Sultanpur 29.11.09, with the Shrikes & Blue Throat among many others

Its been a year since we went birding to Sultanpur, so when we heard that there was a trip scheduled i was thrilled

An Yellow Crowned Woodpecker was doing hide & seek with us

Just as we were walking i thought i heard a noise similar to somebody clicking away furiously on the camera, then i realised it was a Blue Throat. It was bang in front of me on the pathway, i crawled on my knees to reach closer to it.

Then some Lesser White Throats, Hume's Warbler's, Common Chiffchaffs kept us interested. So was an over flying Honey Buzzard & a Marsh Harrier.

A Roller bird was looking delightful as ever.

Then the Olive Backed Pipits captured every one's interest

So were the Red Avadavats, who were posing for us

And so with the Silver Bills

The Southern Grey Shrike was not even bothered by my presence !!

The Minivets made a stunning splash of colour

We also saw Black Rumped Flame back, Horn bills, Tree pies, Coucals, a Black Shouldered Kite sitting & preening away. Stone chats, Plain & Ashy Prinia, Large Grey Babbler, Shikra, Drongo, Indian Robin & Pied Bush chats also made their presence felt.

Partridge's made their presence with their lovely calls. I tried to click a Common Quail, but stood no chance !!

At the water hole there was over 2,000 water birds Common teals, Gadwals, Northern Shovelers, Grey lag geese, Bar headed geese, Common Pochards, Northern Pin tails, Coots & Wigions.

The resident water birds included the Common Moorhen, Purple Swamp hen, Great, Intermediate & Little cattle Egrets, Purple & Grey Herons, Black Headed Ibis, Glossy Ibis, Painted Storks. So were the White Tailed Lapwings, Wood sand Pipers. Barn swallows & Plain Martins looked busy as ever.

Here is a video of an Egret Fishing & enjoying its meal !

Just as we came out some one told us, Great White Pelicans have flown in & also there was a pair of Sarus cranes. But we were tired & hungry, so will check them out next time.

From 7 am to 12 noon we saw almost 60 species of birds, now isn't that amazing ???

Christmas in Sultanpur & the Black Shouldered Kite

When we reached Sultanpur on Christmas day morning it was covered with thick fog, in almost complete whiteout conditions, for the first one hour ( & it was really chill) we began by walking along the wooded area and birding more with ears than the eyes.

Though this pair of Grey Horn Bills kept us entertained.

As the light improved it was the Black-shouldered Kite which made an appearance. We were infact very close to it, but it was hardly bothered about our presence, it was busy preening itself once in a while gave us the looks but mostly ignored our presence.

Then we saw a flock of Small Minivets & a flock of Scarlet Minivets

Then came this Roller Bird which was flashing its brilliant feathers against the sun

Then the visibility slowly improved, there were many small birds which i could not identify. Then we reached the lake for viewing the waterbirds. There were atleast 2-3 thousand water birds with Common Teals, Pintails, Gadwalls, Shovelers, Greylag Geese, Water Hens & many which i could not identify.

The Painted Storks colony was like a market area. We did see three Aquila Eagles, but were too far away to identify. One may have been a Booted Eagle.

Though i was disappointed not been able to identify many birds, i was happy on one count............. i handled a camera, a Canon SX 10 Digital on my own !!

We also had to quickly come back home 'cos i had invited some of my friends over to my place to celebrate Christmas. We had got a small Christmas tree (actually a pine tree), made a few decorations, got some lights et al, my maasi baked an awesome cake with strawberries on it, my mother also baked a cake, generally we had a blast.

Tomorrow night i go for my school trip, we travel to Himachal Pradesh to Shoja for our expedition in the snow................

Winter visitors are coming................Sultanpur, Oct 2008. The Pied King Fisher & the Avadavat !!

I am so happy when winter is approaching, that is the time when a lot of birds fly in from thousands of miles away. I went to Sultanpur to check out the scene. A Pied King fisher really gave us a treat, diving into the water many times in front of us

The water hole was rather full of waterfowl; including Shovellers, Garganey, Gadwall, Common Teals, Comb Ducks, Spot-billed Ducks and a few Common Moorhens. The islands held large numbers of Black Headed Ibis and Painted Storks and a lone Asian Open bill. Also present were Purple and Grey Herons,Median and Great Egrets, Black Crowned Night Herons, the abundant Pond Herons, and all 3 species of Cormorants. On one of the trees on the island,there was quite a large raptor right at the top, but the distance was far too great for any of us to identify it. A Pied Cuckoo was also present on one of the Keekar trees next to the lake. We also saw Black Rumped Flamebacks, both species of Barbets, and a Common Stonechat.

But the colours of this Avadavat really caught my imagination.

As the day became warmer we got out of the park, but surely will be going again after a month or so to pay my respects to all the winter visitors.

We ended the morning with a round of some lovely sandwiches & a cake which was baked by my maasi.

White Tailed Eagle in Sultanpur !!!

We heard the Delhi bird group were going to Sultanpur, so we were happy to go again. We reached there at the given time, but unfortunately we could not see any one from the Delhi bird group, except for one member. We headed straight to the water hole. A couple of egrets seemed to have welcome dance or something going, it was a fascinating sight.


This one we assumed was a Juvenile Imperial Eagle. It was really naughty, it was having a great time circling around low, swooping down on to the ducks, but we did not see it catching any. To make sure of the ID, we posted it to Bird Forum...... and la behold.... we were told it was a White Tailed Eagle. We posted for ID again to Delhi Bird Net.... again it was confirmed that it is a White Tailed Eagle & it was told to us, it is a winter visitor & it has been sighted after 1970

In Search of the Imperial Eagle in Sultanpur

I had heard about an Imperial eagle at Sultanpur, so we decided to go & say hello. It was a very foggy day too. Indeed we did see the Imperial Eagle sunning itself from far away. A black Shouldered Kite & another Raptor which i could not identify were the highlights among many.