India February 2024: Uttarakhand, Corbett, Birds and Mammals

[TonyQ]

A few more birds seen around the site

Bar-headed Goose - they fly over the Himalyas to migrate to this area

Bronze-winged Jacana - very common here

Rufous Treepie

Asian/Indian Pied Starling

Southern Coucal

Oriental Darter drying wings in the sun

[TonyQ]

We thought that the Indian Flying Foxes were very interesting mammals

Lots of them roosting in a tree

We were able to get much closer to them than we have done before.

Some well wrapped up in their wings to sleep

Some partially wrapped

and some more interested in what was going on around them

 

We really enjoyed being able to watch them. We thought they were beautiful animals

 

[TonyQ]

We visited a viewing tower, with fine views across the reserve

 

There was also an Owls nest near the tower, with good view from the steps of the tower

Dusky Eagle Owl Chicks (an adult was also visible)

Some birds took advantage of the water

Indian Pond Heron

Pied Kingfisher Hunting

 

We also saw a number of cattle that had found their way into the reserve

 

 

[TonyQ]

We stopped for a cup of tea at a tea stall

Tea was 10 rupees (about £0.10)

The reserve started life as a hunting reserve( but was declared a sanctuary in 1971). There are some plaques that proudly declare information on birds shot

An astonishing and shocking(to me)  number of birds killed in one day

So we looked for some live birds!

Rose-ringed Parakeet - very common (also found in Birmingham!)

Citrine Wagtail

Waterhen

 

[TonyQ]

There are a number of Deer in the park

We saw a small number of Sambar Deer

But many more Spotted Deer

Males

By the side of the main track

A number of females had babies, and they were often seen on small islands in the water. This makes it much more difficult for predators to reach them

Very cute!

 

[TonyQ]

It was nice to see a group of colourfully dressed women walking through the park

 

And to finish the Keoladeo section, a final selection of birds

Black-crowned Night Heron (immature)

Yellow-footed Green Pigeon enjoying fruit

Indian Scope Owl roosting

And finally a bird that we were particularly keen to see

 

Sarus Crane

Display/courtship accompanied very loud hooting noises!

 

 

We loved our time in Keoladeo (four half days). It had a good variety of birds, and many of them were fairly close and unafraid of people. We photographed at least 93 species in our time there. Better birders would see more I think. Having a guide helped us a lot.

 

There were many interesting mammals here, but the main interest is the birds.

 

In the next section we will make a day trip to Chambal River sanctuary

[xelas]

Indeed a very interesting place for a birder. 

 

Your Waterhen is a White-breasted Waterhen (easy to ID following the "Fred's naming convention" ).

Edited April 11 by xelas

[Zim Girl]

Keoladeo is a very scenic place - love the flying foxes!

[TonyQ]

@Galana@Zim Girlthank you

 

Chambal River Sanctuary

 

When we first began planning an itinerary, we thought we would stay overnight at Chambal. Rural Traveller suggested doing it as a day trip from Bharatpur and it worked very well. We had breakfast at the Birders Inn and also took a packed lunch with us. We travelled with the car and driver we had used when travelling from Delhi, and our guide was again Bijendra Singh.

 

It takes about 1 ½ to 2 hours to drive to the river. However, we stopped at a few interesting places for some birding so I don’t know how long it took us to get there. We passed through a number of small villages and rural areas on the way.

Our only Indian Roller of the trip

We also stopped at the remains of a quarry

Ashy-crowned Sparrowlark

Indian Silverbill

Southern Grey Shrike

And we were especially pleased to see some Indian Coursers

 

 

It really showed the value of a guide that knows the area.

 

[TonyQ]

Our guide had booked a small boat for the river cruise. Waiting at the dock for us was a Wire-tailed Swallow

 

 

Our first spot was around a small island, not far from the boat dock. The boat had an outboard motor which was turned off as we approached

Black-winged Stilt

Great Thick-Knee - wonderful birds

River Lapwing

White-browed Wagtail

Bijendra scanning the bank from our boat

 

 

[TonyQ]

The Chambal River is famous for Crocodiles and Gharial, and we were pleased to see both

Crocodile basking in the sun

 

 

Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) are fish eating crocodiles. They have very long, thin snouts. They are critically endangered.

Relaxing

 

We also saw a giant turtle

 

 

[TonyQ]

Our main reason for going to Chambal was to try to see Indian Skimmers, an Endangered species. They rest on sandbanks in the river

Showing the extraordinary beak

We didn't see them "skimming" but did see them in flight

Other birds made use of the sandbanks

Small Pratincole

Black-bellied Tern

 

[TonyQ]

On the river banks we saw

Egyptian Vultures - courtship/bonding

Brown Crake - not very exciting looking - but very exciting for birders!

River Tern overhead

And we were able to get surprisingly close to an Osprey

 

 

As we returning to the boat dock, Bijendra pointed out the two bridges. The old bridge (lower and closer) and the new bridge (higher).

Bridges with buffalo

 

He then encouraged us to look at the top of the old bridge. We thought this was a nest, but then we could see that there were very large branches and bits of wood in the junctions. This was leftover from monsoon floods – they had been washed here by the water and trapped here.

Heavy crop showing branches trapped in the old  bridge

 

It is incredible to think of water reaching this hight! Hence the new, higher bridge.

 

 

 

As we were heading to the dock, we were delighted to see a Temmink's Stint - again very confident around the boat

Edited April 14 by TonyQ

[TonyQ]

We ate our packed lunch and headed back towards Bharatpur. We stopped at an initially unpromising looking pond with a fair amount of rubbish at the side. However, it was teeming with birds

 

Wood Sandpiper

Lesser Whistling Duck

And the bird we had specifically stopped to see

Greater Painted Snipe

So for us, a wonderful day all round. Very relaxing and very enjoyable

 

 

[Athene]

@TonyQ Your trip report is very enjoyable and your bird photos are lovely.

[Galana]

I agree. That river trip is a must do for me if I ever get back.

[michael-ibk]

So many lovely photos. Looks like you really had good light. That kingfisher sighting with the snake is very interesting!

[Atravelynn]

Yellow-footed Green Pigeon enjoying fruit was a delightful view and shot.  Nice job on the Gharial teeth, a distinctive feature of that creature.  It might be common but the Bronze-winged Jacana is an impressive bird.  What a timeless, primordial feeling to the courting Sarus Cranes shot, which I hope symbolizes their future and that of their offspring.  Better birders might have seen more, as you state, but probably not much more.

Edited April 15 by Atravelynn

[xelas]

A boat trip is always a great way to come closer to birds and other animals. More and more I am interested in returning to India.

[TonyQ]

@Athenethank you

@Galanathank you, I am sure you would enjoy it!

@michael-ibkthank you. The light was good for most of the trip. We really enjoyed the Kingfisher with snake encounter (I am not sure the snake did!)

@Atravelynnthank you

@xelasthe boat trip was very enjoyable. I am sure you would enjoy a return!

 

Continued

So we came to the end of the first part of the trip staying at the Birders Inn for 4 nights. We thought that it was a really good choice. Very close to Keoladeo and easy to get to Chambal.

We had organised this through Rural Traveller but it would be easy to all of it through the Birders Den. (As we did on our previous visit).They can arrange guides and trips to Chambal.

 

The food was good, the room was good. We recommend it.

 

The next morning, after a good breakfast, our driver picked us up for the long drive towards Corbett National Park. Much of the journey is along very good roads. We stopped for lunch with our driver at a “Shiva Dhaba” – a roadside restaurant and had very good vegetarian food. Many restaurants are “100% Vegetarian”; we even passed at least one that was “140% Vegetarian”!

 

As we got further north we had to take a diversion because of heavy traffic held up by the Farmers’ Protests (“Chalo Delhi”). Our driver took us on some minor roads through small villages so we were not held up for long.

 

On the way we stopped as we passed some Sarus Cranes in a field at the side of the road

 

Including a juvenile.

 

As we were looking a young woman came up to us and asked if she could have a picture with us, taken on her phone. We agreed, so I asked if we could also take a picture of them with my phone.

This happened a few times on the trip, but this was the first time I asked for a photo in return! As so many people have phones, using the camera is not intimidating (unlike a big white lens)

Edited April 20 by TonyQ

[TonyQ]

We arrived at our base for the next two nights The Golden Tusk Hotel. This about a 10 minute drive from the Jhirna Gate of Corbett National park, so was really well located. I will say more about the hotel later, but it was excellent.

 

Our guide for the rest of the trip came to meet us in our room. His name was Jay Prakash Khulbey (known as JayP). He is very experienced and lives locally in Ramnagar. He talked through the plans for tomorrow -  an cup of coffee at reception at 06.00, leave at 06.15 to be at the Jhirna gate for 6.30. We will take a packed breakfast with us, but some breakfast will also be available when we return to the hotel at around 10.30.

 

Jhirna Zone Corbett National Park

 

There are only two or three cars waiting at the gate. As JayP has a local guide licence, we do not need an additional guide. We will have two jeep safaris in this zone, one morning, one afternoon. We will keep the same driver for both.

 

We told Rural Traveller and JayP that we didn’t want to spend all our time hunting for Tigers and that we were quite relaxed about seeing them.

 

Corbett is a lovely park and it is a pleasure to drive through it, enjoying the scenery, the birds and the mammals.

Driving through the forest

Black-winged Kite with beautiful red eyes

Oriental Pied Hornbill

Scarlet Minivet

Crimson Sunbird

Langur

Common Kingfisher

Wild Pig

Very young Spotted Deer

 

A really enjoyable first safari in Corbett

 

The morning drive ended at around 10.30 and then a quick drive back to the hotel for coffee, a second very good breakfast. We then birded the very nice grounds before lunch at around 12.30!

 

A little rest and then meet JayP at 2.15pm for the afternoon drive.

 

[TonyQ]

In the afternoon we went to a different bit of the zone - again beautiful and relaxing

Riverside scene

Himalayan Griffon Vultures near the river

 

A Great Hornbill in the forest

Plum-headed Parakeets

Some more Spotted Deer

Crossing the track

A Langur watches us go by

 

[TonyQ]

We also came across a herd of Elephant (in deep shade) - always a pleasure to see wild elephants

 

 

A really good view of a Changeable Hawk Eagle

 

And a spectacular Jungle Fowl

 

 

[TonyQ]

As we rounded a bend, we were excited to see

 

There was one car on the other side of the tiger, and two besid/behind us.

 

I was pleasantly surprised to see the car in front reverse to give the Tiger some more room

 

 

A bit of spraying

Heads along the road and into the undergrowth at the side of the road

 

[TonyQ]

So although we hadn't come to Corbett to spend all our time with tigers, it was exciting, and they are beutiful animals.

However, JayP had not finished. As soon as the Tiger vanished he got the jeep to reverse, turn round and head back towards a low bridge we had crossed earlier. He told us the Tiger will probably go alsong the river.

We drove quickly and stopped on the bridge - other cars followed.

 

After a couple of minutes as if it had read the script, the Tiger reappeared and walked along the river bank - slightly further away than previously but still a good clear view

 

 

Tasting the air

Eventually it walked along the bank and out of view.