Pangot & Sat Tal Short Birding Tours

Our Short Birding Tours of Pangot and Sat Tal takes off in India's national capital, Delhi. Our representative meets you at a location of your choice early in the morning and then drives you to Pangot in Uttarakhand.

It's a journey of over 300 km and lasts around 7-8 hours. For the first four hours, we drive through the plains of Uttar Pradesh, passing villages and small towns along the way, before entering the Himalayan foothills in the state of Uttarakhand. The green hills and meadows here host many species of birds. It goes without saying that we stop a couple of times on the way for short birding excursions. We already have a few such spots singled out for you. Each excursion doesn't extend an hour, as we have to reach our destination by evening.

We arrive at Pangot around sunset or even later if en route birding takes more time than expected. We check into a pre-booked lodge and dine and call it a day.

The village of Pangot is located at the altitude of 1980 meters in the lower Himalayas. Here, one finds both high elevation and low elevation forests that host a good variety of avifauna. Over the course of two days of birdwatching at Pangot, we will explore these two elevations.

Our target birds for Pangot include Cheer Pheasant, Koklass Pheasant, Hill Partridge, Khalij Pheasant, Scaly-bellied Woodpecker, Grey-crowned Prinia, Long-billed Thrush, Golden Bush Robin, Black Bulbuls, Pale-billed Flowerpecker, Blue-throated Barbet, Brown-fronted Woodpecker, Scaly-bellied Woodpecker, Rufous-bellied Woodpecker, Indian Black-lored Tit, Black-throated Tit, Black Bulbul, Ashy-throated Warblers, Black-chinned Babbler, Yellow-breasted Greenfinch, Asian Barred Owlet, Grey Treepie, Blue-whistling Thrush, Yellow-Bellied Green Finch, Upland Pipit, Blue-throated Barbet, Altai Accentor, Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush, Himalayan Woodpecker, Himalayan Buzzard, Bearded Vulture, Chestnut-crowned Laughingthrush, Black Eagle, Chestnut-tailed Minla, Lemon-rumped Warblers, Eurasian Jay, Black-headed Jay, Rufous-breasted Accentor, Red-billed Blue Magpie, Grey-winged Blackbird, Himalayan Shrike Babbler, Rusty-cheeked Scimitar Babbler and several others.

After a rewarding day of birding at Pangot, we return to our lodge for dinner and overnight.

We leave Pangot after breakfast and drive towards Sat Tal, about 55 km away. In the hilly terrain, the journey takes about 2 hours, and you are sure to be enchanted by the beauty of Sat Tal upon arrival around noon.

Sat Tal (literally meaning Seven Lakes) is a group of seven interconnected lakes surrounded by low hills of Nainital. It is a favourite haunt of many migratory birds every winter season and that's the reason it figures at the end of our itinerary of North India birding vacation. After our arrival at Sat Tal, we check into a resort and head out for a birding excursion. Our targets for Sat Tal birding tour include Long-tailed Broadbill, Grey-sided Bush Warbler, Hill Partridge, Rufous-throated Partridge, Brown-flanked Bush Warbler, Whistler's Warbler, Mountain Scops-Owl, Brown Fish Owl, Ashy Woodswallow, Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike, White-throated Fantail, Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo, Black-naped Monarch, Indian Paradise-Flycatcher, Yellow-billed Blue Magpie, Red-billed Blue-Magpie, Common Green-Magpie, Rufous Treepie, Grey Treepie, Yellow-bellied Fantail, Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher, Greater Flameback, Lesser Yellow Nape, Greater Yellow Nape and many more.

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

We do a Short Birding Tours of Sat Tal in the morning and then pack up and leave for Delhi via road. The 7-hour drive cuts through beautiful hills before descending into the plains of Uttar Pradesh and then Delhi. We stop on the way for lunch at a roadside restaurant. Upon arrival in Delhi, we drop you at the airport or any other location of your choice. Our birding adventure of Pangot and Sat Tal comes to an end.