| Being one of India's rarest birds (Vulnerable C2ai), I had struggled to try and find this bird over the years in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and parts of eastern Odisha. Not even a glimpse!
Thanks to the advice of IFS officer Manoj Nair, who had extensively reported this bird from Simlipal Tiger Reserve, I made a trip last week to western Odisha.
I was thrilled to find the bird in the area described by Manoj and counted a total of 37 birds at a point in time when they were at a salt lick in Sal forest Shorea robusta. There could have been more birds still in the trees or left of the lick. They were from multiple flocks and were congregating at dawn and dusk.
The birds were quite far and these are significantly cropped images. - RS | 
