Latpanchar Short Birding Tours

Our Short Birding Tours of Latpanchar takes off in the northern Bengal city of Jalpaiguri. Upon your arrival in the city, our representative meets you at a location of your choice and then drives you to Latpanchar.

The northward route winds through small towns and villages of Bengal and the last 13 km is rough road rising into the mountains. After about a journey of three hours from Jalpaiguri, we arrive at the village of Latpanchar and check into a pre-booked resort. We rest and lunch and then go out for a birding excursion of Latpanchar. At the altitude of 4500 feet, the quiet village is the highest point in the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary and affords great views of the Teesta river. To the north, the mighty Kanchenjunga can be seen standing tall. All around Latpanchar are lush hills with forests of sal, teak, pine and cinchona trees. This verdant landscape hosts around 200 bird species, some of which we get to see on our half-day birding excursion.

We wrap up the day's birding around sunset, but if you want to look around for some nocturnal birds, we are game. Dinner and overnight at the resort.

What makes Latpanchar an excellent birding destination is its vantage position and proximity to Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary. A narrow road goes down to the sanctuary and we can choose to walk or take a jeep to cover the distance of about five kilometres before we start exploring the birding trails of Latpanchar.

There are plenty of birds to be seen on these trails. Our bird targets for the day include Mountain Imperial-Pigeon, Red-headed Trogon, Rufous-necked Hornbill, Sultan Tit, Grey-hooded Warbler, Spot-winged Starling, Asian Barred Owlet, Long-tailed Broadbill, Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike, Striated Bulbul, Hume's Warbler, Nepal Fulvetta, Rufous-bellied Niltava, Sapphire Flycatcher, Little Pied Flycatcher, Black-throated Sunbird, Mrs. Gould's Sunbird, Streaked Spiderhunter, Mountain Scops-Owl, Black-chinned Yuhina, White-browed Scimitar-Babbler, Lesser-necklaced Laughingthrush, Fire-breasted Flowerpecker, Common Green-Magpie, Large Woodshrike, Blue-winged Minla, Rufous-bellied Eagle, Large Cuckooshrike, Black-winged Cuckooshrike, Black-crested Bulbul, Ashy Bulbul, Blue-winged Laughingthrush, Red-tailed Minla, Scaly Thrush, Hill Partridge, Greater-necklaced Laughingthrush, Collared Falconet, Himalayan Black-lored Tit, Mountain Tailorbird, and Eyebrowed Thrush, among others.

In the evening, we return to the resort for dinner and overnight.

On each day of our Short Birding Tours, we explore different birding trails of Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary. The sanctuary is spread over an area of 159 sq. km which varies in altitude from 500 feet to 4500 feet. At Latpanchar we are at the highest elevation, but we go down each day to different altitudes.

Besides the aforementioned cast of birds, we look out for the likes of Black Eagle, Steppe Eagle, Himalayan Griffon, Gray-capped Woodpecker, Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker, Green Shrike-Babbler, White-bellied Erpornis, Cinereous Tit, Grey-breasted Prinia, Chestnut-crowned Warbler, Grey-sided Bush Warbler, Aberrant Bush Warbler, Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-Babbler, White-gorgeted Flycatcher, Pale-billed Flowerpecker, Grey-chinned Minivet, Altai Accentor, Mountain Hawk-Eagle, Great Hornbill, Black-eared Shrike-Babbler, White-spectacled Warbler, Grey-bellied Tesia, Rufous Woodpecker, Black-throated Prinia, Yellow-browed Warbler, Yellow-vented Warbler, Green-billed Malkoha, Long-billed Thrush, Fire-tailed Sunbird, Snowy-browed Flycatcher, Puff-throated Babbler, Bay Woodpecker, Whistler's Warbler, Yellow-bellied Warbler, Little Bunting, White-naped Yuhina, Little Forktail, Slaty-blue Flycatcher, Abbott's Babbler, Mountain Bulbul, Blyth's Shrike-Babbler, Blue-naped Pitta, Asian Emerald Cuckoo, and Hodgson's Frogmouth.

In the evening, we return to our resort for dinner and overnight.

On this tour, we aim to mark off as many birds as possible in the long avian checklist of Latpanchar. To that end, we keep our itinerary flexible and may return to the already explored birding trails or scour newer areas to watch the missing birds in the checklist.

The most prominent of these avian stunners include Oriental Pied-Hornbill, Pale-headed Woodpecker, Russet Bush Warbler, Yellow-billed Blue-Magpie, Little Spiderhunter, Pin-tailed Green-Pigeon, Silver-eared Mesia, Oriental Honey-buzzard, Grey-throated Babbler, Himalayan Cutia, Eurasian Hobby, Coal Tit, Black-throated Tit, Red-billed Leiothrix, Rufescent Prinia, Large Hawk-Cuckoo, Speckled Piculet, Grey-crested Tit, Pin-striped Tit-Babbler, Buff-barred Warbler, Chestnut-winged Cuckoo, Green Cochoa, Black-throated Thrush, Crimson-breasted Woodpecker, Rufous-breasted Accentor, Black Baza, Indian Pitta, Pale-chinned Blue Flycatcher, Short-billed Minivet, Pale Blue Flycatcher, Banded Bay Cuckoo, Yellow-cheeked Tit, Tricolored Munia, Slaty-bellied Tesia, Crimson-browed Finch, Rufous-breasted Bush-Robin, Thick-billed Warbler, White-browed Piculet, and Scaly-breasted Cupwing.

We return to our resort for dinner and overnight.

After an early breakfast we do a quick birding tour of Latpanchar to make the most of the early hours before returning to the resort. We pack up and drive you to Jalpaiguri, taking the same route we came from. After about 3 hours of journey, we drop you at the airport or any other location of your choice in Jalpaiguri. The Latpanchar birding adventure comes to an end.