Desert National Park and Little Rann of Kutch, India - 14th February (Day 7)

Valentine’s day started at 06:30 and we were up for breakfast and ready for our 07:30 departure into the field. Our first stop, after passing through the small rural Indian village of Vanod clad with plastic bags, cow shit, dead dogs, children playing in the street, ladies collecting water and the general grime of Indian life, was a small sandy quarry amongst fields on the edge of town. Here Ganesh deftly located a roosting Rock Eagle-owl amongst bushes within the quarry. We walked a short way towards the bird but it took flight and perched in full sun on the quarry face so after a few minutes we left the bird in peace. Also here were Common Stonechat, Lesser Whitethroat, Indian Robin and Jungle Babbler. We then headed across the road and out to the now dry lake at Saran, normally a massive water body, successive dry years and pumping for agricultural use have left the lake dry. Our main target here was Sarus Crane and as we came off the road Ganesh spotted two birds with Common Crane feeding in the crop fields. We drove towards them and eventually had great views of these immense birds down to 50m as they strode around the car showing there soft grey plumage, bright red heads and massive bills to full effect – simply stunning, majestic birds. We drove out onto the dry lake where we flushed four Short-eared Owl from beneath an acacia and saw a distant Greater Spotted Eagle but it was largely pretty devoid of birds, so content with the morning we headed back to the hotel for 11:00.

After lunch it was time to pack our bags and head off driving approximately 90km (2.5 hours) south-eastwards to Ahmedabad for our 17:30 flight with Air India back to Delhi. The flight was delayed by an hour and we passed our time in a featureless, facility less airport – they didn’t even serve beer! The three hours dragged and dragged. Eventually we were off and back to Delhi, whisked away to the hotel Shanti Palace and after changing and showering we were down in the restaurant with curries and beer – at last! We headed to the airport at 23:30 for our 03:40 British Airways flight back to London Heathrow. We spent our time in the club lounge drinking wine and relaxing. I passed out on the flight home and only experienced about an hour of waking time.

What a fantastic trip with some really mega birds, highlights were Sarus Crane, Indian Courser, Demoiselle Crane, Great Indian Bustard and Stoliczka's Bushchat – roughly in that order, I was surprised that Sarus Crane came top of the list.

Rock Eagle-owl

Jungle Babbler

Stately Sarus Crane striding around our car

Sarus Crane - the male to the left is significantly taller than the female

Close-up study of male Sarus Crane - an amazing looking bird

Short-eared Owl

Green Sandpiper

Saran Lake - A definite lack of water

Trip List

Total of 151 species with 14 ticks (shown in bold).

Indian Peafowl

Grey Francolin

Greylag Goose

Ruddy Shelduck

African Comb Duck

Cotton Pygmy-goose

Common Pochard

Northern Shoveler

Gadwall

Eurasian Wigeon

Indian Spot-billed Duck

Northern Pintail

Common Teal

Little Grebe

Greater Flamingo

Lesser Flamingo

Rock Dove

Eurasian Collared-dove

Red Turtle-dove

Laughing Dove

Black-bellied Sandgrouse

Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse

Sykes's Nightjar

Greater Coucal

Western Koel

Purple Swamphen

Common Coot

Sarus Crane

Demoiselle Crane

Common Crane

Great Indian Bustard

Painted Stork

Asian Openbill

Black Stork

Eurasian Spoonbill

Black-headed Ibis

Red-naped Ibis

Glossy Ibis

Black-crowned Night-heron

Indian Pond-heron

Cattle Egret

Grey Heron

Purple Heron

Great White Egret

Intermediate Egret

Little Egret

Dalmatian Pelican

Little Cormorant

Indian Thick-knee

Pied Avocet

Black-winged Stilt

Kentish Plover

Yellow-wattled Lapwing

Red-wattled Lapwing

White-tailed Lapwing

Pheasant-tailed Jacana

Black-tailed Godwit

Ruff

Temminck's Stint

Little Stint

Green Sandpiper

Spotted Redshank

Common Greenshank

Common Redshank

Wood Sandpiper

Marsh Sandpiper

Cream-coloured Courser

Indian Courser

Black-headed Gull

Pallas's Gull

Pallid Scops-owl

Short-eared Owl

Rock Eagle-owl

Black-winged Kite

Egyptian Vulture

Short-toed Snake-eagle

Griffon Vulture

Cinereous Vulture

Indian Spotted Eagle

Greater Spotted Eagle

Steppe Eagle

Eastern Imperial Eagle

Western Marsh-harrier

Pallid Harrier

Montagu's Harrier

Shikra

Black Kite

Long-legged Buzzard

Common Hoopoe

Asian Green Bee-eater

Indian Roller

Common Kingfisher

Pied Kingfisher

White-breasted Kingfisher

Common Kestrel

Laggar Falcon

Rose-ringed Parakeet

Black-crowned Sparrow-lark

Ashy-crowned Sparrow-lark

Rufous-tailed Lark

Desert Lark

Bimaculated Lark

Greater Short-toed Lark

Crested Lark

Barn Swallow

Pacific Swallow

Wire-tailed Swallow

Red-rumped Swallow

Long-billed Pipit

Tawny Pipit

White Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail

Citrine Wagtail

White-eared Bulbul

Red-vented Bulbul

Indian Robin

Black Redstart

Stoliczka's Bushchat

Common Stonechat

Variable Wheatear

Rusty-tailed Wheatear

Desert Wheatear

Isabelline Wheatear

White-browed Fantail

Common Tailorbird

Rufous-fronted Prinia

Zitting Cisticola

Blyth's Reed-warbler

Lesser Whitethroat

Desert Warbler

Common Babbler

Large Grey Babbler

Jungle Babbler

Purple Sunbird

Isabelline Shrike

Bay-backed Shrike

Southern Grey Shrike

Black Drongo

House Crow

Large-billed Crow

Common Raven

Rose-coloured Starling

Asian Pied Starling

Brahminy Starling

Jungle Myna

Common Myna

House Sparrow

Chestnut-shouldered Bush-sparrow

Baya Weaver

Indian Silverbill

Striolated Bunting

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 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