If there’s a bird family that perfectly represents the quiet thrill of birdwatching in India, it is the Parrotbills. Hi, I am Adhirup Ghosh, a birdwatcher based in Santiniketan, West Bengal, with over two decades of dedicated birdwatching experience across India. Secretive, habitat-specific and often overlooked, the Parrotbills with their stubby, parrot-like bills and soft, wispy calls inhabit the dense undergrowth of India’s Brahmaputra wetlands, bamboo thickets of the lower Himalayan foothills and high-altitude scrubs. Seeing all ten parrotbill species in India became, over time, a quiet quest—one that took me across the length and breadth of this vast, layered country.
In August’2021, while birding in North Bengal, I first encountered the Black-throated Parrotbill at Senchal, Darjeeling. That brief but electrifying sighting—just seconds of movement among bamboo—stayed with me for years. There was something about these birds which struck a chord, shy but animated, rare but right there if you waited long enough. In the following years, as I travelled more through the East and Northeast Himalayas, the world of parrotbills opened up. The Great Parrotbill came next from the same area.
In January’ 2022 during early morning walks across rich snow-covered hills of Lachen (North Sikkim), I met my third friend- The Brown Parrotbill. Their sociable behaviour and mixed-flock associations made them both a challenge and a joy to watch. Each sighting felt like a reward for patience. I wanted to revisit Sikkim and its rich Rhododendron-covered hills during spring. So, we decided to take our chances this time in East Sikkim around April of the same year, which rewarded us with a precious sighting of the elusive Fulvous Parrotbill. However, some species tested my perseverance. The Black-breasted Parrotbill, a habitat specialist of tall reeds and riverine grasslands, kept eluding me. It wasn’t until a carefully planned trip to the Roing Grasslands in April’2023 region that I finally saw it, darting through swaying reeds, their calls like faint whistles lost in the wind.
The similar looking Pale-billed Parrotbills along with the White-breasted and Rufous-headed Parrotbills, required a different kind of endurance. Repeated visits to Arunachal Pradesh from 2023 to 2025 made it possible after a lot of search across the bamboo thickets. Though the Pale-billed and White-breasted were relatively easy, the Rufous-headed (Recently split from the Greater Rufous-headed Parrotbill) gave us a hard time until we visited Namdapha National Park in January’2025. The memories of these sightings still breathes life into my notebooks. My second last sighting of the Spot-breasted Parrotbill came at the Indo-China-Burma border from Walong (Arunachal Pradesh) in March 2024. It was undoubtedly the boldest among all the previously seen Parrotbills and gave us ample time to observe from a close quarter.The last and the most special Grey-headed Parrotbill came after years of reading habitat notes, talking to local guides, and returning to the same locations again and again after repeated failed attempts. Finally in May’2025, I got a flitting glimpse of the Grey-headed Parrotbill from New-Khellong, Eaglenest (Arunachal Pradesh).
These weren’t just ticks on a list. Each bird was a teacher, each landscape a classroom. Every encounter deepened my understanding not just of the birds, but of the people, ecosystems, and silent changes taking place around them.Today, having seen all ten Parrotbill species recorded from India, I feel less like I completed a checklist and more like I completed a pilgrimage. The Parrotbills taught me to value the overlooked, to listen more than chase, and to celebrate the slow, subtle victories in birdwatching. In a world moving faster than ever, these little birds so often hidden, so often unheard remind me why I began birdwatching in the first place: to slow down, to look closer, and to be part of something greater than myself.