November 28: Paul Holt reports from NW India
We’ve been having a fantastic time here in northwest India. Highlights so far have included hundreds of harriers – mostly Montagu’s (pictured below) but quite a few ghostly male Pallid – at the Velavadar Black Buck Sanctuary, the site of the world’s largest harrier roost. Also seen were hundreds of pelicans, thousands of larks, a cooperative Painted Francolin, a juvenile Eastern Imperial Eagle and both Paddyfield and Sykes’s Warblers. We’ve also stumbled across a whole host of mammals including Indian Wolf, Jungle Cat and over 1400 Black Buck! Brilliant!
Montagu’s Harrier
Rufous-tailed Lark
Juvenile Eastern Imperial Eagle
Black Buck
Leaving Velavadar we headed south to Gir. We had five game drives inside the Lion Sanctuary and National Park and saw two separate Lions, one of them uncomfortably close, plus single Leopards (pictured below) on a remarkable three safaris. Other highlights included good numbers of Indian Stone-curlews, Jungle Prinia and seven White-bellied Minivets (pictured below). From there we headed west to the port city of Jamnagar where massive numbers of both Lesser (3400) and Greater Flamingo (1620), Common (1025) and Demoiselle Cranes (800) awaited. For many of us the two parties totalling 135 Indian Skimmers were an undoubted highlight. The local forest department lent us a motor launch and we headed out in to Marine National Park where we were enthralled by exceptional close-range looks at specialities such as Crab-plover (1550) and Great Knot. We’re moving still further west – beyond Bhuj and closer to the Pakistan border today where we’re hoping to see Grey Hypocolius and White-naped Tit among others so watch this space…
Leopard
White-bellied Minivets
Crab-plovers
Posted: November 28, 2016