Bird-watching in the Sukhna area

The old Hill Cart Road takes one past the small town of Sukhna on the norther fringes of main rail-head for North Bengal at New Jalpaiguri. Then the road climbs past the village of Rongtong and passes - with the tracks of the narrow-guage Darjeeling Himalayan Railay weaving in and out - past other villages like Chunabhati, Tindharia, Ghayabari up and up till it reaches the famous hill-station of Drajeeling after a total of about 55 kilometres. Most people travel to the Drajeeling hills to watch the sun rise and set on the snows of the Kanchenjungha Range. But some people take it into their heads to do bird-wtching for interesting species in the lower foot-hills in the Sukhna-Rongtong area. Since this is close to the Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary,"anything is possible". And it is the "surprise" element that makes it all the more interesting: while looking casually at a common species suddenly one can catch the glimpse of of something different, something new.

The trip to the Sukhna- Rongtong- Mahananda in March 2021 after over a year of Covid restrictions was certainly envigorating.