Birding in Dosdewa Forest (near Badsaitila Reserve Forest), Karimganj, South Assam

The Barak Valley is the southernmost region and a administrative division of the India’s north-eastern state of Assam. It is named after the Barak river. The Barak valley consists of three administrative districts of Assam namely - Cachar, Karimganj, and Hailakandi. Among these three districts, Cachar and Hailakandi belonged to the erstwhile Cachar district in British-India, whereas Karimganj belonged to the Sylhet district. Sylhet was gifted to East Pakistan with Karimganj being divided and handed over to Assam, reason then stated was to let India have a proper connectivity with Tripura. 

These region splits may restrict and control the movement of humans, but the wildlife, especially the birds surely migrates and move around without any restriction. We were aware that over half a dozen birds that are otherwise difficult to sight are seen here. As we had a personal commitment to keep and were visiting Silchar, South Assam anyways during the last week of November 2023, planned to extend our stay and travel to Dosdewa forest in Karimganj.  We landed at Kumbhirgram airport Silchar, that offers a convenient gateway for travellers who plan to travel between Shillong, Mizoram or for that matter Tripura. 

Post our commitment, we travelled by road from Silchar to Dosdewa Forest. After negotiating the typical small town traffic, reached a location close to Dosdewa Catholic Church, our landmark on google maps after about four and half hours. It had rained the previous day, so Rejoice Gassah along with his team was waiting for us a little way from the camp. Using our torches we walked towards the camp, though It was just just about 5PM, was almost pitch dark. Like any other place in North-East, the sun sets much earlier compared to the time zone the region follows (IST)

Dosdewa Forest Trails

This was the first time we were meeting our host and naturalist Rejoice Gassah. We had spoken and chatted a couple of times before coming here and honestly had anticipated him to be an elderly person. To my surprise, he was not only young but also a very soft spoken individual. He mentioned that he belonged to the Khasi tribe and they had been living around these foothills of Khasi Hills for many years now. Apart from being a nature lover, he also worked at the Department of Biodiversity Documentation at Makunda Christian Leprosy and General Hospital. It was from here, his interest matured in wildlife and its conservation. The discussion further got interesting, when we he explained that for almost 5-6 years he had been exploring the forest after working closely with the renowned Dr. Vijay Anand Ismavel, who not only managed Mukunda General Hospital but also had a keen interest in biodiversity documentation and had successfully published about 14 articles. 

Rejoice Gassah

“This is a beautiful evergreen forest with lots of biodiversity” he said. Khasi tribals have been living here for many years with their own tradition of farming and hunting skills. But in the past few years, the young generation of this area has realised that some special and unique birds visit here which are rarely seen and photographed so far. So instead of hunting they can make a better living through bird tourism. This insight and experience led him to make strategy bird hides, almost five of them now (as on Nov 2023), where rare birds whose glimpses are otherwise difficult can be spotted and photographed.

The itinerary he shared was simple, the first session in the morning would be bird watching in and around the forest and the second session post lunch would be going to and sitting in the hides and waiting for birds to come. He confidently said, that though “we do not feed the birds, the birds come to take bath in small water puddles (Late afternoon until sunset) before they plan to end their day and roost in the forest”. “Different hides for different birds” he concluded. 

The next morning as we were getting ready to set out, could see the beauty of the camp, that was built on a small Hill lock using very basic wooden material and which was later plastered with mud. Even though the accommodation was basic, was neat and clean and had an attached washroom (western type) for each set of room. 

Dr Ian D'souza, Satish Thayapurath, Seema Kothiala, Marvelyn Dias and Myself (L-R)

The previous evening all we knew that we were on the outskirts of a forest. We walked along a forest patch and crossed some fields to reach a village. Prior to reaching the village, also crossed a small pond where we saw a Common Kingfisher waiting on a stump that must have been placed for fencing or some other reason. Apart from domesticated Goose and Ducks, sighted a small flock of Little Egret and Cattle Egret. 

Being Sunday, the village was bustling with the kids running around and playing. We were asked to wait in the veranda, that overlooked a fruiting tree. 

With the villagers - as we waited for the bird to arrive

A flock of common myna were feeding and creating a ruckus. They were spoiled for choices and were moving around between the branches. On Intermediate intervals the Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker, Ruby-Cheeked Sunbird and Yellow-browed warbler would appear and move onwards. (Refer to eBird Checklist)

Ruby-cheeked Sunbird - Image by Aseem Kothiala

A large variety of butterflies kept my fellow birders busy as we waited for the Golden-crested Myna to arrive. To my surprise, Seema also started to take a keen interest in watching and photographing butterflies. Well, she has been with us on many birding trips earlier as well and can definitely identify some species now. 

Butterfly - Image by Seema Kothiala

To our luck a small flock of Golden-crested Myna came and perched on a tree behind the fruiting tree. The distance and the misty weather was not favourable to get the desired image. Hence, had to wait until they came to the nearby fruiting tree. To our delight one obliged and just after feeding on a fruit, moved down in to the clutter of branches and we lost sight of it, probably had flown away. In anticipation of their return kept waiting there without success. 

Golden Crested Myna - Image by Aseem Kothiala

After returning to the camp, we sat on the extended area opposite the rooms, this is where we would spend our evenings, early mornings and also have our meals. Afternoon we walked to the first hide. Before leaving we were asked to wear crocs, as to reach the hide, we had to wade through almost a kilometre and half in ankle deep water. This was the route we took over the next three days as well, every afternoon. The villagers use the same route to go into the forest to collect Betel leaf and Betel nuts, which is one of the their lively hood activity. 

After reaching the hide, we split in two groups, as the hide can accommodate only three, maximum four individuals. We were to start our session in the so called “Cachar Hide”. On settling in the hide, we set up our camera on tripod. The light here was low and to get still images, had to keep the ISO high. Soon the show began, the birds started to come one by one. They were swift, a sip, a dip, flutter flutter and they would get back into the forest. The Cachar Bulbul seemed to be the boldest here and would come often. Watching through the one of the opening was a task on its own, as the lens was occupying the other opening. Seema also tried her skills and managed to get some frames. 

Cachar Bulbul - Image by Seema Kothiala

A lone Black-headed Bulbul did visit, maybe due to our shutter sound was alarmed and flew away in a jiffy, glad it obliged with a few frames. The Black-crested paid us even a more shorter visit.

Black-headed Bulbul - Image by Aseem Kothiala

As we were busy watching and clicking the Puff-throated Babbler who had come in a flock, noticed a small tiny bird that had a long conspicuous supercilium, knew it was different, Johnson who was with us whispered “Asian Stubtail”. It was the first sighting of the season, he said. By about 4.30PM we left the hide, for the primary reason, low light. It will be dark soon, so we waded back to the camp. 

Asian Stubtail - Image by Aseem Kothiala

Pale Blue Flycatcher - Image by Aseem Kothiala

Grey-throated Babbler - Image by Aseem Kothiala

Hill Blue Flycatcher - Image by Aseem Kothiala

Lesser Shortwing - Image by Aseem Kothiala

After returning to the camp, we went through our images and updated our sighting, we had sighted almost fifteen species today of which five were lifers. (Refer eBird Checklist)

Today we took another route, after descending from the camp on to the ground, took the left path and after crossing the church walked along the path. Here we did find some vehicular traffic, only to realise latter that some rigging was being done for exploring the possibilities to finding oil. Well, we detoured into the forest, tall trees and spider webs welcomed us. The dew on the spiderwebs was still very fresh. The wind was just right, it was close to winters, but we were still wearing a half sleeve shirt, coupled with a UV protective arm sleeve. Birding is on both sides of the pathway. We saw a Black-headed Oriole and a Black-crested Bulbul feeding along with Black-winged Cuckooshirke and a Golden-fronted Leafbird, all at the distance, where identifying is easier than photographing. 

Our target for the day was the Van Hasselt's Sunbird, a sunbird that is only found here in India, a region of lowland forest in the southern most part of Assam. We were looking for flowering trees, as this bird usually feeds on nectar and sometime on other smaller insects. We heard its call from far and saw it fly past us. We kept walking further and sighted a pair, the male obviously was an attractive medium-sized and very beautiful. The black with an iridescent pink-red throat, a red belly, and a glistening blue-green crown stands out. With this sighting, we had completed seeing and photographing all the fifteen species in the Nectariniidae family that are found in India, which includes two varieties of Spiderhunter and thirteen variety of Sunbirds.

Van Hasselt's Sunbird - Image by Aseem Kothiala

This afternoon, again we all waded through the trail, but today we walked even further. The bed of the trail is soft mud, many villagers we crossed were walking barefoot. Our hide for the afternoon was different and called “Siberian Blue Robin Hide”. As the name suggests, we were going to see a very rare bird for the region. In fact Rejoice was the first to observe this species here in Dosdewa. This species had been recorded in several locations in India but not from northeastern region of India. Today we all were together as the hide was slightly bigger and could accommodate four of us. The sitting here was a little awkward for me, had to either squat or sit with my legs folded. The light here and today was even lower, as the forest was denser and hardly any sunlight could pass directly. Personally, I like to keep the ISO as low as possible, but today I had to pump it up to as high as possible as it was not possible to otherwise get good still images. The Snowy-browed Flycatcher was the most common and frequent visitor here as well. 

The Siberian Blue Robin did come and was too close to us, the lens would not focus, had to literally lift the camera with the tripod and angle it in a way to get the bird away from me and in focus. Seeing the rarity itself was a joyous moment. 

Siberian Blue Robin - Image by Aseem Kothiala

The Asian Stubtail did show up here as well today, it came a couple of times. Not sure of they were different or the same specie, nevertheless enjoyed watching the fidgety bird. Today we decided to leave even earlier as the light was really getting low and distance we had to cover was also more. 

We had just crossed a few meters away from the hide, our camera and tripod was on our shoulder. The path was through the forest was zig-zag and base was a little slippery, do the to the clay. We had to send a few steps and climb up a couple of steps, I was the last in the row, Dr Ian was ahead of me, in a snap, saw him trip and fall, he yelled in pain and whispered “I have fractured my leg”. For a moment we did not know how to react. Dr Ian lay still with his ankle exposed, we could see it had swollen, the pain surely was unbearable for him. We lifted him up and tried giving him support and asked him to use our shoulders as crutches and hop, but in vain. Rejoice, suggested that he will stay back with Dr Ian and we head back to the camp. Obviously, within the forest there is no network, so the only way to communicate was to reach the camp and get help from the village. We started walking back quickly, did have a fall, but not a serious one. 

The help from the village rushed with two long bamboo and a basket in which they were to carry Dr Ian. They use the same method when any villager falls from a tree during his activity of collecting betel leaf and nuts. After about two hours, they managed to bring him to the ground, near the camp. In the car we rushed him to nearest hospital (20 kms away), the Mukunda General Hospital. The entire staff was known to Rejoice, which made it easy for us to get his treatment done. He was provided a plaster cast and was suggested to get operated. Must say, he is a strong man and decided to fly back alone to Mumbai the next day. He did not want any one of us to accompany him. 

The next morning, he left for the airport, on his crutches. We were going to miss him on the balance part of the trip. That morning we went for birding on the same route, to see the Golden-crested Myna again. Today being a working day, the children were not there, it was quiet. The butterflies were there, but we all were missing Dr Ian. We did see the Myna but it was even further away today. We returned to the camp early and were in touch with our friend, who kept us posted on his journey. That afternoon we sat in another hide, where inspite the activity being the lowest, sighted the White-tailed Robin apart from the commoners of the region.

White-tailed Robin - Image by Aseem Kothiala

We had seen most of the forest species found in this season around the forest, so requested Rejoice to take us to the location where we could possibly see the Phayre’s leaf monkey. Though it was not a part of our itinerary, he obliged. After driving for almost an hour, we reached a tea garden estate. The birding here was good and we heard and sighted the Buff-breasted Babbler, there were two of them, who kept calling from the canopy apart from the  Dark-necked Tailorbird, Rufescent Prinia and some commoners of the region (Refer eBird Checklist). 

Dark-necked Tailorbird - Image by Aseem Kothiala

We decided to get into the forest through a narrow pathway that later travelled through the edge of a small hill. After about an hour or so, Rejoice heard some calls and climbed a small hillock, on his return he confirmed a group of Phayre’s Leaf monkey was being seen, but they were descending and moving fast, we quickly reached and our movement only aggravated their speed, they started to move even faster. There was the alpha male who was keeping a watch on us, while all the other kept jumping and crossing. A young one stopped and maybe gave us this stare to warn us. They had this lovely white patches around its eyes that stood out, the reason why they are also called as “Spectacled Monkey”. Mostly dwelling in the trees, their geographic distribution in India is limited (seen in the northeastern states of Tripura, Mizoram, and Assam)

Spectacled Monkey - Image by Aseem Kothiala

Today was our last afternoon here and we were to visit the hide named “Tesia”. This hide was just opposite the Cachar hide, the highlight today was the sighting of the White-tailed Robin and the obvious Grey-bellied Tesia apart from the Snowy-browed Flycatcher and the Puff-throated Babbler. The Siberian Blue Robin also had come for a quick dip. 

Grey-bellied Tesia - Image by Aseem Kothiala

That afternoon, Digvijay Singh Rathore, had flown in just to catch a glimpse of the Asian Stubtail. A bird that was important to him as he was doing a “Big Year”. We met him enroute on the trail and returned to the camp. That evening we had a good oppurtunity listening to the adventurous stories of this birder, who had been watching birds across the country and already crossed the 1100 mark!

Rejoice and his team with our group

We packed early today and bid goodbye to the entire team here Myself, Rejoice Gassah, Digvijaysingh Rathore, Jerome, Marvelyn Diaz, Seema Kothiala, Satish Thayapurath, Mayulut and Johnson (L-R)

We saw 61 species, of which eight were lifers for us. Refer our checklist: https://ebird.org/tripreport/175669

A short video of the region and birds is uploaded on the YouTube channel, thank you for reading, should you wish to leave a comment, do mention your name as well. 

Happy Birding!

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	COLUMBIFORMES: Columbidae
1	Spotted Dove	Spilopelia chinensis
	CAPRIMULGIFORMES: Apodidae
2	Asian Palm Swift	Cypsiurus balasiensis
	CHARADRIIFORMES: Jacanidae
3	Bronze-winged Jacana	Metopidius indicus
	SULIFORMES: Phalacrocoracidae
4	Little Cormorant	Microcarbo niger
	PELECANIFORMES: Ardeidae
5	Indian Pond-Heron	Ardeola grayii
6	Eastern Cattle Egret	Bubulcus coromandus
	ACCIPITRIFORMES: Accipitridae
7	Crested Serpent-Eagle	Spilornis Cheela
8	Shikra	Accipiter badius
	CORACIIFORMES: Alcedinidae
9	Common Kingfisher	Alcedo atthis
	CORACIIFORMES: Coraciidae
10	Indochinese Roller	Coracias affinis
	PICIFORMES: Megalaimidae
11	Coppersmith Barbet	Psilopogon haemacephalus
	PASSERIFORMES: Campephagidae
12	Black-winged Cuckooshrike	Lalage melaschistos
	PASSERIFORMES: Oriolidae
13	Black-hooded Oriole	Oriolus xanthornus
	PASSERIFORMES: Aegithinidae
14	Common Iora	Aegithina tiphia
	PASSERIFORMES: Dicruridae
15	Black Drongo	Dicrurus macrocercus
16	Greater Racket-tailed Drongo	Dicrurus paradiseus
	PASSERIFORMES: Corvidae
17	Common Green-Magpie	Cissa chinensis
	PASSERIFORMES: Stenostiridae
18	Gray-headed Canary-Flycatcher	Culicicapa ceylonensis
	PASSERIFORMES: Alaudidae
19	Bengal Bushlark	Mirafra assamica
	PASSERIFORMES: Cisticolidae
20	Dark-necked Tailorbird	Orthotomus atrogularis
21	Rufescent Prinia	Prinia rufescens
	PASSERIFORMES: Locustellidae
22	Striated Grassbird	Megalurus palustris
	PASSERIFORMES: Pycnonotidae
23	Cachar Bulbul	Iole cacharensis	Endemic (country/region)
24	Black-headed Bulbul	Microtarsus melanocephalos
25	Black-crested Bulbul	Rubigula flaviventris
26	Red-vented Bulbul	Pycnonotus cafer
	PASSERIFORMES: Phylloscopidae
27	Yellow-browed Warbler	Phylloscopus inornatus
	PASSERIFORMES: Scotocercidae
28	Asian Stubtail	Urosphena squameiceps	Rare/Accidental
29	Gray-bellied Tesia	Tesia cyaniventer
	PASSERIFORMES: Timaliidae
30	Pin-striped Tit-Babbler	Mixornis gularis
31	White-browed Scimitar-Babbler	Pomatorhinus schisticeps
	PASSERIFORMES: Pellorneidae
32	Puff-throated Babbler	Pellorneum ruficeps
33	Buff-breasted Babbler	Pellorneum tickelli
	PASSERIFORMES: Leiothrichidae
34	Nepal Fulvetta	Alcippe nipalensis
35	Lesser Necklaced Laughingthrush	Garrulax monileger
	PASSERIFORMES: Sturnidae
36	Golden-crested Myna	Ampeliceps coronatus
37	Common Hill Myna	Gracula religiosa
38	Indian Pied Starling	Gracupica contra
39	Chestnut-tailed Starling	Sturnia malabarica
40	Common Myna	Acridotheres tristis
41	Jungle Myna	Acridotheres fuscus
	PASSERIFORMES: Turdidae
42	Orange-headed Thrush	Geokichla citrina
	PASSERIFORMES: Muscicapidae
43	Oriental Magpie-Robin	Copsychus saularis
44	White-rumped Shama	Copsychus malabaricus
45	Rufous-bellied Niltava	Niltava sundara
46	Pale-chinned Flycatcher	Cyornis poliogenys
47	Pale Blue Flycatcher	Cyornis unicolor
48	Blue-throated Flycatcher	Cyornis rubeculoides
49	Hill Blue Flycatcher	Cyornis whitei
50	Lesser Shortwing	Brachypteryx leucophris
51	Siberian Blue Robin	Larvivora cyane
52	White-tailed Robin	Myiomela leucura
53	Snowy-browed Flycatcher	Ficedula hyperythra
54	Taiga Flycatcher	Ficedula albicilla
	PASSERIFORMES: Dicaeidae
55	Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker	Dicaeum cruentatum
	PASSERIFORMES: Nectariniidae
56	Ruby-cheeked Sunbird	Chalcoparia singalensis
57	Van Hasselt's Sunbird	Leptocoma brasiliana
58	Little Spiderhunter	Arachnothera longirostra
	PASSERIFORMES: Chloropseidae
59	Golden-fronted Leafbird	Chloropsis aurifrons
	PASSERIFORMES: Estrildidae
60	Scaly-breasted Munia	Lonchura punctulata
61	White-rumped Munia	Lonchura striata