Monsoon India Day 4

After a later than usual start we headed to an area of acacia forest and rolling hills, which turned out to be particularly productive. The habitat was excellent and we found several pairs of Marshall’s Iora showing very well. I love this bird and seeing the male in breeding plumage was very nice indeed, having only seen them in winter before today and we had numerous sightings as well as hearing them sing. 

Marshall's Iora

Our other major find of the morning was watching a pair of White-naped Tits at their nest hole, which we found just by chance. Again, this is a very special bird and one we were keen to find, so to see them nest-building was a huge bonus. 

White-naped Tit

We followed this at a different site with yet another great bird and more good views of the simply stunning White-bellied Minivet. We saw 2 males and a female, with another male later on during our walk. 

White-bellied Redstart

Other good birds this morning included a pair of Black-headed Cuckooshrikes, Crested Bunting, Grey-breasted Prinia, several Common Hawk-Cuckoos, White-bellied Drongo, Plum-headed Parakeet, Small Minivet, Coppersmith Barbet and a hepatic female Grey-bellied Cuckoo.

Grey-bellied Cuckoo

 After a long rest over midday we headed to a lake not really knowing what to expect and were thrilled to discover it was full of birds. We added over 20 species to our list here with a flock of nearly 190+ Lesser and 3 Greater Flamingo’s, 6 Great White Pelicans, Painted Storks, Indian & Great Cormorants, Oriental Darter, 79 Eurasian Spoonbill, many River Terns, 2 Little Terns, 13+ Ruff, Green Sandpiper, Pied Avocet, Little Stint, White-browed Wagtail and others. Another section of the lake produced Little Stint and a whacky record of Sykes’s Warbler watched for quite some time in a small marshy area. We were left wondering if these shorebirds had left their breeding grounds early, were failed breeders or hadn’t gone north at all?

We ended up beside a small pond amidst dense thorn forest where a pair of Painted Sandgrouse flew over and an Indian Nightjar flew past us to round off a surprisingly good day.