Birding Northern India. Bharatpur Pt. 2

Bharatpur is primarily a wetland: ' Keoladeo Ghana National Park is a man-made and man-managed wetland and one of the national parks of India. The reserve protects Bharatpur from frequent floods, provides grazing grounds for village cattle, and earlier was primarily used as a waterfowl hunting ground.' As such it is the birds that favour wetland habitat that make this national park so famous and valuable. Indian Darter, Little Cormorant, Indian Cormorant and Great Cormorant are all present in abundance and easy to locate. As are Little, Intermediate and Great White Egrets. Grey Heron and Purple Heron are both common and so too is Indian Pond Heron. We also had regular views of Black-crowned Night Heron and Striated Heron.

Black Bittern   Ixobrychus flavicollis

Grey Heron - Pulling shapes - Ardea cinerea

Indian Cormorant - Phalacrocorax fuscicollis

Indian Pond Heron Ardeola grayii

Intermediate Egret  Mesophoyx intermedia

Little Cormorant  Phalacrocorax niger

Little Egret  Egretta garzetta

Purple Heron   Ardea purpurea

Striated or Little Heron  Butorides striata

The singular most impressive sight is the Painted Stork rookery. Pairs of these birds are to be seen raising young in huge rookeries containing numerous pairs. Photo opportunities abound and had it been in the days of analogue film I would have had to keep a count of the rolls of film used as it is so easy to just keep firing the shutter. Isn't digital brilliant!

Painted Stork   Mycteria leucocephala One of about half a million photos I took of this species.

Other storks seen on the reserve were Asian Openbill, Woolly-necked Stork and Black-necked Stork.
As to be expected there was a good variety of duck although the expected Wigeon were strangely absent. The most abundant duck was the Indian Spot-billed Duck and I was pleased with this as it is a beautiful duck...I think!

Indian Spot-billed Duck  Anas poecilorhyncha

Asian Openbill  Anastomus oscitans

Eurasian Spoonbill  Platalea alba

 Lesser Whistling Duck were present in big numbers, Ruddy Shelduck, Common Teal, Ferruginous Duck, Greylag and Bar-headed Goose, Cotton Pygmy Goose, Comb Duck, Gadwall, Pintail and Shoveler made up the remainder of the wildfowl species.

Lesser Whistling Duck  Dendrocygna javanica

Ruddy Shelduck  Tadorna ferruginea  (On Golden Pond!)

At the end of the first day in Bharatpur we were treated to a spectacular sunset and an Indian Darter posing on a suitable stump.

Indian Darter  Anhinga melanogaster and Bharatpur sunset.

I could not recommend a visit to Bhatatpur strongly enough. And of course if you're thinking of going then you should book a trip with Norfolk Birding and Chris Mills. Loads of eco-tourist companies run trips here but Chris gives real good value for money and there are the other sites that we visited that Chris knows well. Not to mention the tigers! More of which later!


Birding Northern India. Pt 1.

About a month before Christmas we had a birding holiday in parts of northern India. We travelled with Chris Mills of Norfolk Birding. Chris runs a guided trip to northern India each year and as a result he knows his way around! The trip adverts say that there is a good chance of seeing around 300 species of bird and a reasonable chance of seeing a tiger in Corbett N.P. I was up for both of these targets and I was not to be disappointed. By the end of the trip I had notched up 311 species and had great views of two tigers. Chris himself clocked up three tiger sightings during the three and a half days we were in Corbett. When you consider that most people who visit either fail to see a tiger or count themselves very lucky to see a single animal then three in just over three days has to be special!
As well as trying to amass over three hundred species I was also keen to see Ibisbill and Wallcreeper. Two iconic species that have eluded me in the past (hardly surprising as I had never been anywhere suitable to look for them, both are real rarities in Notts.). Chris was confident that we would see both species and he was not wrong. Some great views of three Ibisbill (or bills) and stunning photo opportunities of Wallcreeper were to follow. But I get ahead of myself.
After arriving in Delhi we were transferred to our hotel and early the next morning the birding began in the grounds of the hotel before breakfast. As is always the case on a first visit to a new country most of the birds tend to be 'lifers' and take a bit of identifying as well as remembering but with Chris on hand we notched-up: Common Tailorbird, Jungle Babbler, Common Myna, Indian Peafowl, Coppersmith Barbet, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Little Swift, Yellow-footed Green Pigeon, Black Kite, House Crow, Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher, Oriental Magpie Robin, Red-vented Bulbul, Oriental White-eye, Lesser Whitethroat, Greenish Warbler and Purple Sunbird then curry for breakfast.
To be honest it was difficult to know where to look.




Coppersmith Barbet   Megalaima  haemacephala

Common Myna   Acridotheres tristis

House Crow   Corvus splendens

Indian Peafowl  Pavo cristatus

Jungle Babbler   Turdoides striatus

Oriental White-eye  Zosterops ceylonensis

As it turned out we were to see plenty of most of these species during the next two weeks.
After my first ever curried breakfast we were rickshawed into the Keoladeo National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site...better known amongst birders as simply Bharatpur. Most every birder has heard of Bharatpur; read of Bharatpur; dreamed of going to Bharatpur or has already been and is planning on going again. Nothing can prepare you for the diversity and numbers of birds to be found inside this national park. If the weather conditions have been right! We had two and a half days of superb birding in the park and we clocked up over 140 species. It's not the numbers and diversity however, it's the crippling views you get of many of the birds that impresses most. To be quite honest I could have spent all of the trip bimbling about in the park, taking photos and mumbling to myself. We had terrific rickshaw drivers (peddlers?) and guides who had the lowdown on just about everything to look for. Where to find Indian Nightjar snoozing on a branch in the middle of a lake; where to see a Rock Python snoozing in dense undergrowth; where to see Oriental Scops Owl snoozing in a hole in a tree...you get the picture.

The snappily named Yellow-footed Green Pigeon  Treron phoenicoptera

White-eared Bulbul  Pycnontus leucotis

Rose-ringed Parakeet  Psittacula krameri   Like being in Kew Gardens!

Hoopoe  Upupa epops

Indian Nightjar   Caprimulgus asiaticus

Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus

Oriental Scops Owl Otus sunia

Indian Robin  Saxicoloides fulicata

Marsh Harrier   Circus aeruginosus

Asian Pied Starling   Sturnus contra

Brahminy Starling  Sturnus pagodarum

Booted Eagle   Hieraaetus pennatus

Common Hawk Cuckoo  Hierococcyx varius

Common Babbler (Really is common)  Turdoides caudatus

Eurasian Hobby  Falco Subbuteo





Anna's Hummingbird

Having spent most of the past month in California it seems that the time is about right to resurrect this blog. It's been a few months since I felt that I had something to write about and I have been without inspiration since. Now I am back from the USA and I have shedloads of images, some of which are worth sharing. To start off I am posting a few images of Anna's Hummingbird, principally because this was one of the first birds that I saw in San Francisco; it was fairly easy to photograph, even with a compact camera, and it is a really photogenic animal.

Anna's Hummingbird - Calypte anna   Male - California April 2016

 This particular species is the commonest hummer in California and it seems to have little fear of humans being found frequently in urban areas including the centre of large cities, provided that there is suitable food and, presumably, breeding sites.
We saw tens of these birds in most places that we visited in central California, especially males. it now breeds from extreme north-western Mexico, north along the Pacific coast to south-western Canada. In the south it breeds as far east as Texas and its breeding range is expanding. It can be found year round in California.

Anna's Hummingbird - Calypte anna   Male - California April 2016

This bird is 10cm or 4" in length and the male is the only hummer in the USA with a rose-red throat and crown which is clear in the photographs above. However, you have to be viewing the bird at the correct angle. Move just a little bit, or the bird moves its head a little and the rose-red colour is replaced with anything from a dull orange through brown to black. As can be seen on the following three photos of the same bird taken seconds apart as it moved its head.

Male Anna's Hummingbird with dark brown throat and crown

...and the same bird in all of its rose-red splendour.

Here's the science: "The iridescent colours of the gorget are the result of the refraction of incident light caused by the microscopic structures of the feather barbules. The refraction works like a prism, splitting the light into rich, component colours. As the viewing angle changes, the refracted light becomes visible in a glowing, shimmering iridescent display." Further, "In the case of the vivid colours of the gorget, the prisms concentrate the colour so that it can be seen only from the front, as it would be seen by a territorial rival in a head-on confrontation."

And now...partially black and partially red.

The female is an altogether much drabber affair but they do sport a ruby-red central throat patch on  otherwise dingy grey-green underparts. The upperparts are a brighter green like the male.

Anna's Hummingbird - Calypte anna   Male posing for the camera  - California April 2016

 The only other species of Hummingbird that we managed to locate during our visit in April was Allen's Hummingbird. This species is much scarcer than Anna's although it is still fairly common in the right habitat. This bird winters in south central Mexico and journeys north to breed along much of the Pacific coast of the USA. There is a subspecies that colonised the Los Angeles area in the 1960s which has since spread north and south along the coast. This is non-migratory and the mild climate of California allows these birds to have up to four broods per year.

Allen's Hummingbird - Selasphorus sasin - Male California April 2016

This is the only shot that I managed to get of an Allen's. Perched on a wire way high. I may have to go back to try for a better shot next year!

Norfolk February 2016

Over the weekend of 5th to 8th February I spent my time birding with a few mates in Norfolk. This is an annual outing and we stay in a great little cottage in Great Bircham which proves to be an ideal base for our forays out into the field. A few beers, some great craic, full English breakfasts and top birding always combine to make a memorable weekend.
This year we met at Lackford Lakes, not too far from Thetford, so that we could stick Long-tailed Duck on our list. The bird was easy enough to find but distance and poor light meant that I could only get a record shot. Still a good bird to kick off with.

Long-tailed Duck - Lackford Lakes.

After adding a number of pretty obvious species to our list we set off on the short drive to Lakenheath RSPB Reserve to look for Common Crane, Bittern and a reported Great White Egret. It was a bit windy and cold when we arrived but nothing like as bad as it was destined to become over the next couple of days. We were soon watching a couple of Water Pipits battling against the wind and then we had reasonable views of the Great White Egret but we failed to locate any Bittern. Probably due to the windy conditions. We heard bugling Cranes and then we saw five birds flying off with a flock of Greylag Geese. Again pretty poor pictures of Cranes' backsides resulted.

Bye-bye Cranes.

After three hours of not finding Bittern we headed north. Travelling through the fens towards Tottenhill just south of King's Lynn. We drove through the fens hoping to find wild swans and indeed we saw Bewick's, Whooper and Mute within 30 minutes of setting off. We wanted to call in at Tottenhill to have a look at a Black-necked Grebe that had been reported on a gravel pit there and which was viewable from the road. Checking the map we located the gravel pit and then risked all our lives by marching along the busy A10. Lorries and buses and more lorries whizzed by within inches whilst we failed to see anything at all on the gravel pit. So we set off back down the A10 for more close shaves with death! Only then did one of us suggest that there might, in fact, be more than one gravel pit, as there often are. Sure enough we were at the wrong pit and once we located the correct one there was the Grebe...viewable from the road!
Roydon Common was next for Harriers. This was a brilliant birding experience as we saw Pallid, Hen and Marsh Harriers at one time all together in a single scope view. Generally the birds were always too far away to photograph but I managed a decent record shot of Hen Harrier earlier.

A blurry shot of a distant Hen Harrier.

We ended the first day not seeing Golden Pheasant at Wolferton although it seems every other birder in Norfolk did.
Saturday morning saw us at Choseley Drying Barns where we connected with not one but two fantastic Rough-legged Buzzards as well as a couple of Common Buzzards and a mad Peregrine trying to chase everything away. Loads of Grey and Red-legged Partridges around these parts too. I managed to get a decent shot of a Grey later in the day at Lady Anne's Drive.

Grey Partridge - Lady Anne's Drive, Holkham.

Holkham Hall was our next stop...for Ferruginous Duck and Scaup. The Ferruginous Duck was difficult to photograph; it was wedged into the vegetation on the opposite side of the lake. The Scaup were equally difficult because it was very windy and cold so I couldn't be bothered! It didn't stop one of us trying out a new and unique method of looking for Tawny Owls in suitable roosting holes by sticking a scope near the entrance...not really thought this through though!

Hello...is there anybody there? An original but ultimately flawed way of checking for owls.

Well's Harbour was next so that we could add the long-staying Shag. Always picturesque which I take to mean take a picture of it! So I did.



The tide is out at Wells.

Burnham Overy Staithe was next. On the way down towards the sea wall we came across a flock of Golden Plover loafing in a field, the estimated size of said flock was 10000 birds! Bear in mind it was blowing fit to remove slates from a roof yet one of our group suggested we carefully scan this flock for a possible American Golden Plover. That would be two and a half thousand birds each... in a telescope rockin' wind. So we did....and one of us spotted a likely looking candidate. What made it a strong possible was that we could all locate the bird quite easily, because it was not golden...it was pale grey and it had a good strong, pale supercilium. However, this was not good enough to clinch the ID. We couldn't see the primary projection, nor the tertials and the bird stubbornly refused to stand up so we could not gauge leg length or overall structure...all of which features we would need to ascertain the bird's true ID. Then it flew off, along with nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine other plovers. By the time we reached the sand dunes the wind was gusting at three-thousand miles an hour and it was whipping up sand that Lawrence of A would not have tolerated but we struggled through because there were possibly three Shore Larks fifty-three miles further along the shingle. Sand-blasted and extremely well exfoliated we rocked-up at the end of the shingle to be rewarded by the sight of three disgruntled and fed-up looking Shore Larks hunkered down in the grass.
On the way back to Burnham Overy we located a small flock of Barnacle Geese. To tick or not to tick? We did!

Amazing Bark of a Sweet Chestnut Tree in Holkham Park.

...and a row of Badger Bums at the same place.

By Sunday the wind had got-up to mach 2. We were to be found gazing at nothing much at all from Hunstanton Cliffs. A single fly-by Red-throated Diver and a few Fulmar were the only birds to be added to our list so it was off to Tithwell to join thousands of others who drift about there on a Sunday morning.
The usual Water Rail site produced the usual Water Rail.

The usual Water Rail in the usual lace at Titchwell.

The big surprise here was that the wardens had drained the main lagoon to carry out maintenance work. So no ducks...or much else really. We set off to the sea hoping that they hadn't drained that too. The tide was out when we got there so they may as well have drained it as far as birding was concerned! Four Snow Buntings were the highlights here.
We ended the day in the Joe Jordan Hide down at Holkham Pines. Here we had nothing short of a Raptor fest with another completely bonkers Peregrine belting about, along with over a dozen Marsh Harriers, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Common Buzzards and five Barn Owls. Another Great White Egret put in an appearance as well as over 100 European White-fronted Geese.
The day finished with us debating the identity of a white blob sat up in a tree by the A149 some mile or so away. One of us was convinced it was bird A, another was certain it was bird B, two of us kept swapping between both until eventually we nailed it. Here is a picture exactly as we saw it...what do you reckon it is?

ID this bird! It's the white dot roughly in the centre.

A couple of shots from Thornham Marshes to end with. A Brent Goose, so synonymous with the North Norfolk Coast. And a Curlew on the exposed mud...before they all disappear!

Brent Goose    Thornham

Curlew    Thornham.

We finished the weekend the following morning at Flitcham with a total of 124 species after failing yet again to see any Golden Pheasants. Thanks to Trevor, Paul and Nigel for a crackin' weekend and thanks to Andy C for the loan of the cottage and a special thanks to the workers in Sharpe's brewery for the Doombar and all those that gave their time to pick grapes.