December 2016–January 2017

Main sites: Rhanthambhore, Keoladeo Ghana National Park,
Desert National Park, Sat Tal & Vanghat Lodge (Corbett National Park buffer zone)

This report outlines birding details for a trip lasting almost three weeks in north west India (mainly Rajasthan, as far west as Sam and Jaisalmer) with a short extension to the Nainital / Ramnagar region, during the Christmas–New Year period 2016/17. Despite having been to India a number of times before, including to a couple of sites visited on this trip, this was a very rewarding trip with loads of great birds.

VANGHAT (Thursday 10th December)

Vanghat

Mainly because it lies well off the beaten track, this rather special place was a great spot to end our trip. We had insufficient time to visit Dhikala inside the national park proper (and have been there before) but combining that with a few days at Vanghat would probably be the ultimate Corbett experience. The lodge is really well done and pretty luxurious with superb food, given the precise location (a 2.5km walk from the highway, involving two crossings of the Ramganga river, the first by bridge and the next by rickety raft on a pulley). Most of all, the isolation and low- key approach ensured a very quiet, peaceful stay and a few great days on foot.

  • Based at Vanghat Lodge, we birded the forest for two days, just by making short walks from the lodge and hammering the garden and adjacent river. The regular presence of elephant, although not during our visit, means that the lodge assigns a staff member to come along on forest walks. Although the forest was mostly rather dry and quite open in places, shady patches close to the lodge garden, plus the scrubby riverside plains and rocky Ramganga river itself made for some very good birding.

Amongst good numbers of common woodland birds, including a surprisingly good number and variety of higher altitude breeders wintering low, the most notable species, many within or from the lodge garden, included Pallas’s and Lesser Fish- Eagles (daily), Besra (three sightings, including two perched!), singles of Mountain Hawk-Eagle and Collared Falconet, up to 30 Himalayan Griffons each morning, Emerald Dove, lots of Himalayan Parakeets, Crested Treeswifts, Indian White- rumped Spinetail, Himalayan Swiftlet and Nepal House Martin all in feeding flocks over the valley, two close Speckled

Piculet, lots of minivets (including apparently Short-billed; here regarded as not certain as there appear to be very few records west of Nepal), Blue Rock, Chestnut-bellied and Black-throated Thrushes, Grey-winged Blackbird, several Small

Niltavas, the only Taiga Flycatcher of the trip (many more Slaty-blue; also Rufous-gorgetted), both Himalayan and Siberian Rubythroats (latter in garden!), Black-chinned and Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-Babblers, Grey-sided and Aberrant Bush- Warblers and lots of Whistler’s Warblers. The evocative Ramganga river produced Crested Kingfishers eventually and, far more readily, repeatedly yielded Spotted and Little Forktails and several Wallcreepers, all giving awesome views. A walk to a small waterfall across the river from the lodge failed to yield Long-billed Thrush on either visit but did produced a fabulous look at Tawny Fish-Owl on the second morning.

  • Apart from a short stop at the barrage at Ramnagar for waterfowl, the only other site visited (twice) in the area was Garjiya Temple, close to the main road from Ramnagar town to the access track for Vanghat. Despite the mid-afternoon and late morning timings respectively, and the consequent busy crowds, Ibisbill were easily located both visits, just a few hundred metres upstream from the temple and associated shanties, in the first proper riffles. Three were seen in total and views were very good, especially on the first afternoon when they were feeding. Other species here included River Lapwing, Osprey, Crested Honey-Buzzard and Siberian Stonechat.

LogisticsThese were handled by Rural Traveller (http://www.ruraltraveller.com/; email: vanghat@gmail.com) who did a very good job suggesting a good itinerary at short notice – with some advice and suggestions from me – and sorting out all the hotel bookings and travel arrangements. All the accommodation they selected was good (or better). Transfers comprised a mixture of train journeys, including one overnight, and road trips by car; surprisingly (given the very neglected infrastructure in places) everything went smoothly with fairly minimal delays (by Indian standards). Train journeys were very comfortable, including the overnight one and most road trips weren’t too bad at all; away from the Delhi–Ramnagar route the traffic was bearable or better. The trip culminated in a three night stay at Vanghat, a lodge in the Corbett Buffer Zone owned and run by Rural Traveller directly and was a real highlight of the trip. Hotel and transport details, other than approximate timings and some notes about hotel locations where relevant to birding details, are not covered further below. The route taken is outlined below:

  • Dec 17th: Arrive at the airport mid-morning; train journey Delhi – Ranthambhore (6 hrs)
  • Dec 18th – 19th: Ranthambhore National Park: four safaris in zones 6, 7 and 8 and a visit to the fort
  • Dec 20th: Train journey Ranthambhore–Bharatpur (2 hrs) and pm at Keoladeo Ghana National Park
  • Dec 21st: All day in Keoladeo Ghana National Park
  • Dec 22nd: Drive Bharatpur–Pushkar (6 hrs) and afternoon / evening in Pushkar
  • Dec 23rd: Drive Pushkar–Ajmer (c45 mins) and then train Ajmer–Udaipur (5 hrs); afternoon and evening in Udaipur
  • Dec 24th: Drive Udaipur–Jodhpur, via Ranakpur temples (9 hrs, with long stops)
  • Dec 25th: Jodhpur all day
  • Dec 26th: Jodhpur–Sam, Desert National Park via Osiyan, Khichan and Jaisalmer (took all day, would have been c5 hrs without stops)
  • Dec 27th – 28th: Desert National Park
  • Dec 29th: Sam–Jaisalmer (one hr; plus stop at Khuldhara) then Jaisalmer–Jodhpur (6 hrs). Overnight train Jodhpur–Delhi (11hrs)
  • Dec 30th: Drive Delhi–Sat Tal (8 hrs) and later pm around Birder’s Den garden, Sat Tal
  • Dec 31st – Jan 1st: Sat Tal and Pangot (latter c1 ¾ hrs drive from Sat Tal in early morning)
  • Jan 2nd: Sat Tal–Ramnagar and then on to Vanghat (4 hrs including stops, not least at Garjiya Temple)
  • Jan 3rd – 4th: Vanghat
  • Jan 5th: Vanghat–Delhi (7 hrs including stops for c1 hour) for evening plane out.

Gear Weather was cool in the mornings but never excessively cold, save in the Sat Tal area, and, even here, and higher up at Pangot, it was never really bitter. We had some sleet and slushy snow coming down from Pangot which caused long traffic delays in Nainital (not helped by it being New Year’s Day). A scope was very useful in many places and photo opportunities at several places, such as Birder’s Den (see below), where we stayed at Sat Tal, were outstanding.

Sound recording gear was handy at times with a few skulking winterers (Small Niltava, Grey-sided Bush-Warbler, rubythroats etc) in the Himalayas being teased out with it; some recordings made on the trip (along with my other Indian recordings) are available at this link.

Rasmussen & Anderton (2012) is the book to run with, although I still find my well-worn copy of Grimmett et al (1999) a little simpler and quicker to use.

Birding details

1.  Ranthambhore

First and foremost, we didn’t see tiger here. We hadn’t quite realized the fine details of the booking system for safaris; basically you need to book at least 90 days in advance to be sure of getting access to the core zones, i.e. those beyond the fort where most of the famous TV footage emanates from. Our booking, made early October, was too late for this and although we had good trips to the ‘outer’ zones 6 (twice), 7 and 8, we didn’t find any, although zone 6 looks very likely (and other people did see a tiger there, briefly, the second afternoon we visited) and friends visiting a week after us did see tiger in zone 8.

On the plus side, we did see a lot of tiger prey and the birding was really rather good – significantly better than expected, actually, with lots of good views of common species. Particular highlights included:

  • Zone 6: small numbers of waterfowl, including Woolly-necked Stork; White-eyed Buzzard very close, Indian Scops-Owl and Spotted Owlet both at day roosts, Ashy-crowned Sparrow-Lark (display-flighting) and Rufous- tailed Lark on the higher grassy plains with White-capped Bunting lower down.
    • Zone 7: eight Indian Vultures and a young Griffon very close on a carcass putting on an amazing display both visually and orally (check this out) with Indian Bushlark nearby and Bay- backed Shrike at the bottom of the hill.
    • Zone 8: Painted Spurfowl and White-naped Flameback virtually together in the really shady forest just in from the gate, Short-toed Eagle on the way up and a large covey of Jungle

Bush-Quail, sometimes visible, running about at the top. The rough mesquite scrub and fields on the track from town towards Zone 8 was very good for Common Babbler.

  • A visit to the fort is well worthwhile for the spectacular views, amazing history and langurs draping the walls. Great Thick- knee was the most notable bird, but it was midday and rather warm.
    • Staying at Machli Wilderness Lodge on the northern fringe of the park gave access to lots of farmland and dusty fields. The absolute highlight here was chancing into seven Indian Coursers on ploughed ground very close to the hotel, with a reasonable selection of common species also about. Some smelly ponds on the way to the main road yielded some wagtails and a few waders for variety but the only Painted Sandgrouse gave very poor views, flying over without calling on just one night.



2.  Keoladeo Ghana National Park, Bharatpur

This famous place is back in black nowadays; compared to less than a hundred ducks here on my 2006 visit, 10,000 would have been closer to the real value now and still possibly a significant understatement.

Arrangements are very easy at the main gate and 1 ½ days here were well spent, being prolific and easy birding.

Highlights included:

  • Stork colony sensational, with hundreds of young Painted Storks about to fledge, or having just done so, plus a few Woolly-necked and Asian Openbill. Black- necked Stork proved tricky but was eventually seen by taking a boat trip into the flooded meadows (boats start from the second checkpoint).
    • As well as Black-necked Stork, this boat trip gave an awesome angle on classic Bharatpur where flooded meadows heaved with waterfowl. The boatman had a stake out for an enormous

python, not to mention Indian Grey Nightjar in a tree protruding from the floods. We also had Bay-backed Shrike and

Crested Honey-Buzzard out here.

  • Ten species of heron included two Black Bittern very closely in the canal near the temple.
    • 15 species of ducks and geese everywhere included rather small numbers of Bar-headed Geese and Comb Duck, hundreds of Red-crested Pochard (rather local) and Ferruginous Duck, plus Northern Pintail and Gadwall beyond computation.
    • Raptors, mainly over the temple and lagoons near there included several Booted Eagle, at least one Eastern Imperial and over 25 Greater Spotted Eagles, although (seemingly) not Indian Spotted.
    • Sarus Crane heard frequently but not seen was a bit of a let-down.
    • The usual Bharatpur owl haul included Dusky Eagle-Owl (near the entrance gate at dusk), scattered Spotted Owlets, Indian Scops-Owls and a single Oriental Scops-Owl along the main track, best of all actually, an amazingly clear view of a Barn Owl, early morning on a side road not far from the Birder’s Inn hotel (where two Indian Scops were regularly roosting in the bamboo in the garden).
    • A few early morning hours around the nursery yielded some good shady forest species, including Indian Grey Hornbills and Orange-headed Thrush (Tickell’s surprisingly not evident), Common Woodshrike and Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher with a really nice gang of wagtails and freshwater waders on the tiny, muddy pools in the nearby meadows.
    • Siberian Chiffchaffs were quite obvious along the main canal at dusk, with Blyth’s Reed less so, and Red-breasted Flycatchers everywhere.
    • I had a quick look for Yellow-wattled Lapwing in the fields between Birders’ Inn and the reserve wall and also Greater Painted-Snipe early on the last morning in one of the canals in town (via a cycle rickshaw) without success but better gen and more time would probably have done the trick.

3.  Pushkar

No birding reasons to visit this pleasant and manageable town, although we had a nice enough afternoon here, with a large flock of Ruff and a few Masked Wagtails on the lake in town, plus great views of Dusky Crag Martin and Little Swift over the temple on the ridge above town at dusk; Brown Rock-chat were also about here.

4.  Udaipur

This was a genuinely impressive place to visit. Lake Pichola in the middle of town was epic India, really serene with a few birds to boot. These included plenty of diving ducks, but also River Tern and several Wire-tailed Swallows. Another large lake (Fateh Sagar) that we stopped at for photos on the way out the next morning yielded lots more Wire-tailed Swallows and, amongst them, a handful of Streak-headed Swallows; River Tern featured again here too. We stayed at a hotel about 20mins out of town to the north west and a couple of hours early next morning in the scrub and fields about here yielded a few goodies such as Wryneck, Tawny-bellied and Yellow-eyed Babblers, a rufiventris Black Redstart, Siberian Stonechat and a few jackals.

One touristy place in town definitely worth visiting was Saheliyon-ki-Bari gardens; small and busy but also very lush and with a few birds. First Crested Honey-Buzzard; Indian Golden Oriole was pleasing and even better was the rather common White-spotted Fantail, a species I hadn’t realized was available further north than Mount Abu.

The journey to Jodhpur from Udaipur deviated to take in the famous Jain temples at Ranakpur. This took us through some nice farmland for a few roadside birds and a tree full of fruit-bats and then some lovely, winding roads through the Aravalli ranges. When we got to Ranakpur, the relatively lush woods around the temple would probably be pretty good early morning. Trip firsts here included Asian Koel and Alexandrine Parakeets (and many more Plum-headed) plus great looks at Black-rumped Flameback.

5.  Jodhpur and Khichen

Even more so than Udaipur, this was a quintessential Rajasthan city and a great place to spend a day wandering around. The setting is sensational, the old town clinging to the rocky crags below a ridge crowned by an awesome and well persevered Meherangarh Palace. We spent Christmas morning wandering around the palace and visiting the adjacent memorial of Jaswant Thada. Around and above the palace, raptor watching (8 species) was pretty good. Most obvious were a few tricky Buteos, at least some of which were definitely Long-legged Buzzard but two which showed confusingly intermediate characteristics between that species and Steppe. Other notables included Steppe and Bonelli’s Eagles, plenty of Black Kites (seemingly both govinda and lineatus) and 7 Griffons. Dusk saw a fine display of Little Swifts, with two very high River Terns sailing over whilst the lake below Jaswant Thada hosted a few Ferruginous Ducks.

We also visited Mandore gardens

and surrounding cenotaphs in the

afternoon, finding them decidedly poor for birds but lots of friendly langurs taking hand-outs, as recently featured on Planet Earth II.

Khichen, a small town on the edge of the Thar desert, was about three hours away from Jodhpur, via a short and bird- free stop at the temples of Osiyan. We made the pilgrimage for the legendary Demoiselle Cranes that winter here and are fed by local villagers. By the time of our arrival (1100), only a few hundred cranes left on the ‘feeding field’ in the village but the rocky plain and small lake on the south side of the village had several thousand gathered, attracting a small but steady stream of tourists. The spectacle was superb, with great views , plenty of sound and very close views for over an hour. Khichen was a bit of deviation between Jodhpur and Jaisalmer but well worth it to see something like this.





6.  Desert National Park

This first checkpoint of the Sudasari part of this fascinating but degraded area is about 1 hour west of Jaisalmer, and hence 15mins further on than Sam dunes, a well-known and overused tourist site. The sand dunes are no real drama (if you live in Arabia) yet attracts hundreds, maybe thousands of Indian tourists every day, mostly from late afternoon until mid morning next day. There are dozens of tented camps, at least some with totally inappropriate light and sound shows, plus hundreds of hawkers hanging around. Fortunately, the actual national park is relatively devoid of this

madness and there is still very good birding to be had along the quiet and peaceful road between the first checkpoint and the second, approximately 15 km further south. Getting in was easy; we simply rocked up early morning and got tickets (Rs300 or thereabouts). The road between the checkpoints allows plenty of good scanning opportunities and pretty nice birding anywhere along; the most interesting areas are in and the environs of the two large, fenced in enclosures – one a little south of the first checkpoint but distant from the road and the second immediately east of the second checkpoint and easy to walk into. I think these are supposed to be inviolate areas but that was not the case when we were there, with grazing goats in a few places. However, they were still very verdant compared to the barren, overgrazed, Caltrop-dominated plains all around.

The key species here is, of course Great Indian Bustard and I spent two days just birding Sudasari, apparently regarded as the key area. This meant no time to explore further; see this good and detailed trip report for details on other sites for a few other DNP species (mainly of interest to Indian listers). Great Indian Bustard entered dire straits some time ago – see the article by Collar et al (2015) in Birding Asia 23: 15-26 for a rundown on why we have now reached crisis point, with particular reference to Desert National Park. Given the species’ rarity and increasingly difficulty of finding it (there were plenty of park guards, or, at least, apparent staff, about at the checkpoints but none too forthcoming with good suggestions as to where to look) I considered myself very fortunate indeed to find three Great Indian Bustards by scanning from the obvious elevated hut in the enclosure c350m east of the entrance at the second checkpoint. Light here is much better for viewing in the afternoon and I found the birds at long range at 1615. A fast, low approach was then initiated, getting me within 2-300m of these enormous, stately birds that I never really thought I would see. There was no sign anywhere else along the road, despite scanning everywhere and anywhere, nor any sign the next day, when

I and another small birding group spent the whole day looking. As if that wasn’t enough, Stoliczka’s Bushchat proved unexpectedly easy, once inside the same enclosure. Two were found in the space of an hour along the narrow jeep track that runs east from the elevated viewpoint mentioned above, with one of which was viewable by scanning from the viewpoint and present both in the morning and afternoon. Both gave sensational views, although, being on the ground for up to 80% of the time, could easily have been missed on a casual and fast walk. The crazy, puffed out, wagging feeding (?) strut was seen repeatedly anytime one gave a clear view on the deck.

With the two mega megas done and dusted, the rest of the birding was pretty enjoyable. Species diversity was low of course, but included an excellent array of raptors (16 species in all) including five eagles and six vultures. Mixed thermalling groups of the latter were highly instructive, comprising mainly Eurasian Griffons but also a few young Himalayan Griffons (well remote from their mapped range in Rasmussen & Anderton (2012)), scattered Black Vultures and a single Indian Vulture. Red-headed Vultures were present only near the second checkpoint, with close perched Lagger Falcon, Short-toed Eagle and male Pallid Harrier all seen brilliantly in here as well. Aquilas were rather scarce but included at least three sightings

of Eastern Imperial Eagle and Tawny Eagle close to the road several times. Other interesting species included Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse flying everywhere, plus easy Cream- coloured Coursers, mainly on the barest plains near the first checkpoint. Larks (4 species) were, surprisingly, not numerous but included scattered groups of Bimacs, with Variable Wheatear (all three forms, but mainly picata – types) the most numerous of three wheatear species. Asian Desert Warblers were easy to find, often in the barest fields, with a few examples of ‘Punjab’ Raven, mainly at roadside drinking puddles. Long-billed Pipit (common) and Rosy Starling (three) in the second enclosure were also notable.

On the way back to Jaisalmer on the last morning, we made an hour-long stop at the well-known ruined village of Khuldhara. Desert Larks proved pretty easy here, with a distant wheatear probably Red-tailed but, living in the UAE, I wasn’t too worried about any of those, or the lack of Striolated Buntings.

7. Sat Tal

This celebrated Himalayan birding spot was pretty much as I remembered it from 2006, although the distance from Nainital seemed to have lengthened somewhat and the main road had rather a lot of development in places and plenty of traffic. At Sat Tal we stayed at the Birders Den, a small and recently established lodge down a dirt track on the left just before the church (and hence just before the switchbacks down to the actual lakes started). Well-known guide Hari Lama set up and manages this place and gave me loads of great local birding gen. Although I have spent plenty of time in the Himalayas in the last 10 years, and despite species diversity and complexity of the task of digging them out being nothing like north east India, we still had very enjoyable time, with loads of top quality  but easy birds. Sites visited, the first three being within easy walking distance, were:

  • Birder’s Den garden: Hari has done an epic job setting up a bird-feeding station and photoblind right on site, in fact between the restaurant and rooms. Photography was easy and prolific here; over 2 days we had some 25 species down to feed and views – and photo opps – were sensational.

Highlights included Great and Blue-throated Barbets, three species of woodpecker including Greater Yellownape (pair repeatedly), amazing looks at Rufous Sibia, Striated, Rufous-chinned and White-throated Laughingthrushes, a pair of Khaleej Pheasant in to feed, and Black Francolin nearly doing so and both Blue Whistling-Thrush and Grey-sided Blackbirds. Some of these were almost touchable, and the Red-billed Blue-Magpies too close for photos, most of the time. With such a great set-up, the place is already popular amongst Indian photographers, for understandable reasons.

The steep gulley below the garden yielded – ye gods – a male Golden Bush-Robin, with Blue-capped Redstart and Striated Prinia plus Black-throated Thrush both in the garden and the tilled fields across from the bottom of the access track.

  • Scrubby fields just below the University (c1km back towards the main road from Birder’s Den): Despite being disturbed and noisy due to the road and houses, these were a great place for shy, evasive winterers in the lantana thickets and the scrubby bushes around the stream nearby. Highlights here included a fantastic male Himalayan Rubythroat that flew across the track, a stunning male Siberian Stonechat, Aberrant Bush-Warbler, and several groups of Black-throated Thrush and Grey-winged Blackbird. Further, easy Black-headed Jays and Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-Babblers were seen on each visit. At least two Chestnut-bellied Rock-Thrush were a little further down the road and I also fell in with a Maroon Oriole. Finally, this was a good place to get decent views of perched Himalayan and Red-breasted Parakeets.
  • Forest around the temple steps and waterfall trail on edge of the main lake: This produced some very nice flocks of tits, leaf-warblers and nuthatches giving good views at eye-level. Other species included a group of Greater Flamebacks, Bar- tailed Treecreepers (pretty common locally), Whistler’s Warbler, several Himalayan Bluetails, plus Grey-sided Bush- Warbler and the inevitable Spotted Forktails along the stream.
  • Hari’s thrush stake-out: We tried this at dawn one morning, a site on the road above Bhowali and along a shady forest road and a 15min drive from Birder’s Den. There had been Scaly and Long-tailed Thrush there this winter; it was the latter I was really after. An hour of scoping the small field and muddy slope produced great looks at Grey-winged Blackbird, Blue Whistling-Thrush and Chestnut-bellied Rock-Thrush but no Zootheras. Maroon Oriole and a fabulous male Blue-capped Redstart also showed and there was an excellent mixed flock of tits, leaf-warblers, treepies and Striated Laughingthrushes, all whipped up into a frenzy by the arrival of an owlet.
  • Pangot: One morning was spent up here, mainly at the Cheer Pheasant slope 12km beyond Pangot village. Getting here proved a 1hr:40min drive from Sat Tal, with very little traffic in early morning. Disappointingly three hours of scanning the steep slopes failed to produced Cheer Pheasant although, by way of minor compensation, at least for me, the guide from Jungle Lore, Pangot failed to find any either. Predictably, bird numbers and diversity were pretty low up here but quality was rather good. Species at the viewpoint included great looks at Himalayan Griffon and Mountain Hawk-Eagle, Altai Accentors floating about on the wind and Black-throated Thrush flying over. Stops on the route back, around the viewpoint of Vinayak, produced a mega flock of tits, leaf-warblers, White-tailed Nuthatch, Bar-tailed Treecreeper and Striated and White-throated Laughingthrushes with both Goldcrest and Siberian Chiffchaff mixed in. A lunch stop at a small lodge on the edge of Pangot village produced great views of Eurasian and Black-headed Jays with a male Himalayan Bluetail beating the hell out of a female Blue-capped Redstart on the slope below the road. Later on, Rufous-bellied Woodpecker appeared during a stop further back towards Snow View.



8.  Vanghat

Mainly because it lies well off the beaten track, this rather special place was a great spot to end our trip. We had insufficient time to visit Dhikala inside the national park proper (and have been there before) but combining that with a few days at Vanghat would probably be the ultimate Corbett experience. The lodge is really well done and pretty luxurious with superb food, given the precise location (a 2.5km walk from the highway, involving two crossings of the Ramganga river, the first by bridge and the next by rickety raft on a pulley). Most of all, the isolation and low- key approach ensured a very quiet, peaceful stay and a few great days on foot.

  • Based at Vanghat Lodge, we birded the forest for two days, just by making short walks from the lodge and hammering the garden and adjacent river. The regular presence of elephant, although not during our visit, means that the lodge assigns a staff member to come along on forest walks. Although the forest was mostly rather dry and quite open in places, shady patches close to the lodge garden, plus the scrubby riverside plains and rocky Ramganga river itself made for some very good birding.

Amongst good numbers of common woodland birds, including a surprisingly good number and variety of higher altitude breeders wintering low, the most notable species, many within or from the lodge garden, included Pallas’s and Lesser Fish- Eagles (daily), Besra (three sightings, including two perched!), singles of Mountain Hawk-Eagle and Collared Falconet, up to 30 Himalayan Griffons each morning, Emerald Dove, lots of Himalayan Parakeets, Crested Treeswifts, Indian White- rumped Spinetail, Himalayan Swiftlet and Nepal House Martin all in feeding flocks over the valley, two close Speckled

Piculet, lots of minivets (including apparently Short-billed; here regarded as not certain as there appear to be very few records west of Nepal), Blue Rock, Chestnut-bellied and Black-throated Thrushes, Grey-winged Blackbird, several Small Niltavas, the only Taiga Flycatcher of the trip (many more Slaty-blue; also Rufous-gorgetted), both Himalayan and Siberian Rubythroats (latter in garden!), Black-chinned and Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-Babblers, Grey-sided and Aberrant Bush- Warblers and lots of Whistler’s Warblers. The evocative Ramganga river produced Crested Kingfishers eventually and, far more readily, repeatedly yielded Spotted and Little Forktails and several Wallcreepers, all giving awesome views. A walk to a small waterfall across the river from the lodge failed to yield Long-billed Thrush on either visit but did produced a fabulous look at Tawny Fish-Owl on the second morning.

  • Apart from a short stop at the barrage at Ramnagar for waterfowl, the only other site visited (twice) in the area was Garjiya Temple, close to the main road from Ramnagar town to the access track for Vanghat. Despite the mid-afternoon and late morning timings respectively, and the consequent busy crowds, Ibisbill were easily located both visits, just a few hundred metres upstream from the temple and associated shanties, in the first proper riffles. Three were seen in total and views were very good, especially on the first afternoon when they were feeding. Other species here included River Lapwing, Osprey, Crested Honey-Buzzard and Siberian Stonechat.

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