Desert National Park and Little Rann of Kutch, India - 11th February (Day 4)

Having seen most of our target birds for the area during the course of yesterday, today was going to be a little more relaxed. We were up at 06:00 for a 06:30  breakfast and headed south-west out of Jaisalmer birding the desert as we went we added Black Redstart of the race phoenicuriodes, White-throated Fantail, Variable Wheatear of the form capistrata, had good views of more Desert Warbler and encountered flocks of several thousand Bimaculated Lark. We drove through dry, dusty desert villages with bedraggled men talking and smoking outside stores but pristine and colourful ladies gathering water, crushing wheat and generally carrying out productive duties.

We then turned north back through the Desert National Park where we scanned for Great Indian Bustard with no success. We enjoyed flocks of Bimaculated Lark, Greater Short-toed Lark and Black-crowned Sparrow Lark. And then, overhead, a stunning Laggar Falcon with its distinctive dark underwing coverts. We slowly made our way north stopping and scanning for bustard, counting ourselves fortunate that we had seen a pair yesterday. The drive out of the park produced nothing new and by 13:00 we were back at the hotel for lunch and a siesta.

The afternoon was spent at Jaisalmer Fort, a UNESCO world heritage site built in 1156 and is one of the largest fortifications in the world. The fort is 460m long and 230m wide and is built on a hill that raises 76m above the surrounding country side. The Fort was built by Rawal Jaiswal from whom the town of Jaisalmer takes its name. There is a very large colony of Greater Mouse-tailed Bat within the walls of the fort, we saw around 50 animals but judging by the smell and number of droppings in some areas there are many hundreds of animals present at times - not a very pretty looking bat!

Variable Wheatear of form capistrata

Black Redstart of race phoenicuriodes 

Lesser Whitethroat - Not exactly sure of race/species of this bird any advice please email simon@ecosa.co.uk - is it Desert, Hume's or Lesser?

Common Babbler

Purple Sunbird

Purple Sunbird

Southern Grey Shrike

Ladies and wind turbines

Typical desert village in area

Peacock common in the villages

Desert Warbler

Desert Warbler

Indian Spotted Eagle

Black Drongo - Commonly seen riding sheep and flycatching from their backs

Black Drongo

Bimaculated Lark

Lagger Falcon

Ladies collecting water

Sarah and I in Desert National Park

Typical habitat in Desert National Park

Entrance sign and habitat at Desert National Park

Camels at Sam

The following are all images from the fantastic Jaisalmer Fort 

Links to the other days of the trip:
Day 1 - 2 - Background and Travel
Day 2 (Part 1) - Desert National Park
Day 2 (Part 2) - Desert National Park
Day 3 (Part 3) - Desert National Park
Day 5 - Travel from Jaisalmer to Little Rann of Kutch
Day 6 (Part 1) - Little Rann of Kutch
Day 6 (Part 2) - Little Rann of Kutch
Day 6 (Part 3) - Little Rann of Kutch
Day 7 - Little Rann of Kutch and Travel Home

Desert National Park and Little Rann of Kutch, India - 10th February (Day 3) - Part 1

We were up at 05:15 and after a fine breakfast of fruit, baked beans and hashed browns were on our way to Desert National Park. A delay as we left Jaisalmer was as a result of the return of an army training exercise on the outskirts of the town. We passed through scrubby desert habitat dotted with acacias, dusty towns and sand dunes scattered with camels at Sam, well known as a party town. We picked up a few birds including Indian Spotted Eagle, Bimaculated Lark, Large-billed Crow and more Variable Wheatear from the car. We then turned south on the road to Desert National Park and the pace slowed as we began scanning for Great Indian Bustard on the approach road to the park, two male Pallid Harrier showed briefly and the fields contained thousands of Bimaculated Lark, Greater Short-toed Lark and House Sparrow. A smart Southern Grey Shrike (or race lahtora sometimes known as Indian Grey Shrike) perched atop a telegraph pole and more Variable Wheatear (all of the morph piccata, some treat the three morphs as races or others as two species but HBW treat these as morphs of the same species) but there was no time to stop as we needed to head for the park and the best chance of the bustard. At the gate we paused to pay the entry fee and speak to the park guards on the most recent sightings of the bustard and the news was positive, one of the guards knew of a location where a pair were seen yesterday, still, these are flighty birds that can fly for several kilometres after being flushed and they could have moved a long way since the sightings from yesterday. We headed south and after around 5km turned south-west (just after the observation tower) on a dust track and headed through the scattered scrub and grassland. We stopped at a rocky pinnacle and scanned the landscape, we could see for approximately 5Km and it was evident from here that while we were in a park there was a great deal of cultivation and cattle, goat and sheep grazing and therefore much disturbance. We headed a little further seeing many more Bimaculated Lark and Greater Short-toed Lark often in large mixed flocks of several hundred birds and smaller numbers of Black-crowned Sparrow Lark. We reached another larger hillock and drove up this to scan once more, a perched Indian Spotted Eagle, two Griffon Vulture and then, through the scope, I picked up two distant Great Indian Bustard picking their way through the grassland – a male and female and looking very stately. Around them were cattle and sheep and people not too distant. We watched for a while and then after speaking to the park guard who was accompanying us we headed, in the car, along dirt roads and sandy tracks until the birds were around 400m away and were showing well as they fed in the grassland. Without any closer approach the birds took flight but only flew a short distance and so we approached a little closer and we had better views but these wary birds kept their distance and slowly walked away. We saw the male pick at some vegetation and feed the female and then again the birds flew (probably due to the fairy close approach of a Shepard, see image below) and headed around 400m east to an area of native desert scrub and away from the cultivated land that they were feeding on. We decided to leave them in peace.

Pair of Great Indian Bustard, the male in the foreground the female to the rear

Male Great Indian Bustard

Female Great Indian Bustard, note the cattle and Shepard  in the rear of the image

Great Indian Bustard pair

Great Indian Bustard pair, note the heavy wing moult in the male

We then headed back towards the entrance gate where we could walk an area of grassland to the east of the entrance gate to a site where Ganesh had previously seen Red-tailed Wheatear. We walked the track and then headed through knee high grassland to an outcrop of gravel and rock. We added Long-billed Pipit, Desert Wheatear, Cinereous Vulture, Common Babbler and Black-bellied Sandgrouse to the list but there was no sign of the Red-tailed Wheatear. 

Bimaculated Lark

Isabelline Shrike of race arenarius or tsaidamensis, sometimes known as Chinese shrike

White-eared Bulbul

Greater Short-toed Lark

Hoopoe of race ceylonensis 

Indian Spotted Eagle

Variable Wheatear of picata morph

Nilgai bull

Long-billed Pipit of race decaptus

• Part 2 of this post can be viewed here
• Part 3 of this post can be viewed here

Links to the other days of the trip:
Day 1 - 2 - Background and Travel
Day 2 (Part 2) - Desert National Park
Day 3 (Part 3) - Desert National Park
Day 4 - Desert National Park and Jaisalmer Fort
Day 5 - Travel from Jaisalmer to Little Rann of Kutch
Day 6 (Part 1) - Little Rann of Kutch
Day 6 (Part 2) - Little Rann of Kutch
Day 6 (Part 3) - Little Rann of Kutch
Day 7 - Little Rann of Kutch and Travel Home

India (Rajasthan and Kashmir) Trip - 26th July - Day 2

Martin and I were up at 03:30 and down to the hotel foyer for 04:00 to meet Andy and Ian after their long flight from Midlands Airport - they looked shattered when they eventually arrived at 04:15 but they were keen to get going. After a bit of faffing we were ready and on our way to Surajpur Wetland through the still dark streets of Delhi but slowly the sun rose and the first birds became visible, House Crow, Black Kites, Night Heron, Cattle Egret and Indian Peafowl still roosting on the billboards and pylons. The Surajpur Wetland was approximately one hour from our hotel and it was light when we arrived and we birded the wet fields just outside the entrance seeing Red-wattled Lapwing, Pied Bushchat, a fine male Red Avadavat, Ashy Prinia, Indian Bushlark, Indian Thick-knee, Green Bee-eater, Wood Sandpiper and Green Sandpiper. After sometime familiarising ourselves with these birds and once that initial headless chicken phase of the first day of a foreign trip had passed we wandered into the reserve. We birded the first 300-400m of the track which led through thorn scrub, wet grassland and a Water Hyacinth choked lagoon. Birds here included Greater Coucal, Indian Spot-billed Duck, Asian Openbill Stork, Red-naped Ibis, smart Pheasant-tailed Jacana, Purple Gallinule and Grey Francolin. We also came across Leopard pug marks along the main track, a little surprising given the built up nature of the site. We eventually arrived at an area of open flooded grassland with scattered thorn scrub where we quickly heard and obtained fair views of our main target, the Bristled Grassbird classified by Birdlife as Vulnerable, a surprisingly large grassbird with a distinct jet black mouth visible when singing and bristles around the base of the bill. These were particularly evident when one bird performed a song flight above our heads. After some final birding just outside the park entrance where we added Indian Spotted Eagle to the list we headed back to the hotel at around 08:30 to gather our bags before setting off on the long drive southwards to Ajmer.

To break up the journey we stopped at the Nahargah Biological Park (15:00-17:30) just to the north-east of Jaipur. The thick overcast had turned to a heavy drizzle and so we birded the thorn forest here without cameras. The birding was good and pretty lively and we saw Brahminy Mynah, Black-headed Cuckooshrike, Western Crowned Warbler, Rufous Treepie, White-browed Fantail, Bay-backed Shrike, Cinereous Tit, Chestnut-shouldered Petronia and White-bellied Drongo. Mammals included Nilgai and Langur Monkey. However, the undoubted highlight were a pair of Indian Pitta which showed very well alongside the main track as they perched in the thorn scrub in response to playback – absolutely cracking birds and great to see them so well – but no camera!!

Back on the road to complete the final three of the eight hour drive to Puskar near to Ajmer. We arrived at the Hotel Paradise at 21:30 had superb curry but no beers as this is a strictly religious state and alcohol is prohibited, completed the log and crashed.

Hoopoe of race ceylonensis - Surajpur Wetland

Bristled Grassbird showing the remarkable black mouth - Surajpur Wetland

Bristled Grassbird in song flight showing the bristles at the base of the bill - Surajpur Wetland

Black-crowned Night Heron - Surajpur Wetland

Indian Pond Heron - Surajpur Wetland

Greater Coucal (nominate) - Surajpur Wetland

Green Bee-eater (adults) of race beludschicus - Surajpur Wetland

Green Bee-eater (juvenile) of race beludschicus- Surajpur Wetland

Green Bee-eater (juvenile) of race beludschicus - Surajpur Wetland

Indian Bushlark (lumped by some including HBW as race of Bengal Bushlark but differs in vocalisation, song flight and habitat choice) - Surajpur Wetland

Indian Spotted Eagle (adult) - Surajpur Wetland

Cows on the highway

The first lunch in India

Langur Monkeys - Nahargah Biological Park

Langur Monkeys - Nahargah Biological Park

Weather Today: Mostly overcast with some sun in the AM but rain for much of the afternoon.

Links to the other Days of the Trip:
Day 1 - Background and Travel day
Day 3 - Sonkhaliya
Day 4 - Ajmer Thorn Forest and drive back to Delhi
Day 5 - Fly Delhi to Shrinigar (Kashmir) then Yousmarg
Day 6 - Yousmarg
Day 7 - Dachigam National Park, Shankarachariya Temple and Dal Lake
Day 8 - Yousmarg then return to Delhi and flights home

If you have any comments or queries on this post then please do not hesitate to contact me at simon@ecosa.co.uk