SANDEEP JAJABOR: 2015

Mistima ( my paternal aunt aged 85 years) whose zest for life in general and love for travel in particular remains unabated even at this age, wanted to take a short holiday on her birthday (22nd September) and therefore, we were searching for some place especially suited to her taste and liking. She is a fastidious person particular when it comes to hygiene and food and therefore on the advice of my nephew Auntik and his wife Priyanka, I finally zeroed in for 'The Retreat'. Auntik's recommendation for 'The Retreat' appeared perfect for two reasons (i) it was away from the main city and situated in a forested area which I rightly guessed would provide ample opportunity to get birds and (ii) the food he said is out of the world. Both the recommendations, which came out absolutely true are the USPs of ' Retreat' .

morning tea after a successful birding session

black-throated sunbird.

We planned that we would all start on 19th from Delhi and come back on 22nd September. My problem, however, was that I had an exam on 22nd September. This meant that I had to come back a day earlier i.e on 21st and not with the group. Mistima and Anjana were disappointed and kept telling me that I should skip the exam and take it later but somehow I was reluctant to miss my exam. Hence I bought my return ticket for 21st September. Eventually, however, on the day of my scheduled return, after saying goodbye to all, just as I was about to board the taxi from Bhimtal to catch my train from Kathgodam, I realised that I had mistakenly bought a ticket of the another train which had already left from Kathgodam at 0800 hours that morning. Of course everyone except me was delighted at my plight. To be honest I was also feeling relieved.

On 19th September, we started from Delhi by train at 0615 hours from Anand Vihar Railway station. It takes about 5 hours to reach Kathgodam and we reached exactly at 1130 hours. From Kathgodam it took us 1.5 hours to reach the 'The Retreat'. The Retreat is a charming, family owned 19th Centruy colonial bungalow nestled in the lap of nature. All the three rooms are very big with attached toilets. Being a colonial structure the rooms have big windows facing either the wooded area on the back or the garden in the front.

Our stay all three days were very comfortable and full of fun. So far birding was concerned, it was very satisfying particularly the two lifers i.e. black-throated sunbird and the Himalayan wood owl.

Padmini (Paddy)

Black-throated Sunbird

baked fish

himlayan wood owl

Himalayan Wood Owl

grey headed woodpecker

juvenile flycatcher??

celebrating mistima's birthday

bidding adieu

15th to 17th May 2015-Pangot and Sattal.
It was a family outing once again to our favorite place-Pangot. Kafal House is our second home and we have only to find an excuse to head for it. This time the excuse was that we were awaiting the Class XII board results of Ishani. She was apprehensive that once her results are declared, she would not be in a mood to undertake any travel. Buji my favorite disciple was suppose to join us next day [eventually he joined us two days later as he missed his train for reasons which he is famous (or infamous) for. For more details on this aspect of his character please read my famous article http://sandeepjajabor.blogspot.in/2014/01/sattal-jan-2014-all-expenses-paid.html].

15th May 2015(Friday):We started from Delhi on 15th by Kathgodam Shatabdi which departs at 0615 hours from Anand Vihar Raillway station. We reached Kathgodam at 1130 hours which is ten minutes before the scheduled time. Our trusted old Driver-cum-guide Shri Harish Joshi was waiting eagerly at the station and we soon started for Pangot. It takes 1.5 hours from Kathgodam to Pangot. The weather was the finest we could expect. However, soon after we crossed Nainital it started raining which after a few minutes, turned into a severe hail storm. Although for a Delhite hail stroms are not rare, what we were witnessing was something rare. Harish kept on driving despite the very poor visibility, for the only reason that if this hail storm continued for more than half-an-hour we could be stranded. Since all the hail from the slopes were accumulating on the road, the roads soon turned white. Driving was becoming a serious business now. Tension on the face of Harish was visible and that also made me nervous. The memory of being stranded on 16th August last year at about the same place was too fresh in my mind to allow any optimistic thoughts. Ishani and Anjana were however, blissfully unaware of the possibilities of continuing hailstorm and were thoroughly enjoying videographing the phenomena.

Fortunately the rain abated in 20 minutes and by the time we reached Pangot at 1.45 PM it was sunny again. By now we were very hungry and the first thing we did, after we had checked in, was to have our lunch. One of the special attraction in Kafal House is the food. Hemu -the chef in Kafal House is an exceptional cook besides being a fine bird watcher.

The forktail visits the small poodle in front of this abondoned house
at Timla Pani.

Immediately after lunch we went to Timla Pani in search of the Spotted Forktail which unfortunately eluded us that day. However, there was a large flock of wedge-tailed green pigeon which we got to shoot from very close range. The pair below were shot without getting out from the jeep.

wedge tailed green pigeon or Kokla Green Pigeon

wedge tailed green pigeon

16th May 2015: Early morning at 5.30 AM we went out to try our luck for Cheer pheasant. Pangot is the place to sight Cheer pheasant with high certainty. The way to the area where Cheer is found is also full of two other most beautiful pheasants namely Koklas and Kaleej. In my all previous visits to Pangot, never ever I have failed to sight Koklas. This time also, we sighted koklas within minutes of starting our journey. Unfortunately, we could not get a good click and were feeling disappointed. Our disappointment was short lived because, from nowhere came flying a female kaleej (see above) and landed in front of our jeep. Since I was sitting in the front, I got a very good opportunity to click the specimen. I was extremely lucky that by this time it was almost six and the first rays of the sun were falling on it to allow me a decent shutter speed of 1/80 despite the high ISO.

Rufous bellied niltava

Although we were unlucky with cheer this time, yet the satisfaction of the kaleej shot was compensatory. On our way back we also got very good shot of a pair of fork tail and a rufous-bellied- niltava(see above). At around 5.50 AM, Buji's short crisp and cryptic message came that "I have missed the train. Feeling horrible. Do not call back". It was a disappointing news for all three of us because we were eagerly waiting for Buji to join us. After conjecturing and debating on five to six reasons for the disaster, we settled for the most probable reason for which you may read http://sandeepjajabor.blogspot.in/2014/01/sattal-jan-2014-all-expenses-paid.html.

By tenthirtry we arrived back at Kafal House and