Our North Indian adventure is almost over. After leaving Ramnagar (and Corbett), we headed along the winding roads up the Himalayas to our final destination: Pangot. Birding at Pangot was perhaps my most anticipated part of the 10-day trip, as this destination promises encounters with Himalayan birds that I’ve only dreamt about before. Adding to the excitement, this was also my first time visiting the Himalayas.
Spoiler alert: Pangot truly delivered, and then some!
Birding at Pangot: Trip Report
Pangot was the last leg of our 10-day North India birding trip, organized by Asian Adventures. We spent 3 days and 2 nights here (14-16 April 2025), where we stayed at the Jungle Lore Birding Lodge.
Information on Pangot
Where is Pangot?
Pangot is a small village about 15 km from Nainital, within the state of Uttarakhand in northern India. The village lies on the slopes of the Naina Range, which are part of the lesser Himalayas, at an altitude of about 2000m above sea level.
Jungle Lore Birding Lodge
Owned and operated by Asian Adventures, Jungle Lore Birding Lodge features cozy, cottage-styled accommodations set amongst lush montane forest. As its name suggests, this lodge is mainly catered for birders and bird photographers.
Our cottage was spotlessly clean, and tastefully decorated with Himalayan and bird-themed decor. The room was spacious, and generously furnished with with rugs, cushions, thick mattresses and fluffy duvets. And the home-cooked meals here were excellent.
In short, our stay here was simply perfect!
The scenery around Pangot
Unsurprisingly, the scenery here was just gorgeous. Wherever we went, the Himalayas provided a picturesque backdrop to our birding sessions. The steep slopes were vividly coloured in various shades of green, brown and gold. And under the golden rays of the afternoon sun, the mountains seemed to be on fire!
Our Experience Birding at Pangot
Birding areas around Pangot
During our visit to Pangot, we birded at the following areas:
- Jungle Lore Birding Lodge. The lodge itself is a birding hotspot, since its lush surroundings is home to a variety of birds and wildlife. Additionally, the lodge has set up a hide, bird bath and a feeding station. Consequently, the birds here are friendly, which makes them easy to observe and photograph.
- Naina Devi Himalayan Bird Conservation Reserve. A section of the Kilbury road from Nainital to Pangot passess through this reserve. We went birding along this stretch.
A section of the Kibury Road - Road to ‘Cheer Point’. This 17 km stretch of road winds along the steep slopes, passing through montane forests and open grassy areas. Cheer Point itself is at 2500m elevation, where we unsuccessfully attempted to see the eponymous Cheer Pheasant.
The view from Cheer Point - Ghuggu Kham. A small village about 4 km from Pangot. Here, we walked downhill along a road that passed through the village, agricultural areas and patches of montane forests.
Birding along the picturesque road at Ghuggu Kham. - Nainital. This popular hill resort town also has decent birding areas. On our last morning in India, we went birding along a quiet forest path on the outskirts of town.
Additionally, there were numerous forest trails around Pangot that looked promising, but we just didn’t have enough time to explore them.
Birding at Pangot
Since Pangot is so high up, the climate felt very temperate when we visited. Temperatures barely rose above 20℃ during the day, and it got rather chilly at night. This was in stark contrast to the heat of Ranthambore and Keoladeo.
Unlike the national parks that we visited previously, birding at Pangot was more like what I’m used to back home. Instead of scheduled safaris, we explored the birding sites around Pangot at our own pace. We also did some birding by car, where we drove along the winding roads, stopping whenever bird activity was present. In more than one way, birding at Pangot is very similar to birding at Fraser’s Hill in Malaysia.
Speaking of Pangot’s roads, these were, at times, truly vertigo-inducing. The road to Cheer Point was especially hair-raising, passing mere centimetres from the edge of steep cliffs that plunge hundreds of feet down. Cheer Point itself overlooks steep grass-covered cliffs. Trying to fight-off that uneasy feeling near the edge, while searching for the Cheer Pheasant was a particularly crazy experience!
Similar to montane locations back home, mixed-species feeding flocks are common. These so-called ‘bird waves’ were quite fun to watch. These flocks sometimes contain several similar-looking species, especially the Phylloscopus warblers. To make things worse, these small birds don’t stay still at all! If not for our experienced guide, we would’ve missed many of these near identical looking birds.
Notable Birds around Pangot:
Many of the birds we saw at Pangot deserve the spotlight, but listing them all here would take too long. Below is just a small sample of the delights we discovered while birding at Pangot.
Pangot Pheasants
- Koklass Pheasant. One of the star birds of Pangot. We had to search for a while along the road to ‘cheer point’, before finally hearing their distinctive calls. While we heard several birds, we only managed to see one. The word ‘koklass’ is apparently an onomatopoeia, an attempt to transcribe the bird’s vocalisations into words. The calls we heard didn’t sound ‘koklass’ to me though….
- Kalij Pheasant. Unlike the other pheasants at Pangot, the exquisite Kalij Pheasant was rather easy to see. They’re not very shy, and we saw them multiple times throughout our visit. The Kalij here is the white-crested form, which looks different from the black-crested ones found further east.
Why did the female Kalij cross the road?…. 
…..to get to the male Kalij on the other side, of course!
Perfect Piciformes
- Rufous-bellied Woodpecker. Unlike the other woodpeckers at Pangot, this one is quite brightly coloured.
- Great Barbet. This is perhaps the most colourful Asian barbet I’ve seen. Unlike most Asian barbets, this bird is multicoloured from bill to tail, rather than just the head.
Great Barbet
Colourful Corvids
- Black-headed Jay. This Himalayan endemic is the winner of the ‘my favourite bird of the trip’ award. It isn’t the most striking bird; rather, the beauty of this Jay is a bit more understated. The plumage combination is subtly aesthetic: A black head with crest, delicate greyish-pink back, pale orange belly, black-and-blue wings and a long blue tail with contrasting black bars. Bonus: It’s also my first ever Jay!
A Black-headed Jay about to take a midday dip in one of the bird baths at Jungle Lore. - Red-billed Blue-Magpie. A true Himalayan stunner. In contrast to the Black-headed Jay, this Magpie is all about being bold. Their large size, bright blue body, coral-red bill and extra-long tail makes them a real head-turner.
A Red-billed Blue-Magpie showing its ridiculously long tail.
Terrific Tits
- Black-throated Tit. Yet another gorgeous Himalayan bird (I’m starting to sound like a broken record here). These adorable and acrobatic fluff-balls were rather confiding, thus we managed to get great views and photos. Taxonomically speaking, this bird isn’t a tit, but actually more closely related to warblers.
The adorable Black-throated Tit - Green-backed Tit. We saw three types of true tits around Pangot, and all of them are comely birds. However, the Green-backed Tit is noteworthy since it’s the most colourful one. Also, it’s the only one that I have a good photo of 😅
Green-backed Tit
Miscellaneous Marvels
- Bar-tailed Treecreeper. Another first for me, this time, my first treecreeper. Since the treecreepers are completely absent from Malaysia, seeing one was very exciting!
Bar-tailed Treecreeper - Striated Laughingthrush. We saw four species of laughingthrush, but this one was my favourite. The Striated Laughingthrush isn’t colourful, but it is attractively marked with white streaks throughout, and has a large, fan-like crest.
Striated Laughingthrush - Ultramarine Flycatcher. These flycatchers visit the Himalayas to breed, and thus were in their finest plumage. And I wasn’t even aware that ultramarine was a shade of blue!
Male Ultramarine Flycatcher - Russet Sparrow. Compared to the ubiquitous House Sparrow, the males of this species have a bright rufous back. Within India, this bird is only found in mountainous regions in the north/northeast.
Male Russet Sparrow
While we undoubtedly saw many fantastic species, we also missed many more. By April, many types of birds have already ascended higher up the Himalayas to breed in the alpine zones. Examples of birds we missed include the Lammergeier, Wallcreeper, accentors, buntings, and many more. To see them, we would need to visit Pangot during winter.
Our Pangot eBird checklist
Check out the full bird list (and additional photos) at the eBird trip report link below:
Conclusion
If Ranthambore was the appetizer, and Keoladeo and Corbett the main course, then birding at Pangot was the delightful dessert that we just can’t get enough of. We absolutely loved our time at Pangot. The birding here was truly fantastic, and we saw a variety of colourful montane species, most of which were lifers for us. The pleasant climate and spectacular scenery only enhanced the overall experience.
Pangot really felt like the perfect ending at the end of 10 superlative days of birding. We sincerely hope we’ll have the chance to go birding at Pangot again in the future.
REFERENCES
Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C. & Inskipp, T. (2016) Helm Field Guides Birds of the Indian Subcontinent. Christopher Helm, London, England.