Patience is a Virtue...!

We spent the morning on a jeep safari around the grasslands from Dhikala and again went in search of Tiger, but has so often happened during my time this year in India, turned out negatively. There are plenty of Tigers here but we just don’t seem to have the luck with us and I know of at least three other sightings this morning from other jeeps.... 

We did a lot of waiting for Tigers...

And more waiting.....

Still waiting.....

But we did enjoy another good run of birds with a superb male White-tailed (Himalayan) Rubythroat sat out singing in the early morning sunshine and this turned out to be our only sighting of the entire tour. 

Himalayan (White-tailed) Rubythroat

Common Hawk-Cuckoo

Common Hawk-Cuckoo

We also enjoyed fine views of a Common Hawk-Cuckoo, Bright-headed Cisticola, Common Green Magpie, Oriental Skylark, Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-Babbler, and both White-capped and Crested Buntings.

Crested Bunting

White-capped Bunting

White-capped Bunting

We saw Great Thick-Knee along here...

After breakfast we packed up and left on the drive towards civilization, stopping at a forest lodge en-route for lunch. This was in a great location within the forest and of particular note was a Tickell’s Thrush showing nicely around a fruiting tree. Driving out of the park we saw a Besra, several Blue-throated Barbets, Coppersmith Barbet, Himalayan Flameback, Ashy Woodswallow, Large Cuckooshrike, Lemon-rumped Warbler, Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher, Plumbeous and White-capped Water-Redstarts.

Brown Fish Owl

Other goodies seen today included Red-headed Vulture, Western Osprey, Brown Fish-Owl, Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker, Crested Kingfisher, Himalayan Black Bulbul, Rosy Pipit, and some Yellow-eyed Babblers. In the evening I managed to call in a Brown Bobook outside the lodge – which was just one of eight owls seen on this tour.

Indian Roller in the early morning light.

Red-headed Vulture

Chasing Tigers....

This turned out to be a very good day indeed, during which we saw an awful lot of really good birds and a few iconic Indian species to boot. We began with a jeep safari taking in the surrounding grassland and forest edge beginning with further views of Large-tailed Nightjar just before boarding our jeeps or as they are called locally - ‘gypsies’. First of all we headed out into the open grassy plain and then along the edge of the huge forest seeing Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch and Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker – neither being new but nice views. Many new birds came our way here such as Grey Bushchat, Lesser Yellownape, Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker, Velvet-fronted Nuthatch, Crested Treeswift, Bar-winged Flycatcher-Shrike, Small, Long-tailed, Scarlet and Short-billed Minivets, Common Rosefinch, and a brief Black-throated Thrush. Moving deeper into the forest a Brown Fish-Owl appeared, along with Black-hooded Oriole and Rufous-bellied Niltava.

Streak-throated Woodpecker

Also in the grassland we saw Streak-throated Woodpecker, Lesser Coucal, Eurasian Hoopoe, Ashy Prinia, Yellow-eyed Babbler, Eastern Stonechat, Paddyfield Pipit, and a cracking male Chestnut-eared Bunting. A fine male Montagu’s Harrier quartering the grassland in the early morning light was also quite a sight.

Chestnut-eared Bunting

We spent the remainder of the late morning and early afternoon inside the Dhikhala compound and turned up a number of good birds with Indian Grey Hornbill, Crimson Sunbird, Hume’s Warbler, Grey-sided Bush Warbler and Black-chinned Babbler along the perimeter fence. 

Black-chinned Babbler

Probable Grey-sided Bush-Warbler..... 

Below us the view was spectacular with the Ramganga River and grassland harbouring a flock of Small Pratincoles, Eurasian Spoonbill, Woolly-necked Stork, Black Stork, Great Thick-knee, Oriental Darter, a couple of Western Ospreys, Pallas’s Gull, many River Terns, Pied Kingfisher, Grey-throated Martin, a huge male Gharial, Marsh Mugger and Hog Deer.

Changeable Hawk-Eagle

Black Vulture

Himalayan Griffon (immature)

Distant Black and Red-headed Vultures

Himalayan Griffon (adult)

 We also had an amazing run of raptors with Changeable Hawk-Eagle flying over to start with, and then later a kettle of Himalayan Griffons was joined by a Red-headed Vulture, huge Cinereous Vulture and a couple of Egyptian Vultures, with a Pallas’s Fish-Eagle joining in later. After lunch Lynne spotted an adult Cinereous Vulture and 2 Red-headed Vultures with a couple of Steppe Eagles standing around a small carcass on the plain below us. We watched them for quite some time through the scopes and another Cinereous Vulture flew in and landed before all these birds took flight which made for spectacular viewing. A male Crimson Sunbird also gave point-blank views.

Crimson Sunbird

At 2.30pm we headed out in the jeeps for a short jeep safari and didn’t really see anything new but concentrated on looking for a recently reported Tiger, but again without success, although a Lesser Fish-Eagle was new. 

Lesser Fish-Eagle

We had to sprint to get back to the compound in time for our 4pm Elephant safari and then spent the next two hours chasing after a Tiger that had just been reported. It caused quite some amusement to begin with but once we headed into the jungle and went crashing through the bushes and trees we had to fend off branches before reaching the open grassland. Well I’m very pleased to report we did get to see a young male Tiger that had been hiding in some dense bushes but he quickly ran away and out of view. But smiles all round and a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. 

Spot the Tiger

On the walk back to camp we saw a Crested Bunting in company with a female Chestnut-eared Bunting to round the day off nicely. That was until our first Jungle Owlet perched out in a bare tree was seen from the viewpoint. What a day!

Classic Himalayas Tour - Off to Corbett...

We left early doors for the 7 hour drive to Tiger Camp, close to Corbett National Park at the base of the Himalayas, where we were due to have lunch. The drive was enlivened by lots of new birds for the group such as a pair of Sarus Cranes, Indian Black Ibis, River Lapwing, Green and Wood Sandpipers, Egyptian Vulture, Bank Myna, Masked Wagtail and Brown Rock-Chat.

These Sarus Cranes were a bonus sighting on the long drive to Corbett.

Upon arrival at our lunch stop, which actually turned out to be a new hotel next door to Tiger Camp, we walked down to the river and had a quick look and picked up White-browed Wagtail and Cinereous Tit. After a great lunch we noticed some movement in the flowering trees at the edge of the garden and saw Lineated Barbet, Himalayan Black Bulbul, Himalayan Bulbul, and a fine looking Alexandrine Parakeet coming to a flowering tree.

Then we set off in our jeeps to the Dhanghari Gate of Corbett NP, making a quick stop along the river where Crested Kingfisher, White-capped Water Redstart, Chestnut-headed Bee-eater, Verditer Flycatcher, Brahminy Starling and Grey-breasted Prinia were seen. 

Crested Kingfisher

The drive to the gate was also memorable for a Spot-winged Starling feeding in a Bombax tree in company with lots of Chestnut-tailed Starlings, and also in the same few trees were both Plum-headed and Red-breasted Parakeets, Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker, Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch and a few Spangled Drongos. There was also a pair of Indian Grey Hornbills nearby, and a cracking Maroon Oriole was also seen beside the road.

Corbett has a some of the best forests of anywhere i've been in India.

After the paperwork and formalities at the entrance gate we were off into the park and I think everyone was excited to finally be here. The habitat of dense forest, fast-flowing rivers and dry riverbeds is home to an amazing variety of birds and other wildlife including Tiger. Well, we did see pug marks and scats of this most wanted of beasts, but other animals seen included Spotted Deer, Barking Deer, Wild Boar, and Tarai Grey Langur. Birds were well represented and I think the majestic Pallas’s Fish-Eagle perched on a boulder beside a fast-flowing river was stunning. A few people managed to get on a Long-billed Thrush as it paused motionless on  close fallen tree, but it quickly dropped out of sight and was replaced by a Grey-bellied Tesia! Other goodies seen included Black Stork, Crested Serpent-Eagle, 3 Collared Falconets, Greater Yellownape, both Great and Oriental Pied Hornbills, White-throated Fantail, White-rumped Shama, Blue Whistling-Thrush, and a small flock of Red-billed Blue Magpies.

Black Stork

Collared Falconet

We arrived at Dhikala compound around 6.20pm and during the obscenely lengthy check-in and form-filling nightmare lots of Small Pratincoles were seen flying over, a pair of River Terns flew by and a few Asian Elephants were feeding in the distance. A Large-tailed Nightjar was also seen at dusk.

Sultanpur

After arriving early doors and dropping our luggage into the rooms of a nearby hotel we sped of through the hussle and bustle of Delhi to Sultanpur. Upon arrival the first bird we saw was a Common Hawk-Cuckoo that flew into the tree above us, giving very nice views indeed. 

Common Hawk-Cuckoo

And a short while later we were watching our main target species here, when a male Sind Sparrow was spotted calling from a lakeside Acacia. We spent quite a while watching this localised species as he performed admirably right in front of us. 

This stunner is a male Sind Sparrow

Nearby a Baillon’s Crake flew into a patch of reeds beside the bund we were walking along and the last new bird of the tour was a drake Ferruginous Duck in a large flock of commoner wildfowl.

As always there were lots of other birds around such as Purple Heron, Glossy Ibis, Indian Spotted Eagle, Booted Eagle, Western Marsh Harrier, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Long-tailed Minivet, Greenish and Hume’s Warblers, and many others.

So after a picnic lunch we returned to our hotel and the conclusion of our tour.