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Winter Birding in Northern and Western India,

Introduction ..................Concluding Remarks ..................Bird List

Introduction

From December 22, 2000 until January 08, 2001, my wife and I once again spent the holiday season on a birding trip to Northern and Western India. We flew into Delhi from Germany via Amsterdam. Around Christmas airline tickets to India tend to be rather expensive, therefore next time we would try to travel off the busy season. While we booked the flight at home all bookings in India were made through Asian Adventures (http://www.indianwildlife.com/) following our suggested itinerary, including hotels, guides, permits, and ground transportation. According to our wishes, we mostly stayed in tourist rest houses in or close to national parks, but there were exceptions like the Maharaja's palace in Gondal. We visited places in three Indian states: Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Uttranchal (formerly belonging to Uttar Pradesh).

We had been to this part of India the year before (see last year's trip report). Even so, out of the 310 bird species we saw this time there were more than a hundred new birds for India, among them 95 lifers. However, there is not just birdlife to India: we enjoyed also other wildlife, plants, landscapes, historic places, towns and villages, and the friendly people. We brought binoculars, a spotting scope with a lightweight tripod (which broke a leg the second day of our trip, so it was a bipod for the rest of the tour), and camera gear to fully enjoy the trip.

Following is a report on our tour. You can find a complete list of birds we saw at the end of this page.

Dec. 22:

We arrived at Delhi Airport at 3am, passed immigration astonishingly fast, changed our money into Rupees and were met by an Asian Adventures employee. He dropped us off at White Apartments, a small, clean, and basic hotel in Delhi, where we arrived around 5:30am and finally got some sleep.

Around noon we were met by Mohit Aggarwal who handed us the various train tickets and vouchers for our trip. He then dropped us off at the Old Delhi railway station where we hopped on the Ashram Express to Ahmedabad, leaving on 3:30pm. Indian trains are not exactly fast but they get you where you want to go, eventually. We had two seats/beds in the "two-tier air-conditioned sleeper" class in a four-bed compartment, separated from the corridor of the carriage by a curtain. As usual, we locked our baggage to the chains underneath the seats using our padlocks. In the beginning dusk we left Delhi and the state of Haryana, crossed into Rajasthan at nightfall, and when we awoke next morning, we were in Gujarat.

Dec. 23:

At the railroad station we met our driver for the next days, Lalji, (who knew almost no English) and Kamil from Rann Raiders (our next hotel). From Ahmedabad railway station we drove straight west to Nal Sarovar Bird Sanctuary, a shallow lake with an abundance of wintering water birds. Entrance and camera fees are charged. Although the coots, ducks, geese, pelicans, spoonbills, ibisses, cormorants, and diverse wading birds can be observed from the shore with binoculars we would take the boat trip again. The boats are staked and glide very quietly through the water. The main attraction on the lake are the flamingoes. Expect to bargain hard for a reasonable price for the boat: we finally paid 500 rupees (+ tips) for 1 1/2 hours with two stakers.

We drove on to Dasada near the Little Rann of Kutch and stayed the next two nights at Rann Raiders, a resort with spaceous, nicely furnished mudwall huts surrounded by cotton fields. We were offered a late lunch, had some tea and started for a jeep drive in the late afternoon. First we stopped at a village pond with a Comb Duck, Ruffs, Pygmy-ducks, and other waterbirds. Then we continued on a sandy track in the semidesert to a larger lake (according to our Lonely Planet map it could have been Kharagoda Tank). We saw more flamingoes (Lesser & Greater), Avocets, ducks and geese, many Common Cranes and in the distance some wild ass. On the way we made frequent stops for wheatears, pipits, and vultures.

Dec. 24:

Up at 6:15, breakfast at 6:30, and jeep safari at 7am in the cold dawn. We passed buildings and heaps of glittering white salt minerals (a small industry extracts all kinds of minerals from the salt flats and produces bromine and chlorine, among other things) and arrived in the barren Little Rann of Kutch. The best places for wildlife viewing are at the edges of the dried mud areas where there are still some bushes. We were lucky and soon saw the first group of wild ass, two McQueens (formerly called Houbara) Bustards and a flock of Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse. At a forest post we stopped for a walk to a small lake which was again full of water and wading birds. Later we saw Indian Gazelle (chinkara), various larks and shrikes. We returned to the resort for lunch. Our afternoon jeep drive took us to a different place in the Rann. Birdlife was astonishingly diverse again: bush quails, falcons, and three species of harriers were among the species we saw. We kept coming across wild ass all day, usually being able to drive or even walk up to them within a distance of a few tens of meters.

Dec. 25:

An early morning birdwalk along a water canal near the resort was very rewarding concerning sunbirds and other small songbirds. But after a late breakfast we had to leave. It was a long drive to Gondal (5 1/2 hours) with one short birding stop at the lakes near the town Virangam. At Gondal we stayed at Orchard Palace, a belle epoque-style guesthouse of the Maharaja of Gondal. Inside everything is very stylish and mostly historic. After lunch we were welcomed by the Maharani and later we had a small tour of the maharadja's impressive vintage car collection which somehow seemed a little out of place here. In the afternoon we drove out of town to the so-called veedis, protected grasslands on small hills which are mowed once a year. (The landscape reminded us somewhat of the Carizzo Plains in California!) We walked there for quite a while and saw various larks, bushchats, and some nilgai antelopes (bluebulls). The drive to Veri Lake was disappointing: due to lack of rain the lake bottom was converted into fields and only a few Painted Storks could be made out in the distance.

Dec. 26:

After breakfast we walked through the park of Orchard Palace observing doves, drongos, babblers, and peacocks. At 10am we left for Gir National Park, a sanctuary for the threatened Asiatic Lion. It took us three hours to arrive at the Maneland Lodge near Sasan Gir where we stayed the next two nights. The stone buildings were nice, the room was comfortable, and the staff was friendly. But somehow they didn´t expect us to need a jeep for the afternoon safari which was prebooked and clearly stated on our voucher. We didn´t bother to find out where the information was lost and agreed to pay again for a minivan plus park fees since this seemed to be the surest way not to spend the rest of the day in the lodge. (It took a lot of persistence but eventually we got the money back when we checked out.) The driver took us to the Gir interpretation zone, a fenced-off area with typical wildlife of the park including lions. At the entrance we had to hire a guide who turned out to be an exceptionally good spotter. We saw abundant birdlife because next to the track the grass was burnt, giving an unobstructed view of the two meters next to the road before the thick grass began. Of course we met the fenced-in lions but we marvelled more at the sight of a male lion and a jungle cat across the fence (so these were really, truly wild animals!).

Dec. 27:

This day we enjoyed two jeep drives (morning/afternoon) on different routes inside Gir National Park. The most abundant mammal was Spotted Deer, but we saw Wild Boars, a jackal, and Hanuman Langurs, too. At a lake we spotted Marsh Crocodiles next to a large flock of pelicans and Black Ibis. Since the landscape is wooded birds are not seen easily. In the afternoon we spent quite some time on an observation tower in the park. Highlights of today´s birdlife were Brown-capped Pygmy-woodpeckers, Coppersmith Barbets, Changeable Hawk-eagle, White-browed Fantail, and Asian Paradise-flycatcher.

Dec. 28:

We spent that day mostly on the road as we had to get back to Ahmedabad in time to catch our overnight train. The drive gave us the opportunity to experience the busy life in the many villages and towns we passed. Most land along our way was irrigated and used for agriculture, with cotton as the dominant crop. In the late afternoon we arrived at today´s destination and said good-bye to our driver. The Suryanagari express train left on time at 9:45pm for Jodhpur.

Dec. 29:

The second leg of our journey took us to the Thar desert in Western Rajasthan. At Jodhpur railway station we met Mohit Aggarwal from Noida near New Delhi again who would accompany us for the next four days. He has been operating Asian Adventures for several years now and has plenty of conservation and wildlife experience, also from his time working for WWF in India. In the usual Ambassador (car brand) tourist taxi we left Jodhpur and postponed breakfast until we had reached a midway (restaurant) roughly halfway to Jaisalmer. It was past noon when we arrived at Jaisalmer. We didn´t visit any of the tourist attractions there but spent the whole afternoon driving to several offices (superintendent of Desert National Park, the Jaisalmer District Collector, ... ) to apply for a permit to visit Desert National Park at Sudaseri (Sudashri). The park lies in a restricted area for foreigners because of the nearby Indian-Pakistani border. Unfortunately the written application we had filed before was not enough: we had to apply in person. We do not remember how long we waited at each office, but we showed up everywhere at least twice. Without the assistance of Mohit and a local travel agent it probably would have taken ages to go through this process. It made us feel special to be finally listed as foreign visitors number 30 and 31 for the year 2000 to Sudaseri forest post and bustard sanctuary. We almost managed to obtain the permit the same day that we started the process when the last person to sign our permit suddenly noticed this fact and made us come back the next day. At least we used the time between two office stops for lunch at a roof terrace restaurant overlooking the famous "desert fort" of Jaisalmer. After the permit business was done we drove west to the Sam sand dunes and checked in at a nearby temporary tented camp (Royal Desert Camp) for the next three nights. The sand dunes were overcrowded with people who took sunset camel safaris. Luckily most of them returned to Jaisalmer the same day and it was a quiet night except for a pack of wild dogs ripping and tearing the moskito screen of our outer tent.

Dec. 30:

The next morning we walked around the semidesert behind the tent camp. There were plenty of birding opportunities in the dry fields and especially at a leaky water pipe. We saw many desert species (warblers, wheatears, larks) and even got a good view of a Great Indian Bustard. The low-flying Egyptian Vultures were very impressive.

In the morning our jeep driver had arrived from Jaisalmer with our permits for Sudaseri. After lunch we drove first to the police station in Sam to register for the restricted area and then on to Sudaseri forest post. Next to the forest post the land is fenced and has a savanna-like appearance quite different from the dry overgrazed land around it. We were allowed to explore the area on foot (no picture-taking, though), accompanied by a guard. Special sightings were another Great Indian Bustard, the endemic Stoliczka´s Bushchat, Black-crowned Sparrow-larks and Indian Gazelle. On our way back just before sunset we had to sign out at the police station of Sam again. The sand dunes appeared very peaceful this evening. We learnt that the airplane from New Delhi to Jaisalmer was cancelled that day and therefore fewer tourists had arrived.

Dec. 31:

In the morning we decided to spend the whole day in the Desert National Park at Sudaseri. We reiterated the procedure at Sam police station and arrived early enough to have a chance for seeing Black-bellied Sandgrouse at an artificial waterhole, according to the local information. We stayed about two hours in a cool, low and over time increasingly uncomfortable hide overlooking the waterhole, without success. The only excitement was an Indian Gazelle which left quickly without drinking. We then explored the area on foot, surprised an Indian Hare and saw the same desert bird species as the day before except for the rare bustard (almost 30 species even in this dry and open country in the full heat of the day!). The jeep driver returned around late noon and brought us some delicious warm dishes from the Royal Desert Camp which we then shared at the forest post. Since we had the impression that another afternoon near the forest post would basically result in more of the same animals, birds, and landscapes we left and stopped along the way to Sam for a walk through a more sandy and barren stretch of country. We were lucky and got very good looks at a group of Cream-colored Coursers. Like the day before and in the morning we had astonishingly good and close-up views of vultures and other birds of prey. At night we were somewhat surprised by the noisy New Year's party but finally got some sleep.

Jan. 01:

We left the desert and drove back to Jaisalmer where we stopped at the lake. There we not only wondered at the historic buildings with beautiful sandstone carvings but observed many types of waterbirds from up close in the early morning light. We exchanged our jeep (or gypsy in Indian English) for a passenger car and drove northeast. Our destination was the village Kheechan where Demoiselle Cranes can be found in winter. The sight was more impressive than expected: hundreds of cranes were standing together at a waterhole. It was fun to watch them drinking, feeding, resting, and flying. We were surprised that with the exception of a British couple no other tourists were present, despite of the tourist hotspot of Jaisalmer being only a three hours' drive away. Luckily we were even rewarded with several flocks of sandgrouse at the same waterhole: these were easily seen, and much more comfortable than during our try at Sudaseri: we could stand upright and in plain sunlight. The Demoiselle Cranes at Kheechan count without doubt as one of the highlights of our trip. When we had admired the cranes enough we had lunch at a restaurant and drove back to Jodhpur. Since there was less traffic and better road conditions than expected we made an unplanned stop at the Mandore Gardens. These famous gardens are mainly protected for their architectural buildings from former times but are a nice birding habitat as well. We spotted the colorful Grey-headed Canary-flycatcher in a tree. After an early dinner in Jodhpur we took the overnight Mandor express train to Delhi at 7:30pm.

Jan. 02:

We arrived about 45 minutes late, around 7am, because of fog in the Delhi area. We were met by a driver who dropped Mohit at his home in Noida and then took us to Ramnagar in the Himalayan foothills. Despite the fog and heavy traffic the driver got us to the Ganga River bridge basically on time. We crossed the bridge on foot, passing the cars in the huge traffic jam (caused by an accident right on the bridge), but could not see any gangetic Dolphins because the fog was so thick it was hard to see the water a few meters below us. Around 1:30pm we reached Tiger Camp near Ramnagar, just in time for a delicious lunch together with our next driver-guide/tour manager, Dhanu from Tigerland Safaris. This guy is exceptionally good; we had been lucky enough to have him as our guide last year and specifically asked for him again for this trip. Dhanu takes care of everything you can think of, plus much more! For instance, he suggested to change our itenerary slightly in order to allow us to see additionally a different type of habitat which we immediately approved. He always knew how to procure us an extra set of blankets and took care of all the formalities at check-in (for instance, those lengthy forms in quadruplicate that foreigners are required to fill out at every new place of stay). And he is ,above all, a very good birder who knows all local birds by sight, most by sound and consults a bird guide whenever in doubt.

After lunch we drove towards Call-of-the-Wild Lodge near Betalghat, upstream on a slope overlooking the Kosi River. We stopped at a small side canyon known for its population of forktails. While Dhanu stayed with the jeep in order to have an eye on our baggage we scrambled over the boulders in and around the small creek, looking for birds. Unlike last year, when we saw three species of forktail in this spot, we did not see any this time. Instead, we were treated to Rusty-cheeked Scimitar Babblers, Common Green Magpie (long, perfect looks), White-crested Laughingthrushes, fantails, etc.

Then we drove on to Betalghat were we arrived just at nightfall, after several brief stops along the way for roadside birds (among them a Long-tailed Nightjar). Hospitality was great, the campfire warm and cosy, and food was delicious just like last year, when we had just one night in this wonderful birding habitat. We also enjoyed the hot-water bottles at our feet during the night.

Jan. 03:

At sunrise we went for a birdwalk along the road but did not get very far because of the heavy bird activity. We got more than ten lifers in less than two hours, plus lots of other bird species (flowerpeckers, woodpeckers, flycatchers, sunbirds, barbets, Kalij Pheasants, ...). All this in perfect morning light. What a start for the day!

After breakfast Dhanu drove us further along the road to a small village near the Kosi River where the road branches off towards Bhatronj-Khan. A small forest on the northern side of the slope is full of birds. These are mostly somewhat different species because the place is at higher altitude. Highlights here were a Rufous-breasted Accentor and the Fire-capped Tit, also nice views of the Black-lored Tit. We were back in time for the campfire where we had a nice conversation with Ashish, the owner of the lodge, and the other guests before engorging ourselves with the wonderful food.

Jan. 04:

We had another bird walk before breakfast, almost as productive as yesterday, but not quite because of the cool, damp, and overcast weather that day. After breakfast we went back towards Ramnagar, once again with several short stops for roadside birds. At the "forktail canyon" we gave it another try and found a very cooperative Little Forktail, plus lots of other birds.

Dhanu then dropped us off in Ramnagar at the high cliff overlooking the Kosi River while he went into town in order to fill up the gas tank and get our permits for Corbett National Park. We spent the time looking for Ibisbill (which we found right away, unlike last year where we searched for it in vain during two afternoons at the same spot). We climbed down to the river bank and got some very good looks and nice pictures of a pair of Ibisbills on the opposite shore, just 20 meters away. We enjoyed the scenery and our pack luch and then headed back to the main road to meet Dhanu at the appointed time.

Next was the drive into Corbett Park through Dhangarhi Gate. We did not get very far because already a hundred meters into the park we came across one of the (rightfully) famed "mixed feeding-flocks". This one was full of tits, nuthatches (Velvet and otherwise), Grey-capped Pygmy-woodpeckers, both species of yellow-crested woodpeckers, minivets, bulbuls, and a Lesser Racket-tailed Drongo. We met several other flocks on our way to Dhikala where we arrived at dusk. Dhanu miraculously managed to get us extra blankets, an electric radiator and even hot-water bottles, an unexpected luxury!

Jan. 05:

We started the day with an early-morning birdwalk. There is a small road through dry grassland where you are allowed to walk on foot, despite this being in the middle of tiger country (after all, tourists are supposed to feed the economy, not the tigers). The goal was an observation tower a few hundred meters from the lodge. Shortly before reaching the tower, however, we would have had to pass a small wooded area. But several loud roars VERY close were identified by Dhanu as mating calls of a male tiger, and he thought it very advisable to trace back immediately. We waited some distance away while he went back to get the jeep and drive us to the tower. From up there we followed the procession of alarm calls indicating the route the tiger took, but it never came out into the open. Birdlife was very abundant and cooperative, though, with perfect looks at Black-hooded Oriole, Collared Falconet, several species of babblers and tits, Plum-headed Parakeets, etc. Not to forget the water birds in and near the lake that could be made out despite the haze: Osprey, Darter, all kinds of waders, and even some Black Storks and a crocodile. We returned for a late breakfast around 11am, after a wonderful time on the tower with lots of variety in the bird life (45 species!).

On the afternoon game drive we more or less followed the Ramganga River upstream. We spent some time on the grounds of the Khinanauli rest area. In the bushes surrounding it there were all kinds of small birds flitting about: Rusty-cheeked Scimitar Babblers, Black-chinned Babbler, Olive-backed Pipit, etc. We also got a glimpse of a flock of Great Slaty Woodpeckers noisily flying by. By 5:30pm we were back again at Dhikala. What an exceptional birding day this was! Although it is always difficult to find birds in the forest we had a total of 73 species today!

Jan. 06:

The early morning birdwalk was a bird drive today. We followed the roads in the general direction upstream the Ramganga River. The day was very misty and cloudy which was not so good for watching song birds and the like. However, owls were relatively plentiful. Apart from Jungle Owlets and Asian Barred Owlets we saw a Tawny Fish Owl - what a magnificent bird! There was also a dead Short-eared Owl lying next to the road, without external injuries but very skinny and fat-free. We stopped at the Khinanauli Rest Area again. There was possibly even more action there now than the day before. A pair of Grey-headed Woodpeckers were scanning the edges of the windows of the VIP bungalows for edible stuff. A Pin-tailed Green-pigeon landed in a tree above our heads. The noisy Great Slaty Woodpeckers were also in the area. We finally saw them when they flew out of a tree far away; they turned around and landed on a barred tree in the distance. We had good looks at that group of five birds through the scope; we could easily see the different coloration of males and females. On the way back we met a large group of wild elephants, unfortunately on both sides of the only road. Dhanu hit this stretch of road on the run, so before the elephants knew what was happening we had safely passed them and could watch them from the other end before continuing on to Dhikala.

Breakfast was even later today (about 12:00) than yesterday. Afterwards, we had about two hours before we set out again for another game drive that was to end at Gairal resthouse in the beginning darkness. We spent that time at the water tower in the lake, scanning the surroundings with the scope and also watching the tourist elephants being brought to drink. When we left Dhikala there was still no sign of the sun but a few owls again as a consolation, for instance another Tawny Fish Owl and a Brown Hawk Owl. We also liked the large flock of Bronzed Drongos hunting for insects just over the Ramganga River. Once again, we were amazed how productive birding in a forest can be: we counted 84 species of birds today.

Jan. 07:

This evening we had to be back in Delhi. So there was just an early morning birdwalk through the lodge grounds which was bathed in bright morning sunlight. A Peregrine Falcon watched us quitely from the top of a tree, the Red-billed Leiothrix whizzed past us between the bushes, and flycatchers were starting to wake up, as did the typical mixed feeding flocks. After breakfast we drove back to the Dhangarhi gate, making birding stops every now and then, for instance to watch the mixed flocks of tits, nuthatches, Lineated Barbets, and Blue-winged and Red-tailed Minlas. We also found another Common Green Magpie and a Scaly Thrush.

Around 11:30 we reached Tiger Camp, had a farewell tea with Dhanu and then sat in the car that would take us back to Delhi. We reached Noida around 6pm after an uneventful drive with a short glimpse of a dolphin as we crossed the bridge. We had a nice dinner at Mohit Aggarwals home and then were dropped off at White Apartments for a short night.

Jan. 08:

At 3:30am the driver was back in order to take to Delhi airport. To our great relief, there was no fog in Delhi. However, there WAS fog around the airport, with minimal visibility. Our flight was therefore scheduled for a departure two hours later than planned. Even so, after boarding we sat in the plane for more than two hours before the plane was cleared for departure. Finally on the way to the runway we looked out of the window and saw a hunting Short-eared Owl: last bird of the tour!

Concluding remarks

It is extremely valuable to have your tour organized by a local company. This secures fair treatment by all local agents who like to stay in business with a larger wildlife and conservation company. For people like us, with a perfect ignorance of Hindi and the Hindi script, it was also very convenient to have an English-speaking (more or less) local with us, just in case. At railroad stations it is sometimes not easy to find the right platform and the right position for the railroad car you have booked. You do NOT want to go looking for the right carriage once your train has arrived because it is hard to make your way through the busy crowd then. Just hopping on any car and then walking through the train to the correct one is not an option, either, because in general there is no safe way to go from one car to the next. The easy solution is to hire one of the official porters (about Rp 10-20 for two bags); they know all the details and get you to the correct spot if you tell them the name of your train. An important thing to bring is a (light) sleeping bag, in order to supplement the sometimes insufficient supply of blankets in the lodges (it's winter, after all!). Also bring a flashlight and have it ready.

For us this was a perfect way to spend the holiday season. We will do it again some time, and we would book with Asian Adventures again!

Bird list

All bird names are taken from the Pocket edition of Grimmet/Inskipp/Inskipp's guide to the birds of the Indian subcontinent. Note that there have been some changes from older names (which we are not familiar with). So to avoid confusion (we hope) we also added the Latin names and the German names as far as we know them. Each bird is included in the list only once for the place where we first saw it. In fact, with few exceptions we saw most of the birds several times and in more that one place.

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