Kathmandu Valley and Royal Chitwan National Park, Nepal

I managed to wangle a trip to Nepal to attend a conference on Galliformes, and flew out a week early to take in some birding around the capital. Travelling madly around the country amassing a huge list was one option (seriously considered!), but as I hadn’t been anywhere near the Indian Subcontinent before, I decided to concentrate on the Kathmandu Valley area and spend more time birding than travelling.

The new book by Grimmet et al. (1998) contained everything I needed, so for once I only took the one bird book with me. I also took the site guide by Inskipp (1988).

Took off from Heathrow at around 2230, about an hour late as some people were late getting on and we missed our slot. Some friends I was meeting were already on the plane when I boarded, but I was hustled quickly on into the pleb class seating behind. They had met an old (and clearly influential) friend, and blagged an upgrade to first class.

Dawn broke over the desert of Saudi Arabia and UAE. Flew down the E coast of Qatar, seeing the huge breakwaters and lagoons, presumably for salt works. Had a falcon sp (prob Kestrel) while taxiing down the runway, and despite a concerted scan from the transit lounge, the only other birds seen were a couple of HOUSE SPARROWS. Probably the species I've seen in most different countries.

Flying across northern Pakistan, it was evident that there was a pitched battle between irrigated farmland and desert, the latter clearly with the upper hand. Even from six miles up in the air, field boundaries could clearly be seen, and the desert looked to be swallowing them up at a fair rate. Gradually, as we reached India, the greener irrigated fields began to prevail. We flew right over Delhi, which looked huge even from this height. There were various large river navigations, and sprawling satellite cities looked like little piles of grey ash. As we crossed the NW of the country, flooding was evident, as was a continuing greening of the countryside, but the terrain never seemed to give away to extensive forest. Then clouds took over and everything went white, before I could catch a glimpse of the Himalayas.

We began our descent in the clouds, and got within 5 minutes of the ground before the forested hillsides suddenly loomed up unexpectedly close (close for me, but hopefully not the pilot!). No fences surrounded the airport - people were wandering along the edge of the runway, and kids were playing a hundred yards off. Several groups of CATTLE EGRETS were apparent from the taxiing plane, and several passerines were around, although I didn't have bins readily usable.

My friends were whisked away to their posh hotel, and I got a taxi from outside the airport into town. The driving style was strongly reminiscent of Indonesia, with barging and hooting the main requirements. However, everyone seemed to be acutely aware of everyone else on the road, far more so than your average Brit driver (if you weren't, a crash would be inevitable within seconds). At one roundabout, there were four policemen directing traffic. Overstaffing was also apparent at the airport, where seemingly hundreds of staff were milling around trying to look busy.

I got a taxi into town and checked into the Tibet Holiday Inn. A fairly expensive place at $15 per night. It was a proper hotel with Restaurant and room service, and the room was huge. After I was sorted it was gone 1700 and was beginning to get a little dim. Dusk was apparently at 1800 and dawn at 0530. Crows heard calling from the window turned out to be HOUSE CROWS.

Hired a bike and wheeled it back to the hotel. There turned out to be a roost of 200-300 HOUSE CROWS in the small park near the hotel. Also apparent were a few small flocks of CATTLE EGRETS and a fair-sized roost of COMMON MYNAHS, but darkness was now really closing in. Popped into a supermarket for some supplies and headed back to the hotel.

Got up rather over-enthusiastically at 0445, but only left the hotel at about 0530 as that's when it began to get light. Wove my way through the myriad of unnamed streets in Kathmandu, through Patan, to the footbridge opposite the University. Found the Basant Gaon pools, but they weren't brilliant - more stuff seemed to be on the river. First tick was a LONG-TAILED SHRIKE, then several more followed with INDIAN POND HERON (common), BLACK DRONGO (fairly common), CHESTNUT-TAILED STARLING (common), and RED-VENTED BULBUL (common). Also around the pools were a cracking male GOLDEN ORIOLE, several ROSY PIPITS, TREE SPARROWS (common, just scrabbling around houses with the HOUSE SPARROWS!). On the river nearby were a few COMMON SANDPIPERS, and a BLACK-WINGED STILT, apparently an uncommon passage migrant in Nepal. BLACK KITES were everywhere.

I carried along the road south for a few hundred metres on the bike and then locked it and carried on by foot. A look across the river from a higher vantage point revealed that GREEN SANDPIPERS and COMMON SANDPIPERS were both present in large numbers, the latter the more abundant. More importantly, it revealed a PIED BUSHCHAT. Views of an Accipiter were too brief for confident ID, although I suspected Shikra. Further up, a LARGE-BILLED CROW was in with the HOUSE CROWS, and a small wooded area 500m N of Chobar produced a major league surprise in the form of a RUFOUS-BELLIED WOODPECKER! First picked it up in flight, and then had brief but close range views with bins and scope before it literally evaporated. It is supposed to be a slightly higher altitude forest specialist – is this post-breeding dispersal? Also in that area were a RUFOUS TREEPIE (wow!), a couple of STONECHATS, and more LONG-TAILED SHRIKES.

Further down, at Chobar Temple, I first crossed over to the E bank but couldn't really access the river bank from that side. I did manage JUNGLE MYNAH (common), and a close encounter with a Leech - first proper bite I've had from one of those critters! Had lunch while admiring the view from the hilltop. Several kids looked through the scope and bins, and one began persistently demanding money.

Back on the W side, I wandered down the river, kicking up a SCALY-BREASTED MUNIA busily feeding about 8 fledglings around a reedy patch. Also there was a BAYA WEAVER, a couple of ORIENTAL MAGPIE ROBINS, a juvenile SHIKRA (this time scoped at close range while it sat right out), and a BROWN-THROATED SAND MARTIN over the river. Further down, below the rice paddies, was a WHITE-BROWED WAGTAIL and a REDSHANK. On the shingle bank at the sharp western bend of the river were 3 LONG-BILLED PLOVERS and a LITTLE RINGED PLOVER, but Ibisbill was conspicuous by its absence – apparently too early for this species here. A PINTAIL was hanging around here. Just round the corner I sat down for a rest and presently had GREY WAGTAIL, LITTLE EGRET, and a GREY-BACKED SHRIKE, together with several more LONG-TAILED SHRIKES. HOOPOES were very common, and WHITE WAGTAILS were extremely abundant – I managed to pick out convincing examples of alboides and leucopsis. The shingly island at the next bend pushed the total GREENSHANK count to over 25, and added another LITTLE RINGED PLOVER. The walk back to the road through the rice paddies produced another SHIKRA, a few SLATY-HEADED PARAKEETS, two TEAL, and a BLACK DRONGO. Another crew looked through bins and scope - took ages to tear them away.

Walk back to the bike along the road produced several HOUSE SWIFT, and hundreds of SWALLOWS over the river area. Two more groups looked through the optics, and I was now getting used to being continually disturbed while birding so close to Kathmandu.

Cycling back through Kathmandu confirmed that it is extremely busy and has a severe air pollution problem. There were several RHESUS MACAQUES around the temples; these wild primates apparently do well here owing to their status as holy animals. Got back to the hotel at gone seven, tired, wet, hungry, and thirsty. Sunburn had struck unexpectedly (given that it was cloudy and raining for much of the afternoon.

Couldn't face cycling to Phulchowki, so headed instead on foot to Nagarjung Forest Park. When I got to the Queen's Gate, the chap said it wasn't opening until 10.00! I tried to convey the urgency of the situation, but he wasn't having any of it, so I birded along the road, which separates the forest from rice paddies and gardens with a small band of scrub in between. This wasn't great habitat, and I couldn't see well enough into the forest. Nevertheless, I had two HIMALAYAN BULBULS, a COMMON TAILORBIRD, and lots of GREY TREEPIES and ASHY DRONGOS.

Eventually 10.00 dawned, and I headed up into the park. I began climbing (almost literally in places) up the slippery clay track, and noted a small group of ORIENTAL WHITE-EYES fairly quickly. Otherwise the forest seemed very quiet. Presently, a couple of KALIJ PHEASANTS were glimpsed briefly, and a small group of GREY-HOODED WARBLERS was found. Then it became apparent that GREY-HOODED WARBLERS were everywhere, and that not a lot else was around.

Eventually, about half way up to the summit, a sizable passerine flock was found. It contained mainly GREY-HOODED WARBLERS, but a few BLACK-LORED TITS were in with them. Then, a Roe-sized deer sp darted across the track. After a near-miss with a Leech, a couple of cracking WHITE-CRESTED LAUGHINGTHRUSHES made a racket by the path, and gave excellent views. A bit further on, another mixed flock contained mostly GREY-HOODED WARBLERS, but also a few BLACK-LORED TITS and a BLACK-THROATED TIT. There were some mad insects on the mountain. I nearly stepped on a gorgeous green mantis sp several times. There was a huge (c1cm across) ladybird, several large cicadas, a cracking tiger moth, loads of beautiful butterflies, several amazing beetles, and some weird things that looked like overgrown woodlice. By this time, I was fairly knackered, but I soldiered on and eventually reached the summit.

There was a lookout tower, which I took advantage of for a rest and lunch, by this time it was 1400. A couple of falcons grabbed my attention as they flew past, but they turned out to be NORTHERN HOBBIES. Two LARGE-BILLED CROWS flew past doing a great impression of Ravens. I was all set to make a leisurely walk down ticking lots of montane birds in the afternoon feeding bout when it started raining. And I mean raining.

The clouds descended and the rain came down harder and harder as I walked back down the track until the path became a raging torrent despite the fact it followed the ridge. The clay surface became like an ice rink angled at 45 degrees, but in the entire descent I managed to fall only twice. I once waited under the relative shelter of a well-foliaged tree for the rain to ease, but it wasn't going to. This made birding almost impossible, and nothing apart from WHITE-CRESTED LAUGHINGTHRUSHES was calling.

Eventually I reached the gate again, and walked back along the roads to the hotel. On the way, there were about 300 Black Kites in the NW part of the city, with c. 150 roosting in a Eucalyptus by the river crossing. The rather poor showing of the day made me decide on a Phulchowki trip for the next day, and possibly the day after that, as the main concern now was to see a representative sample of the Himalayan montane birds.

Bed before 2130!

Bit of a disaster on the waking up front. Eventually struggled into consciousness at 0700. Looked for taxi to Phulchowki, but quickly realised that a very effective general strike had put a complete stop on transport and almost everything else. Resorted instead to the bike, with a daunting uphill struggle ahead.

Didn't do too badly in the event, some walking but mostly pedalling through Patan and then up to Godavari. Arriving at the fork in the road, I locked up the bike and continued along the left fork on foot. Soon I noticed a large feeding flock. It contained lots of CHESTNUT-BELLIED NUTHATCH, GREY-HOODED WARBLER, BLACK-LORED TIT, GREY-HEADED CANARY FLYCATCHER, and BLACK-THROATED TIT. These species turned out to be common in most of the area. Failing to find the road mentioned in Inskipp’s book, I wandered up a track to a small farmstead. Immediately on leaving the road, I saw a SMALL NILTAVA flycatching from a high perch, and a SCARLET MINIVET in flight. Further up there was a GREEN-BACKED TIT in with BLACK-LORED TITS, and a DARK-SIDED FLYCATCHER nearby. Around the farmstead itself I had crippling views of a SPECKLED PICULET at the limit of my bins' close focus. Leeches were everywhere, and they swarmed onto my boots whenever I stepped off the track into any vegetation.

Beginning the walk up the hill, I glanced up to see an INDIAN BLACK EAGLE soaring overhead, and several RED-RUMPED SWALLOWS flying around. A shape on the track ahead caught my attention, and it turned out to be a juvenile BESRA with a kill! I couldn't make out what the kill was, and the BESRA flew off with it when I eventually got close enough to flush it. Just as the track crosses the river, I had a female FIRE-BELLIED SUNBIRD, although little else was moving. There were birds calling almost incessantly, but the vegetation was so dense that it was impossible to get views of them.

Futher up I stopped for lunch, and had an ORANGE-BELLIED LEAFBIRD and a LESSER RACKET-TAILED DRONGO. It suddenly became apparent that RUFOUS SIBIAS were everywhere. A racous call like that of a Wren caught my attention, and I peered into the forest to try and locate the caller. I was surprised to notice that the bird was only about four feet away and it turned out to be a GREY-BELLIED TESIA, an absolutely incredible tail-less and tiny bird. A GREY-CHINNED MINIVET sat up on a tree opposite. I wandered back downhill to where a path had left the main road into the forest. This turned out to be a good move as it led into the forest and up and away from the noisy river.

A feeding flock soon became apparent, but it contained mainly GREY-HOODED WARBLERS. A stunning RUFOUS-BELLIED NILTAVA popped into view. Next, a CHESTNUT-CROWNED WARBLER showed, but that was the last new bird in this flock. Inconclusive glimpses of a heavily streaked bird were frustrating. Further up the path, a YELLOW-BELLIED FLOWERPECKER fed solitarily, and a few minutes later on the way back down to the road, I got onto the mystery streaked thing and found it to be a STRIATED LAUGHINGTHRUSH. A large woodpecker that appeared to be a flameback suddenly flew out of a large tree where it had been calling, but I only caught the briefest of glimpses and couldn't nail it. Further down, I had good views of a WHITE-BROWED SHRIKE-BABBLER, and back on the road I finally pinned down STRIPE-THROATED YUHINA, something that I realised had been calling most of the day. A fantastic SPOTTED FORKTAIL flew along the track by the stream briefly, and down near the quarry, GREAT TITS and ORIENTAL WHITE-EYES were feeding.

I began the cycle back, which was a whole lot easier than the way out, apart from a couple of stupid navigational errors. Dinner in the hotel and bed at 2200.

Got up reasonably promptly at 0530 and stumbled out into the street looking for a taxi. The streets had choked back into life after yesterday's strike and I was unwilling, and probably unable, to cycle out to Phulchowki again. Found a taxi and agreed a price of 2000 rupees (£20) for the day including taking me to the summit. Way over the top, but what the heck.

We bumped our way through Patan and eventually Godavari, and made our way painfully up the track towards the summit. Parts of the road were smoothly metalled, but others were stony track or even landslip-affected. We got to a point, about four-fifths of way up, that we couldn’t pass despite several reasonably convincing efforts by the driver. We carried on by foot, and that's where the birds began…

There were birds everywhere. Not just isolated feeding flocks, but birds consistently all over the place. The calls were coming too thick and fast to digest, and much stuff went unidentified by being impossible to view or just me being too busy to follow it up. First up was a cracking male MRS GOULD'S SUNBIRD - not a bad start. Then followed in quick succession FIRE-TAILED SUNBIRD, GREY-CHEEKED WARBLER, WHITE-TAILED NUTHATCH, BLACK-FACED WARBLER, and an ASHY WOODPIGEON. Further up the track, a bird skulking in the trees proved to be a CHESTNUT-TAILED MINLA, later found to be quite a common bird. A bamboo patch provided crippling views of 1+ BLACK-THROATED PARROTBILLS and a YELLOW-BELLIED FANTAIL. A cracking GOLDEN-SPECTACLED WARBLER gave good views, as did a female RED-BREASTED FLYCATCHER. WHITE-BROWED FULVETTAS suddenly appeared and were common, although skulking in low undergrowth. A small party of RUFOUS-VENTED YUHINAS crossed the path, and a strident call attracted my attention. It turned out to be a fine DARJEELING WOODPECKER, and it gave prolonged views.

Further up, we reached the clouds, and everything went foggy. Through the mist I made out a couple of MAROON ORIOLES, but saw nothing else new before reaching the summit. There was a small army post at the top, a radio tower, and a shrine at which my taxi driver paid his religious homages. We had some food, and a couple of finches were flying around calling, although I couldn't make out what they were. We started back down again, and before the mist cleared, I had a couple of SPOTTED LAUGHINGTHRUSES and a GREENISH WARBLER. When we reached the parked car, the driver wanted to follow me down bit by bit, but he was none too subtle about following behind with his radio blaring, so I had to ask him to go down and park at the bottom of the mountain.

Birds were now more split into discrete mixed-species foraging groups. New birds appeared all the time: HUME'S LEAF WARBLER, TICKELL'S LEAF WARBLER, ULTRAMARINE FLYCATCHER, WHISKERED YUHINA, BLACK-THROATED SUNBIRD, HOARY-THROATED BARWING, 3 COMMON ROSEFINCHES, and lots of YELLOW-BREASTED GREENFINCHES. A woodpecker perched high up at the top of a tree turned out to be a BAY WOODPECKER, and a glimpse of one of a group of elusive chattering birds revealed RED-BILLED LEIOTHRIX. Next was a BLYTH'S LEAF WARBLER and a LITTLE PIED FLYCATCHER. Suddenly a group of about 30 large birds was apparent. Eventually I got views of one of them, which turned out to be a WHITE-THROATED LAUGHINGTHRUSH, a gregarious species in winter.

I then met up with the taxi driver who had walked back up the hill just for the fun of it. We bumped into a huge feeding flock, which contained the usual suspects plus RUFOUS-BELLIED WOODPECKER, SPECKLED PICULET, LESSER RACKET-TAILED DRONGO, and a cracking ORANGE-BELLIED LEAFBIRD, possibly the same bird as I saw yesterday in about this area. Interestingly, yesterday's and today's visits were made at about the same time of day, but very little was apparent yesterday, whereas lots was happening today. Further down near the stream, two extremely elusive birds in the thick scrub turned out to be RUFOUS-CHINNED LAUGHINGTHRUSHES.

Hitting the Friday afternoon rush-hour on the way back was a never-to-be-forgotten experience. Went to the shop for supplies, the internet café to check email, and then bed before 2100.

Got up at dawn and took a taxi to the northern outskirts of the city and walked up towards Sheopuri Forest Reserve. The farmland below the reserve produced a nice BLACK-WINGED CUCKOO SHRIKE perched high in a tree, several SWALLOWS, COMMON TAILORBIRD, and 3 flyover COMMON STARLINGS. Crossing through the houses, I birded the stream directly below the reserve entrance. There was a family group (adult female and 2 juveniles) of PLUMBEOUS WATER REDSTARTS, and a cracking LITTLE FORKTAIL along the stream, as well as several HOOPOES, and two GREY WAGTAILS.

The directions to the reserve entrance are no longer as in Inskipp’s book. Basically, you stay on the eastern side of the stream, and follow the road up to the kiosk at the reserve gate. I bought a ticket from one guy, showed it to another two guys, and walked past another guy guarding the gate. I took the left fork, and birded the valley to the north-west of the gate, as well as the Rhododendron scrub higher up. As in other forested areas, GREY-HOODED WARBLERS were the commonest passerine, although here only just more common than NEPAL FULVETTAS. A cracking RUFOUS-BELLIED NILTAVA showed in the forest by the path.

As the path began to follow a valley side NW from the reserve entrance, a substantial mixed feeding flock of about 100 birds became apparent. Most were GREY-HOODED WARBLERS, NEPAL FULVETTAS, and GREY-THROATED BABBLERS. The babblers were confusing initially, as they were the size of leaf warblers! Adding colour were a couple of ORANGE-BELLIED LEAFBIRDS and a VERDITER FLYCATCHER. Two KALIJ PHEASANTS startled from the hillside and fluttered across the path over my head. At about the same time, a subadult STEPPE EAGLE flew low NE up the valley, and lots of HOUSE SWIFTS were apparent. Further along the path, I sat down on some landslip defences overlooking a clearing in the secondary growth. A LARGE CUCKOO SHRIKE sat high in a tree, and a large bird moving about in the dense understorey turned out to be a GREEN-BILLED MALKOHA. Despite its large size, the bird was very hard to keep track of as it crept through the dense vegetation. A noisy group of about 10 WHITE-THROATED LAUGHINGTHRUSH crossed the path as I rejoined it.

Eventually, the path led up into stunted Rhododendron scrub, an interesting habitat in itself. Three INDIAN BLACK EAGLES circled high overhead, and were at one point joined by a superb MOUNTAIN HAWK-EAGLE. About five BLACK-CHINNED BABBLERS were feeding in the Rhododendrons, and fantastically, I managed to catch glimpses of a pair of STREAK-BREASTED SCIMITAR BABBLERS feeding on the ground under the dense vegetation. The way back down to the reserve gate was less eventful, although flight views of a couple of RED-BILLED BLUE MAGPIES were nice.

Got a taxi to Godavari in the morning, checked in bemusedly at the posh hotel, and spent the entire day at the conference.

Got up at 0500 and slipped out for some furtive early morning birding with David Parkin and Maureen Woodburn from the conference. We walked back out to the road and turned uphill towards Phulchowki. We had superb views of a SPOTTED OWLET on wires by the road, and found a nice feeding passerine flock near the fork by the school. A male GREY BUSHCHAT was singing in the tree canopy, and we got good views of it. Among the other usual suspects in the flock were a FULVOUS-BREASTED WOODPECKER and a VERDITER FLYCATCHER.

Continuing up the hill past the quarry, we had several STRIPE-THROATED YUHINAS, superb close-range views of two SPOTTED FORKTAILS, and a BLUE WHISTLING THRUSH sat on the track.

Unfortunately we had to be back for shower and breakfast before the conference began that morning.

Gave my talk and spent the whole time at the conference for these two days.

We left Godavari at 0600 and headed out on a buses toward Chitwan, where the second part of the conference was to be held. The journey was rather eventful. First up was a blown tyre on the other bus, so we stopped near Amarkhu to substitute the spare. Birding by the road there revealed a STRIATED PRINIA in low scrub by the road. A couple of miles further on, we stopped to get a replacement tyre and had

a flyover STEPPE BUZZARD and a CHESTNUT-TAILED STARLING.

A rest stop at the "service station" near Benighat produced good views of a WHITE-RUMPED MUNIA, and further along the road, near Mugling, an adult EGYPTIAN VULTURE hung over the river valley. We were held up for about two hours by an active landslide across the road - there was only one lane of traffic and a tractor trying frantically to clear the debris from the road. As the three-day landslide had just been cleared, there was a huge backlog of vehicles making its way back toward Kathmandu and it took two hours just to wait for a gap in the traffic! Eventually we reached the airfield by Chitwan National Park, and were met by a reception party. We boarded Land Rovers in small groups and were taken to the river crossing. From the small boats that took us across the river, we had a couple of RED-WATTLED LAPWING, PIED KINGFISHER, several BLUE-TAILED BEE-EATER, 3 INDIAN SAND LARKS, and hundreds of BROWN-THROATED SAND MARTIN. We disembarked from the small boats and got onto elephants and rode through the tall and very muddy grassland to the Tiger Tops Jungle Lodge. On the way, we had a cracking WHITE-BREASTED WATERHEN run across the path, several PLUM-HEADED PARAKEET, and, as we approached the lodge itself, 8 Spotted Deer and 4 Grey Langur.

It was late by the time we arrived, and we settled in to our accomodation etc. before watching a slideshow detailing the history of the park, and having a great meal.

Up at 0600 fighting bad gut trouble to take advantage of guided walks from the lodge. Going alone was strongly discouraged owing to the high density of Tigers, Sloth Bears in the area etc etc. Guides waited at the lodge, and left when groups had reached about 6-8 people. Met up with David Parkin. While we were waiting in the garden of the lodge we had CHESTNUT-BELLIED NUTHATCH, PLUM-HEADED PARAKEET, JUNGLE CROW, and a cracking GREY-CROWNED PYGMY WOODPECKER. Once into the forest the birding was fantastic with ORIENTAL PIED HORNBILL, LINEATED BARBET, BLACK-HOODED ORIOLE, and STRIPED TIT BABBLER. We reached the stream, noting lots of Tiger footprints. Turning back, we had a nice female RED-HEADED TROGON perched up, and later a superb male. Next up were three Golden Jackals on the path; WHITE-RUMPED SHAMA were fairly common, and a COMMON GREEN MAGPIE gave good views as it foraged in the canopy.

After the morning walk back at lodge, a LARGE WOOD SHRIKE perched high in trees, a CRESTED HONEY BUZZARD was watched distantly from the lodge being mobbed by two SHIKRA, and a JUNGLE OWLET was in the trees by the lodge. A nice group of c. 10 BLACK STORKS overflew. We had lunch, and then looked at the small pool by the camp site. A cracking STORK-BILLED KINGFISHER gave prolonged views, although little else was happening at that time of day. Back at the lodge we had a GREY-HEADED WOODPECKER in the garden, another couple of JUNGLE OWLETS, several BRONZED DRONGO, 5 RED JUNGLEFOWL, and a COLLARED DOVE. I glimpsed a LESSER ADJUTANT landing in the long grass in front of the lodge, while we were hanging around waiting for another guided walk. The first bird of note on that was a splendid CRESTED SERPENT EAGLE disturbed from its perch, and brief views of a BROWN HAWK OWL. A Death's-head Hawk-moth was roosting under a fallen tree trunk near the stream. A mixed feeding flock included several cracking VELVET-FRONTED NUTHATCH, and we had a Wild Boar on the walk back to the loge At the lodge itself we had about 20 ALEXANDRINE PARAKEET, good views of a perched COLLARED FALCONET, and I saw a LESSER ADJUTANT drop into the grass in front of the lodge.

The next walk began shortly after, and we made our way to the main river, where we had RIVER LAPWING, RED-WATTLED LAPWING, leucopsis WHITE WAGTAIL, DARK CUCKOO-SHRIKE, a male COMMON PEAFOWL, 2 BLACK IBIS, an INTERMEDIATE EGRET, WHITE-BROWED WAGTAIL, and Hog Deer. The best bird was a GREAT HORNBILL in flight and then watched perched distantly along the other side of river, although a PEREGRINE taking a BROWN-THROATED SAND MARTIN was also apparently a good record for Chitwan.

Had a good meal in the lodge and then went to bed relatively early for the last full day's birding tomorrow.

Met up with David Parkin and Martin Woodcock and had GREY-HEADED WOODPECKER and GREENISH WARBLER in the lodge garden. Left for a morning walk at 0600. The path to the stream produced great views of a BLACK-NAPED MONARCH and glimpses of two others, 2 PUFF-THROATED BABBLERS and PALE-CHINNED FLYCATCHER. Got back to the lodge and had breakfast before leaving on another walk toward the main river E of the lodge at 0900. This produced BROWN CRAKE, STRIATED BABBLER, a TEMMINCK'S STINT, 2 BLACK IBIS, INDIAN SAND LARK, BLUE-TAILED BEE-EATER, an EMERALD GROUND DOVE, 4 flyover BLACK-HOODED ORIOLES, and a pair of WHITE-TAILED STONECHAT feeding on the sandy riverside deposits. An OLIVE-BACKED PIPIT and CITRINE WAGTAIL overflew, and we had good views of a SHORT-WINGED CUCKOO. The walk back toward to the lodge gave SPANGLED DRONGO, CROW-BILLED DRONGO, and a spanking BLUE-THROATED BARBET.

The next walk out after lunch produced ORANGE-HEADED GROUND THRUSH, cippling views of VELVET-FRONTED NUTHATCH and BLACK-BACKED FORKTAIL, a RED-HEADED TROGON, LESSER YELLOWNAPE, and LARGE WOODSHRIKE. A BLACK-CAPPED KINGFISHER found by an earlier walk to the stream was successfully "twitched". On the way back from the stream, we had nice views of a HIMALAYAN FLAMEBACK. At the lodge, lookout from the lawn produced a nice Sambar, and a nice soaring group comprising 2 LONG-BILLED VULTURES and a LESSER ADJUTANT. The vultures are in decline in Nepal, and it is now a good bird for Chitwan.

An afternoon walk to an area we had not yet been produced fantastic views of a perched BLUE-BEARDED BEE-EATER, and a close-ranged CRESTED SERPENT EAGLE. We took an elephant ride in the evening, and had 9 Asian One-horned Rhinoceros, including a couple with young, but no sign of any Tigers. Birds included INDIAN ROLLER, LARGE CUCKOOSHRIKE, 6 COMMON PEAFOWL, a GREATER COUCAL and a CINNAMON BITTERN. A fine end to a superb couple of days' birding. Embarrassed myself fairly comprehensively at the end of conference bash.

Woke up bleary-eyed in the morning, and had WHITE-RUMED SHAMA and LINEATED BARBET around the lodge itself. We had to leave very early for the trip back, and the only further new bird was ASIAN PIED STARLING on rooftops along the park access roads. We arrived back in Kathmandu late that night and stayed in a rather posh hotel in the south of the town. Went out for a farewell meal, and had a good night's sleep.

Up at 0500 for the flight home. The end of a fantastic trip.