Endangered Birds & Wildlife of Manas and Meghalaya

Depending on flight arrival time in Delhi, today will either include a flight on to Guwahati and overnight there, or a stay overnight in Delhi, with a late morning flight the following day.

For those of us who spent the night in Guwahati rather than Delhi, we will start the day with birding in the Guwahati area, e.g. at Deepor Beel or Garbhanga Reserve Forest, and the delightful Guwahati Garbage Dump: the best site in the world for the endangered Greater Adjutant! We then all drive to Manas National Park and check in to our lodge in time for an afternoon jeep safari. The Manas River, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, passes through the middle of the Park and gives it its name. In the foothills of the Himalaya, its varied landscape of grassland and forest is one of the most pristine and stunning in India. The National Park extends into Bhutan as the Royal Manas National Park, and is a sanctuary for various endangered species, including Golden Langur, Hispid Hare, Pygmy Hog and Clouded Leopard. Other mammals here include Asian Elephant, Indian Rhinoceros, some of the few remaining Wild Water Buffalo, Asian Golden Cat, Capped Langur and Hoolock Gibbon.

We have two full days to explore the park, with a combination of jeep safaris and birding walks on the outskirts. As well as the mammals, birds are extremely plentiful, and we will particularly look for the critically endangered Bengal Florican. Unlike its Lesser counterpart, found further west in India, the Bengal Florican is known not to migrate far at all outside of the monsoon breeding season so we have a good chance of finding one even in the winter. However, it rarely strays out of the deep grass and in to the open so we will require some luck to get good views, probably from one of the park’s viewing towers. Other grassland birds to look out for include Pied Harrier, White-eyed Buzzard, Collared Falconet, Swamp Francolin, Chestnut-capped Babbler, Finn’s Weaver, Bengal Bush Lark, Hodgson’s Bush Chat, Black-breasted Parrotbill, and Indian (Rufous-rumped) Grassbird. The surrounding forest has equally good birding, with Wreathed, Oriental Pied and Great Hornbills, Rufous-bellied Hawk Eagle, Orange-breasted, Pin-tailed and Ashy-headed Green Pigeons, Barred Cuckoo-dove, Green-billed Malkoha, Red-headed Trogon, Blue-bearded Bee-eater, Lineated Barbet, Long-tailed and Silver-breasted Broadbills, Crested Kingfisher, Assam, Greater Necklaced and Rufous-necked Laughingthrushes, Scaly Thrush, Sultan Tit, Slaty-backed Forktail, Yellow-vented Flowerpecker and Chestnut-eared Bunting all possibilities.

From Manas we drive back to cross the Brahmaputra at Guwahati and continue south to the state of Meghalaya, to reach Cherrapunjee for a two-night stay.

Famous for being one of the wettest places in the world, it is the lure of one of the most restricted endemics in India that brings us to Cherrapunjee: Tawny-breasted Wren-babbler. As well as this we should find the similarly local Dark-rumped Swift, at the impressive Nohkallikai Falls, and will also hope to see Crested Finchbill, Assam Laughingthrush, Brown Bush Warbler, Grey Sibia, Lesser Shortwing, White-tailed Robin and Yellow-bellied Flowerpecker.

We leave Cherrapunjee for the drive back to Guwahati. We will have some time for more birding en route, such as at the Mawphlang Sacred Grove and Shillong Peak, where additional species could include Striated Yuhina, Red-faced Liocichla, Coral-billed Scimitar-babbler and Grey-winged Blackbird. The night will be spent in Guwahati. If this tour is being combined with the Amur Falcon migration in Nagaland, then the following day will be a long driving day eastward into Nagaland, and Khonoma, the starting point for that tour. Otherwise you will be transferred to the airport for your flight back to Delhi.