Left the hotel at 5.45am and the first thing we did was to call into a
petrol station to fill the coach up with diesel. As a tour leader I hate it
when this happens as it is totally unnecessary. Anyway, we then drove towards
Sultanpur and walked alongside a drainage channel and out into some fields,
which turned out to be a very good area. The first birds of note were Black Kites, Himalayan Buzzard, some flyover Red-naped Ibis, Painted
Stork, and Comb Ducks, Shikra, White-throated Kingfisher, Black-winged
Kite and Greater Coucal. After
walking around a kilometre our main target here, Sind Sparrow, could be heard calling
and we tracked it down to an Acacia where we scoped a fine male.
 |
| Sind Sparrow |
After a while
we watched a pair of Sind Sparrows
feeding in the grasses at head height and the views were excellent. Whilst
watching the sparrows, our local guide Sanjay spotted a small crake in a marshy
area next to us and after a short wait out popped a superb Baillon’s Crake.
 |
| Baillon's Crake |
An Eurasian Wryneck was also something of a surprise here. There was also a
flock of Common Cranes feeding in
the fields, a group of Striated Babblers
passed by, Paddyfield Pipit flew
over calling, both Ashy and Plain Prinias were seen in the grasses,
a Steppe Eagle was perched on a
pylon and a Jack Snipe flew out of a
ditch next to us. This latter species was an India tick for yours truly. Also
noteworthy here were the flocks of Red Avadavats flying around and feeding in the
tall grasses, allowing us to approach quite closely.
 |
| Red Avadavat |
Other birds seen as we
walked back to the coach included Long-tailed
Shrike, Grey Francolin, Citrine Wagtail, Green Sandpiper and a pair of Brown Rock-Chats. Oh frost on the ground was a bit
of a surprise this morning and having been expecting ‘desert’ temperatures I
think I’ve underprepared a tad for the trip. It’s freezing here!
 |
| Brown Rock-Chat |
So we left around 8.30am and began the long 10+ drive to Tal Chhapar,
making numerous stops en-route. Nothing much happened until we stopped at a
great little roadside restaurant when a Short-toed
Eagle flew over, and a Black-shouldered
Kite hovered overhead and some Dusky
Crag Martins flew by. Our first Nilgai was scoped on a hillside from the
parking area of the restaurant as well. Then, with the weather still rather
cool despite it being early afternoon we enjoyed wonderful clear visibility and
saw Siberian Chiffchaff, Lesser Whitethroat, a close Bay-backed Shrike,
Indian Robin, Variable Wheatear, Common
Woodshrike, Southern Grey Shrike
and a flyover Booted Eagle.
 |
| Bay-backed Shrike |
We made
another stop to look at 3 Spotted Owlets sleeping in some roadside Acacias,
and then an immature Egyptian Vulture
flew over and a few Brahminy Starlings
were spotted.
 |
| Spotted Owlets |
With just a couple of hours to go from here the only other
interesting sighting was of Indian
Gazelle (Chinkara) and we
finally bowled up at the Forest Rest House of Tal Chappar at 6.45pm after a
long day on the road.
