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The Eurasian lynx is much more widely distributed than its Iberian cousin, but much harder to see! The Iberian lynx was the very first cat I ever saw back in 2018, and since then, my list of cat sightings has steadily grown. In Europe, there were only two new cats for me to see: the European wildcat and the Eurasian lynx. I never rushed to look for the Eurasian lynx so far, thinking it will surely happen someday! This year, the opportunity finally arose to seriously make an effort to see it, and with success!
Of the several thousand mammal species in the world, the vast majority are not known to the general public. Mention an obscure rodent or bat species and most people don’t have the faintest idea of what you are talking about. The larger mammals are usually more in the picture, but also in that category there are plenty of examples of animals that are not so well known. Often when I am going to look for a special cat, I have to explain more than once which cat it is exactly and where it can be found. This is not so much the case for species such as Tiger, but a species like Rusty-spotted Cat doesn’t ring so many bells. The species I went to look for during Christmas and New Year 2023/2024 I didn’t have to introduce to anyone.
In March 2023 I had been traveling through India for about three weeks. From an unexpected start at the Taj Mahal, I went to the high Himalayas where I saw Snow Leopards and Pallas’ Cats. We then headed to the forests on the foothills of the Himalayas in North East India, close to the Bhutanese border, where we had an interesting week at Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary. So we had already seen a lot of beautiful things, but one specialty of India was still missing: the Tiger! I felt like I just couldn’t miss this iconic big cat so I planned a few days at Pench Tiger Reserve to spend my last week. In this reserve we would have a good chance of seeing a Tiger, but there was also supposed to be a black Leopard around. We wanted to see that one too of course. After the hardcore mammalwatching, it was now time for some classic safaris!
Earlier I wrote something about what led up to my trip to India and finally seeing the ‘grey ghost’ of the Himalayas: the Snow Leopard! However when I prepared for the trip, it turned out that it was also possible to see another new cat: the Pallas’ Cat! A friendly birder told me that there had been some very nice pictures of Pallas’ Cat taken in the town of Hanle last summer. This got my attention immediately because in my opinion Pallas’ Cat is the most special and attractive small cat in the world. I just love it with all the hair, the typical ‘grumpy look’ and the thick banded tail. The pictures from Hanle looked very nice indeed! However, it turned out to be difficult to get to Hanle as a non-Indian person and for a long time it was uncertain whether I would be actually able to get there. About a week before departure, however, I received confirmation that it would be possible to visit Hanle if we were to spend the night in another place called Nyoma. So that’s how the plan came together!
There are few animals I’ve been dreaming of seeing for as long as the Snow Leopard. It was not until quite recently that seeing a Snow Leopard seemed like something impossible. However, that changed when it became possible to see this big cat in Ladakh, India after spending days scanning the mountainsides with a telescope accompanied by local guides. Until then I only knew the Snow Leopard from the series ‘Planet Earth’, but suddenly I saw trip reports from people I knew that had seen a Snow Leopard! Around that time I started studying at the university and I decided then that I would make the trip to the Himalayas after my studies so I could see a Snow Leopard. Many a boring seminar was also used by me to read up on all the trip reports about Snow Leopards or to scour the websites of local tour companies to find an affordable trip. I even contacted a few local tour companies about a trip, but that never turned into anything real.
In the spring of 2022 I suddenly find myself in Azerbaijan. The reason for this is this time not a special cat, but a special bird! The Siberian Crane is an endangered bird of which only a few thousand remain in the wild. In the eastern part of Asia that is. As far as we know, there is only one left in the western part of Asia and of course this bird has been given a name by now: Omid. That name was given to him in Iran, where it has been wintering in the same rice field for years. Equally dutifully, the bird takes off every year to fly back to Russia to its breeding grounds, only to fly back again in the autumn without any breeding succes. There won’t be a partner for Omid. Among bird watchers, there is an avid group that likes to see as many bird species as possible within the Western Palearctic (WP) ecozone. The chances of seeing a wild Siberian Crane within this area after Omid are virtually nil. However, Iran is not considered to be in this ecozone, which means that it is not possible to easily ‘tick’ the bird in its wintering areas. Therefore a small group of fanatic WP birders made an attempt to pick up the bird on its way to Russia when it passed through neighboring Azerbaijan. This was in 2020. A bird seen in Azerbaijan does count for the list! And they saw Omid! In 2021 there was a number of bird watchers that wanted to repeat their success, but corona prevented a trip to Azerbaijan. 2022 was the year it had to happen. I happened to be able to go and it seemed like a nice enough trip in any case so I landed in Baku on February 25, 2022.
Murphy’s law in short is that everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. If one thing goes wrong, the next thing will go wrong as well. For example when you’re in de supermarket and you happen to pick just that line that moves the slowest, when you try to pay you find out your bank account has been emptied and your car is being towed when you exit the supermarket. Then you’re not having your best day. It can also happen the other way around: a day that starts well only gets better. When you are looking for nice animals you might just be familiar with Murphy’s law. There are those days when you don’t manage to find anything good and then it quickly feels like Murphy has got it in for you. Luckily there are also days, scarce ones though (!), on which everything seems to go well. Those days make up for a lot that earlier went wrong.
If there is one cat that doesn’t appear to be a cat at first glance it’s the jaguarundi. Because of the longish head with elongated body and short legs this cat appears more like a mustelid than a cat. Still it really is a cat and, if you manage to find a flattering picture of it, a pretty cute one too! This cat is quite widespread in Latin-America but it is nowhere easy to see. Some areas offer higher chances than others, but seeing a jaguarundi is often a chance encounter and most of the time they are just seen crossing the road in front of the car.
Three days I had planned at the Kinabatanganriver. My target here was to see Proboscis Monkeys and I also hopefully have a better look at Orangutans. Apart from that I will be going out with a guide to try to specifically try to see the Bornean Ground-Cuckoo. I also have another target in mind: Flat-headed Cat! This cat gets seen near this river, however usually for that to happen the water level has to be low and that’s not the case right now. For my first two nights here I did my best to find it, but for my last night I am not really hoping for anything anymore.
The Sunda Leopard Cat has recently been split by the IUCN Cat Specialist Group from Mainland Leopard Cat. This cat does not occur on mainland Asia and was a cat I expected to see in Borneo. As they were reported a lot in trip reports I expected to be successful for this cat and I was not disappointed. I saw my first in Danum Valley, but that went a bit fast. Luckily in Deramakot there were many good sightings.
