For me one of the quintessential Himalayan birds, that has brought me some magic moments-most notably in Sichuan where on a tour in spring 2006 we watched a pristine male singing its heart out on the slopes of Balang Shan, while this whole dramatic high mountain scene was swathed with thick, newly fallen snow. However, seeing this one with a good friend of mine in northern India was not quite so magical. We dropped down into a deep gully to search for this among other things after a long eventful day in Sat Tal. The tricky part of getting the bird though was not finding the rubythroat itself, but avoiding the 'minefield' that had been laid for us along the narrow track leading down to the scrubby gorge. We soon realized that this path was viewed more as a toilet by the locals than an actual path. Getting the bird once we'd got through this mess (not completely unscathed either), was actually fairly straightforward, the bird angrily appearing on the top of a near bush when tempted with a little playback!