Ranthambhore Round-Up

Ok well had two full days looking for Tigers in Ranthambhore - that's four jeep safaris. Well, we dipped on Tiger due to a combination of bad luck, getting rubbish jeep routes, and an amazing series of rather surly, uninterested and in one case, downright rude Park Guide. You get randomly allocated a route to drive and also the driver and guide are randomly selected - and we repeatedly got the worst guys out there. On the first day if our vehicle hadn't been 25 minutes late to pick us up we would have seen a Tiger, but as it happens we missed it by 15 minutes! Ok so gripe over, but i've never missed seeing Tiger when we've been looking for one over a few days visit at any reserve and to say my group were gutted is an underestimate. To make matters worse the last day when we had the option of another two safaris the park was closed due to very unseasonal and heavy rain. 

But we did get some really good birds..... Including Indian Skimmer, Barred Buttonquail, Rufous-fronted Prinia, Indian Bushlark, Long-tailed and Small Minivets, Variable Wheatear, and many others. Here are a few pics.....

Bay-backed Shrike

Crested Bunting (female)

Crested Bunting (male)

Indian Stone Curlew

Painted Sandgrouse

Painted Spurfowl

Mrs and Mrs Spurfowl

Going to Ranthambhore

We left our hotel at 6.45am and drove for around 6 hours to Ranthambhore and the Tiger Moon Resort. Along the way we made a quick stop and watched two Eurasian Hoopoes feeding and having a bit of aggro no more than 3 metres in front of us. It was an excellent opportunity to take some pics and luckily enough one of the birds repeatedly raised its crest. Lovely! 

Eurasian Hoopoe

Eurasian Hoopoe

The drive seemed to pass by very quickly and about an hour before reaching our destination we stopped to view a colony of Streak-throated Swallows – an often tricky species to find. 

Streak-throated Swallow

There was a cloud of them in the air and we wondered why they were not on their nests, but on closer inspection we saw a female Shikra perched on the nests under the bridge trying to claw out the chicks! So we politely asked  her to leave, which she did!

Following our arrival at the Tiger Moon Resort we had a little while to relax before embarking on an impromptu afternoon safari into the Tiger Reserve. Normally we would go birding outside the park but our local guide, Ganesh, managed to arrange this safari at very short notice, knowing how much our group wanted to see the wee stripey beastie. In the meantime we saw several White-bellied Drongos, Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher, Common Iora, Plum-headed Parakeet and White-browed Fantail in the gardens.

White-bellied Drongo

So our afternoon safari was a pleasant introduction into the park’s wildlife, with numerous Sambar and Spotted Deer, Marsh Muggers, Wild Boar and Northern Plains Langurs. We also picked up some good birds with a male Greater Painted Snipe being a good catch up for Dave H. There was also Large Cuckooshrike, both Black and Woolly-necked Storks and Marsh Sandpiper as well, plus a good selection of previously seen species such as Painted Stork, Black-tailed Godwit, Wood Sandpiper, and a pair of confiding and extremely vocal Dusky Eagle Owls. And that was our day and all very exciting to be able to have 5 more safaris into the reserve to follow.

Back in Keoladeo

We returned to Keoladeo this morning and called into the forested area known as The Nursery briefly but didn’t pick up anything new apart from Coppersmith Barbet, before walking along a different trail for the rest of the morning. At the start of the trail, around the Forest Rest House, a Tickell’s Thrush proved elusive to everyone and we vowed to return later in the day. This area of the park was totally dry, contrary to my previous visits when it was full of water – I do fear the park authorities do not have a conservation minded approach these days. Anyway, we did find some new birds including Oriental Honey Buzzard, Bonelli’s Eagle, Bay-backed Shrike, Common Woodshrike, a singing Brooks’s Leaf Warbler, Indian Silverbill and a Yellow-crowned Woodpecker was a new trip bird for most of us. Nearing the end of the trail we came upon a pair of Sarus Cranes feeding next to the path and I cannot quite believe how tame they were as they kept feeding and totally ignored us. I had to take off my converter to get a full frame shot – amazing. They fed in the marsh totally unconcerned by us, preened, displayed, began bugling in response to some distant crane calls and eventually they flew off to investigate another pair of cranes encroaching on their feeding area. Wow!

Sarus Cranes

Lunch was again taken at the Temple where some cold drinks and hot chai were much appreciated. This turned out to be a productive session for raptors as we saw Crested Serpent-Eagle, Eastern Imperial Eagle, and a possible Tawny Eagle, as well as both Indian and Greater Spotted Eagles again. A check from the viewing platform revealed much the same as yesterday and the lake and marsh were still choc full of birds including Eurasian Spoonbills, Temminck’s Stints, and numerous ducks and egrets stretched out over a vast area in front of us.

Black-necked Stork

Eurasian Spoonbill with Lesser Whistling-Ducks

White-throated Kingfisher

Oriental Honey Buzzard

Purple Heron

In the afternoon we went by rickshaw around Mansarovar seeing an Indian Vulture – a huge surprise here considering there population crash over the past decade. We then returned to stake out the Tickell’s Thrush and quickly found it, but again it was extremely shy and only some of us had decent views. So we left and returned to our hotel for an early shower and dinner.

Bharatpur or Bust...!

It is always difficult to sum up a day at Keoladeo National Park when you have seen so many great birds, and most of them have shown very well and very close. When one of the group states it is probably the best day’s birding they have ever done, then that comes as close and as accurate when describing the overall feel of such a day. Well, we saw 121 species covering so many different bird families, and the variety on offer was really quite astounding. When you consider that I have experienced better here in the past – then the potential here is enormous (if that makes any sense?).

Anyway, we arrived at the entrance gates around 6.45am (it’s just 5 minutes from our hotel) and took a short walk along the road in the cool, early morning air. We didn’t see anything too exciting to be honest, just some Yellow-footed Green Pigeons and Brahminy Starlings to start with, so we hopped on our rickshaws and went down to the old parking area. A fantastic male Siberian Rubythroat skulking in the shadows certainly got the pulses racing before another short rickshaw ride further into the park got us to some better habitat. The road from this point was bordered by tall trees, before opening out into more familiar habitat with water and marshes either side of the tree lined road – the classic feature of birding at ‘Bharatpur’. 

Brahminy Starling

After an unsuccessful search for Tickell’s Thrush we walked on into the more open areas and got stuck into the raptors and I’m glad to report that there is still a healthy wintering population here. We saw a lot of Steppe Eagles, several Greater Spotted Eagles and 2 Indian Spotted Eagles, along with Booted Eagle, Black Kite, Western Marsh Harrier and Shikra. On several occasions we found Steppe and Greater Spotted Eagles perched in nearby trees or on the ground. 

Indian Spotted Eagle

Steppe Eagle

Steppe Eagle

Greater Spotted Eagle

In the bushes beside the road we saw Bluethroat, Blyth’s Reed Warbler, Clamorous Reed Warbler, lots of Lesser Whitethroats (of the halimodendri race), with good views of both Hume’s and Greenish Warblers in the trees. 

Bluethroat

Clamorous Reed Warbler

Out on the marsh we saw lots of wildfowl, maybe not as many as I’ve been used to from previous tours but there was Lesser Whistling Duck, Knob-billed Duck, Indian Spot-billed Duck, lots of Garganey, Common Teal, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall and a single Red-crested Pochard. The main wader prize (for me) went to White-tailed Lapwing, a bird I really like and we spent some time watching quite a few in the scope. There were also lots of other species such as Wood and Green Sandpipers, Spotted Redshank and Common Greenshank etc. There was also nice views of Intermediate Egrets, Purple Herons, Eurasian Spoonbills, Glossy Ibis, and lots of Black-headed Ibis as well.

Garganey

Indian Spot-billed Duck

Glossy Ibis

Glossy Ibis

A superb male Ultramarine Flycatcher was something of a surprise to say the least and showed very well indeed, and of course we saw Dusky Eagle Owl, a family of which were roosting on a nearby island of acacias.

Dusky Eagle Owl

Ultramarine Flycatcher

One of the classic birds to be found here is Sarus Crane and we were lucky to see this pair feeding in the marshes before circling overhead in formation on numerous occasions.

Sarus Cranes

Following lunch at the temple area we spent the late afternoon birding around Mansarovar Lake and got lucky with our third Black Bittern of the day, this last one actually posing nicely rather than the two previous flybys. There was also a close Indian Python, Indian Cormorant, and several Black-crowned Night-Herons.

Indian Python

Other species seen today included Purple Swamphen, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Spotted Owlet, Long-tailed Shrike, White-eared Bulbul, and some close Yellow-eyed Babblers. But the overall kaleidoscope of large numbers of birds combined with very nice views of almost everything is what makes this site so special.

Taj Mahal to Bharatpur

This morning we visited the Taj Mahal in Agra and spent a pleasant time marvelling at this amazing structure, and also watching a flock of Great White Pelicans soaring around behind it. As you know I am culturally shallow so it was a welcome relief to stake out the Yamuna River behind the Taj and do some scanning for an hour whilst most of the group did the cultural bit.... Oh I wasn't alone and Messers Nickless and Hopkins kept me company....! A single Dalmatian Pelican was noted as it swam along the river, passing numerous birds on the shoreline that included 10 Eurasian Spoonbills, Knob-billed Duck, lots of Black-winged Stilts, Ruff and other waders as well. Overhead a few Black-eared Kites were noted amongst the hundreds of Black Kites soaring around.

Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse

An interesting looking Southern Grey Shrike...

Following lunch at  a great restaurant we drove for an hour or so to our hotel in Bharatpur town, checked in to our rooms and then drove out into the arable fields around 30 minutes away. A huge desolate, semi-arid area was our target and in the late afternoon sunshine we enjoyed fine scope views of several Southern Grey Shrikes, Desert Wheatear, at least 10 Indian Coursers and a flock of Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse as well.