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NAINITAL & LIST INDIA

UTTARAKHAND (Nainital District)

00o00´S/00o00´W, ha, alpine foothills, 1,938m (Naina 2,615m) 

PROTECTED/REGISTERED STATUS? 

February-March (NAINITAL 11.02.94)

 

Birding Site Guide

 

This town was a British summer retreat in the days of empire, but now is a lovely mountain resort for all. It is situated in the foothills of the Himalayas at an altitude where large pines grow. There is a large lake and at the time of our visit a thin covering of snow on the ground. Birding around town is rewarding and we saw Brown-fronted Woodpecker, Hodgson`s Bushchat, Red-headed Laughing Thrush, Black-capped Sibia, Tickell`s Leaf-Warbler, White-tailed Nuthatch, Red-fronted Serin and Black-throated Jay. 


Not far from Nainital are Sat Tal and Bhimtal, tal means lake. Leaving Nainital to the south, we turned left immediately after the toll barrier and headed towards Bhowali Nine kilometres from here we found a small stream cutting across the road which held a couple of Spotted Forktails and Red Flanked Bluetail; 2.5km passed Bhowali we pulled up just before the right hand fork that leads to Sat Tal, and explored a small dry ex-river bed leading uphill to the left. You need to hop up the wall at the roadside to get into this area. This turned out to be a good place even though we only walked a very short distance, as it turned out to be the local villages lavatory. A couple of Golden Bush Robins were the best birds here. A little further on around the right hand fork in the road, there are a number of fields that can either be viewed from the roadside or walked in. These brought both the accentors we were expecting.

 
Continuing the journey to Sat Tal, we decided to stop at the first lake and walk through the woods to the mission. This is not necessary as it is possible to drive around to the two lakes further on, and walk back to the mission. The way we went, however, seemed full of birds especially around the roadside where we parked before heading into the woods. Three species of Nuthatch, a number of Woodpeckers, Himalayan Treecreeper, Flycatcher warblers and various Tits were abundant. As we walked towards the lake we found a party of White-Headed Laughing Thnishes even before they "laughed". Muntjacs were barking in the wood as we were sorting out our first Rufous-bellied Niltava. The Mission itself is a wonderfully peaceful place and we all imagined ourselves living here as we sipped the cups of coffee we were given. Orange-Gorgeted Flycatchers were new as we left the mission, and a stonking male Red-flanked Bluetail teased us whilst we tried to photograph it. Lesser Spotted and Bonellis Eagles soared overhead as we reached the two lakes and were amused to find a dozen boats waiting for travellers like us to ferry them across the 50 yards or so connecting the two stretches of water. The complex of chai stalls was also quite unbelievable, and we wondered how all the people made a living. One way was evident, however, as nobody was able to change any Rupee notes no matter how small. On our way back along the road to the jeep, we met a group of Sunbirders with their bus following them at a discreet distance and they asked if we had seen any White's Thrushes, so somewhere here there is obviously a site which we failed to find. On the first hill we found a superb male Long-Tailed Minivet, which made up for the rather quiet walk back.

 
On the return journey we stopped at the same place and saw Black Winged Kite and Blue-throated Barbet. 


The fields around the industrial area at Bhimtal are scrubby and well worth birding, we saw Spotted Munia and a stunning male Siberian Rubythroat and several Black-Throated Thrushes. 


One of the mountains around Nainital has a cable car that leads to Snow View and this can be worth while for a few higher altitude species or species not found around town. Such a bird for us was Hodgson`s Mountain Finch. 


Species seen (need to put in taxanomic order) 





KEY



Mammals seen



Butterflies seen (all sites)



Author: BSG and Geof Grafton

 

 

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