Participants:- Brian Buffery, Patricia Cardis, Slobodan Jovanovic, Tony Parnell, John Plummer and Rose Robert,
Tour Guide for Norfolk Birding – Chris Mills
VANGHAT (Thursday 10th December)
We left Dhikala after a pre-breakfast morning game drive, & then slowly took in several areas on the way back to the park entrance gates.
We were fortunate to see another Tawny Fish Owl and this one was sat quietly in view on the side of a horizontal branch in the canopy.
Other new birds of note on the drive out were 2 superb Great Hornbill, seen sat in trees and then in short flight! Also 2 Oriental Pied Hornbill, 3+ Scarlet Minivet, Yellow-bellied Fantail.
We said fond farewells to our drivers and guides of the last few days, switched vehicles and left the wonderful Corbett NP behind us.
We stopped off at the White-rumped Vulture site and also visited the Womens charity shop that sells an array of locally produced clothing & foods. The enterprise here is supported and encouraged by Ghosh’s charity, linking the attraction of the Vultures to the opportunity of visiting birders to purchase Gift items. Sadly it would appear that due to the continued use of Diclofenac and anti-inflammatory drugs used on cattle that this vulture is now locally extinct, none have been seen by guides for several months, very sad indeed.
We were slightly late arriving at Vanghat, but saw some nice birds on the walk in to the lodge and we all had fun crossing the river on the wooden raft. We were all fitted up with life-jackets & hard hats! 10+ White-capped Water Redstart, 10+ Plumbeous Water Redstart, Brown Dipper, Long-tailed Shrike, c20 Bronzed Drongo, several Blue Whistling Thrush, Wallcreeper and Black-crested Bulbul.
Vanghat is a beautiful location with 5 bungalows hidden deep in the inspiring Ramganga valley and surrounded by hills and the wildlife rich. The location is far from any human habitation on the banks of the Ramganga. The camp is designed to have very minimal impact on the environment and river that sits alongside. The cottages are well appointed, but do not have hot running water, so a bucket of boiling hot water is brought to each of the rooms for bathing and washing.
Overnight Vangat River Camp.
Friday 11th December
The next day we had a walk along the river birding pre-breakfast, followed by a couple of hours of relaxing after breakfast, everyone did there own thing, we had been up early almost constantly on the go dawn till dusk each day of the trip so everyone enjoyed a couple of hours off. Even from the camp there was plenty of birds to see! In the afternoon we explored more areas along the river and gardens, we had a lovely few hours with great views of 2 Crested Kingfisher, Plum-headed Parakeet, River Lapwing, both Lesser Fish eagle and Pallas’s Fish Eagle gave great flight views overhead as they fished along the river.
Several Wallcreepers gave us lovely views feeding on the boulders.
A Spotted Forktail appeared providing great views, but we saved one of the best birds until last! I was busy trying to get some images of a White-browed Wagtail, when into view came the beautiful and diminutive Little Forktail, after a few shouts to the rest of the group they were all able to enjoy a final speciality of the Himalayan rivers!
As we walked back, we had further views of Brown Dipper and 3 magnificent Great Hornbill flew over!
After dinner, we packed our cases ready for Saturdays journey back to Delhi. We enjoyed a few beers and drinks by a lovely camp fire in the evening.
Saturday 12th December
After a good breakfast, the group said goodbye and a fond farewell to Ghosh, Manoj, Anil and the staff.
It was then a long haul drive of 7-8 hours back to Delhi. We reached Delhi and met up with Prasanna again, full circle back to where the adventure had begun! We had a nice evening meal before the group was transported and accompanied to the airport. I said farewell and thanked the group before I headed in the direction of the train station, where I caught the sleeper train back up to Ramnagar and returned for a few more days birding in the Vangat area!
Over the 2 weeks we saw a vast range of birds and mammals, culminating in a mind boggling 306 species of birds, 14+ species of Mammal, plus Mugger and Gharial crocodiles. A further weeks stay by Chris Mills of Norfolk Birding added a further 8 species of birds, visiting Vanghat and Okhla bird reserve near Delhi
OVERVIEW OF THE TOUR
This tour took in the amazing sights and sounds of Northern India’s wildlife and birds plus a visit to the amazing Taj Mahal.
The tour included a wide and varied cross section of habitat. We started
with the wetland and birds of Bharatpur, this provided a vast array of wetland
species, plus a good introduction to raptors and passerines, with round 150
species recorded in this area. We then
visited Agra and the Taj Mahal en-route, before taking the overnight train and heading on to the area of
Pangot, near Nainatal in the foothills of the Himalaya’s. Here we visited the high forests of Oak, Deodar,
Rhododendron and conifers with the amazing visual backdrop to the higher
Himalayas, this provided a significant contrast with many speciality forest
species, very different to the wetland area of Bharatpur.
From here we then headed on to the famous Corbett National Park, where we stayed for 3 full days inside the park, we managed to see both Tiger, Elephant & a whole host of other mammals and birds.
The tour concluded in the beautiful surroundings of the buffer zone forest near Corbett NP in a secluded river valley alongside the Ramganga river.
Over the 2 weeks we saw a vast range of birds & mammals, culminating
in a mind boggling 306+ species of birds, 14+ species of Mammal, plus Mugger
and Gharial crocodiles. A further weeks stay by Chris Mills added a further 8
species of birds.
IMAGES FROM THE TOUR
A whole sequence of images taken during the tour can be viewed online by going to the following link, you do not need to be registered with facebook to use this link or see the images. Please either click the link or copy and paste the following:-
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152928757421684.1073741831.69369 1683&type=1&l=7cb60dea3a.
Images can be copied and downloaded from this link, albeit at a reduced resolution. If you require a full resolution set of images then please send a padded stamp addressed envelope and memory stick to our registered address and we will copy 15x10cm x 240 pixel resolution images to your memory stick (minimum size 2GB).
All images Chris Mills unless otherwide acknowledged.
Saturday 29th November
The main group all met up at Heathrow airport to board our British Airways direct flight to Delhi cost around £675.00.
Slobodan Jovanovic arrived from Serbia, almost 18 hours before and we made the necessary arrangements for him to be transferred to the accommodation prior to us arriving
Everyone in the main group arrived on time at the agreed meeting point and we were soon through security and departure gates boarding our flight. The flight departed at around 11.40am, the flight was comfortable with good food and drink and the economy seats were relatively comfortable.
Flight time is around 8 hours and we arrived in Delhi at a local time of 2.30am. We were met at the airport by our local guide Prasanna along with our driver. The luggage was loaded into the 10 seater minibus & we were soon tasting the bright lights and hussle, that is Delhi! Even at this hour the roads were busy! We soon arrived at the Hotel Ashok Country resort, everyone was shown to their appointed rooms. Hotel Ashok Country resort had good rooms with good food and mix of Indian breakfast and lunch.
Overnight at Hotel Ashok Country Resort.
Sunday 30th November
After a leisurely breakfast at 9.45am we had a couple of casual hours birding around the hotel and nearby gardens before lunch. This was a nice gentle introduction to some common Indian birds, before we departed in the afternoon to Bharatpur, where bird density was about to become rather hectic!
The well attended and mature gardens yielded a mix of commoner birds, highlights were – Indian House Crow, 50+ Black Kite, 20+ Rose-ringed Parakeet, several Oriental White-eye, Barn Swallow, Red-rumped Swallow, Eastern Black Redstart, Common Mynah, Red-vented Bulbul, Common Tailorbird, 7+ Common Babbler, Purple Sunbird, several Hume’s Warbler.
After lunch we departed for Bharatpur an approximate 4-5 hour journey including a couple of stops for around an hour for some roadside birding!
The birds were fairly scant as we left Delhi, but as we reached the
countryside we started seeing a few birds, Bank Mynah were noted in small groups
in the villages, then an inspired stop came as by pools and rice fields.
We were treated to a fantastic mix of birds from this roadside stop – 20+ Indian Peafowl, several White-throated Kingfisher, Red-Wattled Lapwing, 100’s of Cattle Egret, Little Egret, Black Drongo, Black-winged Kite, Indian Mynah, Purple Gallinule, Black-winged Stilt, 2 Temminck’s Stint, 4+ Wood Sandpiper, 1 Spotted Redshank, Ruff, 1 Purple Heron, Grey Heron, Great Egret, Intermediate Egret, 10+ Painted Stork, Black-headed Ibis, Little Cormorant, Long-tailed Shrike & c10 Egyptian Vulture. Then suddenly things got even better as a Black Ibis flew over, a new bird for myself! Also c10 Citrine Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail and several White Wagtail.
We neared Bharatpur late afternoon and scanning eventually produced the largest flying bird of India, 2 Sarus Cranes!
We headed on to Bharatpur and were soon comfortably settled into our rooms at the Birders Inn. Evening meal was a buffet style mixture of Soup & various curries, with good choice of rice & nan breads. Puddings were a largely a variation on rice puddings and semolina, with some very nice natural yoghurt! Bananas and oranges were also freely available.
Birders Inn has large comfortable en-suite rooms with hot showers set in nice lawned grounds and is just a short distance of 200m to the Park entrance.
Overnight at Birders Inn, Bharatpur.
Monday 1st December
We all arrived for breakfast served at 6.30am before heading out into the park at 7.15am. The group was introduced to our local birdwatching guide for the next 4 days Brijendra Singh. I can recommend him, very knowledgeable on all the flora & fauna of the park, with excellent knowledge of the parks birds and wildlife.
The park is haven for storks, egrets ducks and waders, also raptors and owls. Our chosen team of Rickshaw riders met us outside the Hotel and we were soon inside the park entrance. The birding was immediate, intense and exciting!!
The first hour saw us manage to progress just 400m from the starting point, as birds came into view from all angles, overhead, on the ground, in the trees, on the water! None of the group had birded in Asia before, so we were very, very busy!
Over the next few hours we saw an amazing array of birds, we headed back for lunch around midday and re-entered the park again around 2pm birding through till 5.30pm when the park closes.
The highlights from the day were as follows – 6+ Grey Francolin, Gadwall, Wigeon, Shoveler, Pintail and Teal were fairly numerous, more eye-catching were several Spot-billed Duck, several Ruddy, Shelduck and c25 Lesser Whistling Duck. Other highlights were many Indian Peafowl, a single Wryneck, 4+ Black-rumped Flameback, 5+ Brown headed Barbet, 3 Coppersmith Barbet, 1+ Indian Grey Hornbill, 6+ Indian Roller, Hoopoe, 10+ White-throated Kingfisher, 1 Greater Coucal,
3 Collared Scops Owl, a fantastic Dusky Eagle owl, 1 Spotted Owlet, 2+ White- breasted Waterhen, flock of Yellow-footed Green Pigeon, 2 Sarus Crane, 3 Bronze- winged Jacana, 3 White-tailed Plover, a beautifully perched Shikra, 10+ Black- winged Kite, 2 Booted Eagle, Marsh Harrier, 2 Indian Darter, Little and Indian Cormorants, Painted Stork, Black Drongo and Braminy Starling.
Overhead Red-rumped Swallow and Plain Martin.
The grasslands held Chestnut-shouldered Petronia, Jungle Babbler, Plain and
Ashy Prinia plus Indian Silverbill.
Special mention must be made of the nursery area, which provided best ever views of Orange-headed Ground Thrush also Red-throated and Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher, White-throated Fantail (seen most days!) and most notably a roosting Brown Hawk Owl! Also several Long-tailed Shrike, Rufous Treepie, Bluethroat, Oriental Magpie Robin, numerous Humes Warbler, Red-vented and White-eared Bulbul – phew!!!
Apart from avifauna we also saw Soft-shell Turtles, Spotted Deer, Sambar, Nilgai, Rhesus Macaque and Golden Jackal.
After an early dinner everyone was tired and off to bed for rest, before another early start and more birds tomorrow morning!
Overnight at Birders Inn, Bharatpur.
Tuesday 2nd December
After breakfast at 6.30am we departed aboard the rickshaws for the park again, again the visit was split into two visits. We arrived back at Birders Inn for lunch at around 12.30pm & then headed back out into the park at 2.30pm. We focussed our efforts on the South and South East areas of the park. This year the water levels were a little lower and there were good numbers of waders using the shallower area, also good numbers of raptors. We saw many species again and started to gain some familiarity with the regular birds, but also added many new species today as well!
Avian highlights and new birds as follows:-
Barred Button Quail, c40 Comb Duck, 2 Indian Roller, 4 Sarus Crane (2 very close to the path, by far the best views of the trip!), 4 Pheasant-tailed Jacana, c20 Wood Sandpiper, c10 Ruff, 2 Crested Serpent Eagle, a superb large Saker Falcon causing panic amongst the wildfowl, an excellent and close juvenile Imperial Eagle, also juv Tawny Eagle, 4 Greater Spotted Eagle, 2 Indian Spotted Eagle and a Bonelli’s Eagle. Wetland birds 3 Black-crowned Night Heron, 2 Spoonbill, c40 Black-headed Ibis, a lovely migrant flock of 44 White Pelican spiralled overhead in the afternoon, c10 Glossy Ibis, a Green (Striated) Heron and 2 Black-necked Stork. Passerine highlights were Bluethroat, Blyth’s Reed Warbler, Clamorous Reed Warbler, Yellow- eyed Babbler, Large Grey Babbler vast numbers of Citrine and Yellow Wagtail.
Overnight at Birders Inn, Bharatpur.
Wednesday 3rd December
After 6.30am breakfast we departed for the park again. We visited another area of the park, searching deeper along the South east trails that we hadn’t visited on the previous days. We returned to Birders Inn at 12.30pm. We then headed back out at 2pm visit to the nursery area again, as this had proven very fruitful on our first day. We also visited a dry scrubby area for Nightjars, plus an excellent raised viewing platform that provided an excellent panoramic view across the marsh.
New birds and larger counts of the notable species listed:-
250+ Lesser Whistling Duck!! c70 Bar-headed Geese, 20 Comb Duck, Pochard,
Tufted Duck, 1 Pied Kingfisher, c10 Sarus Crane, Greenshank, c60 Wood
Sandpiper, Marsh Sandpiper, Temminck’s Stint, Pheasant-tailed Jacana and Stone
Curlew. The scrubby area eventually
produced good scope views of 2 roosting
Nightjars, an
Indian Grey Nightjar perched in a tree and a Large-tailed Nightjar on the ground, wonderful!
The heat of the day tempted raptors and vultures up on to the thermals and 3 Egyptian, 2 Red-headed Vulture, 6 Marsh harrier, Crested Honey Buzzard, Steppe Eagle plus Indian and Greater Spotted Eagle were all up in the air in quick succession! Also overhead, 4 Openbill Storks and 2 Black-necked Stork. A good search of waterside scrub eventually revealed good views of Black Bittern. The return visit to the nursery proved worthwhile in the afternoon with a migrant Verditer Flycatcher present, plus good views of Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher and a single Dusky Warbler nearby. Though an elusive Tickell’s Thrush refused to give itself up!
After a filling curry dinner, rice pudding and a beer, plus an epic systematic list roll call we were off to bed. Bharatpur had served up 150+ mind boggling species in our 3 day visit!
Overnight at Birders Inn, Bharatpur.
Thursday 4th December
After a slightly later breakfast we packed cases and said farewell to the Birders Inn staff, our guides and rickshaw team. We loaded the minibus with our gear and then we headed for our a local area on the outskirts of Bharatpur today, where we met up with one of Brigenrda’s associate guides, a young a very keen birder, Ghani Shyam. We visited his local village where he showed us a sequence of small pools.
Incredibly the “organic” looking pools complete with locals washing their clothes, hosted the following:- 2 Temminck’s Stint, 2 Wood Sandpiper, Black-winged Stilt, Green Sandpiper, Redshank, Citrine Wagrail, and the main target species – 5+ Painted Snipe! Also perched in the nearby trees was a Crested Honey-buzzard and a Red-throated Flycatcher.
By late morning we were departing and heading for Agra and our visit to the Taj Mahal, we arrived early afternoon navigating through the busy streets and traffic of the town soaking up some of the atmosphere and experience.
We had a very pleasant couple of hours visiting the famous Taj Mahal.
One of the wonders of world it was great experience. After a whole couple of hours of looking at the monument from afar, close up, inside & out, I decided it was definitely time to search a few birds out!! We had been kept entertained by a number of Black Kite spinning overhead throughout. But from the rear of the Taj the River Yamuna is visible, with shallow edges and deeper water I soon managed to spy a raft of waders, hundreds of Black-winged Stilt, c20 Greenshank, Redshank, Ruff, Common Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Common Shelduck and Ruddy Shelduck. There was many Little Swift, Barn Swallow and a few Red-rumped Swallow overhead.
We then had a light lunch and set off for the afternoon drive to Delhi. It was around 5 hours by the time we had navigated the early evening Delhi traffic. We had a nice evening meal at a restaurant and then headed for the Delhi railway station in time to board the overnight train for Ramnagar. We said our fairwells to our guide Prasanna and our driver and then boarded the overnight train departing Delhi at 2240 & arrived at Kathgodam – 0530am Friday morning.
We had a sleeper cabin and whilst it was quite cosy we all managed to get a few hours sleep! Overnight on sleeper Express Delhi to Ramnagar.
Friday 5th December
We arrived at Ramnagar train station and were met off the train by our local team and the driver. We loaded up our four wheel drive minibus complete with our local birding guide – Nirancar.
It was still dark, but you could tell we had reached a completely different environment, with forest around us and an overnight chill in the air. We headed to Falcons Nest near the Kosi barrage and stopped off for breakfast.
Breakfast was a protracted affair, we all used the bathrooms and then the omelettes, toast and tea arrived, slowly! But with bananas, oranges and biscuits also on the menu, we were soon all sufficiently fed and on our way – heading for Pangot, just north of Nainital. Once dawn had broken we made a couple of roadside stops to explore some secondary growth forest areas. So suddenly having left the lowlands behind us, we were looking at a completely different range and group of birds – more excitement!
First stop in the area of Ghatgard, proved excellent with 2 Black Francolin showing in the open as we embarked off the minibus, the oly ones of the tour! Further wanderings around this area, produced a whole new array of birds! Highlights were Brown-froted Woodpecker, 2 Lesser yellownape, 3+ Red-billed Blue Magpie – these wonderful looking birds caused a stir, with such huge, long tails! 3 Grey Treepie, 50+ Himalayan Bulbul – a permanent species in the hills! A Plain-backed Thrush showed well, 1 Crimson Sunbird, 1 Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker, 1 Grey-headed Woodpecker a common species in the wooded hills, Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch, White-tailed Nuthatch and amazing close views of the startling Velvet-fronted Nuthatch! Just a little further up the road, we were treated to wonderful views of a real favourite, the dimunitive raptor Collared Falconet, this one was sat atop a dead tree disembowelling it’s prey, posing for photography!
We headed higher and then stopped off again near Bajun more new birds – c20 Slaty-headed Parakeet, 12 Green-backed Tit, the stunning Black-lored Tit, the super smart gems Black-throated Tit, 2 Mountain Bulbul, now we started on the “phylloscopus” warblers as well! 10+ Buff-barred Warbler, 6 Lemon-rumped Warbler, 1 Greenish Warbler, many Humes and Grey-hooded warbler.
We headed on upwards eventually reaching our destination at Pangot, Jungle Lore Lodge. This lodge nestled high in the southern slope of the picturesque village of Pangot, sits with a set of five cosy cottages, surrounded by thick oak and pine trees past the forests of Cheena peak range, snow point and Kilbury.
After lunch, everyone was tired after the overnight travelling so we chose to settle in and for some grab an extra hours sleep. The rest of us watched the feeding area and water pool just below the lodge, sat with a cup of Indian Chai several of us marvelled as the birds came and went! Years ago you would have searched the forest floor for many of these species, but here White-throated, Streaked and Chestnut-crowned Laughing Thrushes, Rufous Sibia, Rusty-cheeked Scimitar babbler, Black-headed Jay just emerged in the open feeding brazenly at times on the lodges paths and borders! Warblers, Bar-tailed Treecreeper, Blue Whistling Thrush and Nuthatches also appearing from time to time, along with several of the species of Tits.
Late afternoon a few of us walked around the gardens and bordering areas,
the highlight was three stunning Pink-browed Rosefinch sitting up on bushes,
also the
commoner Yellow-breasted Greenfinch, a stunning Rufous-bellied Niltava, showed well, plus several Grey Bushchat.
The cottages at Jungle Lore were lovely, in this remote village area at around 2000m plus, they still managed to provide good food, hot showers and for those that needed it some electric heaters.
Overnight temperatures was close to freezing, hot water bottles and double quilts ensured we warm in our beds.
Saturday 6th December
We were up early with cups of tea at 6am for a pre-breakfast visit to the highest part of the valley – Vinayak area, with Pheasants on our minds! We arrived just as the sun was rising, after a couple of brief stops to listen, I could hear a Koklass Pheasant calling, we got everyone out quietly. The bird called again and looking up the wooded hillside I could see a male Koklass sitting atop the ridge. I carefully set up the scope, there was a male calling and female adjacent, fortunately the birds stayed put allowing everyone good scope views. Eventually further up the track a female Kalij Pheasant appeared, followed later by 2-3 more, including one male.
As we headed out up through the forest along the narrow lanes, the canopy opened out and a huge vista stretched in front of us right to the wonderful distant snow- capped mountains. These were our first good views of the 25,000 foot plus mountains of the Himalaya’s – an awe inspiring site!
We stopped off in the high part of the valley, scanning produced Upland Buzzard, 2 Booted eagle, a Peregrine flew over making the furtive flock of c70 Altai Accentor very flighty, 5+ Crag Martin, But despite extensive searching we were unable to locate any Cheer Pheasant.
We headed back down into the lower forest area, after a while we were soon looking through a couple of big roving flocks, woodpeckers were in abundance! Grey- headed, Brown-fronted, Himalayan, Grey-capped Pygmy and Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker, 2 Bronzed Drongo, numerous Blue Whistling Thrush, 2 Plain-backed Thrush, White-tailed and Chestnut-bellied Nutchatch, several Bar-tailed Treecreeper, Spot-winged, Green-backed, Great, Black-lored and Black throated Tits,
numerous Oriental White-eye, Buff-barred, Lemon-rumped, single Greenish Warbler and numerous Humes warblers.
Our minds full of birds, we headed back to fill our bellies with breakfast, rather brunch by the time we arrived. It was a great breakfast, with porridge, omelettes, toast, coffee, tea and fruit all on offer.
After brunch we explored late morning around the periphery areas of the camp, we repeated many of the species seen in the last 24 hours, but added a few more, with a Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush showing well plus those who had missed Yellow- breasted Greenfinch the previous day were able to catch up on a small group, near the camp.
We had a light lunch then headed
down the Pangot valley into the lower
areas for the afternoon. Himalayan
Griffon Vulture was noted overhead, 20+ Slaty headed Parakeet, we were also greeted by big noisy flocks of
Black Bulbul, a stunning Fire- breasted Flowerpecker eventually gave itself up after a vigil of 15 minutes,
the bird
showed well for good scope views! We were also treated to excruciatingly brief views of Golden Bush robin, but just long enough for most people to see the bird!
Nuthatches, tits and warblers again passed through. But new and very nice was a Blue-fronted Redstart, we heard Great Barbet for around the third time but again couldn’t locate the calling bird.
We stopped off briefly at the lovely mountain river – prime habitat for Forktails and a location I have seen them previously but today there was no sign, although a White- capped Water Redstart was present.
Sunday 7th December
After an early breakfast at 6.00am we headed down to the lower area of of Sattal. This is an area of both primary & secondary forest that proved very productive.
We started birding on the edge of the village, in a secondary growth area, a place I have visited several times over the last 15 years. It’s still good birding here, but sad to see the speed of new developments, a lot of habitat has now disappeared near the village. Still we had many good birds, the best and new for the trip in this area were as follows – 2 Kalij Pheasant, Woodpecker, 20+ Slaty headed Parakeet, Crag martin, Red-rumped Swallow c10 Red breasted parakeet, 2 Himalayan Vulture, Grey Treepie, stunning Long-tailed Minivet, 10+ Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike, White- throated fantail, 2 Slaty-blue Flycatcher, 2 Rufous-bellied Niltava, 2 Small Niltava, Blue-fronted Redstart, 5+ Grey Bushchat, great views of c10 Red-billed Leiothrix feeding on the ground, plus Black-chinned Babbler, Russet Sparrow, Olive-backed Pipit (numerous) and several Common Rosefinch.
We then moved on to some primary forest nearby where we there was excellent mixed flocks of tits, warblers including White-tailed Nuthatch, Velvet-fronted Nuthatch, Bar-tailed Treecreeper, flocks of Black Bulbul, a heard only Chestnut- headed Tesia, Golden Spectacled Warbler, excellent views of Small Nilatava, and best views yet of Red-billed Blue magpie, but despite searching we still couldn’t find our Spotted Forktail.
A final visit to another area of the river valley, and suddenly Nirancar had found a Spotted Forktail, in fact 2 Spotted Forktail with eventually everyone getting good views! We birded here until lunch time, sadly having to leave this bird filled area to head onwards to Tiger Camp, near Corbett NP, some 3-4 hours driving time away!
We arrived late afternoon at Tiger Camp, we off loaded our bags and had a quick look at the river valley in the last hour of light before dinner. We were treated to our first 8+ River Lapwing, c20 Plumbeous Water Redstart, 2 Wire-tailed Swallow, 3 Goosander, a Crested Serpent eagle, good views of a Lineated Barbet and final bird of the day a confiding Jungle Owlet.
Before dinner we were given an excellent talk by my good friend Sumantha Ghosh whom had helped arrange our ground logistics. The talk covered Corbett NP, its wildlife and the Conservation issues. We then had an excellent dinner
We headed back to the very comfortable rooms of Tiger Camp, hot showers and comfortable beds, although rooms were a little cool without heating and extra quilts were provided with hot water bottles.
Overnight at Tiger Camp.
Monday 8th December
We were up early pre-breakfast and explored the Kosi river near the village of Dhikulu.
First star birds were 2 obliging Crested Kingfisher, kept company by both White- throated, Pied and Common Kingfishers. Flocks of egrets and parakeets passed overhead as they left their night’s roosts.
Stunning views of Blue Whistling Thrush bathing showing off deep indigo plumage to it’s best. White-browed wagtails, White-capped and Plumbeous Water Redstarts were numerous along the river & very approachable. Wallcreepers were also present and great new birds for the trip.
This area of the river is noted for being a reliable Ibisbill location. This species is a truly iconic species of the area and so different to any of it’s congeners to merit being a real jewel in the heart of most birders. This morning despite searching we couldn’t find them, we returned for breakfast a little downbeat despite a pile of good birds!
I decided to try searching on our way into Corbett NP after breakfast, hopefully we would find them from there!?
By the time we reached the local village post breakfast, the area was busy with locals and it looked unlikely to yield the target bird, but undaunted Nirancar and Nafees our guides disappeared, searching the river well ahead of us. Sudden waving and beckoning from Nafees could only mean one thing, we navigated the pools and boulder strewn river, and there on the other side were not one, but 3 Ibisbill providing great views in the scope, awesome stuff!
We then departed for Corbett NP and the Park camp at Dhikala. We had now transferred the group into three open back 4 wheel drive jeeps & were introduced to our new drivers, Nirancar continued guiding along with two other new guides and it was great to have Sumantha Ghosh, my good friend and organiser of our ground arrangements along with us as well.
Corbett NP is a mix of dense deciduous forest, riverine forest, grassland and presence of large water body has endowed this region with extremely rich avifauna, we weren’t to be disappointed.
Highlights as we travelled through the forest with several stops – 2 Kalij Pheasant, 4 Lineated and 2 Blue-throated Barbet, 2 Indian Grey Hornbill, 2 Blue-bearded Bee- eater, 20+ Crested Treeswift, Emerald Dove, 2 Pallas’s Fish eagle, 4 Black-headed Oriole, 2 Long-tailed Minivet, 15 Bronzed Drongo, 2 Lesser racket-tailed Drongo, complete with “racket tails”! Also although they may be small and unobtrusive, but 2 Grey-bellied Tesia were excellent finds, giving tantalisingly brief views!
More excitement came during the drive into the park, as the guides heard Spotted
Deer alarm calling, a Tiger was not so faraway and we were soon admiring the large fresh pug marks in the sandy
edges along the track. We sat quietly waiting but we weren’t going to be so lucky to see a Tiger within an hour of
entering the park! Further non-avian
highlights came as we stopped off
along the river at a viewpoint. From here we
had good views of Gharial, Mugger Crocodile and some large fish, Catfish
and Golden Mahseer.
We eventually reached Dhikala camp, we settled into our rooms, admired the fantastic view rom the restaurant area, stretching across the grasslands to the large water body. We lunched & then headed out in the jeeps for an afternoon & early evening game drive.
The rooms are simple and basic at Dhikala, but this is the only accommodation in the Park and a “must” if you wish to see the high order mammals. The rooms have improved since my last visit and the food, whilst all vegetarian was hot and very good, with an endless supply of as much as you chose to eat.
Power and lighting has been a little unpredictable in previous years, but this year we were never without power during the whole visit.
Overnight at Dhikala Forest Lodge
Tuesday 9th December Corbett – Dhikala
We headed out at 6.30 for a pre-breakfast drive arriving back at 9.30 for breakfast. We then breakfasted and headed back out aboard the three jeeps at 10.30 and then back for lunch at around 12.30PM. We then headed out again from 2-5.30pm for the afternoon safari.
We spent some time waiting out for Tiger on the early morning drive, but without success and decided after breakfast to continue birding as we had 3 full days ahead of us, hopefully plenty of time to catch up with the big target mammal species!
We were never too far from the camp, working along the tracks, woodland & river areas from 2-10Km from the camp. Birds again, came thick and fast in concentrated flocks, highlights throughout the day as follows – 5 Red Junglefowl, 2 Kalij Pheasant, 2 Himalayan flameback, great views of Common Hawk Cuckoo, 4 Plum- headed Parakeet, 20+ White-rumped Needletail, great views of 2 Tawny Fish Owl, including a food pass! Over the lake, 10+ River tern, Osprey, 2 Pallas’s Fish eagle, 4 Red-headed Vulture, 2 Cinereous Vulture, 2 Changeable Hawk eagle, 1 Mountain Hawk eagle, Collared Falconet, 2 stunning Green Magpie caused some “oohs” and “ahhs”! Also nearby c20 Black-headed oriole, 2 Maroon Oriole, a Large Cuckoo- shrike, flocks of Common Woodshrike and Bar-winged Flycatcher Shrike, White- bellied Drongo, Red-whiskered Bulbul, big flocks of White-crested Laughing Thrush cackling away, plus many repeat species already seen in the preceding days. Another non-avian highlight today was a family group of 4-5 wild Indian Elephants, such magnificent creatures and great to see truly wild ones, rather than the working animals we had seen so far!
At Corbett there are a very few seconds without something to look at!
Another long systematic list session this evening, followed by dinner and off to bed! Overnight at Dhikala Forest Lodge
Wednesday 9th December Corbett – Dhikala
By now, there was no doubt that the group, the guides and the drivers had
a certain thing on their minds! Everyone had said – “Well it would be really
nice if we see a Tiger, but it’s not
the only thing we are here to see & ah well; if we don’t that’s fine”. But when one sees the
pug marks, hears the Deer alarm calling. Next the guides
eyes and ears narrow, their senses strain, the Jeeps stop. Then the
silence is almost deafening and you know a Tiger is
close by, the atmosphere is electrifying
and suddenly your whole focus is on. “Will I see a Tiger”?
This such moment arrived at 8.10am on this our first drive out today, the alarm calls and signs were all there. Several jeeps came and went, but 4 jeeps remained parked in perfect silence. Our guides decided to drop the jeeps back to a cross road of tracks, we sat in perfect silence, views to front, rear, left and right!
Then suddenly one of the jeeps guides, just ahead of us, hissed at us “TIGER, TIGER sat in the road”! We and the third jeep moved forward 10m alongside the other jeep enabling us to see around the bend in the track. Immediately a big male Tiger, was in view, sat on the edge of the track, it was maybe 25m away, it stood up and then started walking straight towards us. It was a very large male TIGER, with everyone’s binoculars raised, everyone was consumed with the awestruck feeling of watching the most prestigious of the top food chain predators on the planet. It passed within 15m of us and then disappeared into the bushes, it was apparent from it’s course that it would most likely cross the other track shortly afterwards. It was a relief when it emerged across this other track as our third jeep was sat below us watching this track and
un-sighted until this point. It wandered along the track and then disappeared, allowing all 6 persons in my group to get views; for four of us it had been spellbindingly close. There was a lot of hugging and fist pumping shortly afterwards! I had enjoyed such intimate views and decided on, observation over camera. However, Slobodan had fired a few quick shots off and managed to get a reasonable record shot in the excitement.
Incredibly this wasn’t to be our only big cat of the day! In the afternoon we headed back out birding, down by river we enjoyed Pied, Common and Crested Kingfisher, c10 River tern, 3 Woolly-necked Stork, 2 Black Stork, Bluethroat and Bronze-winged Jacana, 2 Hen harriers graced the grassland areas plus Crested Bunting and Long- billed Pipit were noted and a Brown Fish owl was seen roosting. We decided for the last hour to head back into the grassland areas, where Tiger sightings had been noted most regularly. On arrival a few jeeps were spread out along one of the tracks, apparently tracking the alarm calls of Deer. We parked up to the latest signs, I decided to balance off the top bars and scan from the high point of the jeep, after double, double checking I couldn’t believe it, I could see the ears and the back of the head of a TIGER!! I announced this eventually to surrounding jeeps and people, the Tiger was slowly moving….and towards the open track! It eventually appeared and walked down the track. There was now a bit of a scrum with jeeps, as the track was barely wide enough for two jeeps! Fortunately, the Tiger eventually stopped walking down the track, it turned sniffed the air, faced us briefly and then disappeared back into the grassland from where it had appeared! I think most people got good views, and this time I managed to capture this young male Tiger on camera!
So it was a great and memorable day! There are around 1200 Tigers left in the world. Corbett NP is a special place where the density is high with around 170-200 Tigers in the park and buffer zone. Tigers here are not easy to see, they are not isolated in a small area of remnant habitat, it was special to see this wonderful top mammal in a natural habitat and landscape, free to make its choice of direction and hunting.
Overnight at Dhikala Forest Lodge
Thursday 10th December
We left Dhikala after a pre-breakfast morning game drive, & then slowly took in several areas on the way back to the park entrance gates.
We were fortunate to see another Tawny Fish Owl and this one was sat quietly in view on the side of a horizontal branch in the canopy.
Other new birds of note on the drive out were 2 superb Great Hornbill, seen sat in trees and then in short flight! Also 2 Oriental Pied Hornbill, 3+ Scarlet Minivet, Yellow-bellied Fantail.
We said fond farewells to our drivers and guides of the last few days, switched vehicles and left the wonderful Corbett NP behind us.
We stopped off at the White-rumped Vulture site and also visited the Womens charity shop that sells an array of locally produced clothing & foods. The enterprise here is supported and encouraged by Ghosh’s charity, linking the attraction of the Vultures to the opportunity of visiting birders to purchase Gift items. Sadly it would appear that due to the continued use of Diclofenac and anti-inflammatory drugs used on cattle that this vulture is now locally extinct, none have been seen by guides for several months, very sad indeed.
We were slightly late arriving at Vanghat, but saw some nice birds on the walk in to the lodge and we all had fun crossing the river on the wooden raft. We were all fitted up with life-jackets & hard hats! 10+ White-capped Water Redstart, 10+ Plumbeous Water Redstart, Brown Dipper, Long-tailed Shrike, c20 Bronzed Drongo, several Blue Whistling Thrush, Wallcreeper and Black-crested Bulbul.
Vanghat is a beautiful location with 5 bungalows hidden deep in the inspiring Ramganga valley and surrounded by hills and the wildlife rich. The location is far from any human habitation on the banks of the Ramganga. The camp is designed to have very minimal impact on the environment and river that sits alongside. The cottages are well appointed, but do not have hot running water, so a bucket of boiling hot water is brought to each of the rooms for bathing and washing.
Overnight Vangat River Camp
Friday 11th December
The next day we had a walk along the river birding pre-breakfast, followed by a couple of hours of relaxing after breakfast, everyone did there own thing, we had been up early almost constantly on the go dawn till dusk each day of the trip so everyone enjoyed a couple of hours off. Even from the camp there was plenty of birds to see! In the afternoon we explored more areas along the river and gardens, we had a lovely few hours with great views of 2 Crested Kingfisher, Plum-headed Parakeet, River Lapwing, both Lesser Fish eagle and Pallas’s Fish Eagle gave great flight views overhead as they fished along the river.
Several Wallcreepers gave us lovely views feeding on the boulders.
A Spotted Forktail appeared providing great views, but we saved one of the best birds until last! I was busy trying to get
some images of a White-browed Wagtail,
when into view came the beautiful and diminutive Little Forktail, after a few shouts
to the rest of the group they were all able to enjoy a final speciality
of the Himalayan rivers!
As we walked back, we had further views of Brown Dipper and 3 magnificent Great Hornbill flew over!
After dinner, we packed our cases ready for Saturdays journey back to Delhi. We enjoyed a few beers and drinks by a lovely camp fire in the evening.
Saturday 12th December
After a good breakfast, the group said goodbye and a fond farewell to Ghosh, Manooj, Annil and the staff.
It was then a long haul drive of 7-8 hours back to Delhi. We reached Delhi and met up with Prasanna again, full circle back to where the adventure had begun! We had a nice evening meal before the group was transported and accompanied to the airport. I said farewell and thanked the group before I headed in the direction of the train station, where I caught the sleeper train back up to Ramnagar and returned for a few more days birding in the Vangat area!
Over the 2 weeks we saw a vast range of birds and mammals, culminating in
a mind boggling 306 species of birds, 14+ species of Mammal, plus Mugger and
Gharial crocodiles. A further weeks stay by Chris Mills of Norfolk Birding
added a further 8 species of birds, visiting Vanghat and Okhla bird reserve
near Delhi.
Systematic list of birds recorded on the Tour
Records recorded in “red” were “heard only”.
| 1 | Barred Button Quail |
| 2 | Black Francolin |
| 3 | Grey Francolin |
| 4 | Red Junglefowl |
| 5 | Kalij Pheasant |
| 6 | Koklass Pheasant |
| 7 | Indian Peafowl |
| 8 | Common Shelduck |
| 9 | Ruddy Shelduck |
| 10 | Lesser Whistling Duck |
| 11 | Greylag Goose |
| 12 | Bar-headed Goose |
| 13 | Comb Duck |
| 14 | Gadwall |
| 15 | Eurasian Wigeon |
| 16 | Mallard |
| 17 | Spot-billed Duck |
| 18 | Common Teal |
| 19 | Garganey |
| 20 | Northern Pintail |
| 21 | Northern Shoveler |
| 22 | Common Pochard |
| 23 | Tufted Duck |
| 24 | Common Merganser |
| 25 | Eurasian Wryneck |
| 26 | Great Slaty Woodpecker |
| 27 | Grey-capped Pygmy Woodpecker |
| 28 | Brown-fronted Woodpecker |
| 29 | Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker |
| 30 | Yellow crowned Woodpecker |
| 31 | Himalayan Woodpecker |
| 32 | Lesser Yellownape |
| 33 | Greater Yellownape |
| 34 | Scaly-bellied Woodpecker |
| 35 | Grey-headed Woodpecker |
| 36 | Himalayan Flameback |
| 37 | Black-rumped Flameback |
| 38 | Greater Flameback |
| 39 | Great Barbet |
| 40 | Brown-headed Barbet |
| 41 | Lineated Barbet |
| 42 | Blue-throated Barbet |
| 43 | Coppersmith Barbet |
| 44 | Indian Grey Hornbill |
| 45 | Great Hornbill |
| 46 | Common Hoopoe |
| 47 | Indian Roller |
| 48 | Common Kingfisher |
| 49 | White-throated Kingfisher |
| 50 | Crested Kingfisher |
| 51 | Pied Kingfisher |
| 52 | Blue Bearded Bee-eater |
| 53 | Green Bee-eater |
| 54 | Common Hawk Cuckoo |
| 55 | Greater Coucal |
| 56 | Alexandrine Parakeet |
| 57 | Rose-ringed Parakeet |
| 58 | Slaty-headed Parakeet |
| 59 | Plum-headed Parakeet |
| 60 | Himalayan Swiftlet |
| 61 | White-rumped Needletail |
| 62 | Alpine Swift |
| 63 | House (Little) Swift |
| 64 | Crested Tree Swift |
| 65 | Collared or Indian Scops Owl |
| 66 | Dusky Eagle Owl |
| 67 | Brown Fish Owl |
| 68 | Tawny Fish Owl |
| 69 | Asian Barred Owlet |
| 70 | Jungle Owlet |
| 71 | Spotted Owlet |
| 72 | Brown Hawk Owl |
| 73 | Grey Nightjar |
| 74 | Large-tailed Nightjar |
| 75 | Rock Pigeon |
| 76 | Oriental Turtle Dove |
| 77 | Spotted Dove |
| 78 | Laughing Dove |
| 79 | Eurasian Collared Dove |
| 80 | Emerald Dove |
| 81 | Yellow-footed Green pigeon |
| 82 | Sarus Crane |
| 83 | Brown Crake |
| 84 | Purple Swamphen |
| 85 | White-breasted Waterhen |
| 86 | Common Moorhen |
| 87 | Common Coot |
| 88 | Common Snipe |
| 89 | Common Redshank |
| 90 | Spotted Redshank |
| 91 | Common Greenshank |
| 92 | Green Sandpiper |
| 93 | Common Sandpiper |
| 94 | Wood Sandpiper |
| 95 | Marsh Sandpiper |
| 96 | Ruff |
| 97 | Painted Snipe |
| 98 | Temminck’s Stint |
| 99 | Ibisbill |
| 100 | Black-winged Stilt |
| 101 | Little Ringed Plover |
| 102 | Pheasant-tailed Jacana |
| 103 | Bronze-winged Jacana |
| 104 | Eurasian Stone Curlew |
| 105 | River Lapwing |
| 106 | Red-wattled Lapwing |
| 107 | White-tailed Plover |
| 108 | River Tern |
| 109 | Osprey |
| 110 | Black-shouldered Kite |
| 111 | Black Kite |
| 112 | Lesser Fish Eagle |
| 113 | Pallas’s Fish Eagle |
| 114 | Egyptian Vulture |
| 115 | Himalayan Griffon Vulture |
| 116 | Cinereous Vulture |
| 117 | Red-headed Vulture |
| 118 | Crested Serpent Eagle |
| 119 | Hen Harrier |
| 120 | Marsh Harrier |
| 121 | Eurasian Sparowhawk |
| 122 | Shikra |
| 123 | Oriental Honey-Buzzard |
| 124 | Upland Buzzard |
| 125 | Greater Spotted Eagle |
| 126 | Indian Spotted Eagle |
| 127 | Steppe Eagle |
| 128 | Tawny Eagle |
| 129 | Eastern Imperial Eagle |
| 130 | Booted Eagle |
| 131 | Bonelli’s Eagle |
| 132 | Changeable Hawk Eagle |
| 133 | Mountain Hawk Eagle |
| 134 | Collared Falconet |
| 135 | Common Kestrel |
| 136 | Peregrine Falcon |
| 137 | Saker Falcom |
| 138 | Little Grebe |
| 139 | Indian Darter |
| 140 | Little Cormorant |
| 141 | Indian Cormorant |
| 142 | Great Cormorant |
| 143 | Little Egret |
| 144 | Great Egret |
| 145 | Intermediate Egret |
| 146 | Cattle Egret |
| 147 | Indian Pond Heron |
| 148 | Grey Heron |
| 149 | Purple Heron |
| 150 | Black-crowned Night Heron |
| 151 | Little/Striated Heron |
| 152 | Painted Stork |
| 153 | Asian Openbill |
| 154 | Woolly-necked Stork |
| 155 | Black Stork |
| 156 | Black-necked Stork |
| 157 | Black Bittern |
| 158 | Spoonbill |
| 159 | Black-headed Ibis |
| 160 | Glossy Ibis |
| 161 | Black Ibis |
| 162 | White Pelican |
| 163 | Long-tailed Shrike |
| 164 | Eurasian Jay |
| 165 | Black-headed Jay |
| 166 | Red-billed Blue Magpie |
| 167 | Common Green Magpie |
| 168 | Rufous Treepie |
| 169 | Grey Treepie |
| 170 | House Crow |
| 171 | Large-billed Crow |
| 172 | Common Raven |
| 173 | Black-hooded Oriole |
| 174 | Maroon Oriole |
| 175 | Large Cuckooshrike |
| 176 | Small Minivet |
| 177 | Long-tailed Minivet |
| 178 | Scarlet Minivet |
| 179 | Bar-winged Flycatcher-shrike |
| 180 | Yellow-bellied Fantail |
| 181 | White-throated Fantail |
| 182 | Black Drongo |
| 183 | Ashy Drogo |
| 184 | White-bellied Drongo |
| 185 | Bronzed Drongo |
| 186 | Lesser racket-tailed Drongo |
| 187 | Common Woodshrike |
| 188 | Common Iora |
| 189 | Brown Dipper |
| 190 | Chestnut-bellied Rock Thrush |
| 191 | Blue Rock Thrush |
| 192 | Blue Whistling Thrush |
| 193 | Orange-headed Thrush |
| 194 | Plain-backed Thrush |
| 195 | Black-throated Thrush |
| 196 | Mistle Thrush |
| 197 | Asian Brown Flycatcher |
| 198 | Rufous-gorgeted Flycatcher |
| 199 | Red-breasted Flycatcher |
| 200 | Red-throated Flycatcher |
| 201 | Slaty-blue Flycatcher |
| 202 | Verditer Flycatcher |
| 203 | Small Niltava |
| 204 | Rufous-bellied Niltava |
| 205 | Grey-headed Canary Fly |
| 206 | Bluethroat |
| 207 | Golden Bush Robin |
| 208 | Orange-flanked Bush Robin |
| 209 | Oriental Magpie Robin |
| 210 | Indian Robin |
| 211 | Blue-fronted Redstart |
| 212 | White-capped Water Redstart |
| 213 | Plumbeous Water Redstart |
| 214 | Little Forktail |
| 215 | Spotted Forktail |
| 216 | Common Stonechat |
| 217 | Siberian Stonechat |
| 218 | Pied Bushchat |
| 219 | Grey Bushchat |
| 220 | Brown Rock-chat |
| 221 | Brahminy Starling |
| 222 | Asian Pied Starling |
| 223 | Common Myna |
| 224 | Bank Myna |
| 225 | Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch |
| 226 | White-tailed Nuthatch |
| 227 | Velvet-fronted Nuthatch |
| 228 | Wallcreeper |
| 229 | Bar-tailed Treecreeper |
| 230 | Yellow-browed Tit |
| 231 | Spot-winged Tit |
| 232 | Green-backed Tit |
| 233 | Great Tit |
| 234 | Black-lored Tit |
| 235 | Black-throated Tit |
| 236 | Plain Martin |
| 237 | Eurasian Crag Martin |
| 238 | Barn Swallow |
| 239 | Red-rumped Swallow |
| 240 | Wire-tailed Swallow |
| 241 | Nepal House Martin |
| 242 | White-cheeked Bulbul |
| 243 | Black-crested Bulbul |
| 244 | Red-whiskered Bulbul |
| 245 | Himalayan Bulbul |
| 246 | Red-vented Bulbul |
| 247 | Ashy Bulbul |
| 248 | Mountain Bulbul |
| 249 | Black Bulbul |
| 250 | Striated Prinia |
| 251 | Grey-breasted Prinia |
| 252 | Plain Prinia |
| 253 | Ashy Prinia |
| 254 | Oriental White-eye |
| 255 | Clamorous Reed Warbler |
| 256 | Blyth’s Reed warbler |
| 257 | Grey-bellied Tesia |
| 258 | Chestnut-headed Tesia |
| 259 | Lesser Whitethroat |
| 260 | Common Tailorbird |
| 261 | Common Chiffchaff |
| 262 | Buff-barred Warbler |
| 263 | Lemon-rumped Warbler |
| 264 | Hume’s Warbler |
| 265 | Greenish Warbler |
| 266 | Dusky Warbler |
| 267 | Golden-spectacled Warbler |
| 268 | Grey-hooded Warbler |
| 269 | White-throated Laughing-thrush |
| 270 | White-crested Laughing-thrush |
| 271 | Streaked Laughing-thrush |
| 272 | Chesnut-crowned L. Thrush |
| 273 | Rusty-cheeked Scimitar-Babb. |
| 274 | Scaly-breasted Wren Babbler |
| 275 | Black-chinned Babbler |
| 276 | Yellow-eyed Babbler |
| 277 | Common Babbler |
| 278 | Large Grey Babbler |
| 279 | Jungle Babbler |
| 280 | Red-billed Leiothrix |
| 281 | Rufous Sibia |
| 282 | Purple Sunbird |
| 283 | Fire-breasted Flowerpecker |
| 284 | Green-tailed Sunbird |
| 285 | Crimson Sunbird |
| 286 | House Sparrow |
| 287 | Russet Sparrow |
| 288 | Chestnut-shouldered Petronia |
| 289 | White Wagtail |
| 290 | Citrine Wagtail |
| 291 | White-browed Wagtail |
| 292 | Yellow Wagtail |
| 293 | Grey Wagtail |
| 294 | Paddyfield Pipit |
| 295 | Tawny Pipit |
| 296 | Long-billed Pipit |
| 297 | Olive-backed Pipit |
| 298 | Altai Accentor |
| 299 | Red Avadavat |
| 300 | Indian Silverbill |
| 301 | Scaly-breasted Munia |
| 302 | Yellow-breasted Greenfinch |
| 303 | Common Rosefinch |
| 304 | Pink-browed Rosefiinch |
| 305 | Crested Bunting |
| 306 | White-capped Bunting |
Additional bird species recorded post tour – 15-21st December
Systematic list of mammals and “others” recorded on the Tour
| MAMMALS |
| Rhesus Macaque |
| Hanuman Langur |
| Golden Jackal |
| Indian Grey Mongoose |
| Tiger |
| Indian Elephant |
| Wild Boar |
| Ghoral |
| Indian Muntjac |
| Sambar |
| Nilgai |
| Five-striped Ground Squirrel |
| Chital |
| River Otter |
| OTHERS |
| Mugger Crocodile |
| Gharial (crocodile) |
| Soft-celled Ganges Turtle |
| Golden Mahseer (fish) |
| Catfish (Goonch) |
| Indian Porcupine (post tour) |
IMAGES FROM THE TOUR
A whole sequence of images taken during the tour can be viewed online by going to the following link, you do not need to be registered with facebook to use this link or see the images. Please either click the link or copy and paste the following:-
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152928757421684.107374 1831.693691683&type=1&l=7cb60dea3a.
Future Tours
If you are interested in joining us in India then we have tours in December 2015 please contact us for details.
Norfolk Birding www.norfolkbirding.com
chrismills@norfolkbirding.com mobile 07876 357677
Categorised in: Trip Reports
This post was written by Vanghat Admin
