It was indeed an marvelous experience to explore tough naturally beautiful snow clad mountains of the lower Himalayan ridge covered with lush green carpet of grass in the valley with dense forest of Deodar trees varieties of Conifers and intermittently flowering Red Coral reef ,Silver Oak and Jacarandas and many more giving the feel of ‘Tare Zameen Per’. The rains before we reached Shimla had made it very green helping flora to grow without any additional effort. The calls & songs of birds during their breeding season were cherry on the cake. It gave us a feel of heaven for a complete week.
After a pleasant ride for nearly 5 hrs in ‘Shivalik Express’ (Narrow Gauge Train ) from Kalka within the lush green mountains all around during our journey we reached to our Hotel ‘The Royale Oaks’ situated close to ‘Longwood Ridge’ in Shimla. I scanned this area of longwood for all the 7 days in the morning & once in the evening for the bush birds. I met Gillian (Delhi Birder from Britain) here & thanks to Virginia for all your helpful tips to scan this lovely place.
We paid two visits to Kufri, one to Naldehra, Fagu, Masobra, Patatto research institute, Green Valley Catchment area (Bird Sanctuary) and Indian Institute of Advance Studies for birding . Mall road, lower mall for food. The clean city has dominance of rhesus monkeys with few troops of H. Langurs. The entire range of this beautiful Shivalik hills has healthy population of Indian Tortoise shell butterflies with other species like common Sailor, Painted Lady, Sapphire, Hegde Blue, Himalayan Taby & few more. The traditional architecture of houses has maintained and encouraged the healthy population of House Sparrows at every nook and corner of the city. Russet Sparrows also share their space with them. Historically the city exhibits British architecture with grey stone procured mainly from Naldehra and other surrounding areas .IIAS with other big buildings on mall road are the best examples of British architectures. Wood work in Shimla is outstanding even for handy craft souvenirs. Life style is very simple and people are very honest & hard working specially the migrants from Kashmir called ‘Khans’ capable of carrying 2 LPG cylinders, steel almirah , fridge, washing machine etc on their backs hats off to their physical power. There were few good breed of ‘Jodhpuri Horses’ from Jodhpur Risala on the mall road for tourists may be brought during pre independence and are still maintaining same gene pool.
Mall road is good for food and strolling in the night. We preferred to take food at Indian Coffee House but lower and middle mall also have chole bhature and Kulche outlets. H.P. Juices are the best to be consumed fresh and packed both. Transport is very expensive in Shimla for every small trip of 2-4 kms taxi charges 300-400 rupees. Walk is very tough for those who are not habitual of walking (horses are available for that) .We enjoyed every bit of our stay in Shimla.
Lastly tourists are destroying this beautiful mountains by throwing clutter of plastic & polythene birds and other animals like barking deer are getting adversely affected by it .We sincerely appeal to all the visitors please keep a check on it.
Happy Birding
1-Himalayan Monal
2-Khaleej Pheasant
3-Red Jungle Fowl
4-Koklas Pleasant
5-Himalayan Griffons
6-Booted Eagle
7-Black Kite
8-Longbilled Crow
9-Blue Whistling Thrush
10-Streaked Laughing Thrush
11-Whiskered Yuhinas
12-Oriental White Eyes
13-Small Minivets
14-Common Rose Finch
15-Slaty Headed Parakeets
16-Aleaxandrine Parakeet
17-Plum Headed Parakeet
18-Great Barbet
19-Himalayan Wood Packer
20-Grey Capped Woodpacker
21-Oriental Turtle Dove
22-Himalayan Black Bulbul
23-Himalayan Bulbul
24-Great Tit
25-Black Lored Tit
26-Green Backed Tit
27-Red Headed Tit
28-Bar Tailed Tree Creeper
29-Russet Sparrow
30-House Sparrow
31-Grey Hooded Warbler
32-Savana Nightjar
33-Ashy Prinia
34-Red Billed Blue Magpie
35-Grey Bushchat
36-Blue Rock Pigeon
37-Black Francolin
38-Jungle Myna
39-Common Myna
40-Lesser Yellownape
41-Red Breasted Flycatcher
42-Barn Swallow
43-Red Rumped Swallow
44-Black Eared Kite
45-Verditer Flycatcher
46-Up-land Pipit
47-Red Spotted Tit
48-Grey Bellied Prinia
? Few Unidentified birds also will post once confirmed.
After a pleasant ride for nearly 5 hrs in ‘Shivalik Express’ (Narrow Gauge Train ) from Kalka within the lush green mountains all around during our journey we reached to our Hotel ‘The Royale Oaks’ situated close to ‘Longwood Ridge’ in Shimla. I scanned this area of longwood for all the 7 days in the morning & once in the evening for the bush birds. I met Gillian (Delhi Birder from Britain) here & thanks to Virginia for all your helpful tips to scan this lovely place.
We paid two visits to Kufri, one to Naldehra, Fagu, Masobra, Patatto research institute, Green Valley Catchment area (Bird Sanctuary) and Indian Institute of Advance Studies for birding . Mall road, lower mall for food. The clean city has dominance of rhesus monkeys with few troops of H. Langurs. The entire range of this beautiful Shivalik hills has healthy population of Indian Tortoise shell butterflies with other species like common Sailor, Painted Lady, Sapphire, Hegde Blue, Himalayan Taby & few more. The traditional architecture of houses has maintained and encouraged the healthy population of House Sparrows at every nook and corner of the city. Russet Sparrows also share their space with them. Historically the city exhibits British architecture with grey stone procured mainly from Naldehra and other surrounding areas .IIAS with other big buildings on mall road are the best examples of British architectures. Wood work in Shimla is outstanding even for handy craft souvenirs. Life style is very simple and people are very honest & hard working specially the migrants from Kashmir called ‘Khans’ capable of carrying 2 LPG cylinders, steel almirah , fridge, washing machine etc on their backs hats off to their physical power. There were few good breed of ‘Jodhpuri Horses’ from Jodhpur Risala on the mall road for tourists may be brought during pre independence and are still maintaining same gene pool.
Mall road is good for food and strolling in the night. We preferred to take food at Indian Coffee House but lower and middle mall also have chole bhature and Kulche outlets. H.P. Juices are the best to be consumed fresh and packed both. Transport is very expensive in Shimla for every small trip of 2-4 kms taxi charges 300-400 rupees. Walk is very tough for those who are not habitual of walking (horses are available for that) .We enjoyed every bit of our stay in Shimla.
Lastly tourists are destroying this beautiful mountains by throwing clutter of plastic & polythene birds and other animals like barking deer are getting adversely affected by it .We sincerely appeal to all the visitors please keep a check on it.
Happy Birding
1-Himalayan Monal
2-Khaleej Pheasant
3-Red Jungle Fowl
4-Koklas Pleasant
5-Himalayan Griffons
6-Booted Eagle
7-Black Kite
8-Longbilled Crow
9-Blue Whistling Thrush
10-Streaked Laughing Thrush
11-Whiskered Yuhinas
12-Oriental White Eyes
13-Small Minivets
14-Common Rose Finch
15-Slaty Headed Parakeets
16-Aleaxandrine Parakeet
17-Plum Headed Parakeet
18-Great Barbet
19-Himalayan Wood Packer
20-Grey Capped Woodpacker
21-Oriental Turtle Dove
22-Himalayan Black Bulbul
23-Himalayan Bulbul
24-Great Tit
25-Black Lored Tit
26-Green Backed Tit
27-Red Headed Tit
28-Bar Tailed Tree Creeper
29-Russet Sparrow
30-House Sparrow
31-Grey Hooded Warbler
32-Savana Nightjar
33-Ashy Prinia
34-Red Billed Blue Magpie
35-Grey Bushchat
36-Blue Rock Pigeon
37-Black Francolin
38-Jungle Myna
39-Common Myna
40-Lesser Yellownape
41-Red Breasted Flycatcher
42-Barn Swallow
43-Red Rumped Swallow
44-Black Eared Kite
45-Verditer Flycatcher
46-Up-land Pipit
47-Red Spotted Tit
48-Grey Bellied Prinia
? Few Unidentified birds also will post once confirmed.
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