20 Jan 14 - The Final Afternoon At CEDO

There was not enough time to consider a coastal visit for the last afternoon & therefore the final afternoon was going to be close to CEDO. The plan was to look for Rock Bush-quail which Jugal reckoned we had about a 20% chance of seeing. So it was back in the direction of the White-naped Tit site with Jugal to try for the Bush-quail, but trying different sites to the ones already visited. With the odds stacked against us, it's probably no surprise that we didn't see it. But it was a good afternoon of birding.

Griffon Vulture: The cinnamon wash to the body help to separate this from an immature Oriental White-backed Vulture (also known as White-rumped Vulture) which would be a colder dark grey-brown body colour

Griffon Vulture: Good to see a Vulture in India. I saw large numbers of on the 91 trip & only a handful this trip. Gujarat & Rajasthan are some of the strongholds for a group of species that have seen up to a 99% reduction in their numbers in recent years, due to the fatal affects of the drug Diclofenac

Small Minivet: Male

Small Minivet: Immature male

White-bellied Minivet: Female. Good to see this scarce & local species again

White-bellied Minivet: Female

Indian Black Robin

White-naped Tit: Another excellent species to see again

Common Woodshrike

Black-naped Hare: This is the only Hare or Rabbit in range, so presumably immature Hares don't show a black nape

19 Jan 14: White-naped Tit (Wow)

The good news was Bill had managed to contact Jugal & he had space for us to stay at CEDO for the next couple of nights. Therefore, it was off to CEDO soon after dawn. While we were waiting for Shiva to bring the car, we spotted a couple of Common Koels in the sole tree in our busy side street. A closer scan of the tree revealed 7 birds sitting there.

Common Koel: Male

Common Koel: Female

Cow pen: Cows are sacred in India & clean up a lot of the vegetable waste on the Indian streets. These ones were lucky? as they had a pen to stay in overnight next to a small temple by our hotel

Vegetable seller: There always seems to be a good selection of vegetables on sale in Indian towns

The good news is Jugal has expanded his accommodation area & now has 8 rooms. I had tried to contact him by email from the Western Ghats, but the email addresses I had were out of date & had no responses. Jugal's current contact details are cedobirding.com or cedoindia@yahoo.com.

Jugal: In front of the CEDO entrance

Another view of CEDO

After unloading the car of the bags into our rooms, we were soon heading out again. The Great Rann of Kutch area has a good selection of species within an hour or two of driving, but the main target for both of us was the tricky to see, dry country White-naped Tit. I had looked for this on my first Indian trip, but didn't have a good site & it was one of the main birds to hopefully see in Gujarat. Jugal was free to come along as our guide for the morning, which was great as this was a bird he has extensively studied in the past. But our first stop was when a dog sized mammal appeared on the road & stopped to look at us. As we got closer, we realised it was a Caracal (like a small Lynx) & all shouted at Shiva to stop. He did annoyingly, using only friction to break the car, so we ended up stopping close to where it had run into the impenetrable bushes (obviously never to be seen again). This was only the third Caracal that Jugal had seen locally in 20 years of living there. The chances are it would have disappeared had we stopped sooner. We were all elated, but a bit disappointed at the brief views. Soon after was the first birding stop: an arid rocky slope to look for Sykes's Lark.

We had some help to flush the Sykes's Larks

Indian Red-winged Bushlark: Also know as Indian Bushlark. The streaked crown, streaky breast & white surrounding the cheek patch separate it from Singing Bushlark. In flight, the rufous in the wing was obvious

Ashy-crowned Finchlark: Female

Sykes's Lark: They like bare, stoney ground & this area looked perfect 

Sykes's Lark

Sykes's Lark: The breast had a strong chestnut wash to it

Tawny Pipit

Rufous-fronted Prinia: Showing a good rufous forehead, as well as the whitish lores, supercilium & underparts 

Rufous-fronted Prinia: The pale tail tips show well in this photo

Moving further down the road, we reached the White-naped Tit area. This was an area of decent bushes on an arid, rocky hillside with a small temple nearby. Jugal quickly located a pair which hung around for long enough for reasonable photos to be be taken. Soon after he picked up a Marshall's Iora, which was very approachable & carried on feeding despite me getting fairly close.

The small temple: Indian temples are often the best kept of buildings in India

Jugal & Bill looking for the White-naped Tit

A typical view of the arid bush country

Indian Grey Francolin

Small Minivet: Male

Marshall's Iora

Marshall's Iora: Couldn't resist another photo

Black Redstart: Female

White-naped Tit: A pair quickly appeared to Jugal's tape

White-naped Tit: It looked even better when it turned around

White-naped Tit: A photo of the white nape

Bay-backed Shrike

Grey-necked Bunting

Butterfly

Finally, it was time to head back to CEDO for lunch. After the excellent food at Desert Coursers, the food whilst good vegetarian food, was a bit disappointing.

Booted Eagle: Pale phase over CEDO

22 Dec 13 - A Cracking Flowerpecker

Back to Gandhi Park hoping that the Daurian Starlings might be feeding in the park, but looks like the park is only a roost site. But more opportunities for bird photography of non forest species.

Vernal Hanging-parrot: Checking he has still got his 4 toes. A Sparrow sized Parrot with a lot of character

White-bellied Swiftlet: A widespread Asian species also known as Glossy Swiftlet

Blue-tailed Bee-eater: I'm always happy to watch Bee-eaters

Blue-tailed Bee-eater

 Pacific Swallow: Smaller & more compact than Swallows without the bluish lower throat band

Brown Shrike: 'Philippine Shrike' lucionensis race

Small Minivet

Red-whiskered Bulbul: A common successful species found throughout the main island, except in the best forests

 Common Myna: A widespread species that has successfully been introduced to many countries

Brown Flycatcher: This would be great to see on Portland

Brown Flycatcher

Finally, the first endemic photographed: Andaman Flowerpecker. Flowerpeckers are predominately an Asian Family and most are barely bigger than a Wren. To make them harder to see well, a number like to feed around the tops of flowering trees. Therefore, it was great to find that there is only 1 species on the Andamans, so no problems with identification & also they were often feeding in low scrubby trees. Flowerpeckers have a lot of character for such a small bird, so it's great to see them well.

Andaman Flowerpecker

Andaman Flowerpecker: Enjoying breakfast

Andaman Flowerpecker: Checking what else is going on

Finally, it was time to head back to the hotel & wait for Brian Field to arrive, along with the bird guide, Vivek, & driver, Gophal.