New Delhi & Uttar Pradesh
Friday 11th January
Despite Jet Airways being in some financial difficulty, and then with another minor drone attack a few days prior to my departure, it was fair to say I was more than relieved to have departed more or less on time on the Thursday evening. The flight was good enough but lacking on inflight entertainment and good enough service (I would know) but thankfully I had brought things to watch, and after a long day of travelling to the airport via trains and under/over-grounds, I was soon sleeping with ease.
The landing was just ahead of schedule and somehow it was a swift forty five minutes to get through immigration and collecting the luggage. I managed to grab a taxi into the city as my hotel was off limits for a few hours due to some political parades. Eventually these passed and I arrived at my hotel, which in fairness is by far the poshest hotel I’ve stayed in, and I felt awkwardly out of place. With this in mind I grabbed my gear and got a tuc-tuc into the city centre where I wandered around for a long while taking in some of the markets and the few tourist sites on offer, before starting the very long walk back to the Taj Palace Hotel. Not a great deal of birds about, with highlights being a Red-naped Ibis, two Brahminy Starlings, Jungle Babblers, Brown-headed Barbets and two species of Parakeets.
Saturday 12th January
After a very good nights sleep after a very long day yesterday, I left the hotel at around 9.30am. Yesterday I had arranged with my tut-tut driver to meet me outside the hotel and he would take me near to terminal 3 where I would meet everyone who had flown overnight. I was unsure whether Sonu would be there, but to my relief he was. The journey to the terminal was rather painless despite driving slowly in the middle lane of a busy motorway. After a quick bus to terminal 3 I then waited in all maybe three hours for everyone, and were then met by our Asian Adventures guide.
We soon headed out of Delhi, making slow progress as we did. After a couple of road closures and two hours later we arrived at Sultanpur reserve, where straight away we bagged our first target bird, this being the Brooks’s Leaf Warbler. The bird life of the reserve is dominated by water birds with many species of Ducks, Ibis and Storks. A Common Hawk Cuckoo also posed superbly whilst the many Warblers were more elusive in the treetops. A male Red-breasted Flycatcher added a splash of colour.
Just down the road from here we walked around some water bodies that were lined by sparse scrub and cultivated fields. A sewage drain had a good number of Wagtails present, with the most striking being a presumed ‘Masked’ Wagtail. Thankfully straight away we found a male Sind Sparrow calling and showing nicely in a tree, whilst close by a few females were also present. The hoped for White-tailed Stonechat didn’t materialise, although watching large numbers of Citrine Wagtails was more than enough compensation for now, with a bonus Rosy Pipit mixed in. A dog chewing on a goat also provided some interest by us.
As the Indian sun started to set we made our way back to Delhi through yet more chaotic traffic, arriving at our hotel (Shanti Palace) after dark.
Highlights for the day are as follows:
BAR-HEADED GOOSE – ca. 100
Indian Spot-billed Duck – 25
Ferruginous Duck – 1
Woolly-necked Stork – 3
Black-headed Ibis – 5
Oriental Darter – 1
White-breasted Waterhen – 3
White-tailed Plover – 1
Temminck’s Stint – 6
Spotted Redshank – 1
Common Hawk Cuckoo – 2
Hume’s Leaf Warbler – 5
BROOKS’S LEAF WARBLER – 1
Moustached Warbler – 5
Graceful Prinia – 1
STRIATED BABBLER – 5
Bluethroat- 10
BROWN ROCK CHAT – 1
SIND SPARROW – 4
RED AVADAVAT – 20
Citrine Wagtail – 40
WHITE-BROWED WAGTAIL – 3
ROSY PIPIT - 1
Sunday 13th January
We left the Shanti Palace Hotel just as it got light to beat the traffic out of Delhi. Progress SE was good and our first stop of the journey yielded one of my top targets, a pair of the giant Black-necked Stork. I was surprised just how large this species was, easily comparable with the South American Jabiru Stork. Some Comb Ducks flying over was also an added bonus. It was still very chilly with the low mist blocking any heat, and a woolly hat would have been suitable attire.
A few hours later we arrived at Chambal Lodge and walked the gardens and surrounding cultivation’s for just over an hour, with an immediate highlight being a showy Orange-headed Thrush. Despite a lack of passerine activity, some good birds were encountered including two species of Owl, a pair of Greater Painted Snipe and host of many species of Waders.
After lunch it was time to head down to the Chambal River, just under an hour away from the lodge along narrow, but busy country roads. The obvious highlight along these roads was a superb Sarus Crane that went on to show incredibly well as we photographers approached with caution. Little else was encountered on route and around 3pm we arrived at the river where some very smart River Lapwings greeted us. The main target here was the stupendously looking Black-bellied Tern, and we left the riverbank full of optimism that we would find our quarry. Along the north bank it was fairly quiet although a male Eastern Black Redstart and a fine flock of Bar-headed Geese were nice additions to the day. We swapped banks and headed over to the south bank. In front of two Painted Storks stood a pale Lark that soon got identified as a Sand Lark and proved to our only one of the trip. Further along the sand bank was a potential highlight of the day where a fisherman was illegally fishing, and once our guide had called the armed guards, once the fisherman had retreated the guides started to shoot at him from their boat. For now they didn’t catch him, however the armed guard stated that he had shot dead two people before for illegally fishing. This may seem extreme, but two River Dolphins had been found dead a few days back due to this practice, and could well have been a reason as to why we failed to find any Dolphins this evening.
Just before this action, we had found four Indian Skimmers settled on an island, and after some patience we got some lovely views of my final Skimmer species. A Black-bellied Tern also showed well, and unlike the last bird, I resisted the temptation to wade into the river. Just as our cameras were starting to rest up, a Great Thick Knee decided to join in with the fun.
In terms of avian highlights, we had one more to see, and after some luck with some fly-past Small Pratincoles and many Greater Short-toed Larks, a Brown Crake was found hunched up on a mudbank trying to hide from us, but it failed. The river trip had been a great success, despite not finding any Dolphins, and with added pressures on some of the above mentioned species, we had been very lucky.
After dinner I was feeling progressively worse and by mid evening the taps had opened fully, but this didn’t stop me enjoying an Indian Scops Owl and one of the Spotted Owlets seen earlier.
Knob-billed Duck – 15
Red-crested Pochard – 50
BLACK-NECKED STORK – 2
Osprey – 1
Bonelli’s Eagle – 1
Long-legged Buzzard – 1
BROWN CRAKE – 1
SARUS CRANE – 1
Great Stone-Curlew – 3
RIVER LAPWING – 30
Great Painted Snipe – 2
Bronze-winged Jacana – 2
Small Pratincole – 6
INDIAN SKIMMER – 4
PALLAS’S GULL – 2
RIVER TERN – 4
BLACK-BELLIED TERN – 6
Indian Scops Owl – 1
SPOTTED OWLET – 2
Brown Hawk Owl – 1
INDIAN GREY HORNBILL – 8
SAND LARK – 1
Orange-headed Thrush - 1
Friday 11th January
Despite Jet Airways being in some financial difficulty, and then with another minor drone attack a few days prior to my departure, it was fair to say I was more than relieved to have departed more or less on time on the Thursday evening. The flight was good enough but lacking on inflight entertainment and good enough service (I would know) but thankfully I had brought things to watch, and after a long day of travelling to the airport via trains and under/over-grounds, I was soon sleeping with ease.
The landing was just ahead of schedule and somehow it was a swift forty five minutes to get through immigration and collecting the luggage. I managed to grab a taxi into the city as my hotel was off limits for a few hours due to some political parades. Eventually these passed and I arrived at my hotel, which in fairness is by far the poshest hotel I’ve stayed in, and I felt awkwardly out of place. With this in mind I grabbed my gear and got a tuc-tuc into the city centre where I wandered around for a long while taking in some of the markets and the few tourist sites on offer, before starting the very long walk back to the Taj Palace Hotel. Not a great deal of birds about, with highlights being a Red-naped Ibis, two Brahminy Starlings, Jungle Babblers, Brown-headed Barbets and two species of Parakeets.
Saturday 12th January
After a very good nights sleep after a very long day yesterday, I left the hotel at around 9.30am. Yesterday I had arranged with my tut-tut driver to meet me outside the hotel and he would take me near to terminal 3 where I would meet everyone who had flown overnight. I was unsure whether Sonu would be there, but to my relief he was. The journey to the terminal was rather painless despite driving slowly in the middle lane of a busy motorway. After a quick bus to terminal 3 I then waited in all maybe three hours for everyone, and were then met by our Asian Adventures guide.
We soon headed out of Delhi, making slow progress as we did. After a couple of road closures and two hours later we arrived at Sultanpur reserve, where straight away we bagged our first target bird, this being the Brooks’s Leaf Warbler. The bird life of the reserve is dominated by water birds with many species of Ducks, Ibis and Storks. A Common Hawk Cuckoo also posed superbly whilst the many Warblers were more elusive in the treetops. A male Red-breasted Flycatcher added a splash of colour.
Just down the road from here we walked around some water bodies that were lined by sparse scrub and cultivated fields. A sewage drain had a good number of Wagtails present, with the most striking being a presumed ‘Masked’ Wagtail. Thankfully straight away we found a male Sind Sparrow calling and showing nicely in a tree, whilst close by a few females were also present. The hoped for White-tailed Stonechat didn’t materialise, although watching large numbers of Citrine Wagtails was more than enough compensation for now, with a bonus Rosy Pipit mixed in. A dog chewing on a goat also provided some interest by us.
As the Indian sun started to set we made our way back to Delhi through yet more chaotic traffic, arriving at our hotel (Shanti Palace) after dark.
Highlights for the day are as follows:
BAR-HEADED GOOSE – ca. 100
Indian Spot-billed Duck – 25
Ferruginous Duck – 1
Woolly-necked Stork – 3
Black-headed Ibis – 5
Oriental Darter – 1
White-breasted Waterhen – 3
White-tailed Plover – 1
Temminck’s Stint – 6
Spotted Redshank – 1
Common Hawk Cuckoo – 2
Hume’s Leaf Warbler – 5
BROOKS’S LEAF WARBLER – 1
Moustached Warbler – 5
Graceful Prinia – 1
STRIATED BABBLER – 5
Bluethroat- 10
BROWN ROCK CHAT – 1
SIND SPARROW – 4
RED AVADAVAT – 20
Citrine Wagtail – 40
WHITE-BROWED WAGTAIL – 3
ROSY PIPIT - 1
 |
Brooks's Leaf Warbler
|
 |
| Common Hawk-Cuckoo |
 |
| Male Sind Sparrow |
 |
| Male Citrine Wagtail |
 |
| Sultanpur Bird Reserve |
 |
The Sind Sparrow site, just down the road
from Sultanpur.
|
Sunday 13th January
We left the Shanti Palace Hotel just as it got light to beat the traffic out of Delhi. Progress SE was good and our first stop of the journey yielded one of my top targets, a pair of the giant Black-necked Stork. I was surprised just how large this species was, easily comparable with the South American Jabiru Stork. Some Comb Ducks flying over was also an added bonus. It was still very chilly with the low mist blocking any heat, and a woolly hat would have been suitable attire.
A few hours later we arrived at Chambal Lodge and walked the gardens and surrounding cultivation’s for just over an hour, with an immediate highlight being a showy Orange-headed Thrush. Despite a lack of passerine activity, some good birds were encountered including two species of Owl, a pair of Greater Painted Snipe and host of many species of Waders.
After lunch it was time to head down to the Chambal River, just under an hour away from the lodge along narrow, but busy country roads. The obvious highlight along these roads was a superb Sarus Crane that went on to show incredibly well as we photographers approached with caution. Little else was encountered on route and around 3pm we arrived at the river where some very smart River Lapwings greeted us. The main target here was the stupendously looking Black-bellied Tern, and we left the riverbank full of optimism that we would find our quarry. Along the north bank it was fairly quiet although a male Eastern Black Redstart and a fine flock of Bar-headed Geese were nice additions to the day. We swapped banks and headed over to the south bank. In front of two Painted Storks stood a pale Lark that soon got identified as a Sand Lark and proved to our only one of the trip. Further along the sand bank was a potential highlight of the day where a fisherman was illegally fishing, and once our guide had called the armed guards, once the fisherman had retreated the guides started to shoot at him from their boat. For now they didn’t catch him, however the armed guard stated that he had shot dead two people before for illegally fishing. This may seem extreme, but two River Dolphins had been found dead a few days back due to this practice, and could well have been a reason as to why we failed to find any Dolphins this evening.
Just before this action, we had found four Indian Skimmers settled on an island, and after some patience we got some lovely views of my final Skimmer species. A Black-bellied Tern also showed well, and unlike the last bird, I resisted the temptation to wade into the river. Just as our cameras were starting to rest up, a Great Thick Knee decided to join in with the fun.
In terms of avian highlights, we had one more to see, and after some luck with some fly-past Small Pratincoles and many Greater Short-toed Larks, a Brown Crake was found hunched up on a mudbank trying to hide from us, but it failed. The river trip had been a great success, despite not finding any Dolphins, and with added pressures on some of the above mentioned species, we had been very lucky.
After dinner I was feeling progressively worse and by mid evening the taps had opened fully, but this didn’t stop me enjoying an Indian Scops Owl and one of the Spotted Owlets seen earlier.
Knob-billed Duck – 15
Red-crested Pochard – 50
BLACK-NECKED STORK – 2
Osprey – 1
Bonelli’s Eagle – 1
Long-legged Buzzard – 1
BROWN CRAKE – 1
SARUS CRANE – 1
Great Stone-Curlew – 3
RIVER LAPWING – 30
Great Painted Snipe – 2
Bronze-winged Jacana – 2
Small Pratincole – 6
INDIAN SKIMMER – 4
PALLAS’S GULL – 2
RIVER TERN – 4
BLACK-BELLIED TERN – 6
Indian Scops Owl – 1
SPOTTED OWLET – 2
Brown Hawk Owl – 1
INDIAN GREY HORNBILL – 8
SAND LARK – 1
Orange-headed Thrush - 1
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| Black-necked Stork |
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| Comb Ducks |
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| Orange-headed Thrush |
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| Brown Hawk Owl |
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| Spotted Owlet |
 |
| Sarus Crane |
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| River Lapwing |
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| Bar-headed Geese |
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| White-browed Wagtail |
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| Marsh Crocodile |
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| Gharial |
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| Black-bellied Tern |
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| Black-bellied Tern |
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| Indian Skimmers |
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| Brown Crake |
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Street scenes on way south
to the Chambal River.
|
 |
The type of net responsible for
killing two River Dolphins a few
day previous.
|
 |
| The local heroes/armed guards |
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| Sunset along the Chambal River |
