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Birdwatching trip report - IndiaPeriod: 7.1.2007-17.1.2007Author(s): david stanton Key sites visited: gujarat, india 10 DAYS IN In winter 1994 I traveled for 1 month on a motorbike in Then came the internet and oriental bird club with a lot of information about birding in this state. The last monsoon was very generous to These days, the road system is the best in Permits and Forest Department Most of the birding sites in Flamingos, Cranes and Pelicans The heavy monsoon rain had a big influence on flamingos. We only saw lesser flamingos and only in the Little rann of kutch and in The first 6 pelicans we saw in the Little rann were Dalmatians. Later in the wetland we saw another 8, together with about 80 white. 6 dalmatians were seen in Maliya salt pans, 12 in Narada (with 4 white) and 8 in Together with my girlfriend Heleen we drove from Goa to Mumbai where we picked up her uncle and aunt that arrived from The following morning we drove into the Little rann with a guide to the hubara (maqueen’s) bustard area. My jeep, Mahindra bolero 2WD was good enough and there was no reason to rent a 4WD vehicle. We soon saw Wild Ass. There were plenty of animals and we also saw them on the high way to Maliya the next day. We saw 4 hubaras, a roosting short eared owl and the first Dalmatian pelicans, all birds I only saw once before 25 years ago in The next morning we drove 350km. to the very west of The following day Jugal took us to bird in grassland areas near Lala bustard sanctuary. Very fast we located 2 indian bustards. All the stonechats we saw were females and it was very difficult to identify stoliczka’s. Jugal is using photography to confirm difficult birds. Waterholes in the grassland attract many birds including bimaculated and sykes’s larks and long billed pipits. Other common birds like rufous tailed shrike, sand martin, Indian bushchat and red collared dove can be rather scarce in other parts of The best birds that day were on the way back. From the car we saw white bellied minivet on the roadside. Few km. later we stopped in a scrub forest and within 20 minutes Jugal located a white naped tit. Further on the road I saw another white bellied minivet and when we stopped to look, we found 2 marshal iora (replace common iora in Next morning I went with Jugal for a morning walk in his village and saw more marshal ioras. After breakfast we went on another long drive to Jamnagar , the main city in the gulf of kutch where we arrived late in the afternoon to hotel president that arranged us the permits and the local guide Chirang Solanki who took us very early in the morning to Narada 60 km. north of Jamnagar and part of Marine NP. Narada is the site for crab plover. When we arrived in the morning there was high tied and on the last bit of sand we saw about 300 birds. An hour later the sea withdraw a few hundred meters and the coast was covered with waders. Among hundreds of curlews, whimbrels, stins, plovers and sandpipers we saw 25 great knots and another 1000 crab plovers. In the salt pans next to the beach we saw black necked grebes and dalmatian pelicans. In the afternoon we drove 150km. to Junagagh. We checked a few water reservoirs around Gir NP. Is famous as being the last home for the Asian lion. The forest is mainly teak and from bird watching point of view it has little to offer. Sasan gir has plenty of accommodation to offer and we stayed in a local farm house. We stayed for 2 nights, went in 2 safaris into the park and birded around the farm and in the forest. I was very lucky to see 2 lions. Here the forest department located the animals; about 30 people including children went out of their jeeps, walked about 100m. (Something nobody would dare to do in The last destination was Velavadar grasslands. There it was where we encounter bad roads and bad luck with punchers and it was little before sunset that we arrived to the NP. We had time to see blackbucks and hundreds of harriers coming to roost, but it were too dark to see if any of them were hen. At night we drove 40km. to The next morning was the last of the trip. We went bird watching in the salt pans near the harbor. More flamingos, waders and ducks and at midday we started the journey back to Many thanks to Nik Devasar for all the information to make this trip successful. BIRD LIST Grey francolin Painted bush quail Peafowl Ruddy shelduck Comb duck Gadwall Wigeon Spot billed duck Common teal Pintail Shoveler Yellow crowned woodpecker Brown capped pygmy woodpecker Black rumped flameback Coppersmith Hoopoe Indian roller Common kingfisher White throated kingfisher Green bee eater Koel Coucal Rose ringed parakeet House swift Alpine swift Spotted owlet Short eared owl Indian nightjar Rock pigeon Laughing dove Spotted dove Red collard dove Eurasian collard dove Yellow footed green pigeon Hubara (McQueen’s) bustard Great indian bustard Sarus crane Demoiselle crane Common crane White breasted waterhen Coot Common moorhen Chestnut bellied sandgrouse Black tailed godwit Bar tailed godwit Whimbrel Curlew Common redshank Marsh sandpiper Common greenshank Green sandpiper Terek sandpiper Common sandpiper Great knot Ruddy turnstone Sanderling Little stint Dunlin Curlew sandpiper Ruff Indian courser Eurasian thick-knee Oystercatcher Black winged stilt Pied avocet Crab plover Bronze winged jacana Oriental pratincole Grey lover Kentish plover Lesser sand plover Greater sand plover Yellow wattled lapwing Red wattled lapwing Heuglin’s gull Pallas’s gull Brown headed gull Black headed gull Slender billed gull Gull billed tern Caspian tern River tern Lesser crested tern Common tern Little tern Whiskered tern Osprey Black shouldered kite Black kite Egyptian vulture White backed vulture Long billed vulture Short toed eagle Marsh harrier Pallid harrier Montagu’s harrier Shikra Honey buzzard White eyed buzzard Common buzzard Long legged buzzard Steppe eagle Booted eagle Changeable hawk eagle Common kestrel Black necked grebe Little grebe Little cormorant Great cormorant Little egret Western reef egret Great egret Intermediate egret Cattle egret Pond heron Grey heron Purple heron Lesser flamingo Glossy ibis Black headed ibis Black ibis Eurasian spoonbill White pelican Dalmatian pelican Painted stork Asian openbill Black stork Rufuos tailed shrike Bay backed shrike Long tailed shrike Southern grey shrike Rufuos treepie House crow Jungle crow Golden oriole Large cuckooshrike Small minivet White bellied minivet White browed fantail Black drongo Marshal iora Common iora Common woodshrike Blue rock thrush Asian brown flycatcher Brown breasted flycatcher Red throated flycatcher Tickell’s flycatcher Grey headed canary flycatcher Indian robin Magpie robin Black redstart Common stonechat Stoliczka’s bushchat Pied bushchat Variable wheatear Desert wheatear Isabelline wheatear Brahaminy starling Rosy starling Common myna Bank myna Great tit White napped tit Sand martin Plain martin Crag martin Barn swallow Wire tailed swallow Red rumped swallow White eared bulbul Red vented bulbul Grey hypocolius Grey breasted prinia Jungle prinia Plain prinia Oriental white-eye Paddyfield warbler Clamorous reed warbler Lesser whitethroat Orphan warbler Common tailorbird Common chiffchaff Greenish warbler Tawny bellied babbler Common babbler Large tailed babbler Jungle babbler Indian bushlark Ashy crowned sparrowlark Rufuos tailed lark Bimaculated lark Greater short toed lark Crested lark Sykes’s lark Plain flowerpecker Purple sunbird House sparrow Spanish sparrow White wagtail White browed wagtail Citrine wagtail Yellow wagtail Grey wagtail Paddyfield pipit Tree pipit Tawny pipit Long billed pipit Black breasted weaver Indian silverbill Scally breasted munia Grey necked bunting Red headed bunting Black headed bunting MAMALS Wild ass Blue ball Chinkara Blackbuck Chital Smbar Porcupine Lion Jackal Indian fox Wild boar Gujarati rabbit David Stanton |
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