Birds of Jaisalmer and Khichan

Rounding up a family vacation in Rajasthan, I took the opportunity to visit Khichan village in the Jiasalmer district of Rajasthan. This village is a unique example of what conservation and nurturing can do to birds. Demoiselle cranes migrate from Europe and have made Khichan their home year after year because of the local community support.

There were hundreds of these cranes either feeding or hovering around. Though it was 1 PM and not the best time to shoot managed a few against a blazing sun.










Jaisalmer has the Desert National Park. The hope was to spot the great Indian bustard. However we did see a few flying at a distance but none on the ground :(

A desert wheatear.




Indian courser




A distant shot of a cinerous vulture only available between Pakistan and Western deserts of India



On our way back and Chinkara gave a startled look





An Egyptian vulture




A feast of dead camel for a group of vultures ( White rumped and long necked) a very rare sight these days to see so many vultures together.

Bharatpur Bird sanctuary

It was a foggy afternoon in Bharatpur. I was told that at Bharatpur the light remains constant throughout the day and makes for great photography. Unfortunately for us it was very foggy for at least the two out of three days we were in Bharatpur. The best thing about fog is that it renders itself to creative compositions if you have the eye. Courtesy other members of the group, it was an "eye opening session" for me. I started seeing opportunities in composing  wildlife pictures. Very different from what I used to do earlier where I would have tried to get as close as possible and take a decent portrait.

Here are a few shots from the trip:

A Jackal welcoming us as we entered the park.

Sambhars offered great composition opportunities





Pair of spotted owlet:




An Indian Darter:




A Black redstart:




A Bluethroat:




Grey herons chasing after a catch. Can you spot the purple heron?




A Nilgai posing for me:



A chance encounter with a jungle cat



A Siberian Rubythroat ( usually difficult to sight as it prefers the undergrowth)





Long tailed Nightjar




A red breasted flycatcher





A pensive mood



As regards the variety of birds it was less than what I had expected. However the access and the photo opportunities would definitely bring me back to Bharatpur hopefully in the future.

Birds near Jaipur

There is a lake 30 kms from Jaipur ( Chandlai Lake)  beyond the airport which is relatively unknown to most birders. I researched a bit on the net and visited the place for a few hours in Jan,2014.

We started at 6 AM . Our driver did not know the place and we had to guide him thanks to Google Maps. Soon we realized there was heavy fog and whatever little hope of birding in an unknown territory was about to vanish. We had a few cups of chai at a Dhaba while waiting for the fog to clear before finally making it to Chandlai lake.

When we reached the lake I could see a lot of initial promise with a flock of Black winged stilts welcoming us next to the road.

Rajasthan is known for its Babool trees and here is an Intermediate Egret sitting on a Babool tree.

A purple swamphen  added some colour to the gloomy morning

The locals were quite surprised seeing Birders with large lenses and a lot of honking followed. We realized we were in the catchment area of the lake and we climbed a ridge  to get to the lake which was huge.

The place, to our amazement, turned out to be a Birder's paradise and we saw hundreds of ducks ( Northern Pintail, Mallard, Spot billed) to name a few besides a lot of waders. Tried to capture a few shots here.

Common sandpiper

Black winged stilt against a relatively still lake

A black tailed Godwit ( Lifer for me) 

A yellow wagtail 

There were River terns fishing and though the light conditions were bad I tried to shoot them ideally with a fish in their mouth coming out of the water. Either my timing or their fishing skills were poor.  I only managed to get a few shots in and out of water.

Towards thye rear end there were hundreds of ducks. One Northern Pintail flew over us.

Bar headed Geese were feeding at the lake bed.

Rudy Shelducks

Pied Avocet

Common Moorhen

Grey Heron

Little grebe

Laughing Dove

Ruff ( another lifer for me)

There is an advantage of bad light ...you can develop a few Black and White photos and look good. But if they are a group of Pied Avocets it doesn't really matter :)

Birds of Diu

We extended our trip to Gir with a quick trip to Diu. Definitely did not visit Diu with an objective of birding but was pleasantly surprised to see a bird sanctuary ....

...with a small signboard. Was excited to see Flamingoes , Spoonbills and Western Reef Egrets next to the roadside

and the best part was to see hundreds of Blue cheeked bee-eaters on wires. Blue cheeked bee eaters migrate to north-western parts of India usually during summer and early winter. It was rare to see so many of them.

The only guy at the sanctuary mentioned that the best season would be winters and they have a boat ride around the wetlands. This could be one of Diu's best kept secrets.