Soukous, trying to do better in 2018

[Soukous]

#123 White Crested Laughingthursh (Garrulax leucolophus)

Corbett Tiger Reserve, India. March 2018

 

Heavy noise reduction needed on this one, so some details lost.

 

 

[Soukous]

#124 White Throated Laughingthrush (Garrulax albogularis)

Corbett Tiger reserve, India. march 2018

 

 

[Soukous]

#125 Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus)

Corbett Tiger reserve, India. March 2018

 

 

 

[Dave Williams]

The photography is no longer a joy to look at, I'm contemplating giving up! Seriously, fabulous photos and the crowd scene is exactly the same in Yala NP,Sri Lanka. I would love to see a Tiger in the wild but not like that.

[lmSA84]

@Soukous - thanks for the comments re. Corbett. We were fortunate to have a “private” tiger sighting in Ranthambhore but yes it otherwise it was unrelenting chaos at tiger scenes. Could you take your own / guides vehicle in at Corbett or was it all park vehicles? If Park were they useable? The ones in Ranthambhore were literally out of World War 2

[PeterHG]

An impressive collection of absollutely fabulous photographs from Corbett, @Soukous !

[Soukous]

12 hours ago, Dave Williams said:

The photography is no longer a joy to look at, I'm contemplating giving up! Seriously, fabulous photos and the crowd scene is exactly the same in Yala NP,Sri Lanka. I would love to see a Tiger in the wild but not like that.

 

How about seeing one like this @Dave Williams?

On foot from our lodge in Corbett - not another soul in sight

 

 

[Soukous]

5 hours ago, lmSA84 said:

@Soukous - thanks for the comments re. Corbett. We were fortunate to have a “private” tiger sighting in Ranthambhore but yes it otherwise it was unrelenting chaos at tiger scenes. Could you take your own / guides vehicle in at Corbett or was it all park vehicles? If Park were they useable? The ones in Ranthambhore were literally out of World War 2

 

@lmSA84 Sadly none of the park wil allow visitors to use their own vehicles. Can you image the chaos that would ensue?

Almost all game vehicles are Maruti Gypsy. Indian clone of the old Suzuki SJ413 from the 1980s. They still make them in India.

 

Of the ones we used, some were dreadful and some were well maintained. The problem usually comes with the vehicles maintained by the Forest Department. The lodges and other private owners tend to take a bit more care.

[Soukous]

#126 Blue Whistlingthrush (Myophonus caeruleus)

Corbett Tiger reserve, India. March 2018

 

fascinating to watch this bird hopping around the garden of the lodge during the day and then fishing in the river at sunset

 

 

 

 

[Soukous]

#127 Lesser yellownape (Picus chlorolophus)

Corbett Tiger reserve, India. March 2018

 

 

[Soukous]

#128 Greater Yellownape (Picus flavinucha)

Corbett Tiger Reserve, India, March 2018

 

 

[Soukous]

#129 Indian Roller (Coracias benghalensis)

Corbett Tiger reserve, India. March 2018

 

 

 

[Soukous]

#130 Chukar partridge (Alectoris chukar)

Ladakh, India. March 2018

 

 

 

Edited April 10, 2018 by Soukous
I posted the wrong bird

[lmSA84]

@Soukous - thanks. Perish the thought of self drive. I was interested in if the lodges could take vehicles in. At RT (at least at the time) it was forestry vehicles only and on one drive the bench seat my wife and I were sharing effectively disintegrated into dust! 

[Soukous]

18 minutes ago, lmSA84 said:

@Soukous - thanks. Perish the thought of self drive. I was interested in if the lodges could take vehicles in. At RT (at least at the time) it was forestry vehicles only and on one drive the bench seat my wife and I were sharing effectively disintegrated into dust! 

 

In Corbett and in Pench the lodges do take their own vehicles into the reserve. In Corbett that means you have a driver, a lodge naturalist and a Forest Department guide in the car with you. In Pench the naturalist drives and you have to make space for a Forest department guide. (about as much use as a chocolate kettle, but it does provide employment )

[Soukous]

I seem to have come to the end of the Corbett birds, so on to Ladakh. Sadly not many to post from there.

 

#131 Red Fronted Serin (Serinus pusillus)

Ladakh, India. march 2018

 

 

 

 

[Soukous]

#132 Eurasian magpie (Pica pica)

Ladakh, India. March 2018

 

Just like the ones we get in UK, except these seemed chunkier.

 

 

 

[Soukous]

#133 Streaked Rosefinch f (Carpodacus rubicilloides)

Ladakh, India. March 2018

 

 

[Soukous]

#134 Hill Pigeon (Columba rupestris)

Ladahk, India. March 2018

 

They have a distinctive white band across the tail when in flight - which i didn't manage to capture.

 

 

[Soukous]

#135 Robin Accentor (Prunella rubeculoides)

Ladakh, India. March 2018

 

 

 

 

[Soukous]

#136 Guldenstadt's Redstart (Phoenicurus erythrogastrus)

Ladakh, India. March 2018

 

 

[Galana]

1 hour ago, Soukous said:

On foot from our lodge in Corbett - not another soul in sight

Great spotting. It makes it all so worthwhile.

 

You have been very location specific with "Corbett"! Can you pls do the same for Ladakh?

[elefromoz]

3 hours ago, Soukous said:

On foot from our lodge in Corbett - not another soul in sight

 

Surely that makes up for everything else, what luck.   Dazzling Roller too

[Soukous]

1 hour ago, Galana said:

Great spotting. It makes it all so worthwhile.

 

You have been very location specific with "Corbett"! Can you pls do the same for Ladakh?

 

No problem @Galana

Actually I was being quite vague by simply referring to Corbett Tiger Reserve as the area it covers is vast and incorporates many different habitats.

The first birds were captured in the southern part of Corbett, around Jhirna, then for the second part of our visit we went to the northern boundary of the park.

 

In Ladakh we started in Leh and then trekked north to the village of Rumbak, which is within the Hemis National Park at about 3800m. It was the only place we went outside of Leh so all the bird photos were taken there.

[Dave Williams]

4 hours ago, Soukous said:

 

How about seeing one like this @Dave Williams?

On foot from our lodge in Corbett - not another soul in sight

 

 

Absolutely fantastic  but how safe where you on foot?

When I went to a NP in Kerala we stayed in a tented compound and never saw or heard a Tiger but found paw prints within just a few metres of the perimeter fence. The amazing thing about so many wild animals is how little sound they make, even an Elephant can just vanish in to thin air, never mind a Snow Leopard. I can just see the Tiger posting a Facebook shot of you looking back at him in similar fashion with the caption of " they never saw anything until it was too late!'