Nagaland

Blyth's Tragopan Tragopan blythii ©Aseem Kumar Kothiala Website
Birding Nagaland

Nagaland is a hill state located in the far north-eastern part of India. It borders the state of Assam to the west, Arunachal Pradesh and part of Assam to the north, Myanmar to the east and Manipur to the south. The state capital is Kohima, and the largest city is Dimapur. With a population of nearly two million people, it has a total area of 6,401 sq mi (16,579 km²). – making it one of the smallest states in India.

Nagaland is largely a mountainous state. The Naga Hills rise from the Brahmaputra Valley in Assam to about 2,000 feet and rise further to the southeast, as high as 6,000 feet. Mount Saramati at an elevation of 12,552 feet is the state’s highest peak – this is where the Naga Hills merge with the Patkai Range in Myanmar. Rivers such as the Doyang and Diphu to the north, the Barak river in the southwest and the Chindwin river of Myanmar in the southeast, dissect the entire state.Nagaland is rich in flora and fauna. About one-sixth of Nagaland is under the cover of tropical and sub-tropical evergreen forests – including palms, bamboo and rattan as well as timber and mahogany forests. While some forest areas have been cleared for jhum – cultivation – many scrub forests, high grass, reeds and secondary dogs, pangolins, porcupines, elephants, leopards, bears, many species of monkeys, sambar, deers, oxen and buffaloes thrive across the state’s forests. The Great Indian Hornbill is one of the most famous birds found in the state.Nagaland has a largely monsoon climate with high humidity levels. Annual rainfall averages around 70-100 inches – concentrated in the months of May to September. Temperatures range from 70 degrees to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. In winter, temperatures don’t generally drop below 39 degrees Fahrenheit, but frost is common at high elevations.

Contributors
Number of Species
  • Number of bird species: 726

    (As at April 2020)

    State Bird: Blyth's Tragopan Tragopan blythii

Reserves

Abbreviations Key

  • NP Ntangki

    InformationSatellite View
    Intangki National Park is a wildlife park located in Peren district of Nagaland, India. Among the creatures that inhabit the park are the rare hoolock gibbon, golden langur, hornbill, palm civets, black stork, tiger, white-breasted kingfisher, monitor lizard, python and sloth bear. The name "Ntangki" is derived from the Zeme dialect of the Zeliangrong tribe.
  • NR Khonoma Nature Conservation and Tragopan Sanctuary

    InformationSatellite View
    It is about 18 kilometres (11 mi) west of the capital of Nagaland, Kohima. The total area notified under this park is around 25 square kilometres (9.7 sq mi); some of villages and hamlets are adjacent to this park: Khonoma, Mesoma, Dziilike. Some of the exotic bird species from North-east India are present in this wildlife sanctuary; like Blyth's tragopan, Mountain bamboo partridge, Crested Finchbill, Assam laughingthrush, Striped laughingthrush, Spot-breasted scimitar babbler, Flavescent Bulbul, Naga wren-babbler are to name few.
Trip Reports
  • 2015 [01 January] - Pritam Baruah

    PDF Report
    ...The plan was to slowly walk up the road along disturbedvegetation south of the village, check the nearest stream for Forktails, sort through open-habitat mixedfeeding flocks and find the Mountain Bamboo Partridge along the road. Within hardly a kilometer wecame up with several mixed feeding flocks with various Phylloscopus and Mountain Bamboo Partridge.Among other good birds were Silver-eared Mesia, Blue-winged Minla & Pygmy Wren-Babbler...
  • 2016 [01 January] - Prasad Basavaraj, Rofikul Islam, Rushi Tambe - Finding Mrs. Humes Pheasant in North-East India

    PDF Report
    Having spent most of my birding days in north east India, it was time to try and photograph the rare Mrs. Humes Pheasant in India. Though there were few records of this pheasant from Nagaland and Manipur border areas, there were no photographs in the wild. Nagaland has not been explored well enough by bird photographers, especially the border areas. All these facts were enough to motivate me to go for it.
  • 2016 [12 December] - Going Wild - Khonoma

    PDF Report
    ...Some majorhighlight bird species from the afternoon session of birding were as follows :- Rusty-frontedBarwing, Orange-bellied Leafbird, Crested Goshawk ( a raptor). By 3:00 p.m. we wrapped upbecause of low light and fog. We returned to our homestay, had snacks, dinner and went off tosleep....
  • 2017 [01 January] - S S Cheema - Khonoma

    Report
    ...I had given a list of birds that I had wished from Khonoma and one of the first one I had desired was the 'Bamboo Patridge' and we were taken through a path that generally produced the birds in the early morning and the evenings. We drove slowly and carefully trying peer at every movement, every sound, every bush. After fifteen - twenty odd minutes of the drive, the path was coming to the end and there were not partridges in sight. Finally as we were about to join the main road and we sighted them....
  • 2019 [05 May] - James Eaton

    PDF Report
    This mammoth tour of the Eastern Himalaya lived up to everything it was set up to be – we recorded a total of 495 species, a huge total considering nearly all wintering birds had dispersed northwards already but as always in this region, it is quality rather than quantity that impressed us most...
  • 2019 [05 May] - Shashank Dalvi - Nagaland, Assam and Mishmi Hills

    PDF Report
    This short custom tour targeted, not just Asia's, but some of the world's least-known and most sought-after birds. It took us across three different states of northeast India, where we snaked our way through some fantastic habitats by way of some of the most poorly maintained roads in the country.
Other Links
  • Nāgāland Birds

    Information
    Tucked away in the far north-eastern corner of India lies the mystical and beautiful hill state of Nagaland. The dissected landscape dominated by crumpled mountain ranges is bounded by Myanmar in the East, the Indian states of Assam in the West, Arunachal Pradesh and a part of Assam in the North, and Manipur in the South.

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