Monsoon India Day 3

This was the big day as we went in search of a number of key target species in the fields near Sonkhaliya. After leaving the hotel at 5am it took over an hour to reach the first site, where we drove slowly along a dirt road that traversed a wide open plain of fields, crops and scattered trees. Within the first 15 minutes along here an awesome male Lesser Florican was located displaying in a field about 150 m away. We observed him from the car as he sprang high into the air, flapped his wings before stretching them right out, throwing his head back and puffing his body up into a ball before dropping back down to earth like a stone. A quite dramatic display accompanied by a strange clicking sound and which lasts just a matter of a few seconds. 

Displaying Lesser Florican is something you just have to see...

As luck would have it, after around ten minutes of watching him he decided to change his display site and came around 50m closer towards us. We just sat and admired this bizarre courtship display, and took a few photos too. Once satisfied with the views of this most wanted bird we explored the nearby area, finding a further 2 displaying males but all at quite some distance. We then checked a number of other locations, all in seemingly similar habitat hearing Painted Francolin and Rain Quail without being able to locate them due to the tall crops they were in, but a Singing Bushlark, several Rufous-fronted Prinias and Yellow-eyed Babbler were found along the way. 

Yellow-eyed Babbler

Rufous-fronted Babbler

We ended our morning’s birding amidst a more arid area with scattered bushes and this site proved to be a little goldmine as we found a covey of Rock Bush-Quails feeding quietly underneath a bush that defied all attempts at a decent photo and a calling Rain Quail  within just a couple of minutes of each other. The Rain Quail in particular was a little stunner as he called from the top of a small mound and after a bit of manoeuvring with the car we enjoyed fantastic looks. 

Rock Bush-Quail

Rain Quail

There were also several flocks of Rose-coloured Starlings, including some incredibly pink adults, as well as Ashy-crowned Sparrow-Lark and a flyby White-eyed Buzzard. We then made a couple of abortive attempts at finding Indian Eagle-Owl but did see Streak-throated Swallow, Little Swift, 

We spent the mega-hot midday period in an air-conditioned restaurant that had wifi, served good food and more importantly, cold drinks before heading out again at 3pm. This time we located an Indian Eagle Owl perched in a tree and not where we were expecting or had been looking! 

Indian Eagle-Owl

A couple of minutes later and a cracking Red-necked Falcon was seen perched on top of a dead tree, followed by the huge bonus of a confiding Painted Francolin that flew in right next to us, before flying over our car never to be seen again. What a bird and it’s one of those species that the field guides just don’t do justice to. 

Red-necked Falcon

Painted Francolin

So by now it was 5pm and we made the decision to try a different area about an hour away for sandgrouse. Along the way we had the first rain of the tour but fortunately it had stopped by the time we reached the site where we quickly scored with 5 Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse and a bonus find with a pair of Indian Stone-Curlew to round off a truly great day.

Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse

Indian Stone-Curlew

Monsoon India Day 2

We began the day watching a colony of Black-breasted Weavers near Sultanpur and enjoyed really nice views, along with Baya Weaver, Grey-throated Martin, Long-tailed Shrike, Graceful Prinia, Striated Babbler, Yellow-bellied Prinia, Brown Rock-Chat and a pair of Red Avadavats. Our excellent local guide, Shyama, took us to an isolated acacia tree where a male Sind Sparrow was singing and we enjoyed fine looks at this localised bird. 

Black-breasted Weaver

Graceful Prinia

Striated Babbler

Tricoloured Munia

Sind Sparrow

So we left here and set out on the long drive to Jaipur, arriving much earlier than expected and we had to kick our heels and wait a couple of hours at Jhalana Reserve for our 4.30pm jeep safari, so we crashed out in the air-conditioned waiting room and enjoyed looking around the visitor centre. Eventually it was time to set off. 

Our reason for coming is that Jhalana has built a reputation of providing Leopard sightings: this 20km2 reserve hosts up to 28 Leopards so there’s a very good chance of seeing one. We were also interested in seeing what birds were about and a very pleasant 2.5 hours began with a superb male Indian Paradise-Flycatcher sat on a nest over the track and it looked simply stunning with its bright yellow mouth and extravagantly long tail streamers floating high above his head. 

Indian Paradise Flycatcher

A little further on there was an Indian Golden Orioles nest with 3 young being attended by both parents and we thoroughly enjoyed watching them. 

Indian Golden Oriole

Driving on we encountered the first of 5 roosting Jungle Nightjars beside the track, as well as Grey Francolin, Indian Peafowl, Red Turtle Dove, Spotted Owlet, Bay-backed Shrike, White-browed Fantail and other common species. 

Jungle Nightjar

Grey Francolin

Spotted Owlet

There are several man-made waterholes here attracting lots of birds with species such as Green and Blue-tailed Bee-eaters, Yellow-crowned Woodpecker, Black-rumped Flameback, Red-rumped Swallow, White-breasted Kingfisher, Common Woodshrike, Indian Robin, Brahminy Starling and Jacobin Cuckoo, coming down for a drink and a bathe. 

Yellow-crowned Woodpecker

Brahminy Starling

Jacobin Cuckoo

The biggest highlight was seeing 2 different Indian Pittas calling away from up in the trees beside the track, with the second bird then flying onto the ground near us to begin feeding right out in the open. Wow! 

Indian Pitta

With time pressing we completed our route and then headed onto another route where with minutes remaining before the park closed we caught sight of a large Leopard stalking through the brush and grass. What a day. There followed a 3 hour drive to our next hotel where we arrived at 10;30pm.

Monsoon India Day 1

After our morning arrival in Delhi, a quick transfer to a nearby hotel was followed by lunch. At 2pm we headed to Surajpur Wetlands in search of Bristled Grassbird, a bird that breeds during the monsoon and should be relatively easy to find at this time  of year. But, as luck would have it, the rains haven’t arrived and are a month and a half late = so no bristlebird. However, everyone had seen this bird before so it wasn’t a problem and instead we simply enjoyed the great birds on offer in this cracking little area. 

Indian Spot-billed Duck

We began with a Common Hawk-Cuckoo, followed by Bronze-winged and Pheasant-tailed Jacanas, many Indian Spot-billed Ducks, Knob-billed Duck, Indian Peafowl, showy Asian Koel, a perched Shikra and best of all a pair of Black-breasted Weavers were seen with the male displaying with his wings outstretched and ‘shaking all over’.

Pheasant-tailed Jacana

A pair of stately Black-necked Storks were patrolling the water’s edge, whilst Grey-headed Swamphens and White-breasted Waterhens fed unconcerned amongst the vegetation. We checked a few spots for the grassbird without any joy, whilst overhead Black-headed Ibis and some Red-naped Ibis flew over, along with a few Streak-throated Swallows. 

Black-necked Stork - the female has a pale eye

Across the water was a very active rookery with numerous Asian Openbills and Black-headed Ibis nesting, along with many Purple Herons, some Black-crowned Night-Herons and Indian Pond-herons. Possibly the highlight for me was a flock of 50+ Oriental Pratincoles flying high overhead – an Indian tick no less!

Oriental Pratincole

 Walking back to our waiting vehicle we saw a pair of Indian Silverbills, an Indian Grey Hornbill flew over, a drake Cotton Pygmy-Goose was seen, a male Watercock showed well, a pair of Indian Golden Orioles fed high overhead and a flock of Alexandrine Parakeets were seen perched in some nearby trees. 

Indian Roller

Other birds seen this afternoon included Lesser Whistling-Duck, Indian Roller, Green and Blue-tailed Bee-eaters, Indian Bushlark, Large Grey Babbler and other common species. Leaving here it took quite some time to negotiate the notorious Delhi traffic but we eventually arrived back at the hotel and managed to get to the restaurant at 9pm for dinner and a few well deserved cold beers!

Coastal Kenya 2020

NEW TOUR: COASTAL KENYA 7th to 20th MARCH 2020

Kenya provides the ultimate African birding adventure and this tour will see us head to the coast, travelling across some of the most famous National Parks in this awesome country.

SAFARI BIRDING IN KENYA

Starting in Nairobi, we will drive to Amboseli National Park for our first taste of the amazing birdlife on offer during this tour. This will be the perfect introduction, as we will see a vast array of bird species from giant Saddle-billed Storks and stunning Lilac-breasted Rollers to Two-banded Coursers and Yellow-throated Sandgrouse.

TAVETA GOLDEN WEAVER

GOLDEN-BREASTED STARLING

Moving on to Tsavo West National Park, numbers of resident birds such as Crowned Hornbill, Hartlaub’s Bustard, Fischer’s Starling and Steel-blue Whydah will be augmented by winter visitors such as Sooty Falcon, White-throated Robin, Upcher’s Warbler and Thrush Nightingale to keep our pulses racing!

LICHTENSTEIN'S SANDGROUSE

We will make stops at the Taita Hills for Taita Thrush, Yellow-throated Woodland Warbler and Taita Apalis and the Shimba Hills for Crested Guineafowl, Green Barbet and Uluguru Violet-backed Sunbird amongst others.

SHIMBA HILLS LODGE

CRESTED GUINEAFOWL

Here, we will stay at a delightful lodge where our rooms surround a water hole and we can see a wide variety of birds and mammals appear.  Eventually we will reach Arabuko-Sokoke Forest where we will search for a number of rare and localized species such as Sokoke Scops-Owl,  Red-tailed Ant-Thrush, Four-coloured Bush-Shrike, Amani Sunbird, both Retz’s and Chestnut-fronted Bush-Shrikes and Sokoke Pipit.

SOKOKE SCOPS-OWL

SOKOKE PIPIT

Along the coast we should find the absolutely stunning Crab Plover, as well as having chances of Dimorphic Egret, Madagascar Pratincole, Sooty Gull, Malindi Pipit and Zanzibar Red Bishop. 

CRAB PLOVER

SOMALI COURSER

Heading inland we will travel through Tsavo East National Park for another flurry of birds before reaching Nairobi once again.

This tour is a typical birding safari with much of the time spent in safari vehicles, although there are a number of sites where it will be necessary to walk for up to 3 kms to find our target species. And, needless to say, there will be a huge variety of other wildlife to see as we go birding with all the typical African mammals on offer from Lion, Leopard, Cheetah, Giraffe, Plains Zebra and African Elephant to lesser known mammals such as Sable, Fringe-eared Oryx, African Crested Porcupine, Aardwolf, Small-spotted Genet, Honey Badger and even Caracal or African Wild Dogs. Who knows what will appear? 

LEOPARD

VULTURINE GUINEAFOWL

YELLOW-THROATED SANDGROUSE

 We will be staying in very good quality lodges throughout this tour where we have ‘built in’ a number of easy birding sessions and some time to relax and enjoy the lodge surroundings. And we can guarantee this will be a thrilling, action-packed, bird-filled ride across one of the most exciting birding destinations in all of Africa.

GO TO WWW.ZOOTHERABIRDING.COM FOR FULL DETAILS