Lava and Latpanchor.

Lava and Latpanchor are two beautiful hamlets in North Bengal. About 2-3 hours each from Siliguri and Darjeeling, two birding destinations are part of Neora Valley Park and Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary. Lava has much denser vegetation and is also much colder. It has a beautiful monastery too in the middle of the town. Latpanchor name originated from the “place where cane grows” in Lepcha language of the locals. It is also the place where Cinchona plants used in Quinine production was grown. Latpanchor is a dreamy destination with many plantations, forests, hills, and valleys for birding! While Lava was a bit disappointing for me and my guide Ujwal Rai, we made a spectacular turnaround at Latpanchor!

At Lava, we saw the Golden-throated Barbet, the Goldnaped Finch, Mountain Hawk Eagle but our decision to move sooner to Latpanchor was a wise one. At Latpanchor we finally managed to get the elusive Bay Woodpecker, the Crimson-breasted Woodpecker, Pygmy cupwing, Green Magpie, Sapphire Flycatcher, the Rufous-necked Hornbill pair, Sultan Tit, Rufous Bellied Niltava, many pigeons (incl Mountain Imperial, Ashy Headed), Mrs Gould’s Sunbird, and the gorgeous Himalayan Cutia!

On the way towards Siliguri, and an hour before that, we spent time at Rongtong too where we saw the Pin Tailed Pigeon, Spangled Drongo, Lesser Necklacked Laughing Thrush, Siberian Rubythroat, Shama, Hoary Bellied Squirrel, and the Flowerpeckers (Pale-billed and Yellow-vented).

Definitely one of the places I will be revisiting soon!