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

S'Albufera Nature Reserve - Formentor Peninsula

With the threat of strong easterly winds we decided to pay a visit to S’Albufera Nature Reserve this morning in the forlorn hope of seeing the reported Baillon’s Crake, which we didn’t of course. However a male Eurasian Golden Oriole greeted our arrival and we also saw Great White Egret and Great Reed Warbler before the masses arrived early this morning. We visited 6 hides during the course of our visit before lunch and enjoyed seeing a good selection of species at quite close range. Highlights from this morning include Marbled Ducks, Red-knobbed Coots, a flock of approx. 12 summer-plumaged Spotted Redshanks, 1 or 2 Collared Pratincoles, Common Terns and a couple of pairs of Garganey.

Collared Pratincole

Little Egret

Western Marsh Harrier

Spotted Redshanks (left)

Western Swamphen

Zitting Cisticola

Red-knobbed Coot

More Western Marsh Harriers

After lunch at our finca we drove to the lighthouse at the end of Formentor Peninsula in near gale-force winds and didn’t see a lot apart from some terrific scenery, a Peregrine Falcon and some Eurasian Crag-Martins. 

Formentor Peninsula

So we didn’t dally here and dropped into the base of the Bocquer Valley which was also quiet and a small wood opposite was similarly quiet. So we returned to our base in the rural Mallorcan countryside for an early finish, a few drinks and some time to relax and enjoy our final dinner together.

Tramuntana Mountains - Albufureta Marhes

The winding mountainous road up into the Tramuntana Mountains and on to Cuber reservoir was very scenic to say the least. We even managed to avoid the streams of cyclists to a large extent and made reasonably good time before arriving at this lovely spot. 

Cuber reservoir

We followed the path alongside the reservoir in glorious sunshine until the dam and despite failing to find any Moltoni’s Warblers enjoyed a number of excellent sightings beginning with the first of maybe 6 or 7 Eurasian Wrynecks. 

Eurasian Wryneck

There were others calling in the area and we estimated up to a dozen birds present in the area. An amazingly high density for what can be a pretty tricky species to find on occasions. Well, we also managed to finally track down a little group of Balearic Red Crossbills – not a species in its own right (yet) but the bill is noticeably thicker and chunkier than birds in the UK……. 

Balearic Red Crossbill

We watched the yellow-orange male for ages feeding on pine cones alongside the slightly more dowdy Mrs Crossbill and a streaky juvenile was also present. Moving on, a very inquisitive Common Firecrest came down to check us out and also gave prolonged views, even hovering over the path for a few seconds. What a photo that would have been! 

Common Firecrest

Once at the dam we sat down and scanned the crags and peaks all around for raptors, all the time serenaded by the beautiful song of a Common Nightingale in the valley below. Our scanning was worthwhile and revealed a pair of displaying Bonelli’s Eagles, several Eurasian Griffons and eventually a huge Cinereous Vulture. It was hard to drag ourselves away but we had a lunch date and drove back down to the coastal plain where we failed to avoid the hordes of cyclists!

After another delicious lunch back at the finca we drove the short distance to Albufereta Marsh where we saw an Eurasian Spoonbill and a bunch of commoner species at some distance. There didn’t seem any point in lingering so we headed to another good little site that used to be a series of old salt pans and which are now some lagoons that can often be productive. Out on the water we saw a few Red-crested Pochards, as well as Sand Martinand a singing Great Reed Warbler. 

Red-crested Pochards

And again we didn’t linger as there was one more site I wanted to visit and as it was early evening I was hoping our timing was going to be perfect.  So we found ourselves on the other side of S’Albufera Marshes and our walk certainly produced the goods as we followed a trail past some lagoons and headed out into a vast reedbed. Sure enough we soon heard the distinctive refrain of a singing Moustached Warbler and after a bit of searching managed to get several views of this much-wanted species from its reedy songpost. Also in the area were 3 pairs of Marbled Duck, plenty of singing Cetti’s Warblers, and a pair of Garganey amongst others.

Marbled Duck

This evening we finally saw a pair of Eurasian Scops Owls perched and in my spotlight, as well as a Western Barn Owl flying over to round of a really good day.

Eurasian Scops Owl