4 Nov 22 - Indonesia - Banda Sea Cruise Day 9 - More Leti Birding

We had had a successful start to the morning's Birding on Leti with good views of the endemic Kisar Friarbird, along with the local subspecies of Yellow-throated Golden Whistler & Southern Boobook. Plus, I had seen a bonus Red-backed Buttonquail. We still had more time birding the forest & field edges to the village where we had landed before dawn.

Black-backed Fruit-dove: This is the lettiensis subspecies which is restricted to Leti, Moa, Luang, Sermata and Teun Islands. There are four other subspecies of this Lesser Sundas endemic

Rose-crowned Fruit-dove: This is the roseipileum subspecies which is restricted to East Timor, Wetar, Romang, Kissar, Moa & Leti Islands. Like the xanthogaster subspecies that occurs on Babar, Damar & the Tanimbar Islands, it does not have the rose crown that the third Lesser Sundas subspecies and the two Australian subspecies have

Timor Zebra Dove: This is more commonly known as Barred Dove. I've kept to the name I originally knew it as during my first visit to Indonesia, as I generally get confused with the names for this group of similar-looking small Doves

Little Bronze-cuckoo: This is the rufomerus subspecies which we had previously seen on Damar Island. It also occurs on Romang, Kisar, Moa & Sermata Islands

Cinnamon-banded Kingfisher: This is the dammerianus subspecies which occurs on Moa, Leti, Babar & Damar Islands. Two other subspecies occur on other Lesser Sundas & Tanimbar Islands

White-shouldered Triller: This is a monotypic Wallacean endemic which occurs from East Java and Bali to Sulawesi subregion & the Lesser Sundas

Paddyfield Pipit: This is the medius subspecies of the Eastern Lesser Sundas. Another subspecies occurs in Bali, Sulawesi, Bali & the Western Lesser Sundas. Other subspecies occur in Borneo, the Philippines, South East Asia, Indochina, the Indian Subcontinent and St Just in Cornwall (albeit sadly this individual never made it onto the UK List)

Zebra Finch: Male on the left & female on the right. This is the guttata subspecies which occurs from Lombok to Sumba, Timor & some of the Banda Sea islands, which Clements lumps with the Zebra Finch found in Australia. IOC & the Birds of the Indonesian Archipelago splits guttata as a monotypic species: so this will be another armchair Tick for me when I get the time to convert my birding database to follow IOC taxonomy

Zebra Finch: Female. That is an impressive bill

We returned to the village in late morning where we were met by the Lady Denok's boats. It had been another successful morning ashore.

Tree Sparrow: This is the malaccensis subspecies. We typically saw Tree Sparrows as we got back to the villages at the end of the Birding

Back in the village

Just in case, we weren't sure if this was a Christian village

On the beach waiting for the Lady Denok's boats

Looking back on the village

25 Jan 14 - More Birds At Tal Chappar

Rather than head straight to the Tal Chappar sanctuary, we spent the first couple of hours birding to the North of Chappar village. There are scattered groups of trees here which are home to the enigmatic Indian Spotted Creeper. I was luck enough to have seen one at Bharatpur in 91, but was keen to see another & it was still an Indian tick for Bill. Unfortunately, after a couple of hours we had drawn a blank, not helped by some fairly imprecise directions (again) for the best area.

Wryneck: Always happy to see this strange Woodpecker

Indian Red-winged Busklark

Indian Red-winged Busklark

White-eared Bulbul: Me & my shadow

Desert Lesser Whitethroat

Eastern Pied Wheatear: This is also known as Variable Wheatear as there are 3 distinct colour forms across its range. All the other Eastern Pied Wheatears seen were the picata form which have a white belly. However, this looks like the opistholeuca form which is essentially black with a white vent & it should be wintering in Northern Pakistan 

Large Grey Babbler: The dark bill, black lores & intense yellow eye separate it from Jungle Babbler

Finally, we abandoned the Indian Spotted Creeper site & headed of to the pakora stall for a filling breakfast. Next stop was the Tal Chappar sanctuary where the main quest was Stoliczka's Bushchat. This looks an obvious species in it's male Summer plumage, but given it was still January it was going to be a lot harder to pick out from the female Siberian Stonechats in the park. This wasn't helped by Stoliczka's Bushchat being far more of a ground feeder than the Siberian Stonechats are & hence much easier to overlook in the knee high grass.

Red-naped Ibis: The white shoulder patch immediately separates this species from Glossy Ibis

Red-naped Ibis: They are much broader winged than Glossy Ibis (see the The Grey & Brown Of Gujarat post for a Glossy Ibis in flight)

Red-naped Ibis: I think this is a better name than it's alternative name of Indian Black Ibis

Pallid Harrier: Male. The black is limited to a narrow wedge in the wing, compared to the male Montagu's & Hen Harriers, where the black continues to the leading edge. Note, the clean grey underwing, which separates it from a male Montagu's Harrier

Montagu's Harrier: Male. Note the black on the leading edge of the upperwing primaries. This photo also shows the 2 dark bars on the underwing secondaries & fine rufous barring on the underwing coverts. Montagu's Harriers also have a black bar on the upperwing secondaries (the far end of which is just visible on this photo)

Tawny Eagle: Worn adult. This Eagle has a shorter, narrower hand (end of wing) & doesn't have the bulging secondaries of Steppe Eagle

Tawny Eagle: Immature. The underwing coverts are paler than the flight feathers & it has a pale inner primary flash & a narrow white trailing edge to the secondaries

Tawny Eagle: Immature. A second individual

Tawny Eagle: Dark phase adult

Imperial Eagle: Juvenile with broad white tips to secondaries & greater coverts & pale streaking on the rest of the wing & mantle. Note, the fairly long yellow gape

Demoiselle Crane: Showing how difficult it will be to find a ground feeding Bushchat in a small clearing in the grass

Demoiselle Crane: The track we were on went close to where they were feeding

Demoiselle Crane: Unfortunately, there weren't any other tracks we could have taken to avoid flushing them

Indian Roller: I needed to brighten up this post

Paddyfield Pipit: Quickly back to dull coloured birds again

Siberian Stonechat: Female

Isabelline Wheatear: Note, the black tail, uniform pale upperparts, heavy bill & head and black alula

Wild Boar: We saw several parties of Wild Boar in the sanctuary which had some domestic or inbred genes in them as well as the normal grey looking Wild Boar

16 Jan 14 - The Grey & Brown Of Gujarat

This is my homage to the classic Sawdoctors song 'The Green and Red of Mayo'. We headed out with our Indian jeep mates again this morning, but Bill & myself were dropped off for a few hours to look for Stoliczka's Bushchat. This scarce regional endemic species is only found in a small area in Afghanistan, Pakistan & the arid NW of India. To make life harder, there is nowhere in India where it's common & it could easily be overlooked as one of the much commoner Siberian Stonechats if not looked at carefully. The area we visited was a local lake with arable edges as Stoliczka's Bushchats like weedy edges to arable land as well as grasslands in arid areas. Bill had seen this species here in at least once during previous visits. Unfortunately, no joy after a couple of hours of searching. Initally, we were birding along the edge of these arable fields & grasslands.

We were held up by the local rush hour before we got to the lake

Indian Grey Francolin: A fairly common bird in arid scrubland

Ashy-crowned Finchlark: Male. This is the common Finchlark in Gujarat & good numbers were seen each day

Ashy-crowned Finchlark: Female

Pied Wagtail: Trying to sort out the subspecies on wintering grounds is probably not possible, but dukhunensis or personata are the expected subspecies in this part of India

White-eared Bulbul

Pied Bushchat: Male

Eastern Pied Wheatear: Female (or immature male)

Desert Wheatear: The commonest Wheatear in the Little Rann of Kutch

Daurian Shrike

Bill: Checking the finer separation features of Grey Bird from Brown Bird in the Inskipp guide

One of the local cattle: They are pretty impressive animals when seen close up. Fortunately, they were also fairly docile

There was a good opportunity to have a good look at & get some photos of a couple of confusing Pipit species, Tawny Pipit & Paddyfield Pipit, which were in the same field.

Tawny Pipit: This photo shows the long legged, long appearance & upright stance as well as the overall pale, relatively unstreaked appearance of Tawny Pipit

Tawny Pipit: Showing the fine dark lores, malar & moustachial stripes

Tawny Pipit: Another view of the pale bill, facial pattern & general appearance 

Tawny Pipit: Showing the well marked median coverts

Tawny Pipit: This is a winter visitor to India & is the nominate campestris subspecies (the same as the European subspecies) 

Tawny Pipit: A different individual to the above Tawny Pipit photos

Paddyfield Pipit: Although the same size as Tawny Pipit, it looks smaller, more compact, shorter tailed & shorter-legged than Tawny Pipit

Paddyfield Pipit: This is the waitei subspecies which is paler than the rufulus & malayensis races in the rest of the Subcontinent

Paddyfield Pipit: Showing the more uniformly patterned converts, streaky crown, weaker bill compared to Tawny Pipit

Paddyfield Pipit: The whitish throat & belly help separate this species from the buffier Blyth's Pipit. This photo also shows the weak eyestripe, malar & Moustachial stripes

Eventually, we moved across to look at the lake edge & nearby scattered bushes. There were a good selection of species on the lake and around the lake edge. Unfortunately, there was a lot of glare as we were looking into the light.

White Pelican: As far as I can see they are all White Pelicans in this flock

White Pelican: This party flew over as it warmed up

Glossy Ibis

Crane: Adult

Crane: Immature

Red-wattled Plover

Black-tailed Godwit

Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse: Two females enjoying a drink

Sykes's Warbler: The main features of this species to my eyes is it is a cross between a small Acrocephalus and Phylloscopus Warbler. The pale colouration, pale supercilium mainly up to the eye, but fading out behind the eye, lack of a dark eye line & pale lower mandible

After a long day in the field yesterday, it was an early return for lunch today. On the way back, there was a Black-winged Kite on the wires. Checking it, it turned out to be a sub-adult bird which was even better looking than the adults.

Black-winged Kite: Sub-adult

A local farmer's field on the way back to Desert Coursers

It's a pretty basic way of live