga
Rock pigeon
1: Okhla, 1: Namdapha, 2: Dibru Saikhowa, 4: Kaziranga
Oriental turtle dove
1: journey from Namdapha, 1: Dibru, 1: Kaziranga
Spotted dove
2: journey to/from Namdapha, 2: Dibru, 4: Kaziranga
Red collared dove
1: Kaziranga
Eurasian collared dove
1: Okhla, 1: Kaziranga
Barred cuckoo dove
1: Namdapha
Emerald dove
2: Namdapha, 1: Kaziranga
Yellow-footed green pigeon
1: Okhla, 1: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Pin-tailed green pigeon
3: Namdapha,
Green imperial pigeon
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Mountain imperial pigeon
4: Namdapha
Bengal florican [EN]
1: Kaziranga
White-breasted waterhen
4: Kaziranga
Purple swamphen
1: Okhla
Common moorhen
1: Delhi, 3: Kaziranga
Common coot
1: Okhla, 1: Kaziranga
Black-winged stilt
1: Okhla
Pintail snipe
1: Kaziranga
Common snipe
1: Okhla, 1 Dibru Saikhowa
Painted snipe
1 Dibru Saikhowa
Ruff
1: Okhla
Spotted redshank
2: Kaziranga
Black-tailed godwit
1: Okhla
Common redshank
Heard only. 1: Kaziranga
Marsh sandpiper
1: Kaziranga
Common greenshank
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 4: Kaziranga
Green sandpiper
2: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Wood sandpiper
1: Okhla, 2: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Common sandpiper
1: Namdapha, 2: Dibru Saikhowa, 2: Kaziranga
Temminck’s stint
1: Okhla, 2: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Pheasant-tailed jacana
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Bronze-winged jacana
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Ibisbill
2: Namdapha
Small pratincole
1: Kaziranga
Pacific golden plover
1: Kaziranga
Long-billed plover
1: Namdapha
Little ringed plover
2: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Ringed plover
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 2: Kaziranga
White-tailed plover
1: Okhla
Northern lapwing
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
River lapwing
2: Namdapha, 1: Kaziranga
Grey-headed lapwing
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Red-wattled lapwing
1: Okhla, 1: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Brown-headed gull
1: Okhla
Black-headed gull
1: Okhla
Yellow-legged gull
1: Okhla
Pallas’s gull
4: Namdapha
Little tern
1: Kaziranga
Whiskered tern
2: Kaziranga
Osprey
2: Kaziranga
Oriental honey-buzzard
1: Namdapha, 1: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Black-shouldered kite
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: journey from Kaziranga
Black kite
1: Okhla, 1 Delhi, 1: Dibru, 1: journey from Kaziranga
Brahminy kite
1: Kaziranga
Pallas’s fish-eagle [VU]
3: Kaziranga
White-tailed eagle
1: Okhla, 1: Namdapha
Grey-headed fish-eagle [NT]
1: Namdapha, 4: Kaziranga
Cinereous vulture [NT]
1: Kaziranga
White-rumped vulture [CR]
1: Dibru Saikhowa
Slender-billed vulture [CR]
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Himalayan griffon vulture
1: Dibru Saikhowa
Eurasian griffon vulture
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 2: Kaziranga
Short-toed eagle
1: Kaziranga
Crested serpent eagle
4: Namdapha, 2: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
(Eastern) marsh harrier
1: Okhla, 1: Kaziranga
Hen harrier
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Pied harrier
1: journey from Kaziranga
Crested goshawk
2: Namdapha
Shikra
1: Kaziranga
Eurasian sparrowhawk
1: Namdapha, 1: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
(Steppe) buzzard
1: Okhla, 1: journey to Dibru Saikhowa
Indian spotted eagle [NT]
1: Kaziranga
Greater spotted eagle [NT]
2: Kaziranga
Steppe eagle
1: Okhla, 1: Kaziranga
Imperial eagle [NT]
1: Okhla
Rufous-bellied eagle
1: Dibru Saikhowa
Changeable hawk eagle
3: Kaziranga
Mountain hawk eagle
1: Namdapha
Pied falconet
3: Namdapha
Common kestrel
1: Namdapha, 1: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Oriental hobby
1: Namdapha, 1: Kaziranga
Peregrine falcon
1: Dibru Saikhowa
Little grebe
1: Okhla, 1: Kaziranga
Oriental darter [NT]
1: Okhla, 1: Namdapha, 2: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Little cormorant
1: Okhla, 3: Dibru Saikhowa, 4: Kaziranga
Indian cormorant
1: Okhla
Great cormorant
1: Okhla, 4: Namdapha, 2: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Little egret
3: Dibru Saikhowa, 4: Kaziranga
Grey heron
1: Okhla, 3: Kaziranga
Purple heron
1: Okhla, 4: Kaziranga
Great white egret
3: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Intermediate egret
1: Okhla, 1: Dibru Saikhowa, 2: Kaziranga
Cattle egret
1: Okhla, 1: Namdapha, 3: Dibru Saikhowa, 4: Kaziranga
Indian pond heron
1: Okhla, 4: Namdapha, 2: Dibru Saikhowa, 4: Kaziranga
Cinnamon bittern
1: Kaziranga
Little (striated) heron
1: Namdapha, 1: Dibru Saikhowa
Greater flamingo
1: Okhla
Spot-billed pelican [VU]
3: Kaziranga
Asian openbill
3: Dibru Saikhowa, 4: Kaziranga
Black stork
4: Namdapha, 2: Dibru Saikhowa
Woolly-necked stork
2: Kaziranga
Painted stork [NT]
1: Okhla
Black-necked stork [NT]
3: Kaziranga
Lesser adjutant [VU]
3: Dibru Saikhowa, 4: Kaziranga
Greater adjutant [EN]
1: Nagaon
Blue-naped pitta
Heard only. 4: Namdapha, 1: Kaziranga
Silver-breasted broadbill
3: Namdapha
Long-tailed broadbill
3: Namdapha
Blue-winged leafbird
2: Namdapha
Golden-fronted leafbird
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Orange-bellied leafbird
3: Namdapha
Brown shrike
1: Kaziranga
Long-tailed shrike
1: Okhla, 1: Namdapha, 1: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Grey-backed shrike
2: Namdapha, 1: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Common green magpie
2: Namdapha
Rufous treepie
1: Delhi, 1: Dibru Saikhowa, 2: Kaziranga
Grey treepie
2: Namdapha
Collared treepie
1: Namdapha
House crow
1: Okhla, 1: Delhi, 3: Dibru Saikhowa, 2: Kaziranga
Large-billed crow
2: Namdapha, 3: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Ashy wood swallow
1: Kaziranga
Black-hooded oriole
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 2: Kaziranga
Maroon oriole
4: Namdapha
Large cuckoo-shrike
1: Namdapha, 3: Kaziranga
Black-winged cuckoo-shrike
5: Namdapha
Grey-chinned minivet
3: Namdapha
Long-tailed minivet
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 2: Kaziranga
Short-billed minivet
1: Namdapha
Scarlet minivet
5: Namdapha
Bar-winged flycatcher-shrike
1: Namdapha
Yellow-bellied fantail
7: Namdapha
White-throated fantail
1: Namdapha
Black drongo
1: Okhla, 1: Delhi, 2: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Ashy drongo
5: Namdapha, 1: Dibru Saikhowa
Bronzed drongo
6: Namdapha, 1: Dibru Saikhowa
Lesser racket-tailed drongo
4: Namdapha
Spangled drongo
3: Namdapha, 2 Kaziranga
Greater racket-tailed drongo
5: Namdapha
Common iora
1: Dibru Saikhowa
Large woodshrike
2: Namdapha
Brown dipper
3: Namdapha
Blue whistling thrush
3: Namdapha, 1: Kaziranga
Dark-throated thrush
1: Dibru Saikhowa
Dusky thrush
1: Dibru Saikhowa
Lesser shortwing
Heard only. 1: Namdapha
Rusy-bellied shortwing [VU]
Heard only. 1: Namdapha
Rufous-gorgetted flycatcher
4: Namdapha
Red-throated flycatcher
2: Kaziranga
Snowy-browed flycatcher
Heard only. 4:Namdapha
Little pied flycatcher
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Slaty-blue flycatcher
1: Kaziranga
Sapphire flycatcher
1: Namdapha
Verditer flycatcher
1: Namdapha, 1: Dibru Saikhowa
Large niltava
5: Namdapha
Small niltava
4: Namdapha, 1: Dibru Saikhowa
Rufous-bellied niltava
4: Namdapha
Pale blue flycatcher
1: Namdapha
Pygmy blue flycatcher
2: Namdapha
Grey-headed canary flycatcher
6: Namdapha, 1: Dibru Saikhowa, 2: Kaziranga
Bluethroat
1: Okhla, 1: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Orange-flanked bush robin
1: Namdapha
Oriental magpie robin
1: Okhla, 1: Namdapha, 2: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
White-rumped sharma
1: Dibru Saikhowa
Daurian redstart
1: Namdapha
White-capped water redstart
4: Namdapha
Plumbeous water redstart
3: Namdapha
White-tailed robin
Heard only. 1: Namdapha
Little forktail
1: Namdapha
Black-backed forktail
3: Namdapha
Slaty-backed forktail
3: Namdapha
White-crowned forktail
2: Namdapha
Spotted forktail
1: Namdapha
Green cocchoa
1: Namdapha
Common stonechat
2: Namdapha, 2: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Pied bushchat
1: Okhla
Brown rock chat
1: Delhi
White-tailed stonechat
1: Okhla
Jerdon’s bushchat
1: Dibru Saikhowa
Grey bushchat
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Spot-winged starling
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Chestnut-tailed starling
2: Namdapha, 2: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Common starling
1: Okhla
Asian pied starling
1: Okhla, 2: Dibru Saikhowa, 4: Kaziranga
Common myna
1: Okhla, 1: Namdapha, 3: Dibru Saikhowa, 4: Kaziranga
Bank myna
1: Okhla, 1: Delhi, 1: Kaziranga
Jungle myna
1: Namdapha, 1: Dibru Saikhowa, 4: Kaziranga
White-vented myna
1: Namdapha, 1: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Hill myna
1: Namdapha, 1: Dibru Saikhowa, 2: Kaziranga
Chestnut-bellied nuthatch
3: Namdapha, 2: Kaziranga
Velvet-fronted nuthatch
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Beautiful nuthatch [VU]
2: Namdapha
Great tit
1: Dibru Saikhowa
Sultan tit
6: Namdapha
Plain martin
1: Okhla, 2: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Barn swallow
1: Namdapha, 3: Dibru Saikhowa, 4: Kaziranga
Red-rumped swallow
1: Namdapha, 1: Dibru Saikhowa
Nepal house martin
1: Namdapha
Striated bulbul
1: Namdapha
Black-crested bulbul
1: Namdapha
Red-whiskered bulbul
2: Namdapha, 2: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Red-vented bulbul
1: Okhla, 1: Delhi, 2: Namdapha, 2: Dibru, 4: Kaziranga
White-throated bulbul
3: Namdapha
Ashy bulbul
3: Namdapha
Black bulbul
2: Kaziranga
Zitting cisticola
1: Dibru Saikhowa
Graceful prinia
1: Kaziranga
Yellow-bellied prinia
1: Dibru Saikhowa
Ashy prinia
1: Okhla
Plain prinia
1: Okhla, 1: Kaziranga
Oriental white-eye
1: Kaziranga
Chestnut-headed tesia
2: Namdapha
Slaty-bellied tesia
1: Namdapha
Chestnut-crowned bush warbler
Heard only. 1: Dibru Saikhowa
Aberrant bush warbler
1: Dibru Saikhowa
Paddyfield warbler
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Blyth’s reed warbler
1: Kaziranga
Thick-billed warbler
1: Kaziranga
Common tailorbird
1: Namdapha, 1: Dibru Saikhowa
Mountain tailorbird
1: Namdapha
Common chiffchaff
1: Okhla
Dusky warbler
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Smoky warbler
2: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Tickell’s leaf warbler
2: Kaziranga
Lemon-rumped warbler
1: Namdapha
Yellow-browed warbler
1: Namdapha, 1: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Greenish warbler
1: Okhla
Blyth’s leaf warbler
2: Namdapha, 1: Kaziranga
Yellow-vented warbler
2: Namdapha, 1: Kaziranga
Grey-hooded warbler
1: Dibru Saikhowa
White spectacled warbler
4: Namdapha
Grey cheeked warbler
Heard only. 1: Namdapha
Chestnut crowned warbler
4: Namdapha
Rufous-faced warbler
3: Namdapha
Yellow-bellied warbler
4: Namdapha
Striated grassbird
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Rufous-rumped grassbird
1: Kaziranga
White-crested laughing thrush
Heard only. 5: Namdapha
Spot-breasted laughing thrush
Heard only. 1: Namdapha
Lesser necklaced laughing thrush
1: Namdapha
Greater necklaced laughing thrush
1: Namdapha
Rufous-necked laughing thrush
1: Dibru Saikhowa
Red-faced liocichla
1: Namdapha
Marsh babbler [VU]
1: Dibru Saikhowa
Puff-throated babbler
Heard only. 1: Namdapha, 1: Kaziranga
Large scimitar babbler
Heard only. 3: Namdapha
White-browed scimitar babbler
1: Dibru Saikhowa
Red-billed scimitar babbler
1: Namdapha
Red-billed scimitar babbler
1: Namdapha
Coral-billed scimitar babbler
1: Namdapha
Eye-browed wren babbler
1: Namdapha
Pygmy wren babbler
Heard only. 4: Namdapha, 1: Kaziranga
Spotted wren babbler
1: Namdapha
Golden babbler
1: Namdapha
Grey-throated babbler
Heard only. 1: Namdapha
Striped tit babbler
2: Namdapha, 1: Dibru Saikhowa
Chestnut-capped babbler
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Jerdon’s babbler [VU]
1: Dibru Saikhowa
Striated babbler
1: Okhla, 1: Kaziranga
Silver-eared mesia
6: Namdapha
White-browed shrike babbler
2: Namdapha
White-hooded babbler
3: Namdapha
Rusty-fronted barwing
6: Namdapha
Blue-winged minla
2: Namdapha
Red-tailed minla
1: Namdapha
Rufous-winged fulvetta
1: Namdapha
Rufous-throated fulvetta
1: Namdapha
Nepal fulvetta
2: Namdapha
Rufous-backed sibia
2: Namdapha
Beautiful sibia
4: Namdapha
Long-tailed sibia
6: Namdapha
Straited yuhina
1: Namdapha
White-naped yuhina
1: Namdapha
Whiskered yuhina
5: Namdapha
Stripe-throated yuhina
1: Namdapha
Black-chinned yuhina
3: Namdapha
White-bellied yuhina
4: Namdapha
Black-breasted parrotbill [VU]
1: Dibru Saikhowa
Lesser rufous-headed parrotbill
1: Namdapha
Greater rufous-headed parrotbill
1: Namdapha
Rufous-winged bushlark
2: Kaziranga
Sand lark
2: Dibru Saikhowa
Oriental skylark
1: Dibru Saikhowa
Scarlet-backed flowerpecker
1: Kaziranga, 1: journey from Kaziranga
Ruby-cheeked sunbird
1: Kaziranga
Black-throated sunbird
4: Namdapha
Crimson sunbird
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 2: Kaziranga
Streaked spiderhunter
5: Namdapha
House sparrow
1: Okhla, 1: Namdapha, 4: Kaziranga
Tree sparrow
2: Kaziranga
White wagtail
1: Okhla, 4: Namdapha, 2: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Citrine wagtail
1: Okhla, 1: Dibru Saikhowa, 3: Kaziranga
Yellow wagtail
2: Dibru Saikhowa, 2: Kaziranga
Richard’s pipit
1: Dibru Saikhowa
Paddyfield pipit
2: Kaziranga
Olive-backed pipit
1: Namdapha, 1: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Rosy pipit
2: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
Baya weaver
2: Kaziranga
White-rumped munia
1: Namdapha
Scaly-breasted munia
1: Kaziranga
Black-faced bunting
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 1: Kaziranga
4. Mammals
Species
Occurrence
Indian pipistrelle
1: Kaziranga?
Indian flying fox
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 2: Kaziranga
Assamese macaque
2: Dibru Saikhowa
Rhesus macaque
1: Namdapha, 2: Kaziranga
Capped langur
1: Namdapha
Hoolock gibbon
1: Namdapha
Dhole
2: Namdapha
Yellow-throated marten
1: Namdapha
Smooth-coated otter
3: Kaziranga
Brahmaputra river dolphin
1: Dibru Saikhowa
Indian elephant
4: Kaziranga
Indian one-horned rhinoceros
4: Kaziranga
Wild boar
4: Kaziranga
[Indian muntjac
Heard and tracks. 4: Kaziranga]
Swamp deer
4: Kaziranga
Samba deer
1: Kaziranga
Hog deer
3: Kaziranga
Wild water buffalo
1: Dibru Saikhowa, 4: Kaziranga
Black giant squirrel
4: Namdapha
Northern palm squirrel
1: Delhi
Hoary-bellied Himalayan squirrel
2: Namdapha, 2: Kaziranga
Orange-bellied Himalayan squirrel
2: Namdapha
Five-striped palm squirrel
2: Namdapha
Three-striped palm squirrel
1: Namdapha
Flying squirrel sp.
1: Namdapha
5. Acknowledgements
Our thanks to all the other participants on the trip: Maggie Wakerley, Peter Carlton, Simon Hugheston-Roberts and Les Colley; to Hannu Jannes and Peter Lobo for their excellent field skills, sound-recording and good humour; to our local guides at each site, particularly to Japang Pansa at Namdapha, and all of the drivers.