Here’s a quick trip report for my recent visit to India from 20th – 29th October 2007.
20th-22nd Flew to Delhi overnight and took the sleeper to Katni and then a taxi to Bandhavgarh. The taxi had two punctures on the way, but I didn’t complain as it gave me the chance to do some birding while I waited. The second stop was in the forest and was rather productive. It was the only time during the trip at which I saw grey-breasted prinia and streak-throated woodpecker. There was also a lesser adjutant soaring overhead.
I took out “Jungle Plan” with the Mogli Jungle Resort for two days which included all meals, decent accommodation and two jeep rides in the park per day for approx £80 a day. A lot of money by Indian standards, but probably the only way for me to do it in my limited time frame. My guide Dilip was very good, and I was delighted to find that he was knowledgeable about birds as well as tigers.
For our first jeep safari we focussed on looking for tigers. Despite a lot of pug marks on the trails and a lot of alarm calls from monkeys and deer indicating the presence of tigers on the move, we were unlucky in not getting any sightings.
23rd October. The morning drive this day was the best. The birds were out in force and we got white-bellied drongo, two yellow-footed green pigeons sitting in the top of a dead tree as a white-naped goldenback woodpecker worked its way up to them, a number of lesser adjutants and a brown-capped pygmy woodpecker. The word went out that some tigers had been located, away from the road. We had to drive off to sign up for my turn on an elephant and then return to where the elephants were setting off. I got on the elephant and the two tigers were lying in the shade a short way away. They looked fantastic and I was able to get some good shots before all too soon we had to turn back.
A lunchtime walk with Dilip on our return to the accommodation produced chestnut-bellied nuthatch, small minivet, golden oriole, black-headed oriole and white-rumped munia.
The afternoon drive was good too, with puff-throated babbler, white-rumped vulture, brown-capped pygmy woodpecker, and changeable hawk-eagle. Then, as we were driving back, we came across a mass of jeeps parked by the trackside. One of the tigers which we had seen this morning was now visible from the track. So we stopped there and got good, although more distant views of this tiger for half an hour or so.
24th October. The final game drive. I said that I didn’t want to look for tigers, because it took up too much time which could be spent birding. Other people could do the searching and if they found tigers we’d soon hear about it. So we went for quite a long drive and got brown-headed barbet, tickell’s blue flycather, malabar pied hornbill and an orange-headed thrush. We ultimately heard that no tigers had been seen that morning so the decision to go birding seemed a good one. Took a taxi in the afternoon to Khajuraho.
25th October. Spent the day going round the temples at Khajuraho. Saw some bronze-winged jacanas in a pond in town. The main temple complex was good, with a common hawk cuckoo, dusky crag martins, an Egyptian vulture perched on top of a temple and a spotted owlet.
26th October. Took a jeep to Panna National Park. I was impressed by this park. It feels much wilder than Bandhavgarh, although unfortunately your chances of seeing tiger are much lower. But we saw two great thick-knee at dawn on rocks in the river, a brown fish-owl, a crested serpent-eagle, rufous-tailed lark, chinkara, nilgai and a crocodile in the space of about three hours. Took a taxi to Orchha in the afternoon.
27th October. Went around Orchha which is an amazing place, full of atmosphere. Huge abandoned temples and palaces all over the place and lots of yogis sitting about doing not much. There is also a small nature reserve which I visited and saw stork-billed kingfisher, another crested serpent-eagle and blue rock-thrush. Took an overnight train from Jhansi to Delhi.
28th October. My train arrived in Delhi at 5am and I took a taxi to Sultanpur which arrived at 7am where I joined the Delhi birders group. Many thanks to them for their kind hospitality during the morning. You can read their report of the morning here http://groups.yahoo.com/group/delhibird/message/10693.
I arranged to stay at Sultanpur overnight after the Delhi birders left. In the afternoon I saw purple swamphen, marsh harrier, Indian silverbill, another crested serpent-eagle, an Indian spotted eagle, five black ibis, a bluethroat and some sind sparrows which I understand have recently colonised the area. Also a partridge flew away from me, appearing to be grey-brown on its back, with black sides to its tail. It looked different to the grey francolins which I had been seeing earlier. Any ideas? At dusk there was a great white pelican flying around and some night herons. Oh, and I saw a small fox, Indian fox?
29th October. I visited the park again and watched from the tower hide for a while. A number of black-necked storks were now in the park. Some flew off to the north-east while otherwise stayed for longer. Also there was a bird which I could swear was an Asian brown flycatcher. It had a clear eye-ring and no white on the tail, unlike the red-throated flycatchers which I had been seeing for the whole trip. But it doesn’t seem as if this has been recorded at Sultanpur previously, so perhaps I’m wrong. Anyway I walked around to the lake and saw a black shouldered kite, two more bluethroats, and four tufted ducks that seemed to have arrived overnight, before getting a taxi back to the airport.
My total spending in India was about £400, and would have been about £100 less had I been sharing taxis etc. with someone else, but it was fun to have the space and be able to do exactly as I wanted. The time of year seemed good as the sun shone the whole time, and it was only really hot for a couple of hours per day. However I understand that tiger sightings are best in the dry period before the monsoon, if you can stand the heat.
Here’s the full list of birds:
Grey Francolin
Red Junglefowl
Indian Peafowl
Comb Duck
Gadwall
Eurasian Wigeon
Mallard
Spot-billed Duck
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Garganey
Common Teal
Common Pochard
Tufted Duck
Brown-capped Woodpecker
Streak-throated Woodpecker
Black-rumped Flameback
Greater Flameback
White-naped Woodpecker
Brown-headed Barbet
Coppersmith Barbet
Indian Grey-Hornbill
Malabar Pied-Hornbill
Eurasian Hoopoe
Indian Roller
Common Kingfisher
Stork-billed Kingfisher
White-throated Kingfisher
Pied Kingfisher
Little Green Bee-eater
Common Hawk-Cuckoo
Greater Coucal
Alexandrine Parakeet
Rose-ringed Parakeet
Blossom-headed Parakeet
House Swift
Brown Fish-Owl
Spotted Owlet
Rock Dove
Oriental Turtle-Dove
Laughing Dove
Spotted Dove
Eurasian Collared-Dove
Yellow-footed Green-Pigeon
White-breasted Waterhen
Purple Swamphen
Common Moorhen
Common Coot
Common Redshank
Common Greenshank
Green Sandpiper
Wood Sandpiper
Common Sandpiper
Bronze-winged Jacana
Great Thick-knee
Black-winged Stilt
Yellow-wattled Lapwing
Red-wattled Lapwing
River Tern
Oriental Honey-buzzard
Black Kite
Egyptian Vulture
White-rumped Vulture
Long-billed Vulture
Red-headed Vulture
Crested Serpent-Eagle
Western Marsh-Harrier
Shikra
Indian Spotted Eagle
Bonelli's Eagle
Changeable Hawk-Eagle
Common Kestrel
Eurasian Hobby
Peregrine Falcon
Little Grebe
Oriental Darter
Little Cormorant
Indian Cormorant
Great Cormorant
Little Egret
Grey Heron
Purple Heron
Great White Egret
Intermediate Egret
Cattle Egret
Indian Pond-Heron
Black-headed Ibis
Eurasian Spoonbill
White Pelican
Painted Stork
Asian Openbill
Woolly-necked Stork
Black-necked Stork
Lesser Adjutant
Bay-backed Shrike
Long-tailed Shrike
Southern Grey Shrike
Rufous Treepie
House Crow
Jungle Crow
Eurasian Golden-Oriole
Black-hooded Oriole
Large Cuckooshrike
Small Minivet
White-browed Fantail
Black Drongo
White-bellied Drongo
Greater Racket-tailed Drongo
Common Woodshrike
Blue Rock-Thrush
Orange-headed Thrush
Asian Brown Flycatcher
Red-breasted Flycatcher
Taiga Flycatcher
Tickell's Blue-Flycatcher
Bluethroat
Indian Blue Robin
Oriental Magpie-Robin
Indian Robin
Black Redstart
Siberian Stonechat
Pied Bushchat
Isabelline Wheatear
Indian Chat
Brahminy Starling
Asian Pied Starling
Common Myna
Bank Myna
Great Tit
Plain Martin
Dusky Crag-Martin
Barn Swallow
Wire-tailed Swallow
Red-rumped Swallow
Red-vented Bulbul
Zitting Cisticola
Grey-breasted Prinia
Graceful Prinia
Ashy Prinia
Plain Prinia
Oriental White-eye
Blyth's Reed-Warbler
Common Tailorbird
Common Chiffchaff
Caucasian Chiffchaff
Sulphur-bellied Warbler
Greenish Warbler
Puff-throated Babbler
Jungle Babbler
Lesser Whitethroat
Indian Lark
Rufous-tailed Lark
Crested Lark
Oriental Skylark
Purple Sunbird
House Sparrow
Sind Sparrow
Chestnut-shouldered Petronia
White Wagtail
White-browed Wagtail
Yellow Wagtail
Grey Wagtail
Paddyfield Pipit
Tawny Pipit
Red Avadavat
White-throated Munia
White-rumped Munia
167
Re India
Phew, what a listing and quickly delivered report !
Any pics ?
Thanks for sharing.
Mick
Nice one Arbu. Interesting news about the Sind Sparrows colonising the Sultanpur area, I felt lucky enough seeing some right up at Harike on the Pakistan border.