On a day of grey skies our hope of good birding was minimal. However, just on entering a strongly flying Asian Barred Owlet caught our attention, which settled on a nearby tree, which raised our spirits. Soon we met officer Kakati of Project Tiger and knowing our desire for the elusive and endangered White-winged Duck he asked us to immediately head towards the first forest camp. He also thought it wise to let the young forest guard Gogoi to be with us. Gogoi was quite an unassuming fellow but was very alert to the sights and sounds of the surroundings. Within minutes he heard something. We were at that moment waiting for the Mahout to join us in the forest jeep as we were heading to a boat waiting for us a few hundred meters away. The first forest camp was a small distance on the other side.

He softly said, "It's an Oriental Hobby calling."
Where? We were already getting down from the jeep to look for the bird.
After a few paces he found the spot where we could see it high up, almost near the top of a tree in an extended open branch, calling curiously. A very rapid and high-pitched shrilling qui-qui-qui-qui-qui uttered along with a simultaneous bobbing head. The bird looked quite appealing with its deep rusty red underparts. It kept calling from the same perch every now and then for a long time. For the want of anything better we decided to move on.

The Boat

From the middle of the river Jia Bhoroli we saw a Pallas’s Fish Eagle land on a distant tree. As this river is the home to Golden Mahseer, the fishing eagles must be sustaining themselves nicely. On the other side we heard the faint quank of a pair of Ruddy Shelduck from afar. Within a few hundred meters we were at the first camp.

The dense and deep forest mostly lies to the eastern bank of this river, which forms a continuous stretch with the Pakke Tiger Reserve of the Himalayan foothills in Arunachal. "Thanks to this river, which acts as a natural barrier, both Nameri and Pakke face less pressure of deforestation," a forest official said. On the western bank the forest looks degraded.

At the camp without wasting much time or wait for the elephants to arrive we moved on towards the first forest pool. As we marched along the path running parallel to the river a few Pin-tailed Green Pigeons were spotted by Gogoi on a low tree and one of them gave good views. More walk - An Asian Fairy Bluebird flew across our path swiftly and then hid into the tree but sadly even a record shot could not be captured of this beautiful bird. Leaving the banks of the river we turned towards the deeper forest. A Streaked Spiderhunter was seen clasping a twig high up.

Gogoi's pace slackened and he signaled us to be quiet. We then made a soft-footed approach to the pool taking cover behind low shrubs. The first sight of the pool was the most amazing. The still water was covered with tiny green leaves/fungus flanked by heavy broadleaved forest and gave an impression of a very ancient era, some sort of a lost world. Many people have visited this place and surely everyone will recall the experience vividly. Pugmarks of animals seen near the muddy edge of the pool made it all the more interesting. The water had a few Pond Herons and a Yellow bittern was seen dashing from one hide to other. And soon it was apparent that we would not be fortunate with the White-winged Duck. While we silently cogitated on our next course of action a very bold Small Niltava came inspecting the aliens on its domain, flitting from one branch to the other after a while.

On the noise of a twig snapping we looked back and saw the Mahouts coming to us with their elephants. It was decided to try the other forest pools for our duck on elephant back. Our marching order now consisted of Ananda and me, three elephants with their mahauts and two forest guards including Gogoi. I have never cared to ride a domestic elephant, which I find vaguely stressful to the animal, so I thought of walking along but the way forward had very thick jungles which can only be accessed by these Pachyderms therefore I was only forced by the circumstances to ride them. Soon it became apparent why it was necessary. The elephants would neatly clear any overhanging branch coming on to us with their trunks and skillfully manage their way through the Jungle. Also, they would back out very tactfully from any muddy and sinking ground. So we moved on riding the elephants, albeit with painfully outstretched legs.

Of the three, the youngest elephant kept us amused by his pranks and playfulness. He would at times go sideways and start uncoiling the creepers and munch leaves etc., stopping the whole caravan and not realizing that we were seriously searching the duck! We covered some distance to our second pool but did not find a single bird there. Sure enough we were heading towards our third pool. After a while we passed through a relatively open area where Green Imperial Pigeons were sighted and we heard the distant awnk of a Great Hornbill. It was spotted perched all alone and calling incessantly.

We were now heading towards the third camp and now had to cross a small rivulet. Two elephants negotiated the tricky edge of the rivulet but the one carrying Ananda slipped sideways on to the knee-deep water. Ananda somehow managed to grip the rope near the head of the elephant and saved himself from falling in to the water but in the process cut his finger badly. The elephant regained its balance and soon we were at the third camp.

After a few minutes we were again on the elephants. Now the jungle was the most dense of all. After a while it was becoming awfully painful to continue on elephant back, so at a thinner region we decided to climb down and walk to the pool alongside the elephants. After walking ahead for a while Gogoi suddenly stopped in his tracks, I had also heard a faint crack. He quietly inspected the way ahead and immediately signaled us to climb back. He whispered "Mithun". He then said with a sheepish grin "I am not afraid of wild elephants, I am not afraid of the tigers as they mind their own business, but a Mithun (He probably meant a wild buffalo) scares me a lot." We did not see anything though and taking heed from thereon we went ahead on elephant back only.

As we neared the pool we got down and slowly moved forward. No duck again but for a brief moment a Black Stork came into the view in the middle of the water and a Lesser Adjutant on the edge of the pool flew up. Again a Yellow Bittern was seen dashing. A White-throated Bulbul and a Small Niltava were also seen briefly.

By now we were tired and decided to call off the search.

We withdrew to the third camp and then we started towards the second camp. A little later, Ananda seated on the elephant leading the file spotted the owl perched high on a tree. I asked them to stop on their tracks and slowly took our elephant to the front. From a safe distance I kept taking shots of the owl, which was curiously glancing sideways. The owl was very silent throughout and soon lost patience with us and flew off with its massive and barred wings outstretched. It was at ease at midday of a slightly hazy surroundings and cloudy sky.

The minutes spent with the owl were very refreshing and soon we were at the second camp. From the second to the first camp the narrow and clear path was along the bank of the river so we decided to give up the painful ride on the elephants. The Mahouts then took a shortcut to the first camp through the not very deep river.

As we started Gogoi suggested re-trying the first forest pool. Again no luck with the duck but saw a Scaly Thrush near the pool. Greenish Warbler (nom), Spot-winged Starlings and Pin-striped Tit-babbler were also recorded now.

We turned back towards the first camp where Gogoi pointed towards a Peregrine Falcon, (Falco peregrinus calidus), which is a regular winter visitor there. While observing the Falcon I had the most amazing wildlife moment with the bird, the full details of which shall be put here later...

We had our lunch and walked back to the boat, saw a few white wagtails on the sandy banks of the river and a wild elephant far off. It was getting dark now and soon we rode back to Bhalukpong, near Pakke WLS.

The day/ride was made easy by the elephants but in spite of all the precautions an insect bite to the ear and a brush with poisonous leaves left me itching for many days, but who cares, though the search of the White-winged Duck proved futile, we had a reasonable collection of images of other birds.

***
People attempting to see the wild species must not harm the animals/birds directly or indirectly and also take adequate personal safety measures like never attempting anything without the company of forest officials/guards etc., please remember “Safety first, everything else later.”