Jia grasslands and the missing parrotbills

I woke up to find that Sekar was not very well and seemed to be feverish.  He said he would not come

In the morning. It was not a good start, but yes better he takes it easy  And so Probin came in our car as we had one spare 'seat'.

Our visit to Jia grasslands was interesting indeed. Situated in the village of Jia, next to Roing, the major tribe here is the Adi. 

We turned off the main highway and we're on a narrow road with rice fields on both sides.  Pacchai pacchai, green green! 😄 drongos in the wire. Interesting lack of any kind of egret in the fields. Hmmm. 

We rumble along this straight road and arrive at a motorable dead end, from where we were to walk. 

As we walked through a narrow path, we arrived at the grasslands!  Probin our guide, asked for silence - very challenging for the large group we were but we did manage it. 

The grasslands were quiet. A Stonechat zipped by and settled on the reeds at a distance. We moved in single file, with the grass taller than us, and in bloom, the flower stalks swaying in the breeze. A beautiful sight!  we arrived at a little clearing and waited. 

As we waited, Probin gave us an understanding of the grasses. The main one is  Khans grasses also called kahua.  flower and fruit parrotbill this is eaten by the parrotbill. Fruit name is kaguri.  Saccharum spontaneum (wild sugarcane,) 

Nol is elephant grass and Madhuri (Typha) is bulrush. The cotton of the typha is used by parrotbills for nesting. Used as nesting by all birds 

I earned that Black throated Parrotbill needs all 3. They feed o the Khans, make nests inthe Typha, using the flower of the Madhuri as nesting material. 

This whole habitat of about 5 sq kms supports 3-4 black throated parrot bills!!  These birds mate for life, are poor breeders and seem to be under stress from habitat loss. With such a low population, it was no surprise that we didn't see or hear them. We insisted on no playback to attar t these already stressed birds. 

Marsh babbler - these we heard. very shy - laju ki dhap in Assamese.  Walks on the bunds aka dhap. 

We tramped back out to the cars, saw spiders, dragonflies and butterflies along the way. 

Checked in on Sekar who seemed to be doing ok with one paracetamol inside. 

As we headed back, Probin pointed out the long houses of the Adi tribe, with their sloping roofs and also the side prayer room. 

More soon.