[MotoNanu]

Excellent snaps Sir jee

I love birds, especially after my recent trip to Kutch. It is so peaceful to spot them and it would have been an absolute blast in such a beautiful place. The colors of the sun birds are so vibrant. Nature is truly amazing

[A.G.The Rambler]

Originally Posted by himadrimondal

Now a days I drive from Kolkata to Borong directly.
The Kolkata to Siliguri NH34 (600km) highway is a disaster of some unknown kind.
You have it all on the single road highway, trucks, buses, cars, vans, rickshaws, cycles, people, markets and kilometers of traffic jams.

Just to avoid the chaos, we start at twelve midnight but the tiredness of day gets the better of us after a couple of hours.
Halting at a petrol pump, we take a nap inside the car. At day break we start again and reach Siliguri around 3-4pm.
It takes exactly 6 hours (150kms) from Siliguri, the earliest we reach Borong is 9pm in the night. Ideally it should be just 12 plus 6 hours.
A beautiful meal of hot chapatis, dal and chicken curry awaits us in our room named Pine Cottage.

Great pictures himadri, simply mind blowing. I am a novice at photography and trying my hand with my new Nikon 5100. I am simply at awe looking at the pictures and wondering what might be the EXIF's of these pictures and after pondering into too much i find myself baffled to the limit. Need to learn and practice a lot for clicking this sort quality pictures.

By the way, how is the present condition of roads from Ravangla to Borong or from the Rongpo side?

[Baddychat]

Amazing photographs Himadri. I especially loved the photograph of the Striped-Throated Yuhina on a rhododendron.

One more query. I have not been to Sikkim for some time now. How are the roads from Sevoke to Singtam primarily ? I believe the roads from Singtam to Gangtok were never too bad. There are stretches on the Sevoke - Rangpo section which used to become hell during the monsoons. There was one especially bad landslide zone on this section. I hope the NH31A is in much better shape these days.

[BurningHeart]

Himadri, what a collection of shots. Lovely. rating 5 stars.

[raj.barcode]

absolutely fabulous, a big fan of your patience, photography skills and hope u get lot more awards in the future

[PassionateDrive]

Congratulations Himadri for the wonderful clicks. And thank you for posting these pictures, they are just a treat to watch!!!

I also liked your honest confession .

Keep posting!!!

[Rajeev1]

Himadri, i admire your patience and skill which have translated into these beautiful pictures which you have posted on Tbhp. I am sure that you will get your coveted award soon!

[himadrimondal]

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

Sometimes it can get even worse. I faced the same many times in Ladakh. You must get one of these.

Thanks Rudra Sir for the link, will have to pick one.

Thanks MotoNanu for the comments and time, Kutch is beautiful indeed.

Originally Posted by A.G.The Rambler

By the way, how is the present condition of roads from Ravangla to Borong or from the Rongpo side?

The road condition of roads from the Rongpo, Singtam is mixed bag though I have not been through the Melli, Namchi side for quiet sometime.

Originally Posted by Baddychat

How are the roads from Sevoke to Singtam primarily ? I believe the roads from Singtam to Gangtok were never too bad. There are stretches on the Sevoke - Rangpo section which used to become hell during the monsoons. There was one especially bad landslide zone on this section. I hope the NH31A is in much better shape these days.

Yes, you are correct. There are stretches on the Sevok - Rangpo which is actually hell at times.
Last time I heard drivers complaining about huge traffic jams. This part is always dusty and risky with those landslide zones.

Thanks BurningHeart, raj.barcode, PassionateDrive and Rajeev1 for the lovely comments.

Its lovely to have good roads but its not good to have them through a wildlife park or a santuary.
The Sevok road running through Mahananda Wildlife Santuary is dream run but it results in loss of wildlife too.
Found this one early morning, on the side of the road was his pack waiting, still believing what was not possible.



Borong to me is a gold mine.
Miles and miles of undisturbed territory, ideal place for those seeking peace and tranquility,
cool breeze, with plants, flowers of unique kind and medicinal value.

Its a trekker's paradise too.
Maenam peak is also trekkable from Borong and take less time than from Ravangla.
Another very nice place to tek from here is Bhanjan valley.
Lush green carpet decorated with tiny colorful flowers in between and the fascinating Himalayan peaks in front of you,
a breath taking experience.

Whiskered Yuhina, comes just after March end, first week of April.



One can approach these guys with the right kind of camouflage techniques.
Wearing green, very slow movements, using tree or other shrubs as hides.



Striped-Throated Yuhina



Early mornings and in freezing January we can see these Oriental White eye.
They feed on these fruits which contains a sweet wine like liquid.



Lastly my favourite little bird once again, Mrs Gould's Sunbird
I get to see them only in March. These are super fast birds and they too know that.
There has been instances where its been only 2 ft away from me and I am staring

[Rudra Sen]

Absolutely stunning capture Himadri! I've seen your big collection in pbase too.

In these kind of diffuse light (mostly what I'm seeing here), what's your usual ISO range?

[himadrimondal]

Hello Rudra Sir, the collection in pbase is all I have.
ISO is generally 400, sometimes 200 in very bright light if I remember to change.
A couple of times it was 640 but that was by mistake.

[kvish]

Superb pics! Rated well deserved 5 stars..!! Thanks for sharing

[sukhoi30]

Wow!! Such amazing pictures. Honestly I can't even capture the pigeons in my society properly. They keep moving so much that any photo I take either become blurred or out of focus. Truly your skills are way too good and definitely you have lot of patience too. Thanks!!!

[vibhavraghav]

this is a real treat. Joining team-bhp has not just help me increase my knowledge about bikes and cars or travels. There is so much you can pick up here. Great work and thank you for sharing Himadri. Next time i travel i'll have one more dimension in which i can view this beautiful world

[himadrimondal]

Thanks Kvish, Sukhoi30, Vibhavraghav for your time and generous comments.
Vibhavraghav, TBHP is actually a diamond mine.
Every time I browse this forum, am floored by the amount of knowledge the members hold. Still leaning.

[himadrimondal]

The long silence of sleep is broken by bird calls, such is the beauty of Borong.
But the scenes are changing fast. The earthquake of Sikkim in September 2011 has brought about many unseen changes.

Though Borong was never effected be the quake, the birds have actually shifted their seasonal presence by a month in advance.
Man made construction activity has risen though negligible compared to other parts of Sikkim but its taking a toll on the birds.

"Hi" - Spot winged Grosbeak


Trapeez at Circus Borong - Black-Throated sunbird


The viewer - Plumbeous water Redstart


Cute friendlies - Oriental white eye


The naughty one, might enter your room - Green Back Tit


After bath - Black-Throated Sunbird


Feeding in flight - Fire-Tailed Sunbird


My Cherry - Streak-Throated Barwing


Posing for a shot - Mrs Gould's Sunbird