Our Bhutan tour actually started in north east India; we all met in Guwahati in a nice hotel before heading to the border with Bhutan. A quick stop on the way for the range restricted Greater Adjutant was well worth seeing. Once we arrived at the border, we made our way across to the town of Samdrup Jongkhar where we would spend a couple of nights while exploring the lowlands of eastern Bhutan. The lowlands produced some nice finds with Asian Koel, Lineated Barbet, Blue-bearded Bee-eater, Ashy Woodswallow, Jungle Myna, Yellow-vented Flowerpecker been some of the early highlights and species we were unlikely to see anywhere else. As we moved on towards Tashigang, we slowly moved up in elevation and started seeing more new species like Grey Treepie, Rufous Sibia, White-tailed Nuthatch, Blue-capped Rock thrush, Golden Babbler and more. We then spent three nights at Trogon Villa exploring the forest around with some big target birds available. Rufous-necked Hornbills were seen well, with a wealth of other species including several species of Laughingthrush, Ward’s Trogon, Long-billed Wren-Babbler and Sikkim Wedge-billed Babbler but the highlight was three stunning Beautiful Nuthatch, which was a firm favourite amongst the group. Next up was a visit to Tharpaling monastery and Yotongla where the temperatures dropped and we had our first chances to see the Pheasants. We were certainly not disappointed with multiple close looks at Himalayan Monal, as well as good views of Satyr Tragopan and Blood Pheasant and Kalij Pheasant. Moving further west towards Trongsa and Tingtbi we continued to add some great species like Rufous-bellied Eagle, more Yellow-rumped Honeyguides, Maroon Oriole, Fork-tailed Drongo-Cuckoo, Nepal Fulvetta, White hooded Babbler and White-bellied Erpornis. We gave ourselves two days of time to look for the White-billed Heron, arguably the biggest target bird of the tour! We searched many spots in hope of seeing a bird in areas they come to feed and finally thanks to some good spotting from one of our local guides we got some long distance views of one of the rarest birds on the planet. The last few days of the tour were spent around Punakha and Paro as we enjoyed some of the culture Bhutan has to offer. We visited a couple of Dzongs including Punakha Dzong where our local guide gave us a tour of the historic building. The birding didn’t stop though with more great species coming including the incredible Ibisbill, a species high up on every birders list and we enjoyed many great sightings including some with chicks. Some other nice species included Tawny Fish Owl, River Lapwing, Brown Dippers, Citrine Wagtail and more. We spent our final day hiking up to Tiger’s Nest monastery, built on the side of a mountain the views were outstanding and although the hike was a little challenging we all made it up and enjoyed this breath-taking piece of architecture. What a trip it was! With around 350 species of bird seen, a host of cool mammals and some incredible food and culture, we can’t wait to go back again in 2027.