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.

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.