Great Birding Weekend

Sunday - Sultanpur :

Content with an amazing birding session on Saturday I had decided to laze around on Sunday, till off course the weather gods decided to pour in a few cooling showers thru most of Sunday morning. I wasn't going to waste a cool day in Delhi sitting at home, so I decided to teach a bit of bird-watching to my aunt and cousins - one five years old and the other three - we quickly packed some lunch and headed towards Sultanpur National Park.

A Little more than an hour and a half later we were witness to an amazing site from the top of the watch tower - Ducks, Stilts, Cormorants and Open bills (all in large nos.) and a lone Painted stork and far off in the distance a pair of Sarus (second day in a row!!!) - also saw a large no. of Nilgai moving along with some domestic cattle.

Though there was a large amount of noisy visitors at this beautiful park, the quality of birds ( and the nos. in which they were found) didn’t fail to amaze me, even in this lean season. Here’s the bird list from Sultanpur–

1. Indian Peafowl (Pavo cristatus)
2. Lesser Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna javanica)
3. Comb Duck (Sarkidiornis melanotos)
4. Spot-billed Duck (Anas poecilorhyncha)
5. Indian Grey Hornbill (Ocyceros birostris)
6. White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis)
7. Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis)
8. Green Bee-eater (Merops orientalis)
9. Greater Coucal (Centropus sinensis)
10. Alexandrine Parakeet (Psittacula eupatria)
11. Blue Rock Pigeon (Columba livia)
12. Eurasian Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)
13. Yellow-footed Green Pigeon (Treron phoenicoptera)
14. Sarus Crane (Grus antigone)
15. White-breasted Waterhen (Amaurornis phoenicurus)
16. Purple Swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio)
17. Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)
18. Bronze-winged Jacana (Metopidius indicus)
19. Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus)
20. Red-wattled Lapwing (Vanellus indicus)
21. Black Kite (Milvus migrans)
22. Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis)
23. Darter (Anhinga melanogaster)
24. Little Cormorant (Phalacrocorax niger)
25. Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)
26. Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)
27. Purple Heron (Ardea purpurea)
28. Intermediate Egret (Mesophoyx intermedia)
29. Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis)
30. Indian Pond Heron (Ardeola grayii)
31. Painted Stork (Mycteria leucocephala)
32. Asian Openbill Stork (Anastomus oscitans)
33. House Crow (Corvus splendens)
34. Jungle Crow (Corvus macrorhynchos)
35. Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus)
36. Asian Pied Starling (Sturnus contra)
37. Bank Myna (Acridotheres ginginianus)
38. Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis)
39. Red-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer)
40. Common Tailorbird (Orthotomus sutorius)
41. Jungle Babbler (Turdoides striatus)
42. Purple Sunbird (Nectarinia asiatica)
43. House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)

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Saturday - Sonipat :

Early Saturday morning (In fact, very early) we (Anand Arya, Murali Karthik and myself) left for Sonipat - where we accompanied Mr. Suresh C Sharma for birding in an area that is practically his backyard - Here we started moving towards the outskirts of Sonipat thru many fields for around 15 minutes till Mr. Sharma finally told us to stop in what looked like just another field.

Here we were greeted by a few dancing Peacocks and quiet a few Sind Sparrows. But Mr. Sharma pointed out to us in fields at a distance our prized catch of the day a pair of Sarus Cranes, a Black-necked Stork and large group of Painted storks (all most 40 individuals).

After briefly walking along the road looking at the Prinias, Weavers and Munias; we headed towards the Cranes and Storks to attempt to a few photographs. The walk thru the fields yielded more birds -Ibises, Red-wattled lapwings (with chicks) and a lifer in the Oriental Pratincole. This beautiful bird which probably was nesting there even put on a great broken wing display.

In a span of about two hours we noted 50+ species, which to me was much more than what I had expected. Hats off to Mr. Sharma.

Here’s the complete bird list -

1. Grey Francolin (Francolinus pondicerianus)
2. Indian Peafowl (Pavo cristatus)
3. Comb Duck (Sarkidiornis melanotos)
4. Yellow-crowned Woodpecker (Dendrocopos mahrattensis)
5. Coppersmith Barbet (Megalaima haemacephala)
6. Common Hoopoe (Upupa epops)
7. Indian Roller (Coracias benghalensis)
8. White-breasted Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis)
9. Green Bee-eater (Merops orientalis)
10. Asian Koel (Eudynamys scolopacea)
11. Greater Coucal (Centropus sinensis)
12. Alexandrine Parakeet (Psittacula eupatria)
13. House Swift (Apus affinis)
14. Blue Rock Pigeon (Columba livia)
15. Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis)
16. Eurasian Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)
17. Sarus Crane (Grus antigone)
18. Red-wattled Lapwing (Vanellus indicus)
19. Oriental Pratincole (Glareola maldivarum)
20. Black Kite (Milvus migrans)
21. Little Cormorant (Phalacrocorax niger)
22. Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)
23. Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)
24. Intermediate Egret (Mesophoyx intermedia)
25. Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis)
26. Indian Pond Heron (Ardeola grayii)
27. Black-headed Ibis (Threskiornis melanocephalus)
28. Black Ibis (Pseudibis papillosa)
29. Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia)
30. Painted Stork (Mycteria leucocephala)
31. Black-necked Stork (Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus)
32. Indian Treepie (Dendrocitta vagabunda)
33. House Crow (Corvus splendens)
34. Jungle Crow (Corvus macrorhynchos)
35. Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus)
36. Brahminy Starling (Sturnus pagodarum)
37. Asian Pied Starling (Sturnus contra)
38. Bank Myna (Acridotheres ginginianus)
39. Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis)
40. Wire-tailed Swallow (Hirundo smithii)
41. Red-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer)
42. Zitting Cisticola (Cisticola juncidis)
43. Ashy Prinia (Prinia socialis)
44. Yellow-eyed Babbler (Chrysomma sinense)
45. Jungle Babbler (Turdoides striatus)
46. House Sparrow (Passer domesticus)
47. Sind Sparrow (Passer pyrrhonotus)
48. Streaked Weaver (Ploceus manyar)
49. Baya Weaver (Ploceus philippinus)
50. Red Avadavat (Amandava amandava)
51. Indian Silverbill (Lonchura malabarica)
52. Scaly-breasted Munia (Lonchura punctulata)
53. Bengal Bushlark (Heard and identified by Mr. Sharma - but, what’s this Lark's new name?)
54. Unided Pipit (Didn’t get good enough look of this fellow)

Delhi Birding

Spotted this Spotted at the Siri Fort Park, South Delhi - I understand that these fellows are quiet common out here.

Photos from my first proper birding outing in Delhi - with the DelhiBirder group - Had an amazing day at the Okhla Bird Park, this place reminds me of Uran (Back in Mumbai) very badly.

Found this fellow at my neighbour's doorstep

Blogging from Kerala

A Tetrathemis platyptera. This very very small dragonfly was found near a small pond again in my garden. It has a very clear yellow shade on its hind wings.

I saw two of them and both were very confident and allowed me to get very close to them.

Found this Owlet Moth in my garden back home in Calicut, Kerala

Found this beauty - Crab spider - in the garden this morning.



These colourful fellow are excellent ambush hunters, they wait on flowers to catch unwary insects who visit them.