Uttarkhand: Arriving in Uttarkhand and birding at Sattal

"Ramnagar, Ramnagar has come" yells our coach attendant and all of us half dozing - half dazed alight from the Ranikhet Express. it is 4.30 a.m. in the morning.There is a perceptible nip in the air - a real change from the March heat of Delhi and the hustle and bustle of Old Delhi railway station the night before. A hot cup of tea at the very quiet station helps to open our eyes a bit wider and we head towards the 4 waiting Innovas that will drive us around the hills for the next two days. Our Group leader Adesh Shivkar introduces us to the local expert Ornithologist Manoj Sharma.Like Adesh and his partner Mandar, Manoj belongs to one of those rare human species who have given up a high flying corporate marketing career in the city to give his time to live in Nature. He lives close to Ramnagar and now leads expert birding tours for hard core birders from India and overseas. Together Adesh and Manoj make a great team to unveil the beautiful birdlife of Uttarkhand to us 14 eager birders.

It is still dark as we vend our way from the small town of Ramnagar into the countryside - all of us excited about our trip. I meet some old friends - Len and Reggie D'costa from my Borneo trip, Bhoopat and Mrudulla Jadeja from the Kenya trip & Dr. Ravi Rajagopal from my Sikkim trip. However, many of us are meeting for the first time and we have already introduced ourselves to each other. A stop at a very interesting resort to refuel our bodies helps to start birding with some interesting birds - Spangled Drongo, Pied Hornbills and much more. However, we have to be on our way to reach Sattal before noon. On the way we stop at a rubbish dump - ugh you might say but the best place to watch some raptors - we get the Steppe Eagle and the Eurasian Griffon.

The day at Sattal yeilds some goood birdlife and these are just few of the many birds that were spotted throughout the trip