Birding in Bharatpur

During the Republic Day weekend we went to Bharatpur, after a relaxed drive & a quick lunch, we met Maan Singh & YES..............it was time to go to the park.

As we entered the park we could see the Grey Night Jar, then our attention as usual shifted towards the resident King & Queen.......... The Dusky Eagle Owl. She was sitting in a nest (which was build by the Painted Storks !!) kept putting her head out sometimes............... though this time i could not hear their deadly calls !!

A Black Bittern suddenly made a fleeting appearance & kept us engaged.......

As we cycled on, we could see thousands of ducks, but Comb ducks seemed to have taken over the place & there were a lot of Glossy Ibis......

We could hear the ducks just taking off in thousands, that immense flutter of the wings as you can see was been caused by a Marsh Harrier. We could see the Harrier chasing the ducks. In the end it missed all the ducks, it actually ended catching a fish & was trying to find a place to quietly relish on the fish, when a painted stork came by & took the fish away from the Harrier. After all the effort, the Harrier was left high & dry !!

The next day i did manage to get a 2 minute video of another Harrier attack on the ducks!!

We could see the Black Shouldered Kite hovering for a long time, but was not lucky to see him swoop on a prey. Had great views of an Imperial Eagle, so with a Lesser Spotted Eagle & Greater Spotted Eagle

The second day the park was really getting crowded, there were just too many people inside. We decided to do birding outside the park. Maan Singh said we can try for the Painted Snipes, Yellow Wattled Lapwing & the Indian Courser.

We could see the Painted Snipes quite clearly, pretending to hide themselves, looking at us curiously & ready to fly away...........

Though we missed the Indian Courser, we managed to see The Desert Wheatear, i did have to crawl on my knees to get near it. We saw the Yellow Wattled Lapwing also.

We hoped to do an early start to the birding the next day, but as we opened our windows in our rooms we could see nothing, but fog !! Neverthless we cycled in the park for sometime but birding & identification was nearly impossible, as the sun started to peek out we could see this majestic Steppe Eagle....... but that was it, it was time to say goodbye to Bharatpur once again !

I was hoping to see a Osprey.......... but that was not to be & i did miss the Common Crane & also the Curlews.

Well there is always something to look forward to next time around !!

The birds we were able to identify :

1. Grey Francolin (Partridge)
2. Lesser Whistling Duck
3. Greylag Goose
4. Barheaded Goose
5. Ruddy Shelduck
6. Comb Duck
7. Gadwall
8. Spotbilled Duck
9. Northern Shoveller
10. Pintail

11. Common Teal
12. White Breasted Waterhen
13. Purple Moorhen
14. Common Moorhen
15. Common Coot
16. Pheasant Tailed Jacana
17. Bronze Winged Jacana
18. Little Grebe (Dab chick)
19. Darter
20. Little Cormorant

21. Indian Cormorant
22. Great Cormorant
23. Little Egret
24. Grey Heron
25. Purple Heron
26. Great Heron
27. Intermediate Egret
28. Pond Heron
29. Black Bittern
30. Glossy Ibis

31. White Ibis
32. White Spoonbill
33. Painted Stork
34. Open Bill
35. Black Necked Stork
36. White Necked Stork
37. Black Winged Stilts
38. Ruff
39. Red Shank
40. Green Shank

41. Painted Snipe
42. Sandpiper
43. Green Sandpiper
44. Little Ringtailed Plover
45. Brown Crake
46. Sarus Crane
47. Red Wattled Lapwing
48. Yellow Wattled Lapwing
49. Flameback
50. Indian Roller

51. Eurasian Golden Oriole
52. ed Breasted Fly Catcher
53. Grey Headed Canary Flycatcher
54. Brown Shrike
55. Long Tailed Shrike
56. Common Wood Shrike
57. Large Grey Shrike
58. Large Grey Babbler
59. Roufous Treepie
60. Black Drongo

61. Ashy Prinia
62. Plain Prinea
63. Common Chif Chaff
64. Blue Throat
65. Black Headed Munia
66. Peacock/fowl
67. Desert Wheatear
68. Grey Hornbill
69. Red Collared Dove
70. White Throated Kingfisher

71. Pied Kingfisher
72. Small Blue Kingfisher
73. Lesser Coucal
74. Rose Ringed Parakeet
75. Collared Scops Owl
76. Dusky Eagle Owl
77. Spotted Owlet
78. Grey Night Jar
79. Shikra
80. Black Shouldered Kite

81. Eurasian Marsh Harrier
82. Lesser Spotted Eagle
83. Greater Spotted Eagle
84. Imperial Eagle
85. Booted Eagle
86. Crested Serpent Eagle
87. Steppe Eagle
88. Egyptian Vulture

"......... and the shadow of the day
will embrace the world
in gray
& the sun will set for you........ "

bharatpur