Northeast India; Day 6 - Bompu Camp

  Today did not start well at all, as I awoke at 01:30 with stomach cramps and then had to endure my first bout of the infamous Delhi Belly! Despite this, I managed to get a little more sleep and so was able to make the most of the day, fuelled by energy drinks! We would spend the day birding the road down the mountain from the Bompu Lodge, with a number of targets to find in the stunning forest scenery, starting at 06:00.

  Just around the corner from the camp we picked up our first target species of the day, with a brilliant Rufous-throated Wren Babbler. It was very reminiscent of the South American Tapaculos, scuttling around the undergrowth and running along the floor like a mouse, but occasionally stopping and showing well. At the same location I had another new species, although significantly more common, with Yellow-throated Fulvetta. The morning continue apace with some excellent mixed-species flocks with a host of interesting birds and new species for me; Black-headed Shrike-Babbler, White-naped Yuhina and Black-crowned Scimitar-Babbler, as well as other good species such as White-breasted Parrotbill and Silver-eared Mesia. Away from the flocks I also added Crimson-naped Woodpecker. But the undoubted highlight of these flocks were two quite confiding and low down Himalayan Cutia! It was brilliant to watch this striking bird feeding along the branches, much closer than when I had seen it in Thailand.

  Around 10:00 the late morning lull started to take place, although this was offset somewhat by the first butterflies of the trip making an appearance. After an hour or so of very little activity there was a short rain shower, and things began to perk up again after this. This started with a spectacular show from a flock of in excess of 20 Rufous-naped Hornbillls, including males and females. Initially we were only able to see them flying, but afterwards we could pick them up in the trees in the distance, before they then came closer, even perching in the trees above us. It was absolutely fantastic to witness!

  The Hornbills brought me up to 3999 species for the world, and I was apprehensive as to what my 4000^th species would be. Fortunately I did not have to wait long, and of the options available to us it was undoubtedly the best on offer; the Beautiful Nuthatch! As its name suggests it was stunning indeed, but initially it looked like they would be sticking to the canopy, but fortunately our guide knew how to bring them down and we soon had a brilliant show! The timing was fortunate, as not even a minute after the first appearance of the Beautiful Nuthatch, a flock of Long-tailed Sibia passed through, bringing me to 4001.

  Over lunch we found a few more Rufous-naped Hornbills and even had some flyover Wreathed Hornbills. In the bushes near our picnic spot we tried hard for a few species, but the only one that cooperated at all was the Eyebrowed Wren-Babbler, which came charging out of the vegetation in response to our playback.

  With only a few hours of daylight left we drove back up the mountain to try a few final birds around the camp. On the way we had a couple of Kaliji Pheasant on the road, but they quickly scuttled into the undergrowth. There was hope that we might land our final key target species for the Bompu Camp area back at the campground, but they managed to elude us, except for untickable views of a Long-billed Wren-Babbler flying across the road. We did manage to finally get views of Scaly-breasted Cupwing, another Tapaculo lookalike that showed nicely after frustrating us for a few days prior. A Chestnut-headed Tesia was also nice, but brief and difficult to see well.