INDIA 2010 : Keoladeo National Park

Nov 16 – We had a full day in Keoladeo NP, known locally as the bird sanctuary. This summer the monsoon failed to reach this part of Rajasthan, and what water we did see in the jheels was a result of a release from the local dam. To top it off a tigress has shown up in this relatively small park, 29 sq kms, which meant that we were pretty much restricted to the main track that cuts through the center of the park. We were told that she was being sighted close to this track almost daily and indeed we did hear the alarm calls of Chital as well being shown pug marks from the night before!

A Golden Jackal finishing up his evening’s rounds, was our first mammal as we drove up the main track to the barrier. Here we split up into twos and squeezed into, well at least me, 4 rickshaws to begin exploring the park. The first kilometer plus is open grassland scrub habitat interspersed with islands of trees. We would periodically alight from the rickshaws and walk short stretches finding such goodies as Bluethroat, Common Woodshrike, a very vocal Brown-headed Barbet and three roosting Spotted Owlets.

Continuing up the paved main track we entered an area of open forest. This is normally a good stretch to pick up a thrush or two, but having been so dry there was little very little undergrowth lining the track. However there was plenty of activity in the trees with Greenish and Hume’s Warblers working their way through the canopy; Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher’s darting out from mid level perches to pick up a flying insect; a Black-rumped Flameback working over several trunks, and an Ashy Drongo putting on a show with its long splayed tail trailing behind. Eric got onto a bird in the upper branches of a kadam tree that we kept getting glimpses of and behaving like a cuckoo. Once we had pieced all the pieces of the puzzle together it was a Gray-bellied Cuckoo. Another good find was a Verditer (above), a light blue flycatcher, actively feeding in a fruiting tree. The Red-throated / Red-breasted Flycatcher complex is always interesting to work out. There was at least one Red-breasted and possibly a Red-throated! 

Jag, which is Gagdish’s nickname, showed us a Dusky Eagle Owl sitting on her nest a short distance off the main track, and raptors included a pair of Indian (Lesser Spotted) Eagles, Common Buzzard, Marsh Harrier and Black-shouldered Kite.

One of the main attractions of the park are the Painted Storks (above) which at this time of year have just hatched their young. We could hear the rookery, which is very close to the main track, upon our approach. The begging chicks keeping their parents busy. There were even some pairs bringing in sticks either to complete or repair their nest.

At Sappan Mori (above) there was enough water in the jheel to keep the Nilgai happy and a plethora of waders busy. Great Egrets and Grey Herons were joined by Eurasian Spoonbills, Intermediate Egrets, Black-headed Ibis, a few Asian Openbills and a slew of Indian Pond Herons. When a Crested Serpent Eagle alighted on a bare tree, the whole group along with the Black-crowned Night Herons and Red-wattled Lapwings took to the wing circling around in an agitated state. One of the lapwings took it upon itself to try and dive bomb the raptor, repeatedly, until it it got the point across and left.

We returned to the Visitor’s Center by rickshaw and had our box lunches under a shade tree followed by a short nap!

For the afternoon we got back on our trusty mode of transportation and began where we left off. Besides one of the colonies a lone stately Sarus Crane (above) fed in ankle deep water. At over 5 1/2 feet this is the world’s tallest flying bird. A well camouflaged Purple Heron could be seen amongst the vegetation methodically stalking its prey and we got to watch a couple of uncommon Pheasant-tailed Jacanas working the edge of the sedges and in flight.

Around the Keoladeo Temple, which is about 3 miles from the main gate, we viewed the tablets (above) that recounted the totals of waterfowl bagged on certain days, back in the days of the British Empire. While some of the numbers are staggering, 4273 shot in a single day, one has to remember that this sanctuary was man-made to draw in migratory waterfowl, and as such, it has become a tremendous success now attracting many visitors.

We climbed the tower that overlooks Mansarovar (above) and this jheel was teeming with ducks, Comb and Lesser Whistling Ducks in particular. We managed to find two resident Spot-billed Ducks amongst them. Three Glossy Ibis foraged on a narrow strip of exposed mud. On one of the small island mounds a humongous Indian Flapshell Turtle, 4 feet long, was basking. All three cormorants were well represented, Great, Indian and Little Cormorants as well as Oriental Darter, and it was nice to see that some geese have arrived to winter, these being a flock of Greylag Goose.