Preparing your expedition…
Preparing your expedition…
Preparing your expedition…
Mornaula Reserve Forest is a quiet, mature oak block on the Nainital–Almora road — the least crowded serious birding site in Kumaon and a reliable Koklass location.
Mornaula is a reserve forest of old banj oak and chir pine on the ridge road between Ramgarh and Almora, and it is the Kumaon site most photographers drive past. That is exactly its value: the forest is mature, the road is quiet, and the birds behave. Koklass Pheasant call from the slope below the road at first light, and the same stretch holds four woodpecker species and mixed flocks that can take an hour to work through.
Because it sits at 1,900 to 2,200 m, Mornaula catches both the foothill species moving up in summer and the higher-elevation birds dropping down in winter. It is an easy add-on to a Kathgodam-based trip — an hour and a half from the railhead — and it makes a good first or last morning when you want dense forest birding without a long transfer.
The main birding line — walk it slowly at dawn for Koklass, jays and woodpeckers.
Mature banj oak holding treecreepers, nuthatches and Rufous Sibia flocks.
Spotted Forktail, Grey-winged Blackbird, Long-billed Thrush in winter.
Apple and peach orchards for Fire-capped Tit in spring and wintering thrushes.
A working list of the species our groups target here, grouped by habitat and photographic rhythm.
Mornaula is a reserve forest on the ridge road between Ramgarh and Almora in Nainital district, Kumaon, at roughly 1,900 to 2,200 m and about 60 km from Kathgodam.
Mornaula holds Koklass and Kalij Pheasant, four woodpecker species, Black-headed Jay, Bar-tailed Treecreeper, White-tailed Nuthatch, Rufous Sibia flocks and several Himalayan owls.
It is one of the better places to learn. The road is level, the forest is quiet, and mixed flocks come close, so you can practise on cooperative subjects before moving to harder high-altitude sites.
Yes. All three are within about an hour and a half of Kathgodam, and our short Kumaon winter departures commonly cover the Gaula river, Sattal, Pangot and Mornaula in the same trip.
Tell us your dates and the species you want in the bag. We will come back with a Mornaula itinerary, the right season, and what is realistic to photograph while you are there.