Northeast India; Day 19 - Namdapha National Park

  For our second full day in Namdapha National Park we had hired a 4x4 from the forest rangers, for the small price of 4000 rupees. This would allow us to go further into the park than we had the previous day, and as such give us access to other areas where we might be able to search for the heron, including another watchtower at the 32^nd mile that overlooked a large area of floodplain with main braids in the river, although the tower was over a kilometre from the river.

  The first port of call we made was to the same watchtower as the previous day, but a quick check here showed no sign of the heron. Rather than waiting for the bird here we continued on our way as it would take us more than an hour to reach the 32^nd Mile Watchtower. This ended up taking even longer thanks to our car getting stuck in the mud for around 10 minutes, and a few birding stops thanks to an Oriental Hobby and a flock of Long-tailed Broadbills that flew across the road. This second stop also produced a short birding walk and we also had a mixed flock of Common Hill Myna and a few female Golden-crested Myna.

  Once we finally reached the watchtower it was already 09:00 and our hopes to another blow when we spotted a group of forest rangers camping on the side of the river. Given the herons complete aversion to humans, this did not bode well and despite scanning all we could see for a good half an hour, we decided to carry on up the road in the hopes of finding other viewpoints from which to check.

  Our next port of call was just a few kilometres further, although it took time to get there thanks to the state of the road. Although the viewshed of the river was impressive, it was very distant. Sadly once again we failed to find the heron despite our best efforts. It had also begun to rain which dampened the mood further. Fortunately they were lifted a little by a lively mixed-species flock that passed through, containing one of the targets of the site with Brown-crowned Scimitar Babbler which showed well but always on the move. Perhaps more entertaining was a group of Yellow-bellied Warblers, once of which had seemingly bitten the rump of another and was being dragged around as the first bird flew between the bushes in attempt to dislodge the attack.

  Because the next viewpoint was quite some drive away, and the condition of the road had taken its toll on our optimism, we decided to return to the 32^nd Mile Watchtower and scan from there for the rest of the day. The rangers had since moved on but our initial scans did not pick anything out, so we settled in for the rest of the day. Fortunately, not too much time later, I was scanning when I picked out an odd shaped tall rock sitting in the rapids. It took a second to process, but there it was. The White-bellied Heron! All hell broke loose! I quickly announced that I had the bird, much to the aggrievance of Max who had left the tower for wee, and made tracks to set the other scopes onto the bird and grab some photos. But maddeningly, before most people could get onto it, the bird took off and started flying downriver. Whilst I was able to grab some precious photos, it was lost behind the forest as it flew!

  The direction of the bird should have meant we would have picked it up coming out on the other side of the trees, but we never did. To us, this meant that it must have landed on the river within the 200 metre stretch obscured by the trees. It was a nervous wait, but after 40 minutes I again spotted it perched in another area of rapids exactly where we had expected to find it. With relief all round we could all now watch the bird in a more relaxed setting, which we did for the best part of 90 minutes. It spent a lot of time not doing much, but at times we could see it preening and walking around, although obviously always distant. Still, we were thrilled to have seen the bird, our main target for this section of the trip and one of two species that we had developed the itinerary for. We were over the moon!

  After 90 minutes we were very satisfied with our morning, so began the long journey back, knowing that there would be a few stops along the way for various birds. However, our first stop was a more unexpected and unwanted; with a car stuck in the area we had been unable to clear earlier in the morning. Although we had struggled to get out of the ditch, this vehicle was fully entrenched in the mud, holding up two vehicles already when we arrived.

  Gauging that this was going to take some time, our guide suggested we continuing walking along the road for a kilometre and a half to our actual intended destination where there was a bridge over a river with a good stakeout for Blyths Kingfisher. When we reached the river there was no sign of the bird, and walking down the river to check behind the corner produced the same result. However we waited, with Little Forktails and Slaty-backed Forktails for company, during which time our car made it through the mud and joined us. After a short break back at the car we returned to the bridge and were rewarded with excellent but brief views of the Kingfisher as it perched up on a rock in front of us for a few seconds before it did a 180 and flew back upriver.

  And with that we continued our journey back to camp, arriving after dark having completed an absolutely brilliant day having connected with our main target.