After spending 10 weeks birding, traveling and occasionally banging my head against the wall in India I decided to write a trip report in the hope of offering some up to date information for other travelers.
This may take me some time! I am not a compulsive note taker so I can't give comprehensive lists for all the sites visited. I usually just noted new and interesting birds. I haven't totted it up yet but I think we hit about 450 species for the trip.
All the photos are straight off the camera as I haven't had a chance to play with them yet.
Overview
I travelled with my partner; we are in our mid 20’s, fit, thick skinned and well travelled. This was our first trip to India, and was not focused completely on birding.
We booked our plane tickets a few weeks in advance online. A return ticket (Heathrow to Mumbai) cost us £240 each.
We went with no particular plan and I did very little research beforehand. We were on a backpacking, budget trip.
We didn’t use guides although this wasn’t just to save money; I derive very little pleasure/satisfaction from being shown birds, and wanted to learn at my own pace. I may have come home with a shorter list, but, (I hope) a lot more knowledge. I'd also just rather be left alone most of the time...
English is widely spoken, even in rural areas although there can be an accent barrier.
£1 = 75 Rupees
Equipment
We traveled very light. I took a 30L pack with a sleeping bag (essential) and tripod (12kg total) strapped to the outside and my partner took a 50L pack (13kg).
Most importantly I took...
Zeiss 8x32 Victory FL
Nikon ED50 (x27WA) and adaptors + P5100 camera.
Velbon CF635 with Giottos VH6011-658D
This setup is light, stable and more than adequate 99% of the time. A telescope was essential at some sites and I used it nearly every day.
Travel insurance won't touch this little lot so make sure it's covered somehow. We had no trouble whatsoever but an Australian birder we traveled with for a couple of weeks had all his gear stolen in a train station a week after we parted company.
I did not take tapes/mp3 and a speaker. I won't get into that subject here other than to say I saw plenty of irresponsible tape luring at a well known site. The fact they weren't getting results speaks volumes.
“Pocket Guide to the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent” (Grimmet, Inskipp, Inskipp)
Is the best of the field guides for my money, especially if you scribble in a few more calls… The plates are mostly good, with some glaring exceptions.
“A Birdwatchers Guide to India” (Kazmierczak and Singh)
An indispensable book, although in desperate need of an update. Don’t go without it.
We also took Lonely Planet as a new edition had just been released. I have always used Rough Guides in the past and was disappointed with this book. The maps were next to useless and much of the information had not actually been updated. Despite all this it was invaluable, and certainly preferable to arriving in a new location ‘blind’.
Natural history books are surprisingly easy to come by in India. We even found a copy of the 'Birdwatchers Guide' in Nainital.
Travel
We got around on buses and trains without too much trouble. We traveled sleeper class on overnight trains which was cheap and comfortable. Trains are often fully booked months in advance but there is a tourist quota, and if this is full, an emergency quota. Roads can be very rough and you soon realise why the fronts of buses are crammed to bursting point before anyone will sit at the back. We found bus drivers and conductors to be incredibly helpful and knowledgeable. Sometimes it helped to have a place name written down. Taxis and rickshaws are cheap by western standards but we avoided them as much as possible. Sometimes they were necessary to get somewhere early, we tried to organize this the night before as you can look desperate at 5am... Haggle hard.
Accommodation
We generally stayed in the cheapest hotels/hostels we could find. Haggle hard and check rooms. We usually spent 100 - 250 Rupees a night. Most rooms have attached bathrooms. We also stayed in various Forest Rest Houses at National Parks/Wildlife Sanctuaries. I will give details in the site descriptions. It is also worth knowing most train stations have rooms and dorms, although they are often booked up by lunchtime. They are (very) cheap and clean in our experience.
Birding
You will attract a lot of attention wherever you go in India, which isn't always appreciated. Binoculars and telescopes will often draw a crowd. Many good birding sites are fairly quiet though. Watch out for curious fingers poking at lenses... We never had any problems around damns/bridges etc...
Arrived in Mumbai in the midst of a cyclone and got ourselves on a train to Agra the next day. Started to get familiar with some of the common birds from the train. White Throated Kingfisher, Red Wattled Lapwing, Black Winged Stilt, Long Tailed Shrike etc...
The Taj Mahal is impressive but apparently November is the "misty month" and we never saw a hint of blue in the sky.
Birding is good along the Yamuna river, and there is a police presence on the steps at the back of the Taj so you won't get too much hassle. The walk from Agra Fort to the Taj past the burning ghats takes you through a quiet park and is good for common birds. These sites produced Grey Francolin, Hoopoe, Purple Sunbird, Eqyptian Vulture, Marsh Harrier, Painted Stork, Spoonbill, River Lapwing, Ruddy Shelduck and many more. An easy introduction to common Indian birds. A walk down the river could be interesting and there are quite a few park and scrub areas but I prefer to do my birding in quieter/wilder places.
On the whole Agra is a horrible, horrible place and we couldn't wait to leave.
Once one of the premier birdwatching sites in the world, Keoladeo Ghana National Park is now a shadow of its former self. It was pretty much bone dry when we arrived, although water was being pumped in constantly while we were there. By the time we left there were some puddles. There was an abundance of water in the area but it would seem none managed to get to the park. This is a whole topic of its own so I won't go into it here. On the upside the changing habitat has proved very attractive to raptors, I recorded 20 species over 5 days.
We stayed in Bharatpur a couple of minutes walk from the entrance gate at the very friendly and accommodating Kiran Guest House. A spacious double room with hot shower cost us 250Rs/night. The park is open dawn to dusk and costs 200Rs. Official naturalist guides are abundant. Bear in mind that if you hire a guide you will also have to hire a cycle rickshaw and driver as they won't walk around with you all day. It'll end up costing over 1000 Rupees a day. Their main selling point is roosting Owls and Nightjars. They are also all very keen on taking you to other sites in the area, some of which (eg. for Indian Courser) are quite a trek by taxi. Make sure you agree a price beforehand if taking a trip like this.
My girlfriend fell ill soon after arriving so I was left to my own devices in Bharatpur. Another birder arrived the day after us so we met each morning and wandered the paths. He had employed a guide and rickshaw driver on his first day, and when I met him on the track the naturalist guide wouldn't stop to look at warblers, called every tricky raptor he saw a Peregrine, and told me I was wasting my time without a guide. However the rickshaw driver was an excellent birder and later in the week we hired him to take us around some birding spots in Bharatpur itself (despite my no guides rule...). This was much more productive than the park for water birds, although some of the sites are far from picturesque and I wouldn't recommend looking for them without local supervision...
Disturbingly, our rickshaw driver told us the guides in the park throw stones at the Nightjars if they find them roosting outside of a certain area, and at owls that roost near the paths (they leave the common Spotted Owlet alone it would seem as they are all over the place). Just so I don't seem too damning of the guides here, some of them are friendly, keen birders. They seem to have a system where a couple of the top birders wander around with radios and let the guides know whats about. These 'finders' are very sharp and once you've been about a couple of days will happily let you know what they've seen, and indeed, want to know what you've found.
Bharatpur is a very easy site to walk around, the tracks are excellent and most of the best habitat is on or near the main track that bisects the park. Exploring further afield is still worthwhile if you have time, and you will encounter few people off the main track.
We didn't go to nearby Bund Baretha as a bird tour guide I met told me Indian Skimmer wasn't present. The site is good for Sulpher Bellied Warbler and Brown Crake apparantly. With retrospect I should have done a day trip from Bharatpur for the possibility of some Wheatears, Larks etc...
The park was quite good for mammals. We had excellent views of Jungle Cat and Jackal amongst others...
So onto the birds... Some highlights and new birds included (in no real order whatsoever)
(* seen outside the park)
Brown Hawk Owl*
Painted Snipe
Purple Gallinule
Pied Kingfisher*
Sarus Crane*
Bay Backed Shrike
Brown Shrike
Southern Grey Shrike
Rufous Tailed/Isabelline Shrike
Yellow Footed Green Pigeon
Black Necked Stork
Dusky Warbler
Yellow Browed Warbler
Greenish Warbler
Humes Warbler
Small Minivet
Coppersmith Barbet
Indian Robin
White Browed Wagtail*
Citrine Wagtail
Olive Backed Pipit
Bluethroat
Wryneck
Wire Tailed Swallow
Streak Throated Swallow
Red Rumped Swallow
House Swift
Ashy Crowned Sparrowlark
Chestnut Shouldered Petronia*
Black Headed Munia
Scaly Breasted Munia
India Silverbill
White Tailed Plover
Grey Headed Plover
White Eyed Buzzard
Oriental Honey Buzzard
Long Legged Buzzard
Short Toed Snake Eagle
Tawny Eagle
Steppe Eagle
Lesser Spotted Eagle
Greater Spotted Eagle
Changeable Hawk Eagle
Bonellis Eagle
Pallid Harrier
Eurasian Sparrowhawk
Shikra
Grey Nightjar
Large Tailed Nightjar
Common Hawk Cuckoo
Black Headed Ibis
Black Rumped Flameback
Yellow Crowned Woodpecker
Indian Grey Hornbill
White Browed Fantail
Grey Headed Canary Flycatcher
Red Breasted Flycatcher
Marsh Sandpiper
Wood Sandpiper
Ruff
Purple Heron
Oriental Darter*
Intermediate Egret*
Red Avadvat*
Bronze Winged Jacana*
Little Green Bee-eater*
Spot Billed Duck*
Lesser Whistling Duck*
And lots more that I'm too lazy to type for now.