A pre-dawn breakfast (well coffee & chocolate - what more do you need?) to allow us to visit a local open country site near to Jungle Hut. This site was apparently in the local national park, but there was informal access to 09:00. As we were exploring on foot, it was easy to see the common presence of Asian Elephants from their droppings & the local guide also pointed out Leopard pug marks. It was excellent open country with small bushes birding & the main target species for the morning of White-bellied Minivet was found without too much problem. Whilst not a tick for me, having seen one in Bharatpur on the first trip, it's probably the best looking of all the Minivets, so I was happy to see a pair.
Coppersmith Barbet: This small Barbet will be familiar to most Asian birders
Grey Wagtail: The commonest Wagtail I saw in India
Grey-headed Bulbul: A surprisingly shy bamboo loving Bulbul
Indian Black Robin
Hume's Lesser Whitethroat: The concolourous cheeks help to separate this from the similar Lesser Whitethroat
Indian White-eye
White-bellied Minivet: Male
White-bellied Minivet: Male
There were lots of other good birds seen during the early morning until our time ran out about 09:00.
Habitat view
The park boundary was this excellent line of riverine forest
Changeable Hawk-eagle: This is the Crested Hawk-eagle subspecies of Changeable Hawk-eagle
Crested Serpent Eagle
Blue-bearded Bee-eater
Little Green Bee-eater
Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike
White-bellied Drongo