We visited Shimla in the month of May 2019. This is the first visit to Himalayas and I was eagerly waiting for to do birding as part of my family vacation. We reached Kandhaghat (club Mahindra) on 13th May. As soon as we entered the resort the first bird I spotted was Himalayan Bulbul (though it is common bird in that area but it is lifer for me). I wasted no time to pull out my camera and clicked few shots. That evening we spent in the resort and the sunset was amazing.
The next day, I started early in the morning to roam around the resort to click some birds. The first bird was Streaked laughing thrush (lifer). It was a cool bird and sitting in perch without bothering me. With golden morning light, it was a treat to me by the nature and of course by the little fella.
Club Mahindra resort in Kandhaghat is a nice property and provided lot of opportunities for birding and adventures sports. It has one of the longest Zip-liner in Himalayas.
The species spotted on the morning was Streaked laughing thrush, red billed blue magpie( with the kill), slaty headed parakeet, plum headed parakeet, black chinned babbler, Asian paradise flycatcher, Lesser yellow naped woodpecker, Rosy minivet and Black bulbul.
I was so happy to spot these birds and clicked some decent shots and moved to back yard of the resort. Surprise was waiting for me! yes I spotted the Kalij pheasant which is a rare spotting in that area. The surprise didn't stop at that, moved further along the fence and suddenly 3 White crested laughing-thrush appeared from nowhere.
Streaked laughingthrush
White crested laughingthrush
When I was stepping out of the resort gate, spotted more slaty headed parakeets and great tits. I reached the main road with my camera gear and people were looking at me strangely as I was wearing a military kind of uniform and carrying camera instead of the equipment they usually carry :)
I walked few hundred meters in the road searching for new species. I was in a day dream on spotting great barbet. I was of the opinion that the great barbets are easily spotted in West bengal (All the photos in FB I have seen are taken in WB) so the day dream. To my surprise a great barbet flew from behind me and sat in a neem tree and it was looking at me. It took few seconds for me to realise the bird is real and not a day dream. With joy I clicked the little beauty and happily signing a modified version of a Tamil song (Kandupudichen Kandupudichen Great Barbet 'a Kandupudichen). Also spotted grey treepie, verditer flycatcher and red billed blue magpie.
Great Barbet
Great Tit
Red billed blue magpie
Next day we went to Naldhera and stayed there few days. The interesting thing we did was walking in the Kufri forest. It is serine beauty and lots of lifer! yes, grey winged black bird, himalayan woodpecker, coal tit to name a few. It was a fantastic walk and clicked few pictures and returned to Naldhera where we found rock-bunting. We ended the Shimla trip with happy note and returned to Bangalore :)
Himalayan Woodpecker
Grey winged black bird
