Wednesday 30 July 2014

Nagarkot, Nepal - Part II

More from our 1-day trip to Nagarkot - 2 hours East of Kathmandu.
Verditer Flycatchers were common - and stunning:

The real reason we were there was to see the mountains - it's the off season now because clouds usually obstruct views of the distant mountains, but we were lucky to have 1 hour of clear weather:




Gray Bushchat - juvenile

Siberian Stonechat - apparently this is the local breeding species (stonechats have been undergoing all sorts of splitting well beyond my comprehension so I had to rely on Ding Li Yong on the ID of this one)

Gray Bushchat - female:

Streaked Laughingthrush:

Sunday 27 July 2014

Nagarkot, Nepal - Part I

Still in Nepal with my medical friends - on our day off on Saturday we visited Nagarkot, a touristy town just East of Kathmandu in hopes of seeing the Himalayas, I also fit in my first 2 hours of birding since arriving in Nepal over 3 weeks ago. And, damn it is birdy here... Wish I had more time to explore the different habitats and altitudes outside of the Kathmandu valley.





House Crow:


Great Barbet:


Black-lored Tit:

More to come in the next few days!

Friday 18 July 2014

Kathmandu

Been in Kathmandu, Nepal for 2 weeks now. It's not a birding trip so I've only seen birds that have come to me. 27 Species so far! Should be able to hit 100 by the first week of August when I plan to do some dedicated birding.

But for now, here are some pictures taken from the Kathmandu valley.

Patan Durbar Square - this is in the neighbourhood of where I live

Lots of monkeys in the city:


Rose-ringed Parakeets are common:

House Sparrow - a familiar species:

Red-vented Bulbul was a new one for me:

Viceroy-like butterfly:

Black Kites are incredibly common:


Oriental Magpie-Robin - also very common: