2007 Tour Narrative
In Brief: Despite the failure of the monsoon this year, our India: Birds and History tour proved to be one of the very best, with a daily quota of spectacular birds seen exceptionally well, a final trip list that was only two species short of the previous year’s total, and the most comprehensive two-week overview ever of Indian avifauna, history, and culture. A broad sweep of the last thousand years or so of Indian history was brought to life on informative guided tours of more sites than ever before. The culture was admirably captured in a sequence of dance dramas and music performances, and in Jatoli, Alaburi, and the Bishnoi territories we experienced 21st-century village life away from the tourist routes. As usual, the twin aspects of our tour were inextricable up to the very end, when our final two historic sites—Qatab Minar and Humayan’s tomb—provided us with our final two target birds, Alexandrine Parakeet and Yellow-footed Green Pigeon. Especially outstanding this time were our views of Collared Scops and Dusky Eagle Owls, Changeable Hawk Eagle, Large-tailed and Grey Nightjars, Indian and MacQueen’s Bustards, Cream-colored Courser, Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse, Dalmatian Pelican, and (voted bird of the trip) thousands of Demoiselle Cranes close enough to see the red of their eyes and for everyone to obtain fine photographs. Who needs a monsoon?
In Detail: No monsoon. No water at Bharatpur. At first it seemed hardly an auspicious start to this year’s Birds and History tour. But even if quantity might have seemed to be lacking, the quality was as good as ever.
At Bharatpur, the star attractions kept coming: Dusky Eagle Owl, Collared Scops Owl, Black-necked Stork, Tickell’s Thrush, Crested Serpent Eagle, Great Spotted Eagle, Changeable Hawk Eagle, Large-tailed and Gray Nightjars, Coppersmith Barbet, Ashy Drongo, Black-rumped Flameback, Bay-backed Shrike…. Okhla Dam on the outskirts of Delhi gave us our first fine selection of waterbirds (Purple Swamphen, Bar-headed Goose, Ruddy and Common Shelducks, Pied Avocet, Pallas’s Gull), and a roadside pool near Kosi offered not only Painted Storks, but also three species of snipe (including Pintail and Jack, both of them write-ins), Woolly-necked Stork, Sarus Crane, Black-shouldered Kite, White-tailed Plover (Lapwing), and Citrine Wagtail. Kot Thana Lake and Bund Barata Reservoir yielded 17 species of waterfowl and 14 shorebirds, plus our only Brown Crake, Pheasant-tailed Jacana, Little and Whiskered Terns, Great Crested Grebe, and Glossy Ibis, along with almost our only Oriental Darter, Eurasian Spoonbill, and Asian Openbill. The road from Deeg Palace added Indian Courser, while the fields beyond our hotel gave us Yellow-wattled Lapwing, Indian Bushlark, and Paddyfield Pipit. Bayana Fort harbored Blue Rock Thrush and Indian, Slender-billed, and Griffon Vultures. But the biggest surprise was a small lake in the Thar Desert (which, ironically, had had exceptional rainfall), which hosted a pair of Dalmatian Pelicans and our only Black-crowned Night Heron, with White Storks overhead.
Our two days in the Desert National Park were, in fact, a highlight of the tour. Each day offered a completely complementary range of species. At the police check-in point, we were greeted by a pair of Laggars, to be followed by up to 200 Cream-colored Coursers and hundreds of assorted larks. Our excursions with the camel carts produced the hoped-for Indian and Macqueen’s Bustards, close views of Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse coming to drink, Cinereous Vulture, Short-toed Snake Eagle, Graceful Prinia, and Desert Warbler. With these birds well seen, we had more time on our second visit to walk and stand. One viewing spot held us for more than two hours as we watched House Crows landing on the wings of White-backed Vulture and Imperial Eagle like jump jets on an aircraft carrier. Constant distractions were provided by Long-legged Buzzards, Tawny and Steppe Eagles, Oriental Honey Buzzard, Bimaculated and Desert Larks, Black-crowned Sparrow Lark, Rufous-tailed Wheatear, and—most unexpectedly—Black Ibis. Before leaving the Thar Desert, we encountered the bird of the trip: thousands of Demoiselle Cranes at Kheechan, close enough for us to see the red of their eyes and for everyone to obtain fine photographs.
Our trip list finished only two species short of last time’s total (remarkable for a year without monsoon), and the views of the specialties were memorably spectacular.
In fact, this 2007 trip proved to be one of our very best, the most comprehensive two-week overview ever of Indian avifauna, history, and culture. The last thousand years or so of Indian history was brought vividly to life on informative guided tours of more sites than ever before—not just the usual tourist highlights of the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort at Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Humayan’s Tomb, Qatab Minar and old and new Delhi, the city palace and royal observatory at Jaipur, Amar palace and the Amber fort, Mehrangargh fort at Jodhpur, and the citadel and haveli at Jaiselmer—but also Deeg water palace, Bayana fort, Bund Barata summer palace, Khaba fort and deserted village, the 10th-century capital at Ludarva, the Bara Bagh royal cenotaphs, the glass temple at Phalodi, the ancient Jain temple at Osiyan, and the 16th- to 18th-century cenotaphs in Mandore gardens.
Indian culture, too, was impressively brought to life by a sequence of dance dramas and music performances. We experienced 21st-century village life away from the tourist routes in Jatoli, Alaburi, and the Bishnoi territories. And, as usual, the twin aspects of our birds-and-history tour were inextricably linked to the very end: our final two historic sites—Qatab Minar and Humayan’s tomb—provided us with our last two target birds, Alexandrine Parakeet and Yellow-footed Green Pigeon.
Bryan Bland
Updated: January 2008