The village is called Kolakham. A few houses nestle in the middle of one of the arms of a huge U of cliffs around the deep Neora valley, about 2000 meters above sea level. We woke just before dawn, had our tea, and were ready for a morning of bird-watching. The area has been free of COVID-19 for some time, and we had tested negative. In any case, between 6 and 8 in the morning we did not meet anyone on the black-topped road which makes a tight w through the slopes along the houses. It was nice to be able to walk through the hills without masks, breathing in the cold foresty air.
Right in the garden of the homestay we saw the colourful Mrs. Gould’s sunbird, too active for good photography so early in the morning. The light improved through our two hours-long walk. It was done at the halting pace of birdwatchers, going back and forth, trotting now and then to catch up with a tree-hopper, immense frustration with the camera, and absolute elation at the number of lifers. I also got to try out my new eyes. I have been happy living without spectacles in the city for the couple of months since my eye surgery. But artificial lenses are tuned to the life most people lead, and it is clear that birdwatchers are not a major category for people who design prosthetics. I will have to get spectacles to look at warbler-sized birds beyond 20 or 30 meters.
All the birds in the photos in this post are lifers, I’d never seen them before. Isn’t it amazing how many of them have long-tails? The Rufous Sibia was a surprise; I’ve been at this height very often, and it is a common bird at this elevation. I should have seen it before. That’s why you need to come back to nearly the same place again and again.
Don't hold your breath 
What beautiful birds! I’m so jealous you have such colorful models there. 🙂
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So am I. It isn’t my backyard exactly; I had to travel for more than 12 hours to get there.
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Sounds like a lovely walk in the fresh air and with such beautiful birds too! I was trying to pick a favourite. The Sunbird is perhaps too gaudy, surprisingly, so I settled on the Barbet 😀 But all are wonderful, and all are new to me 🙂
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All of them were new to me too 🙂
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The colors of these birds are beautiful. We do not have such color here especially during the winter. But I have begun to notice that the Goldfinch males are getting a brighter yellow around their necks. Thanks for sharing your beautiful exotic birds.
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This is the perfect season for birding at a middle height. In spring all the birds start moving up to their nesting altitude, and most of them pass through the 2 km mark.
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Beautiful photos of the birds! The Mrs. Gould’s sunbird is stunning. Provenance of the name?
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The phrase “common name” of Indian birds is an oxymoron, since the names were given by British colonial administrators. Mrs. Gould was an illustrator who produced many paintings of birds for works on ornithology. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Gould_(illustrator)
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Oh my my…what a treat this is!
Beautiful!
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Thank you
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Beautiful collection of birds 🙂 I love the colourful Sunbird and the greens of the Barbet!
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Thanks. The sunbird was special, my only sighting till now
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Beautiful gallery of long tailed birds, I.J.! I couldn’t pull any from the slideshow for the round up which I’m doing now, but will use the greybird. I love the colors and Mrs. Gould is quite impressive. 🙂
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Thanks. I’ll have to figure out the settings on slideshows.
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