![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.caligata.com\/tripreports\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/H0A2731.jpg\" "\\"Red-naped")
<\/a>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.caligata.com\/tripreports\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/H0A2377.jpg\" "\\"Sind")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe species that we had been dreaming on were still missing until we heard a couple of calls of a White-crowned Penduline Tit. But we couldn\u2019t see it at all and we had heard it only shortly so it wasn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n
We drove to another eBird-spot but it didn\u2019t seem to be good for our target-species. But we met a few local birders who told us that West Himalayan Bush Warblers hadn\u2019t been heard at all in a couple of weeks. They had either left or just stopped singing. But these birders were going to give another to find them so we followed them to the place where we had already been trying.<\/p>\n When we got to the spot we heard and saw briefly a Cetti\u2019s and a Moustached Warbler and then I heard very clear calls of a White-crowned Penduline Tit. We played some playback and it was answering many times but for some reason it didn\u2019t come any closer. But this time we all heard it very clearly. Locals told us that they actually had never seen this species even though they were visiting the place weekly. So it was very lurky species!<\/p>\n But we couldn\u2019t find any West Himalayan Bush Warblers even though we still tried for some time. We also walked again a little in the area and found a couple of Rosy Pipits, more Streaked Babblers and so on. One of us got a lifer from a Black Francolin and also a Eurasian Wryneck was nice to see. And of course we got lots of other trip-ticks.<\/p>\n But finally we had to give up and we continued to Chandu wetland where we right away found a flock of Bar-headed Geese with a single Lesser White-fronted Goose which was wintering with them \u2013 a really good Indian tick and always nice bird to see!<\/p>\n We put up a couple of telescopes and found about 20 River Terns, lots of waders, for example about 200 Black-winged Stilts, a couple of Pied Avocets, 10 Little Ringed Plovers, a few Black-headed Gulls, lots of ducks and so on.<\/p>\n But soon we realized that we were in a hurry as we had plenty of driving to do. So we still quickly checked the pools that we had seen too early in the morning and found a Knob-billed Duck and of course more waders.<\/p>\n Next we continued to Sultanpur National Park where we were just walking along the road and tried to find Brook\u2019s Leaf Warblers from the trees on the other side of fence of the National Park. The traffic was very bad and loud so it was difficult to hear anything but after some walking we heard promising calls. But we managed to see only one warbler and it looked like a Greenish Warbler. Anyway I recorded also the promising calls so we have to try to identify it later. Along the road we saw also a Rufous Treepie and a Large Grey Babbler.<\/p>\n Towards Rajasthan<\/b><\/p>\n But finally we had to start driving and still in Haryana we saw an Oriental Honey Buzzard. We drove slowly along truck-filled roads through untidy villages and cities and tried to avoid hitting cows that were eating plastic on the roadsides. We continued towards south and only observations we made were some Rhesus Macaques sitting on the roofs of rundown roofs and stonewalls.<\/p>\n After a few hours driving we stopped in Uttar Pradesh state in the middle of fields and Sunil pointed us a flock of distant Sarus Cranes that were feeding on the field. On a small pond nearby we saw also a couple of Knob-billed Ducks, a Lesser Whistling Duck, both Indian and Little Cormorants and so on.<\/p>\n Finally after one more hour driving and after we had crossed the border of Rajasthan, we arrived at Bharatpur. We were there so late that we hadn\u2019t got time to do any birding anymore even though it had been our ordinary plan. But we had been doing lots of extra in the morning that hadn\u2019t been in our schedule at all. We parked our car in front of Hotel Sunbird which situated right next to Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary. And once we had got our rooms, we still kept the log before the dinner and then it was really nice to go to sleep early.<\/p>\n Trip to Chambal <\/b><\/p>\n On the 6th of February we left the hotel at 5 a.m. and took breakfast with us. After one and a half hour driving we parked to the western side of Dholpur to bushy steppe-area. It was still a bit dark but anyway we started walking on the steppe. Right away we found a few Yellow-wattled Lapwings but then it took some time before we found anything really interesting. There were surprisingly few birds but finally Vesa found a couple of Indian Bush Larks which we managed to photograph quite well.<\/p>\n While we were having the breakfast along the road I saw a bird flushing from the road-side and flying straight away and disappearing behind the closest sand-dunes. I had no idea what it was. First I thought that it was a Shikra but something didn\u2019t fit. When we were walking around the area again Andreas found the same bird again and it was a Common Hawk-Cuckoo.<\/p>\n We got plenty of trip-ticks but only better birds were a couple of Asian Openbills, a few Bronzy-winged and a single Pheasant-tailed Jacana, a Blue Rock Thrush and a locally rare Little Heron. We also heard a Jungle Bush Quail.<\/p>\n Pretty soon after we had left we stopped in village of Chandpur just to find out that the dark bird which had caused the stop was only a Black Redstart. But surprisingly a couple of Indian Grey Hornbills flushed from the closest tree so it was a good stop after all. And after some more driving we found the right dark bird and managed to get good pictures of a tame Brown Rock Chat. And on the next stop we still saw a Large Grey Babbler.<\/p>\n Then it was time to start driving towards Chambal Sanctuary where we had booked a boat-trip to the river. We crossed Madhya Pradesh state border and when we were driving down towards the river we saw a few Indian Peafowls and a couple of Golden Jackals. Once we had parked our car we met our boat-driver and soon we were boarding into our boat.<\/p>\n We didn\u2019t have to drive far because already on the first small island there were plenty to watch and photograph! First we saw something else than birds – a few Gavials and Mugger Crocodiles!<\/p>\n But on the same island there were also a couple of weird-looking Great Stone-curlews, a few River Lapwings and a couple of White-browed Wagtails.<\/p>\n We continued along the river towards south and soon saw a couple of Ruddy Shelducks, a young Pallas\u2019s Gull flying over, a couple of Egyptian Vultures and then Andreas saw a tern perched on a sand in the middle of the river in very bad light. He took some pictures of this distant bird but we were passing it pretty far as in front of us there was another small island full of birds. And soon we were counting Indian Skimmers – 123 of them. But there were no tern on the island so we started to get a little bit worried. <\/p>\n Andreas was watching his pictures of the distant tern and he thought it had been a Black-bellied Tern. Most of us hadn\u2019t seen the bird at all. I had seen it but it had been very far and in impossible light. Soon we saw 3 terns flying over us but they were River Terns. There was a also a Bonelli\u2019s Eagle soaring on the sky an Eastern Cattle Egret hanging on its claws and soon we saw another bird on their nest.<\/p>\n Luckily soon our driver noticed a tern perched on the other side of the river and we slowly drove closer and saw that it was a Black-bellied Tern. We managed to get pretty close and get nice pictures of this bird. And soon it was time to start driving back towards the harbor. On the way we saw that the bird that Andreas had photographed was still there and it indeed was a Black-bellied Tern and soon we saw also a third bird.<\/p>\n When we were back at the harbor we still saw a Long-legged Buzzard and saw people queuing on the bridge to a small gap where they could drop their rubbish to the river. They were dropping paintings and furniture and everything possible! But soon it was time to say goodbye to our captain and start driving back towards Bharatpur.<\/p>\n But we weren\u2019t driving straight route but made a quite long detour on the way. Luckily there weren\u2019t too much traffic and finally we saw Bayana cliffs in front of us. And right away I saw a big Indian Vulture flying in front of the cliffs. We parked soon and luckily the vulture was still flying against the mountain. Later we found a few more Indian Vultures perched on the cliff and it was good to tick this extremely rare bird.<\/p>\n Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary<\/b><\/p>\n After lunch there were three-wheeled electric rickshaws waiting for us in the parking place. We got into the vehicles in pairs and soon we were at the gate of Bharatpur Geoladeo Ghana National Park where we got the tickets and then drove along a good paved road inside the park. <\/p>\n It was easy to see that we were late on our ordinary schedule as we were hurrying all the time. There were birds all around us but we were stopping only for the most interesting ones. The local guide was on the first rickshaw and like always we weren\u2019t told too much about what was happening. Finally after we had passed many well-showing Indian Peafowls, we stopped to see a perched Spotted Owl. On the next stop we saw a very well hidden Indian Scops Owl but luckily on the next stop there was another one looking out from their nest-hole.<\/p>\n We passed several Nilgais and a couple of Chitals that were hiding behind the bushes. On the wetland we could see lots of egrets, storks, ducks, cormorants and so on and finally we stopped to look at them. There were hundreds of Painted Storks but also about 800 Gadwalls, 300 Red-crested Pochards, 100 Tufted Ducks, 5 Ferruginous Ducks, 2500 Eurasian Coots, 200 Common Moorhens, 100 Grey-headed Swamphens, 50 Little Grebes and so on. Better species were a very distant Black-necked Stork, a few Steppe and Eastern Imperial Eagles, the first White-eared Bulbuls of the trip and so on. On the wetland there were cows and water buffalos but also plenty of Nilgais. I could have easily spent a day or several on this place photographing birds and animals but we were soon hurrying again.<\/p>\n On the next stop we saw a very well hiding Black Bittern and soon we were photographing a Yellow Bittern which was showing much better. I also got some pictures of other egrets and herons. But soon we continued to the end of the road and continued walking along a smaller road.<\/p>\n We tried to find a Brown Crake for some time but without luck. And soon the sun started to set and some Indian Flying Foxes that were hanging upside down from the branches started to fly. We still were watching the huge numbers of birds for some time before we had to start driving back towards the gate.<\/p>\n On the way back we still stopped to watch and photograph another Black Bittern which was showing quite nicely and we also saw a flock of about 50 Great White Pelicans landing far to the lake.<\/p>\n We still asked if there was a possibility to twitch a Dusky Eagle-Owl as we knew that they had been twitched from or at least close to their nest. But for some reason it was impossible. We were never told why we couldn\u2019t try this lifer. They had been twitched almost daily before and also after our trip.<\/p>\n Our day was over when we parked in front of our hotel and it was time to keep the log again and have dinner. And again we managed to get to sleep early enough.<\/p>\n Detour<\/b><\/p>\n On the 7th of February we had again a huge detour to our ordinary plan. We had decided to give a try to one more Indian endemic for which the best place was in Ranthambore. I was happy to do this extra-trip because it gave me an opportunity to try to see a Tiger too as Ranthambore is one of the best places to see it in India.<\/p>\n It was a long drive southeast but I managed to sleep a little in the car. On the way we saw a couple of Indian Grey Hornbills in flight, a single Spotted Dove and the first Bengal Sacred Langurs of the trip.<\/p>\n When we got to Ranthambore we bought tickets inside the National Park and soon were driving inside a forest. There were plenty of big cars and buses coming towards us as tiger-twitchers were going to breakfast. <\/p>\n After a couple of kilometers Sunil told we were in a good place for our target-species. And almost immediately he found a couple of Painted Spurfowls walking slowly in the shadows under the bushes. It took some time for some of our group to see the birds but after all the male stopped in an open place and with Andreas we managed to get really good pictures of this endemic.<\/p>\n Our long detour had been success already so I hoped we now had plenty of time to try Tigers. But after some hundreds of meters driving we surprisingly made a U-turn and turned back and were soon outside the National Park. I don\u2019t know why we did so but our guides weren\u2019t the most talkative people. We saw an Asian Woolly-necked Stork, a couple of Sambars and a Ruddy Mongoose but I wasn\u2019t too happy for the effortless try to see Tigers.<\/p>\n And soon we drove to the most boring-looking dry bushy hill-area to try to find a Rock Bush Quail. We were walking in hot temperature between the bushes that were full of thorns and the same extremely sharp thorns were also on the ground everywhere and they went right though the bottom of shoes. I wouldn\u2019t have been too happy with a small chicken as there might have been something more interesting to see but after all we didn\u2019t find it either. <\/p>\n We did see a single Barred Buttonquail and some 20 Alexandrine and 50 Plum-headed Parakeets, a Coppersmith Barbet and 10 Large Grey Babbler and I saw a Dusky Crag Martin flying over us.<\/p>\n We still tried to find Rock Bush Quail on another place where we found a flock of about 30 Indian Stone-curlews. It was another lifer for me but I would have changed at least 29 of them to a single Tiger…<\/p>\n At noon it was time to start a long drive towards north-west to Jaipur. We ate lunch that we had with us next to some big pool where we saw plenty of ducks, waders and egrets and so on but nothing new. And soon we kept on driving again.<\/p>\n Finally we arrived at Jaipur where we had an accommodation in Hotel Arya Niwas. It was in the middle of this huge 3 million inhabitant city which we really had hoped to avoid. But the hotel was nice and food was good but once again we didn\u2019t have much time to enjoy it.<\/p>\n Tal Chhapar<\/b><\/p>\n On the 8th of February we left already at 3 a.m. as we had another long drive south-west to Tal Chhapar. On the way I managed to sleep again a little and we were in the right place just when the sun was beginning to rise.<\/p>\n Andreas had an exact point where our target-bird had been seen last time so our group was soon marching towards it through a dry semi-desert area.<\/p>\n I thought that we were walking too fast and not really birding and stayed behind and took some pictures of Common Babblers and then started to think what could be the best way to find our target-bird. I saw some bigger trees nearby where the sun had just started to shine. Matti was also walking slowly and I said to him that after a cold night I would be warming up on those trees if I was our target-bird. We walked towards the trees and immediately I found an Indian Spotted Creeper that was climbing on the first tree. <\/p>\n The creeper flew soon to the next trees but luckily the rest of our group came quickly and we found the bird again. It stayed on the tree-trunk for a minute or two before it continued to the next trees and then further to another small forest.<\/p>\n There were plenty of Blackbucks walking and running on the open areas. Some handsome males were walking gracefully chest up while females were much shier. There were also carcasses and smelly cows were left here and there for the vultures.<\/p>\n We saw several Egyptian Vultures and also a stunning Cinereous Vulture. Our group was again walking around the area and more birds were soon found like several White-browed Fantails, a Bay-backed Shrike, a Great Grey Shrike, a Yellow-crowned Woodpecker and some Yellow-throated Sparrows. We saw also at least 2 more Indian Spotted Creepers but they didn\u2019t stop for the pictures at all.<\/p>\n But after all we had to keep on going again. But we didn\u2019t drive long until \u201cGusse\u201d noticed a flock of Yellow-footed Green Pigeons on one tree. Then we tried to find a place where to see well inside Tal Chhapar Sanctuary where had been several recent sightings of both Laggar and Red-necked Falcon. After some driving we found an open place but there wasn\u2019t very good visibility to the park which had surprisingly high walls. It might have been OK place to see flying falcons but for some reason we gave up almost immediately and kept on driving towards west again.<\/p>\n Jorbeer<\/b><\/p>\n After a few boring hours of driving we finally saw a Laggar Falcon in flight. It stayed soaring over us so we managed to get some pictures too. And soon we saw another bird that landed to its nest which was on an electricity-pylon.<\/p>\n Finally we curved to Jorbeer rubbish-tip area where we immediately found a huge flock of Yellow-eyed Pigeons perching on the electricity-pylons and wires. We counted 2000 birds that were wintering here as they are breeding in Central-Asia.<\/p>\n There were plenty of eagles and vultures soaring over the rubbish tip so soon we continued to conservation reserve where we parked outside the gate. But for some reason we didn\u2019t go into the area – again nothing was explained to us. So we had to stay outside the gates and try to watch and photograph distant birds.<\/p>\n There were lots of Egyptian and Griffon Vultures, but also some Cinereous Vultures, a single White Stork and then we saw at least one Himalayan Vulture. We also saw a huge flock of about 5000 Rosy Starlings in flight!<\/p>\n But then it was driving-time again and we still had a few hours to go. Through the window I saw a couple of Variable Wheatears on the way but finally we arrived at Kcheechan village where we stayed in Kurja Resort.<\/p>\n Demoiselle Cranes \u2013 lots of them!<\/b><\/p>\n On the 9th of February we slept a little bit longer and then drove only a short distance to Kcheechan where we climbed to a roof of one house almost in the middle of the village. On the next property there was an open area about size of a football field where Demoiselle Cranes were coming to feed every morning.<\/p>\n It was still too early but the owner of the house and the feeder of the cranes showed us many articles about the site. Soon the first flocks of Demoiselle Cranes started flying over the village but they landed to a semi-deserted area behind the village. After some waiting the first crane with broken leg arrived and started feeding but then it still took some time before the big flocks started to come.<\/p>\n But finally there were flocks coming everywhere and they all landed to this small area in front of us. Unfortunately light was pretty difficult to get good pictures but it was getting slowly better. But of course the part of our group who weren\u2019t photographers and had already got their tick, started to get anxious. <\/p>\n With Andreas we kept on photographing the cranes but the rest of the group was soon standing on the street next to our car as they wanted to go to breakfast. We were really enjoying photographing Demoiselle Cranes and I could have easily stayed there for whole day but after all we had to give up and leave.<\/p>\n After the breakfast we found a Variable Wheatear from the garden and soon we had to start driving towards west again. It was a long drive to Jaisalmer. On the way we saw more Variable Wheatears, a couple of Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouses, a Tawny Eagle, a Common Buzzard and so on.<\/p>\n To desert<\/b><\/p>\n In Jaisalmer we took pictures of old fort that has been built in 1156 and has been announced a Unesco World Heritage Site status. Then we went to eat and soon continued driving to the middle of the desert.<\/p>\n Because it wasn\u2019t too late yet, we still went birding to Desert National Park. For some reason there was nobody at the gate, so we just drove inside the park. Soon we stopped to walk in the desert in a good-looking area and found an Isabelline Shrike, a couple of Desert Warblers and a distant Raven. There were big flocks of Greater Short-toed and Bimaculated Larks flying over us and we also saw the first Chinkaras and a couple of Spiny-tailed Lizards.<\/p>\n We still saw some common desert-birds and at Sam sand-dunes there were plenty of dromedaries waiting for tourists to go for a ride. Finally we continued along a bad road to Prince Desert Camp where we were welcomed with traditional way by a beautiful woman. She gave us a red bindi to our forehead and threw rose petals over us while a drummer was playing. <\/p>\n Soon there was a local dance and music show in the middle of the garden and I went to look at it before the dinner. We went soon to out tents and tried to sleep but the show lasted until 10 p.m. But then it was quiet and we could fall asleep. <\/p>\n Desert National Park area<\/b><\/p>\n On the 10th of February we drove to Musa\u2019s Wild Expedition parking place where we met our local guides and climbed to their Jeeps and soon were driving towards Desert National Park and maybe the most awaited morning of the whole trip \u2013 at least for me. <\/p>\n We drove straight to a smaller road that went to the middle of the desert and again we saw big flocks of Greater Short-toed and Bimaculated Larks and on the first stop we saw our first Black-crowned Sparrow-Larks.<\/p>\n When we kept on going it seemed clear that we were searching for our main target-species of the whole trip \u2013 Great Indian Bustards. We were on the back-car and soon stopped to a place where the first car was already parked. We didn\u2019t know why they had stopped but soon I saw a Siberian Stonechat on a top of on bush. When the first car left, I saw another bird flying to the same bush and this looked different and it started to pump its chest funnily – a female White-browed Bush Chat! We tried to call to our friends on the first car but there was no connection. So we soon had to follow them. <\/p>\n We continued driving along the fence until our guide said calmly: \u201ca Bustard\u201d. He stopped and after some scanning we also managed to see one very distant Great Indian Bustard between some bushes. The first car also reversed to see the bird but it was clear that we could see the bird better if we drive a little bit forward. And soon we saw several bustards!<\/p>\n After all we saw at least 9 Great Indian Bustards in this sparse flock but these birds were unfortunately quite far and because of the fence there was no way to get any closer. We could see them really well with telescopes but of course photos weren\u2019t that good. And once we were sure that the birds weren\u2019t coming any closer, we decided to move on. And of course right then we saw two of these birds flying. We stopped and managed to get some distant flight-pictures too.<\/p>\n Next we continued to a bushy area where after some searching we found a female White-browed Bush Chat for the rest of the group too. This individual was showing extremely well. We also managed to get pictures of an Egyptian Vulture that passed us pretty close.<\/p>\n Soon the day was getting very hot so we continued to Musa\u2019s Desert Nest to rest and spend some time before the evening trip. We also ate lunch that our driver had brought from our own accommodation. Then we were either resting, scanning the sky or some were even walking on the desert in extremely hot weather but nothing new was found.<\/p>\n We left birding again at 3 p.m. and headed straight to one rocky hill where we immediately found a couple of Red-tailed Wheatears, a couple of Desert Larks, a small flock of Trumpeter Finches and a couple of Black-crowned Sparrow-Larks.<\/p>\n All these birds were very tame so we managed to get good pictures even though it was still very hot and lots of haze in the air.<\/p>\n Next we drove to the middle of the desert to do some car-searching. We were driving back and forth through a very dry area with pale-yellow plant but couldn\u2019t find what we were searching for. So soon we continued to a big flooded lake where were lots of birds: ducks, waders, a local rarity Great Ringed Plover, Alexandrine Plovers, Little and Temminck\u2019s Stints, 20 Black Storks, some raptors, shrikes, a Pale Martin, shrikes, wheatears, pipits \u2013 even some Water Pipits and so on.<\/p>\n From the lake we continued to another desert-area to drive back and forth and this time we were lucky when we found a couple of Cream-colored Coursers, which is really good Indian tick. And from the next similar-looking desert-place we found even better Indian tick \u2013 a Greater Hoopoe Lark. Even our local guide was extremely happy when we had seen both of these difficult species. Greater Hoopoe Lark was even a lifer for Sunil. <\/p>\n But after all it was time to say goodbye to Musa\u2019s guides and soon we were driving towards Jaisalmer again. We had an accommodation in Rawan Kot Hotel which was maybe even too luxurious for us. There was even a terrace with a view to the fort. While porters were carrying our luggage to our rooms, we heard a couple of Koels calling.<\/p>\n Driving day<\/b><\/p>\n On the 11th of February we slept longer as we had only driving on our program. It was a long way south-west to Mt Abu. On the way there weren\u2019t views or birds really \u2013 Dusky Crag Martins were the only bird to mention. In the evening while we were already driving up to Mt Abu, we saw some Oriental Turtle Doves, lots of Bengal Sacred Langurs and a couple of Large Grey Mongooses.<\/p>\n Finally we parked to Ratan Villas Resort and we were very tired because of long driving. Luckily the log was short and after the dinner we were ready to go to sleep. <\/p>\n Mt Abu<\/b><\/p>\n On the 12th of February we had one of the most important days of the trip as Mt Abu had several lifers for us \u2013 a couple of lifers even for \u201cGusse\u201d who had been in India many times. <\/p>\n When the sun was rising we were already walking behind Oriya village on the hillside under the top of 1772 meters high Mt Abu. Soon we saw some Oriental Turtle Doves and heard a Brown-headed Barbet calling and after some more walking we found the first couple of White-capped Buntings. Soon we saw a bigger flock of buntings but we never got very close to get better pictures.<\/p>\n We continued walking on the hillside and soon found a Sulphur-bellied Warbler which was moving quickly in the bush so it was also difficult to photograph. And then \u201cGusse\u201d found a flock of Green Avadavats hiding under a bush right next to the road. These birds were moving inside the bush so again I couldn\u2019t get good pictures and soon they flew away and we kept on walking. But we had already found the most important target-species!<\/p>\n But when I had started to get lifers I wasn\u2019t about to stop yet. Soon we heard a distant Indian Scimitar Babbler calling lower on the hillside forest and then I saw a slaty-grey, orange-billed thrush flying right in front of me to a bush. For some reason nobody else saw it but when we played some Tickell\u2019s Thrush calls, it started to call back – but never came visible again.<\/p>\n While walking I had managed to get some pictures of a Rufous Treepie, Black Redstarts, Indian Black-lored Tits, Plum-headed Parakeets and a Red-whiskered Bulbul and we also found more Green Avadavats and Sulphur-bellied Warblers and managed to get some better pictures of them too. We also saw a Tickell\u2019s Blue Flycatcher, a flock of Tawny-bellied Babblers, some Indian White-eyes, Hume\u2019s Leaf Warblers, a couple of Red-breasted Flycatchers, several Northern Palm Squirrels, a Large Grey Mongoose and cute Indian Bush Rat.<\/p>\n We were already walking back to our accommodation when we still found a small flock of Yellow-eyed Babblers. So the morning had been excellent!<\/p>\n After the breakfast we were still walking on the other side of the village trying to find Crested Buntings but we found only a Verditer Flycatcher, a few White-spotted Fantails, Dusky Crag Martins with at least one Eurasian Crag Martin, a couple of Brown Rock Chats and so on.<\/p>\n But as the theme of this trip was sitting in a car, it was soon time to hit the road again and we headed towards southwest. <\/p>\n After hours of driving we crossed the border of Gujarat which was a big step for most of us in our group (except me maybe) as alcohol is forbidden in this state. For locals the law is very strict but also for foreigner it can be a straight ride to the airport and next flight back home with own money if breaking the law. <\/p>\n It was still a long drive until we finally were on the western side of Dasada and parked to our accommodation Rann Riders from where we were going to visit Little Rann of Kutch on the next day. <\/p>\n We still had time to walk a little in the garden and we managed to hear a couple of Coppersmith Barbets, see several Indian Orioles, a couple of Red-breasted Flycatchers and a Purple-rumped Sunbird. <\/p>\n Little Rann of Kutch<\/b><\/p>\n On the 13th of February we started early and soon met our local guides and continued with their Jeeps. And soon we were driving along flat and salty Little Rann of Kutch. For some reason our main-goal of the day was to find Asian Houbaras which wasn\u2019t a lifer to any of us and not even an India-tick for Gusse. Luckily this huge area was also home for an endangered Asian Wild Ass.<\/p>\n We were driving around and through many bushy areas trying to find houbaras without luck. There aren\u2019t many of them surviving. After some driving we saw our first Asian Wild Asses which were surprisingly shy and ran away to the desert before we managed to get better pictures. And soon we were driving towards the next bushy area.<\/p>\n After all we spent several hours like this and only better birds we saw were a couple of Booted Eagles and Long-billed Pipits. There was no Asian Houbaras anywhere. But finally we found a bigger pack of Wild Asses and managed to get good picture of them. Then we found also a Short-eared Owl roosting under one bush.<\/p>\n When the day started to get hot we went to one small village where we tried to find roosting Pallid Scops Owls while dogs were barking and locals staring at us. And no owls were found.<\/p>\n When we were already driving back towards our accommodation and still driving though every bushy area on the way for bustards, we got a phone-call that other half of our group had found a White-eyed Buzzard. Unfortunately the connection was so bad that we had no idea where our other car was. <\/p>\n We were driving back and forth before Sathyan got a WhatsApp-message with location from Sunil and we could start driving towards them. And surprisingly we had to drive at least 10 kilometers before we finally saw them. And the buzzard was nowhere to be seen but they told that it should still be perched on a tree behind the next turn. And luckily the bird was still there and we managed to get at least one lifer and even pretty good pictures.<\/p>\n We rested the hottest time of the day and left out a little bit later in the afternoon. And again we headed to the similar places and tried to find houbaras. And still we had no luck but we saw another White-eyed Buzzard and more Wild Asses which we finally saw altogether 89 during the day.<\/p>\n Finally we gave up with the houbaras and started to make stops in different kind of biotopes too. First we saw 8 Cotton Pygmy Geese on a small pool and then Sathyan found a Rufous-tailed Lark next to the road. I managed to get some pictures of the lark before it flew away.<\/p>\n Then we continued to a flooded lake where we saw lots of ducks and waders, for example 250 Pied Avocets, huge flock of 600 Lesser and 50 Greater Flamingoes, 14 Dalmatian Pelicans with one Great White Pelican and so on. We also saw a big Wild Boar.<\/p>\n It was already getting late when we drove back to the desert where we had some local snacks while waiting for the dark. Soon we heard a couple of Indian Nightjars before we left driving to the desert. And only after some minutes of driving we found the bird we were searching for \u2013 a Sykes\u2019s Nightjar. We got out from the cars and managed to get pretty good pictures of this pale nightjar.<\/p>\n For once we were staying on the same accommodation for the second night so after the log we got to sleep early.<\/p>\n Driving again<\/b><\/p>\n On the 14th of February we were mostly driving again. On the way we crossed an area where were lots of salt-pans and saw lots of egrets and waders but we were in a hurry so we didn\u2019t stop at all. Andreas took some places to his eBird so we could possibly stop on a couple of the best-looking places when we were driving back. Anyway we managed to identify some trip-ticks like Western Reef Herons, Gull-billed Terns, Whiskered Terns and also saw a couple of Great Stone-curlews and so on.<\/p>\n Around Nakhatrana<\/b><\/p>\n It was already quite late when we finally arrived at Kunj homestay which situated about 15 kilometers northeast from Nakhatrana. We met the owner and our next couple of days guide, got our rooms and still went walking to the garden area.<\/p>\n There was a dam nearby where we saw Yellow-wattled Lapwings, some egrets, kingfishers and so on. From the trees and bushes we found also a couple of Marshall\u2019s Ioras and Sykes\u2019s Warblers, at least 60 Yellow-throated Sparrows, a Baya Weaver and when it was getting dark some of us managed to see a Pallid Scops Owl in flight. <\/p>\n After the dinner we still went to the dam to wait if Painted Sandgrouses were coming to drink to the river but we didn\u2019t see any. It was nice to sit in warm evening and watch local birds in the sunset while Indian Nightjar was calling on the background.<\/p>\n On the 15th of January we started early and drove about an hour to northwest before we parked in the middle of a bushy area. The sun was just rising but we headed out to walk and search for our target-bird. It took some time until Sunil finally found one Grey Hypocolius which was quite mobile but later either the same or a different bird was showing quite well for all of us. It was another good Indian tick and a couple of us got even a lifer – I had seen them before in several counties.<\/p>\n We stayed in the area for some tie and still saw a couple of flocks of Common Cranes and also a couple of Yellow-eyed Babblers, a Sykes\u2019s Warbler, Rosy Starlings and so on. And when we were driving back towards bigger roads we found a couple of Painted Sandgrouses on the road. We managed to get good pictures of the female but male was all the time hiding and we saw it well only when they flew away.<\/p>\n Next we drove to Bann where we saw thousands of Common Cranes. We tried to find an Indian Eagle-owl from a couple of rocky hill but without success. <\/p>\n We were a little bit disappointed when we continued towards Nakhatrana, but on the northern side of the city in Bharapar we finally found a flock of Indian Coursers. It was already getting warm but I managed to go through some thornbushes close enough to get some better pictures of them. We also saw an Eastern Orphean Warbler on the same bushes.<\/p>\n When we were back at Kunj homestay I decided to try to sleep a little but when I was about to fall asleep Vesa came to wake me up as he had found a Pallid Scops Owl roosting on a tree on the garden. Of course I had to go to see it but when Vesa tried to show us where the owl had been, it wasn\u2019t found. There was already some frustration in the air when I finally noticed that the owl was exactly where it should have been, it was just so well camouflaged that we almost missed it. <\/p>\n At 2 p.m. we left birding again and it was really hot \u2013 about 40 degrees of Celsius. But of course it was nothing for locals as in the summer it can be 55 degrees during the hottest time of the day! But for us this was already enough at least when we started to walk around one hill nearby and tried to find Painted Sandgrouses. It was so hot that we didn\u2019t find any birds at all.<\/p>\n Then we continued to Rawalpir Dargah thorn-tree forest where we immediately saw a couple of Grey-necked Buntings. After some searching we finally found a Rufous-fronted Prinia too which had somehow avoided us until this. <\/p>\n Our group spread around the hill and I decided to follow our local guide and we climbed to the top of the hill. But there he was just standing and talking to his phone for a long time. I really didn\u2019t know what we were searching for and it was still very hot. After a long time I had to go to ask, what was our plan and our guide told that in this area there were some White-bellied Minivets coming to roost in the evening. But it was just early afternoon. And there really were no birds – only observations to mention were a Marshall\u2019s Iora and an Indian Hare. So I decided to get our group back together and then we decided to go to try to find an Indian Eagle-Owl from another place. <\/p>\n It was a couple of kilometers walk to Bhukh dam but on the way we saw plenty of birds. Then we sat on the stairs next to the dam for a couple of hours and when it started to get dark we played eagle-owl calls but we got only one possible response. Some Painted Sandgrouses came to drink when it was almost completely dark, but after all we had to give up and walk back to our cars and continue to our accommodation.<\/p>\n On the 16th of February we drove about 20 kilometers southwest from Nakhatrana to Fot Mahadev where we were when the sun was rising. When we got out from our cars our guide immediately heard a distant song of our target-species. We walked closer and soon we all heard a White-naped Tit singing. Our guide played its song and soon the tit flew to closest tree where it kept on singing. This extremely rare bird was lifer for all of us but even more important to Matti who had tried to see this bird 15 years ago without luck.<\/p>\n We photographed this beautiful White-naped Tit for some time until it flew back to the forest. Then we still took some pictures of its nest-maker Yellow-crowned Woodpecker.<\/p>\n Soon we found also a couple of Rufous-fronted Prinias and now we got some kind of pictures of them too. And once we were driving again, we heard another White-naped Tit singing and then on the next stop we heard a Jungle Prinia singing and found the bird perched on a top of a quite distant bush.<\/p>\n After some driving we photographed a White-throated Kingfisher that was perched right next to the road and then continued to a dry field-area where our guide told us that we would try to find Rock Bush Quails. He told that these birds were extremely shy so we should just drive along the road slowly and try to find them next to the road. He also told that there weren\u2019t much chances of finding them this time of year as they were usually seen only during the wet season. But we had driven just a couple of hundreds of meters when \u201cFr\u00e4ne\u201d saw a flock of small quails right next to the road. I was on the wrong side of the car but soon managed to see at least 12 different sized of birds \u2013 adults and youngsters. <\/p>\n In our car, which was now the first car, we all managed to see the quails well but on the second car the backseaters saw them only very briefly. And they hadn\u2019t got the instruction about staying inside the car and when they got out there were no quails to be seen anywhere. I thought I had seen in which bush they had went but when I tried to find them, there was nothing until we saw an adult bird flying to the next field that was behind fences. There was some frustration again so we decided to go further and wait until the other birds come out from the bushes. And finally the young birds were seen running towards the field where an adult was calling them.<\/p>\n In the end of the morning trip we still saw a Long-billed Pipit, some Common Woodshrikes, several flocks of Common Babblers and so on but soon it was again getting too hot to continue.<\/p>\n During the day we took it easy until 4 p.m. as it was far too hot to do anything before that. We tried again to find Painted Sandgrouses on the same place without luck but I managed to get pictures of Great Grey Shrikes and a Rufous-fronted Prinia. <\/p>\n Then we continued to Rawalpir Dargah again and we were still driving towards the hill when Sathyan saw a White-bellied Minivet in front of our car. I couldn\u2019t see it from the backseat but as I was the only one missing this species, we soon hurried after it with Sathyan and luckily found it from the next bushes. This female bird was quite elusive but we all managed to see it pretty well.<\/p>\n As we really didn\u2019t know what to do next, we decided to drive back to Kunj and just do relaxed birding in the garden and in the evening we went to the dam to play eagle-owl calls and wait for a response. No eagle-owls were heard but a Spotted Owl came to see us.<\/p>\n On the 17th of February we had still got a morning trip on our ordinary schedule but we had again so much driving during the day that we just slept a little bit longer and then after breakfast it was time to say thanks to Kunj staff and start a long drive towards Ahmadabad. <\/p>\n After about 30 minutes of driving there was a pool next to the road which was full of egrets, Painted Storks and Eurasian Spoonbills. There was also a Golden Jackal behind the pool which we managed to photograph.<\/p>\n Once we were driving again we soon saw a bigger pale bird flying across the road \u2013 a Sirkeer Malkoha! Luckily the bird landed to the bushes next to the road and by reversing slowly we all managed to see it. And surprisingly it stayed on the bush so that we managed to get some pictures of it too. We finally had luck with this species which is only found with luck.<\/p>\n To Ahmadabad<\/b><\/p>\n Then there was really nothing until we made the stop on the first place that Andreas had marked to eBird on the way to west. We had seen lots of ducks on a small lake in Kodta where we now stopped to find out that there were lots of Tufted Ducks but also some Common Pochards, 3 Great Crested Grebes and a Clamorous Reed Warbler was singing.<\/p>\n And after another long stint we were again in the middle of the saltpans where we stopped to check waders. There were about a hundred Tibetan Sand Plovers, some Slender-billed and Brown-headed Gulls and even a distant Black-necked Stork.<\/p>\n Our last stop was made in Halvad where in Lake Samantsar we saw lots of ducks, egrets and terns and so on but nothing new. And then we still had a long drive to Ahmadabad where we took smaller roads probably to avoid traffic-jams in the city. <\/p>\n It was already getting dark when we finally arrived at Hotel Fern Metropole where we saw several big flocks of Rosy Starlings flying to roost. The log was short and then we had the best dinner of the trip.<\/p>\n Last morning around Nalsarovar<\/b><\/p>\n The 18th of February. The ordinary plan had probably been that we wouldn\u2019t do any birding on our last day, but as we had our flight back to Delhi late in the evening, we still had plenty of time. Unfortunately Sathyan had his flight a few hours earlier so we didn\u2019t have whole day. It might have been wise to have accommodation anywhere west from Ahmadabad and at least not in the middle of the huge city as we went birding quite far southwest to Nalsarovar.<\/p>\n We left at 5 a.m. and after a couple of hours driving we picked up our local guide and continued towards our first destination which was north from Nalsarovar.<\/p>\n We started in the middle of semi-desert where we immediately saw crazy numbers of birds migrating. There were flocks of both Common and Demoiselle Cranes but Short-toed Lark-looking birds were everywhere. At least some of them seemed to be Mongolian Short-toed Larks and also Rosy Starlings were numerous. And after some searching and waiting we found what we were looking for \u2013 a Namaqua Dove couple. It was a lifer for our guides and really good Indian tick for us.<\/p>\n Our schedule was tight so we soon continued towards east to a bushy area where we found a flock of Red-headed Buntings with at least one Black-headed Bunting. There would have been also a wintering Yellow-breasted Bunting somewhere in the area but unfortunately we hadn\u2019t got time to try to see it.<\/p>\n Next we continued again towards east to the middle of big fields and when we parked our car, there was a big flock of about 200 Black-breasted Weavers on the closest bushes. It was good to get this lifer too \u2013 everyone else in our group had seen it on their previous trip.<\/p>\n We walked to the middle of the field and it started to get sweaty. A couple of Common Quails were calling and Sand Martins were flying around us. Finally we thought that we had been walking enough and asked until where we were about to walk. Luckily it was only a short walk to muddier fields where we were supposed to try to find Sociable Plovers. We all had seen this species even in Finland so we could\u2019ve done something else too especially when our guide said that usually the lapwings were seen only early in the morning. But luckily we found 5 Sociable Lapwings from the field so we hadn\u2019t been walking and spending time for almost nothing. Actually I was happier when a couple of flocks of Sarus Cranes flew very nicely over us and I managed to get good pictures of them.<\/p>\n After all that was all our birding. Luckily we could drop our guide to the closest village as we were quite far east from Nalsarovar already. And soon we were driving back towards Ahmedabad.<\/p>\n Towards home<\/b><\/p>\n We managed to get back to Ahmedabad ring-road surprisingly easily and then we still went to eat to a restaurant close to the airport. Then it was time to say goodbye to Sunil who was going back to home by train. Then we drove to the airport where it was time to say thanks to our amazing driver. He still had a very long drive back to Delhi! <\/p>\n At the airport we managed to get through complicated formalities and then it was time to say goodbye to Sathyan who was flying back to Kerala. And then we had really long wait until our IndiGo flight finally left to Delhi at 7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n The flight took about an hour and a half and in Delhi we had quite an adventure to another terminal by bus and of course lots of queuing. Finally our Lufthansa flight left on the 19th of February at 2 a.m. <\/p>\n I managed to sleep most of the flight and finally we landed to M\u00fcnich, Germany at 6:25 local time. Again there were tight security-checks but finally when we got to our gate it started to feel like we were going back to home. But of course our flight was once again late and left only at 9 a.m.<\/p>\n Because of the flight was late I was very nervous as I needed to get to my train. I should have had an hour and 20 minutes to get to Joensuu-train but now it really seemed that I couldn\u2019t make it or at least my luggage couldn\u2019t make it.<\/p>\n The plane landed to Helsinki-Vantaa about a half an hour late at 12:30 p.m. but for once the gate wasn\u2019t the furthest and I managed to get pretty soon to wait for my luggage. I already went to say goodbye to our group and then kept on waiting impatiently. Amazingly my luggage came surprisingly soon and I could start hurrying towards the railway-station.<\/p>\n Luckily it\u2019s not long walk so I got even to an earlier train so I had plenty of time to change to another train in Tikkurila. The last leg of the trip went surprisingly quickly and I was finally in Parikkala at 4:30 p.m. Hanna came to pick me up from the railway-station. It was nice to be back at home.<\/p>\n J.A.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Traveling again On the 3rd of February after my work-day I still packed the last things to my luggage and after Hanna came from work we still had a long WhatsApp-call to Uganda to my old friend. After all it was a long call and we really had to hurry to the railway-station where Hanna […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[235],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-india"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caligata.com\/tripreports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caligata.com\/tripreports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caligata.com\/tripreports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caligata.com\/tripreports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caligata.com\/tripreports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7952"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.caligata.com\/tripreports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7952\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7955,"href":"https:\/\/www.caligata.com\/tripreports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7952\/revisions\/7955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caligata.com\/tripreports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caligata.com\/tripreports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caligata.com\/tripreports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n