feathersofindia

    Van Hasselt's Sunbird     My January 2025 birding trip to Dosdewa forest, Karimganj was planned in September 2024. Dr Sanjeeth Peter, a senior birder with varied interests and a well known cardio surgeon from Gujarat offered me to join his group for a 3 -day birding trip to Dosdewa forest from January 12, 2025.  I was more than happy to go as my earlier attempts for slots at this place in 2023 and 2024 could not fructify. This place is known to have some amazing and rare bird sightings and all birders look forward to a visit here. With my lifer list derailing at 998 on the last day of 2024, I was waiting for the two elusive lifers to reach the 1000 life list. An additional attraction was that I was sure that I will be able to spot at least 7-9 lifers. Van Hasselt's Sunbird, named after a Dutch medical student, one of the most colourful sunbirds found in North-East India and South-East Asia, is a sure sighting, restricted to small areas of Karimganj dist...

The New Year 2025 started on a high note as I could successfully accomplish the lofty target of 1000 lifers in four years of birding , a milestone every birder aspires to achieve. It was my earnest desire to sight and photograph at least 1000 bird species out of 1250 bird species that can be sighted in India. On 16-01-2025 , I got back from my birding trip to Dosdewa forest, Karimganj , Assam and decided to write about my journey of crossing the 1000 lifer at the Rejoice Gassah's Dosdewa Birding Camp  before getting immersed in work and other inanities of daily life. Manas NP Bhutan border By December 2024, I had already completed 980 lifers and I had aimed to get those 20 lifers needed for achieving 1000 lifers before the year ended. December, therefore, proved to be a busy month. I went on a whirlwind trip chasing lifers during the weekends which took me to Rohtak, Rewari , Chandu Bhudera , Sultanpur Bird Sanctuary in Haryana and Ferozpur ( Harike ) in Punjab. I got 8 lifers with...