27 Jan 14 - Birding At A Posh Shooting Lake

Don't worry I've not gone soft on my views about hunting & shooting of birds. Instead I've just arrived at one of the most well known shooting lakes in India in the 19th century, which is now a World Heritage Site: Bharatpur (Keoladeo) National Park. Originally, Bharatpur was a Maharaja shooting site, but this was a tradition that continued into the colonial days.

Bharatpur: A subtle entrance gate

Bharatpur is a fairly large reserve with a long road (about 3 miles long) inside the reserve to a small temple. Cars are limited within the park & only allowed to an inner checkpost & a small park lodge on a side road. But you are not expected to walk if you don't want to as there are large numbers of rickshaw drivers, allowing you to travel slowly through the park. The rickshaw drivers are worth considering as they do know a number of stakeouts for Owls & Nightjars (unfortunately none along the main track this time) as well as the commoner mammals & birds.

This shows the extend of the shooting in colonial days: There are another 5 panels

The only food in the park is a small drinks stall by the temple. I was very impressed by this drinks stall as the only food they had were crisps & nuts, but they served them in paper bags, so they were biodegradable if the customers threw them away. The first time in India I had seen real care for the environment over rubbish (especially as it was costing the stall for extra paper bags).

Map of Bharatpur

Initially, the road leads through dry, arid bush & areas of small trees. There is an inner checkpost and soon the track continues into seasonally flooded wet forest. Continuing further this opens up into shallow lakes on both sides, with trees on raised ground. These trees host large nesting colonies of breeding waterbirds. There are also a few areas of taller trees which are worth exploring on side tracks. There are a few raised paths leading across these lakes. Around the temple area are a couple of tower hides (they weren't here on my first visit in 91), which give good views over the wet areas. The reserve continues with a couple of raised tracks radiating out on either side of the temple.

Looking back towards the entrance & the drier part of the reserve

The first part of the raised track after the inner checkpost runs through wet forest

The open marshes from one of the tower hides

An interesting take on conservation: We saw 3 Siberian White Cranes in 91, but sadly, there have been no sightings at Bharatpur for over a decade 

Local villagers seem to be allowed to gather some produce from the reserve on the far side of the temple

Any birder visiting Bharatpur should really allow 3 or 4 days to explore the area fully, including a day of cycling into the reserve to allow you to get to the far end. This is a day, when a guide will get you some bonus species. But having done all that on my 91 trip, then this trip was more focused on potential ticks, Nightbirds & general photography. At the entrance gate, I was briefly hassled by a local bird guide who wanted me to hire him. Tried him on a couple of tricky NW Indian species Red-headed Bunting & Mottled Wood Owl on the vague hope there might be one on the reserve. But with a no on these species, I declined hiring him as a guide, despite his pointing out he had a telescope. Given the time I had just spent in Gujarat & Rajasthan, I didn't think I needed anybody to point out the waterbirds & besides I also had my own telescope. There was a potential tick for me at Bharatput, Brooks's Warbler, which is a subtle Phyllos Warbler, but I knew where to look for that. I also didn't think he would know where it was or how to identify it. I wanted to give myself more photography opportunities & also declined the rickshaw drivers offers. I'll leave the photos to give you an overview of the birding & photographic potential for the site.

Indian Cormorant

Oriental Darter

Grey Heron

Intermediate Egret: This is the nominate intermedia subspecies. Separated from Great White Egret by the shorter, thicker bill, gape line to mid eye (not the rear of the eye, more rounded head & black legs & feet). Great White Egrets also have a distinctively kinked neck (a Great White Egret photo is in the A Weak Excuse To Get Back To An Old Stomping Ground post)

Night Heron: This is the nominate nycticorax subspecies which occurs throughout the species Old World range

Night Heron

Painted Stork: Adult

Painted Stork: Juveniles waiting for food

Painted Stork: Juvenile

Asian Openbill

Bar-headed Goose

Cotton Pgymy-goose

Gadwall: Male

Indian Spot-billed Duck: Those bill markings are excellent

Egyptian Vulture: A high adult bird with its diagnostic black & white wing pattern & diamond shaped tail

Marsh Harrier: Subadult. This is the nominate aeruginosus subspecies which is the same one I see locally in Dorset

White-breasted Waterhen: This is the phoenicurus subspecies which occurs throughout the Indian Subcontinent, except for the Andamans & Nicobars where it is replaced by insularis & midnicobarica on the central Nicobars

Purple Swamphen: This is the poliocephalus subspecies

Moorhen: This is the nominate chloropus subspecies which also occurs in Dorset

Coot: This is the nominate atra subspecies which also occurs in Dorset

Laughing Dove: This is also known as Palm Dove

Yellow-legged Green Pigeon: Showing the distinctive yellow feet

Smyrna Kingfisher: This is the nominate smyrnensis subspecies which as far West as Israel. It is replaced in Southern India & Sri Lanka by the fusca subspecies & the Andamans by the saturatior subspecies

Red-breasted Flycatcher

Jungle Babbler: This species has several subspecies within India. This is the sindiana subspecies which was also seen in Gujarat. Earlier in the trip, the Jungle Babblers around Clacutta were the striata subspecies

Jungle Crow: This is the culminatus subspecies (also known as Indian Jungle Crow) which ranges through most of lowland India & Sri Lanka. Earlier in the trip, I saw the levaillantii subspecies (sometimes split off as Eastern Jungle Crow) on the Andamans

Nilgai: Male checking out a small temple. Males are bluish-grey & have small horns

Nilgai: Females & immatures are this tawny brown & do not have horns

Nilgai: They are well suited for feeding in wet areas with their large size & long legs

Chital Deer: Male

Chital Deer: A tamer female

Rhesus Macaque: This species is replaced in Southern India by Bonnet Macaques

10 Jan 14 - Birding From The Water

After a few hours in a taxi I arrived at the Periyar Tiger Reserve on late afternoon of the 9th & checked into a small, but OK, homestay close to the entrance gate. There was time for a couple of hours of birding around the area before dark, but no photos as I didn't take the camera. The following morning it was an early start to look for the main target species: the bamboo loving Wynaad Laughingthrush. There is extensive bamboo near to the park's Bamboo Grove accommodation, but it turns out that area was all out of bounds & I could only look in from beyond the boundary wall. However, as Wynaad Laughingthrush also occurs in the main park, I decided to switch to plan B. Periyar has a road into the park for about 1.5 - 2 miles leading to a few buildings by the lake side. Here there are boat cruises along the lake. The good thing is you don't need a guide & are allowed to walk unguided along the road. Given I had been unable to find any guides who knew the birds & trekking guides were £12 each, then the unguided option was far better than paying somebody to not be of any added value. The first part of the forest was fairly quiet, except for a constant passage of vehicles. However, birding picked up when I found a large, slow moving flock, around the hotel at the far end of the road. By the end of the day, I had seen a good selection of Western Ghats forest & water birds. Periyar seems to be rarely visited on the regular birding trips, which is a shame as it's an impressive park & I saw a number of species not seen earlier in the trip here.

There were some impressive trees in the park

With some impressive buttresses

Black Baza: This small forest raptor is only 33 cm long

Grey Junglefowl: They are very colourful when seen well

Mountain Imperial Pigeon: Showing the dark tail with pale end of tail band of the cuprea Western Ghats subspecies

Black-rumped Flameback Woodpecker: The distinctive black throat is the best id feature

Yellow-billed Babbler: The pale patch around the eye always seems to be a good id feature

Rufous-tailed Flycatcher: Showing the rufous rump & tail

Rufous Treepie

Western Ghats Palm Squirrel: The park is over 1000 metres, which means these should be Western Ghats Palm Squirrels, rather than the lowland Three-striped Palm Squirrels (see Final Afternoon At Thattekad)

Western Ghats Palm Squirrel: They still have 3 stripes

Arriving at the lake, it only took a few minutes to book onto a boat ride. The boats are large & probably hold about 100 people at a time. Once I got on, I realised all the seats are pre-allocated & I had been given a seat in the middle of the lower deck that was hopeless for photography or birding. After asking about an alternative seat, I was moved to a seat at the back of the upper deck. The boat guys clearing realising that if I got to see & photograph some good birds, they were likely to get a tip. Good to see some initiative for once & they weren't unhappy about the resulting tip as I left the boat. The boats are good as it does allow visibility of the lake's foreshore without upsetting the mammals there. It's pot-luck what you see, but sounds like we did OK seeing Asian Elephant in the middle of the day (apparently they are easier first thing in the morning). However, the highlight of the boat trip was a party of 3 diminutive White-rumped Needletails. This was a species I could have bumped into at several points in the Western Ghats trip, but had been unsuccessful so far. This tick made up for not seeing Wynaad Laughingthrush.

There were several boats running up & down the lake

The lake was fairly low, leaving wide grassy edges for mammals to feed on

Convoy: It did feel a bit too much like a convoy for my liking, but the wildlife seemed to be unaffected

Health & Safety: For once some H&S in India, however, had the boat looked like overturning then my life jacket would quickly have been removed (as swimming wouldn't have been easy with that jacket on). I guess there are a high percentage of Indians that can't swim

Cormorant: The dead trees in the lake provide safe nesting sites for these sinensis Cormorants

Little Cormorant: The smallest of the 3 Indian Cormorant species showing the typically steep forehead

Oriental Darter: I've lost track of the number of times the Old World Darters have been split or lumped, but currently split

Little Egret: This is the nominate subspecies which is the same as we see in Dorset 

Woolly-necked Stork: Another trip tick

Osprey

Ashy Woodswallow

There was a good selection of other wildlife from the boat.

Asian Elephant

Bonnet Macaque: A high wire act to get across the lake making it all look easy

Bonnet Macaque: It nearly all went wrong, but the Macaque recovered & got across safely

Gaur: Not close, but good to see again

Sambar Deer: Male

Terrapin

Arriving back on the jetty in early afternoon, I headed off to the hotel for a lunchtime curry, before birding on the way back to the park entrance.

Spotted Dove: These common Doves are stunning close up

Malabar Grey Hornbill: Initially, the Hornbill was sitting really low down in a small tree

Malabar Grey Hornbill: I had to walk backwards to fit the bird into the photo

Small Green Barbet: Also known as White-cheeked Barbet

Malabar Crimson-throated Barbet: Finally managed to get photos of this Western Ghats endemic which is also known as Malabar Barbet

Bronzed Drongo

Greater Racket-tailed Drongo: The only Racket-tailed Drongo in the Western Ghats

Brown Shrike: This is the nominate brown race cristatus which is a winter visitor to the Subcontinent

Nilgiri Langur: That's a long tail for a Monkey

Butterfly: While the individual Butterfly species have been impressive, overall, the numbers of Butterflies seen in India have been disappointing

Caterpillar

Ever wonder where your laundry is washed: At Periyar it's within the Tiger Reserve

Back in town, there was a quick opportunity to have a look around the edges of the bamboo area.

As badly polluted as the PC World Ditch: A site which some of the Poole birders seem to love birding

Muntjac: Feeding about 10 metres from the polluted ditch

I had planned to revisit the park the following morning, but following a dodgy pizza eaten that evening, I ended up spending the following day throwing up & feeling very unwell. Still feeling weak on the 12th, I arranged for an early taxi to take me to the booked hotel at Cochin airport, rather than revisit the park. So I was ready for the early morning flight on the 13th for Gujarat stage of the Indian trip.