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Birding

THE DEMOISELLE CRANES OF KHICHAN

February 25, 2015

*A Demoiselle Crane comes in to land in a packed feeding compound at Khichan.*

KHICHAN IN RAJASTHAN IS KNOWN LOCALLY AS 'THE PARADISE OF THE CRANES'. Once in position early next morning, on the rooftop of one of the houses overlooking the famous walled crane-feeding compound, masala chai and biscuits to hand, the first of several thousand cranes started to appear on the horizon. Each morning the cranes alight on open ground around the town until they are almost all assembled and then their leader of the past few years (at least) ‘broken-leg’ decides it is safe to land. This amazing creature has migrated across the Himalayas at least four times since I last saw him/her with a dangling leg creating what must be an incredible drag on an already exhausting migration. ‘Broken leg’ circles the compound several times before landing, this time despite a daring feral moggy that was trying to catch the pigeons, which are also attracted to the free meal of grain. Eventually the cranes are more or less all crammed inside the compound, jostling for position to eat the grain put down for them by the Jain villagers, a practice that has continued here for over 150 years (the grain is now put down in the evening after the cranes have departed for their roosting grounds and it is ready for them immediately in the morning). Their elongated secondary plumes forming interesting patterns as they fed. Images alone do not do justice without the whirring of wings overhead and the deafening cacophony of the excited cranes. Whilst ‘paradise’ is wide of the mark, the cranes of Khichan are certainly one of the most amazing ornithological spectacles of the world. As always it was time to leave all too soon and make our way to Jodhpur from where, following an unsuitable flight schedule change, we had a long and rather grim drive along a so-called highway to Delhi, ready to start the next stage of our Indian adventure.

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LITTLE RANN OF KUTCH

February 24, 2015

THE SALTFLATS AT THE LITTLE RANN OF KUTCH HAD BEEN CLOSED BY HEAVY RAIN for three days just prior to our arrival but fortunately they had a chance to dry out enough for us. A traditional camel cart welcome in the small town of Zainabad put a smile on our faces and we were delighted to see that one of the regular Pallid Scops Owls was present in the lodge gardens. This bird breeds across a wide range from Turkey to Pakistan but many of its regular haunts are now off limits to western travellers making the birds in Gujarat some of the most accessible remaining birds. This year’s experience was better than usual as I have never seen one choose such an exposed daytime roosting perch! However, the main reason we visit the Little Rann is for its lovely Asiatic Wild Asses and although not as plentiful as usual we were still able to spend time photographing a couple of groups of them. One silhouetted against a salt flat sunset and another in early morning light, feeding along the edge of the mesquite fringes of the flats. They were, as always, surprisingly delightful to folks who had not seen them before.

Our regular night drive across the hard-baked salt flats, which are basically a monsoon lake was light in variety but high in quality. We saw no fewer than 15 of the very sought-after and range-restricted Sykes’s Nightjar and managed to get very close to a couple of spot-lit birds using our well-drilled nightjar technique. During the day the wide-open spaces of the salt flats of the Little Rann present a surreal and barren landscape but they are still inhabited by few creatures. Our meanderings here included an Indian Grey Mongoose peering from its burrow, Wild Boar, Nilgai and some obliging Common Cranes, more Indian Thick-knees, Southern Grey Shrike, Desert Wheatears, Long-billed Pipits and a lovely male Steppe Merlin of the Central Asian form pallidus, as pale as a Shikra(!) but pride of place went to an endangered MacQueen’s Bustard, although it could have been a lot more obliging for the photographers! This bird has a dwindling wintering population in western India and Pakistan but it would help if Arabian falconers would stop hunting them please! Sadly our attempts to find some photogenic Indian Coursers were thwarted by the birds flying off into the distance at first sight of us. The bird-thronged wetlands south of Zainabad were thronged a bit out of range of our DSLRs but the flocks of Lesser and Great Flamingos, Common and Demoiselle Cranes and numerous ducks and shorebirds were a fine sight nevertheless. We also enjoyed an opportunity to shoot some people here, visiting a delightful local family (originating from Rajasthan), who presented some very nice fabrics and allowed a privileged insight to their village life not to mention the chance to drink some of their excellent tea!

*Sykes's Nightjar, Little Rann of Kutch*

*MacQueen's Bustard, Little Rann of Kutch.*

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BLACKBUCK NATIONAL PARK

February 24, 2015

BLACKBUCK NATIONAL PARK CONTINUES TO GROW IN POPULARITY, thanks to its wonderful nearby lodge of the same name. This place is one of our favourite lodges in India and, as well as the plush surroundings, complete with lovely open-air showers, we also enjoyed some more great encounters here. Photographically the best were the numerous Blackbuck, including some fine males, followed by Nilgai against the lovely grassland landscape, however, this is also probably the most reliable place in the world to see wolves and again we managed to see one, which as usual only allowed a brief distant opportunity. Jungle Cats also put in a couple of brief appearances in the long grass.

*Blackbuck, Blackbuck National Park, Velavadar*

*Nilgai, Blackbuck National Park, Velavadar*

The biggest avian surprise was a Sykes’s Nightjar, which flew past our jeeps in broad daylight and dropped down just ahead of us. It is rare to see one here, mostly owing to the park being closed after sunset but it may be a regular visitor? Squadrons of Common Cranes lined the horizon and a nearby wetland hosted Great White Pelicans, Greater Flamingos, spoonbills, Pied Avocets and a selection of common shorebirds. A few birds in the mesquite-lined avenues included gazillions of Black Drongos as well as Siberian Stonechats, Brown and Bay-backed Shrikes and there were still a few harriers (Pallid and Montagu’s) floating around, some of which take a short-cut through the middle of the lodge grounds on their way to and from their grassland roosting area. Unfortunately Striped Hyenas are no longer reliably seen here though, the regular male having died some time ago. Eventually we had to tear ourselves away from this fabulous place and head northwest to the vast salt flats of the Little Rann of Kutch.

*Sykes's Nightjar, Blackbuck National Park, Velavadar*

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HIGHLAND IVORY GULL

January 21, 2015

I CAN'T RESIST IVORY GULLS! On my way to talk to the Skye Scottish Wildlife Trust group about Svalbard (of all places!) a detour took me to Ullapool, where at nearby Ardmair Salmon Farm a first winter Ivory Gull had been hanging around. It was originally found by one of the workers on the farm, who sent a photo taken on his Iphone to the local 'wildlife man' and the guys have been feeding it since then. As usual for Ivory Gulls, it was ridiculously confiding but it spent all the time I was there around the farm, which is in the lee of Isle Martin in Loch Kanaird and about 1km offshore. Also around here today were: Great Northern Loon (2); White-tailed Eagle; Glaucous Gull (3cy); Black Guillemot; Snow Bunting (2) of note as well as plenty of European Shags, Common Eiders; Goosanders and Rock Pipits. Driving through the Highlands for a couple of days was magic, the landscape turned into a white snowy winter wonderland and the roads only just cleared of ice and snow. On Skye itself an Iceland Gull (2cy) near Portree harbour was the only bird of note before the rain came down.

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THE DEMOISELLE CRANES OF KHICHAN

LITTLE RANN OF KUTCH

BLACKBUCK NATIONAL PARK

HIGHLAND IVORY GULL