Trip Report: A Short Trip to Eastern Assam Forests around Dibrugarh-Tinsukia (Dibru-Saikhowa) and Upper Brahmaputra River Valley

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1 Trip Report: A Short Trip to Eastern Assam Forests around Dibrugarh-Tinsukia (Dibru-Saikhowa) and Upper Brahmaputra River Valley Trip date 21st Jan to 25th January Summary Dibrugarh, the Tea City of India is quite well connected to the rest of the India via Air, Rail and Road. We reached Mohanbari Airport (Dibrugarh) at around 11:30am and then within 2 hours were roaming at the banks of the Dibru River! The flight route suited us best as it saved a lot of time. Tinsukia would be the best option if someone is planning to travel via rail. Our base staying location, Banashree Eco Camp run by Jainul Abedin ( Benu da ) on the bank of Dibru river is approx. 50km away from the Airport. The Banashree Eco Camp has been used as base camp. The method being - reach the spot by car and then birding on foot or boat depending on the habitat. The following places were visited for bird watching. A) Banashree Resort Campus (BRC) Base camp B) Maguri-Motapung Beel (MMB) 21 st Jan & 22 nd Jan Afternoon (~15mins driving distance from the camp) C) Maguri Grassland (MGL) 22 nd Jan Morning (Adjacent to Maguri Beel. ~15 mins driving distance from camp) D) Dibru River (DSR) 22 nd Jan Afternoon (Boating starts from in front of the camp itself. The boat is big enough for at least 10 bird watchers and will take you thru the Dibru River and roam along the banks of Dibru-Saikhowa Biosphere Reserve) E) Digboi Oil Field (DOF) 23 rd Jan Morning (A high security Oil field area owned by Indian Oil Corporation ~1.5 hrs drive (45 kms) away from the camp) F) Borajan-Bherjan Pudumani WLS (BBP) 23 rd Jan Afternoon & 25 th Jan Morning (~20kms away from Camp (around mins drive) G) Dehing-Patkai WLS aka Jeypore Forest (DPJ) 24 th Jan Morning (Only rain forest of Assam ~60kms away (would take around 2 hrs drive from the camp) # Repeated sighting has been marked with the abbreviations (like BRC, MMB, and MGL etc.) to indicate that it has also been found at that place. If 'MGL' is given next to a species then it means that it is also seen in 'Maguri Grassland'. # Species for which only call is heard has been marked in Italics. # Species for which no photograph could be taken but has been seen and identified they have been Underlined. A) Banashree Resort Campus A beautiful, very well placed eco resort run by Mr. Jainul Abedin (better known as Benu da ) at the bank of river Dibru. Basic facilities with smiling crews and excellent food. At least in terms of Bengali cuisine. We were overwhelmed by their hospitality. Here I should mention about our bird guide Praveen. Without whose help this trip wouldn't have been much successful. He knows the birds and their habitats very well. And has a very sharp pair of eyes. We could find the following birds in & around the resort area - 1 White Wagtail

2 2 Red-vented Bulbul Everywhere 3 Minivet female (??) 4 Common Myna Everywhere 5 Jungle Myna 6 Great Myna Mostly seen while we are on the way 7 Asian Pied Sterling Everywhere 8 Eurasian Tree Sparrow (all sparrows were found out to be Trees!) 9 House Crow Everywhere 10 Eastern Jungle Crow DOF 11 Black Drongo Everywhere 12 Asian Barred Owlet Seen many times in shading trees of the tea gardens 13 Spotted Owlet Call 14 Barn Owl Call 15 Collared Scops Owl Call 16 Spotted Dove Everywhere 17 Black-hooded Oriole Everywhere B) Maguri-Motapung Beel Maguri-Motapung Beel of Tinsukia District is a wetland complex which is a part of the Dibru Saikhowa Important Bird Area (IBA IN-AS-13) but located just outside the Dibru Saikhowa National Park and Biosphere Reserve. That being said - the bottom-line is that this is a 'beel' full of waterfowls. And most of the times these birds take off as soon as you try to approach them (with a few exceptions though). 18 Common Stonechat Most common migrant seen around 19 Yellow Wagtail 20 Citrine Wagtail 21 Rosy Pipit 22 Common Sandpiper 23 Wood Sandpiper 24 Green Sandpiper 25 Little Cormorant 26 Temminck's Stint 27 Long-tailed Shrike 28 Pied Harrier A lovely male greeted us as soon as we entered!! 29 Paddyfield Pipit MGL 30 Northern Lapwing MGL 31 Bar-headed Goose 32 Little Egret DSR 33 Cattle Egret MGL, DSR

3 34 Asian Openbill Stork MGL, DSR 35 Ruddy Shelduck MGL, DSR 36 Northern Pintail Duck 37 Eurasian Wigeon 38 Gadwall DSR 39 Falcated Duck Only 1 pair seen 40 Red-crested Pochard 41 Ferruginous Pochard Never seen so many at one place! 42 Eastern Spot-billed Duck MGL, DSR 43 Northern Shoveller 44 Common Coot 45 Little Grebe DSR 46 Bronze-winged Jacana 47 Pheasant Tailed Jacana 48 White-breasted Kingfisher DSR, BBP 49 Common Kingfisher 50 Pied Kingfisher DSR 51 Pacific Golden Plover 52 Little Ringed Plover 53 Some Snipe (Guide told to be Pintail) 54 Black-winged Kite MGL 55 Purple Swamphen 56 Lesser Adjutant Stork 57 Glossy Ibis 58 Darter DSR 59 Striated Grassbird MGL (seen one in Maguri beel but many were spotted in the adjacent Grassland) 60 Barn Swallow DSR 61 Tufted Duck 62 Little Stint 63 Dunlin 64 Chestnut-tailed Starling

4 C) Maguri Grassland This grassland is situated adjacent to the Maguri Beel. It is spread to a large area but not thoroughly continuous and has disconnected segments of farm fields. The grassland inhabits a large number of Wild Buffaloes and the farm fields and the grasslands are often separated by barb wired fences. During our only session of venture into the grassland - we encountered at least two herds. And the first encounter definitely made our quest for the elusive birds significantly short lived. Though within the short span of morning session we could see/hear the following birds - 65 Zitting Cisticola 66 Plain Prinia 67 Yellow-bellied Prinia 68 Bluethroat Only 1 could be spotted from afar 69 Paddyfield Warbler 70 Tricolor Shrike 71 Striated Babbler 72 Jerdon's Babbler 73 Marsh Babbler Extremely elusive - heard calls and seen its tail-tip once!! 74 Swamp Francolin Call heard here DPJ (Seen a pair moving quickly and silently thru forest floor) 75 White-tailed Rubythroat Call 76 Oriental Honey Buzzard A very pale individual 77 Barred Buttonquail Only seen 78 Blyth's Reed Warbler Call D) Dibru River An afternoon cruise in a medium sized motorised boat thru the river yielded some lovely sightings! 79 Great Cormorant 80 Mallard 81 Common Pochard 82 Striated or Little Heron 83 Grey Heron 84 Common Teal 2 Females 85 Common Goldeneye 1 female 86 Common Shelduck 3 indivs.

5 E) Digboi Oilfield This is a very interesting area for bird watching. A hilly terrain with gas/oil lines running through and with a lovely vegetation. One needs to have a permit to roam around here with a camera or binocs. We found some fine birds here as well - 87 Ashy Drongo 88 Chestnut-backed Laughingthrush 89 Rufous-necked Laughingthrush 90 Greater-necklaced Laughingthrush 91 Collared Treepie 92 Blue-throated Barbet 93 Blue-tailed Bee Eater 94 Pin-striped Tit Babbler 95 Crimson Sunbird Male 96 Emerald Dove 97 Green-billed Malkoha 98 Beautiful Sibia A faint record shot 99 Sultan Tit Call heard DPJ (Seen many at Dehing-Patkai) 100 Lesser-racket Tailed Drongo BBP 101 Bronzed Drongo DPJ 102 Streaked Spiderhunter 103 Golden-fronted Leafbird 1 Female 104 Ruby-cheeked Sunbird Male 105 Chestnut-crowned Warbler 106 Red-whiskered Bulbul BBP, DPJ 107 Black-headed Cuckooshrike Male 108 Pied Hornbill BBP, DPJ 109 Un-ided warbler 110 Great Tit DPJ 111 Stork-billed Kingfisher On the way F) Borajan-Bherjan Pudumani WLS We had to get out of the oil field a bit early as some VIP business was there that day. After lunch we decided to go to Borajan once to utilize the rest of the day. Though not much activity was found during this afternoon session. But then again we considered it better than sitting idle at the resorts. Another point to note is that this small forest can be very rewarding for butterflies. We did go to this lovely forest once more on the morning of our last day of the trip. This time our luck favored us with the sighting of a lovely little group of Hoolock Gibbons. An adult male, a female and a child. A

6 lovely morning to cherish forever!! 112 Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher Many were found within a short span of walk 113 Small Niltava 114 Long-tailed Shrike 115 Red-breasted Parakeet Call 116 House Sparrow Only sighted in the Borjan village adjacent to the forest 117 Lineated Barbet 118 Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker G) Dehing-Patkai WLS (Jeypore) This remarkable rain forest amused us the most! So much birdlife and such a beautiful forest is worth exploring more than just one session for sure. We couldn't spend more than half a day there but I know that I will be going there again.. Sometimes soon Slender-billed Vulture 120 Crested-serpent Eagle 121 Pygmy Blue Flycatcher Female 122 White-throated Bulbul 123 Maroon Oriole 124 Red-headed Trogon 125 Lesser Yellownape 126 Bay Woodpecker 127 Greater Flameback 128 Little Spiderhunter 129 Grey Peacock Pheasant Calls heard just after entering the forest.. While returning back one individual was sighted by our driver Kalita ji, Yunus da, Ritu and Amarjyoti Gupta Uncle. 130 Scarlet Minivet 131 Grey-headed Woodpecker 132 Black-backed Forktail 133 Little Forktail 134 Ashy Woodswallow 135 Indian Roller

7 Mammals Sighted Western Hoolock Gibbon Capped Langur Rhesus Macaque Malayan Giant Squirrel Hoary-bellied Squirrel Wild Buffalo Barking Deer Indian Elephant At Borajan-Bherjan Pudumani WLS At Dehing-Patkai WLS and Borjan Village adjacent to Borajan-Bherjan Pudumani WLS At tea gardens around Tinsukia At Dehing-Patkai WLS At Dehing-Patkai WLS and Borajan-Bherjan Pudumani WLS At Maguri Grassland Alarm call heard at Digboi Oilfield At Dehing-Patkai WLS Trip Members Subrato Sanyal, Maumi Sanyal, Amarjyoti Gupta, Mausumi Gupta, Shreejata Gupta, Ritu Chatterjee, Uttam Mahatha Thank you for the patient reading!