Garhwal 2 - birding the track between Sankri and Taluka

Day 4 morning: drive from Naitwar FRH to Taluka FRH via Sankri. 

Day 4 and 5: birding along the track Sankri - Taluka.

The drive Naitwar-Sankri-Taluka is very scenic. There are stretches of excellent forest en route. Oak, horse-chestnut, maple, fir, different species of pine, and many not-so-mighty deodhars(I've definitely seen larger deodhars elsewhere) clothe these hills as you wind your way further up the tons valley.

A view of Swarghrohini from Sankri

Sankri is a pretty village with a few hotels advertising the fabulous views of the 'six-thousanders' (peaks higher than 6000 M) in the distance. The road reduces to a rough forest track a few kms beyond Sankri. Smaller cars would not be able to go any further on this track to Taluka. SS's 4WD is up for the challenge though, with the all-terrain tyres now coming into their own.

 

Track  between Sankri and Taluka

The same track - fording rivulets

Just a quick word about the track and certain sections like the one pictured above. These very same rivulets become rushing torrents swollen with ice-melt in the afternoons, but were just about negotiable when we visited. One has to remember that this was a walking track not too many years ago. It was widened and is now under constant repair from landslides by hardworking crews through the year.

I'm reminded of Vikram Seth's 'The Elephant and the Tragopan' from his 'Beastly Tales...'. This extract is from a tale straight from the Land of Gup but it rings so very true:

"As every bird and mammal knows,

when the road comes the forest goes".

The road has indeed come to Taluka but the forest has not quite gone as yet. There are still pristine stretches where the bright sunlight fails to pierce the gloom of the forest floor. 

Over two full days we do see many excellent birds, yet animals are few: only a pair of barking deer observed after miles of walking. 

Spotted Nutcracker

This party of 4 corvids (nutcrackers are related to crows) announces their affinity to their common relations by cawing from high perches on conifers. The white on the tail is very noticeable in flight.

Ultramarine Flycatcher

The dry 'trrrr' of this common flycatcher is somewhat different from the similar call of the red-breasted flycatcher which is surprisingly absent in these parts.

Red-headed Bullfinch (Male)

A flock of 7-8 bullfinches is quite the highlight of Day 4. They give themselves away with their soft musical calls. Yellow replaces the red on the heads of females. We would see them over several days, but the best sighting was when they put on a display only yards from us on a moss-laden rocky wall with trailing creepers. A troupe of cirque-du-soleil performers as they swung from the strands, picking at the vegetation. 

 Chestnut-bellied Rockthrush (Male)

 Female

This pair of rockthrushes were obviously building a nest as one can see from the nest material in the female's bill. The male was calling incessantly from exposed perches on trees.

A couple of Grey-winged Blackbirds forages in the leaf-litter on the ground. Another unfamiliar call leads us to a (surprisingly perched) Indian Blue Robin. A Eurasian Jay allows glimpses in the thick foliage.

The forest of calling cuckoos

This particular stretch of forest pictured above is inhabited by several cuckoos. We only hear them without catching even a glimpse. The Indian Cuckoo, Common Hawk-Cuckoo and Lesser Cuckoo. Keeping to the script, a vocal White-browed Scimitar Babbler also never shows itself.

 A bridge too far

Probably the densest forest stretched down a steep hill to a bridge-spanned gorge of the tons. An afternoon saw us scrambling ('as far as we can go') down an animal track to the bridge. We meet a goat-herd who is coming up. He tells us the local names of some puzzling trees, and on learning that we are looking for birds, comments, 'they are sleeping now'. The only birds not in slumber are a Himalayan Woodpecker and a female Rufous-bellied Woodpecker. Later, from the main track we observe a large green woodpecker that causes us some confusion, until the guidebooks confirm it as a Scaly-bellied Woodpecker, from the barred tail and large size.

Flowering rhododendron, and goats on the opposite cliff

Flowering tree

 plants clinging to rocky fissures

Langur

We come across a large group of langurs in broad-leaved forest. I remember Happy's description of the himalayan langur (maned; more hirsute). These langurs look quite different from those in the plains. Menon's 2014 edition of the 'Mammals of India' has indeed described several different sub-species of the langur,  including this himalayan langur.

Taluka FRH in foreground

Taluka FRH, gazebo and walnut trees in the compound

The views are just spectacular from the FRH verandah and gazebo. Our usual routine after the day's tramping would be to have hot soup sitting under the gazebo. However, as we discovered on the first evening, if the wind picks up, one required a warm jacket.

New GMVN huts - not operational!

Even though Taluka is the starting point for several treks in this area (Har-ki-dun, Ruinsara tal to name a couple), there are almost no staying options here (other than the FRH). The old GMVN guesthouse is in shambles. The new imported pre-fab huts of pine look inviting. Yet if you peek through the new but broken window panes, there are plumbing fittings and other rubble strewn around inside. It appears that the trekking companies prefer using Sankri for an overnight stay.

By common consensus we agree that the menfolk of Taluka are amongst the laziest to be found anywhere. In contrast, the women toil hard: fetching firewood, tilling the fields, washing and cooking. The men hang around doing nothing.

We appear to have got our city-legs going strongly by now, so the next plan is to trek part-way up towards Har-ki-dun from Day 6. Will post that next...

sahdevsingh2004@yahoo.co.in