At 6.30 am, the forest at Lama Camp holds its breath. Fog drifts low through the bushes, carrying sharp, descending whistles that seem to slice the cold air. The camp sits at 2,500 m above sea level, deep inside Singchung village in West Kameng district, Arunachal Pradesh. The surrounding 17 sq km form the Singchung Bugun Village Community Reserve, a landscape of mossed trunks and layered green that tests patience as much as endurance. Birding here is an exercise in stillness. Fingers numb around binoculars, eyes scan leaf by leaf, branch by branch, while the body learns not to fidget and the mind learns not to rush.
"Bugun is only found in our community reserve, not the sanctuary. We make the effort, and often the credit goes to Eagle Nest,” Khandu Glow, Chairman of SBVCR (Singchung Bugun Village Community Reserve).
The first sightings arrive in fragments, like a half-remembered dream: a black headcap on one branch, a flash of orange-yellow eye-ring on another, wings washed in yellow-green, a purple flicker at the tail-end. The image refuses to settle, shimmers, rearranges itself—until, suddenly, it does not. The Bugun Liocichla appears in full, fidgety clarity, named after the Bugun tribe that protects it, and among the rarest birds in the world.
The campsite—simple tents pitched for birders who also come in search of butterflies like the Bhutan Glory and Himalayan Glory, or even the elusive red panda—earns its name from 1959, when the Dalai Lama stayed here during his journey from Tibet to India. Steam rises from cups of hot chai as the snow-capped Gorichen range glows in the distance, across the border in Tibet. By the time the drive back begins, five Bugun Liocichlas have been spotted—out of a global population estimated at around 30, first discovered in 2006.
Since that discovery, the village has taken ownership of both bird and forest. In 2024, conservation efforts expanded with the creation of the Braiduah Community Reserve, adding another 15 sq km to the protected landscape.
Today, a forest team of 14 patrolling guards monitors the bird. One the core ranger team is 26-year-old documentary filmmaker Shaleena Phinya. Phinya’s film titled ‘The Bugun and The Liocichla’ has been featured around the world. “The forest has been my childhood backyard. I joined the patrolling team in 2019. Wildlife filmmaking is my way of interacting with the forest and help conserve the species of flora and fauna that live in it. Conservation is only possible when local communities come together for it. We are even raising awareness on hunting. Being a woman, I often face difficulties, but the moment I am in the forest, every challenge fades away.”
Near the Forest Rest House at Ramalingam, about eight km from Tenga Valley, the Nature Interpretation Centre offers context to the thrill of the sighting. Panels and pamphlets recount how ornithologist Ramana Athreya discovered the bird in 2006 and named it in honour of the Bugun tribe. Today, the Liocichla is the reserve’s official mascot, alongside the red panda. In this part of Arunachal Pradesh, solitude is not emptiness; it is balance, maintained by tribes who live with the forest rather than around it.