Regards
Geetha
Dighal Trip, Sunday 30 June 2013.
Ramgopal, Vineeta and I set out for Dighal on Sunday. Ramgopal provided us transport and lovely music for the entire journey. We passed Sultanpur Sanctuary gates at around 6.15am. We were in Dighal within an hour.
Rakesh Ahlawat, the young man who has turned out to be a keen birder and an excellent guide for Delhibirders, joined us shortly and we were off to see Oriental Pratincoles nesting.
Almost immediately, on the way, Vineeta spotted a pair of Greater Painted Snipes, which were wading just below a grassy knoll across a patch of water. They were out in the open and gave us good sightings. The female, which is more spectacular, went about wading in the water unconcerned with clicking of the cameras.
Soon after we headed to the fields where Rakesh had spotted nesting Oriental Pratincoles. Enroute we heard the incessant calls of Black Partridge, we were also lucky to get sightings but which were too far or fleeting, that is, we often caught the male black partridge on the run! Much too fast for birders with cameras! Later in the day we got good shots of a male Black Partridge on a tree. The area was also teeming with larks; Crested larks, Ashy-Crowned Sparrow Larks and Oriental Sky Larks. A number of male and female Peafowl were spotted, with the males preening and displaying their wares. We also saw a pair of Sarus Crane.
We reached the farms where the Oriental Praticoles were nesting. These farms are being ploughed by tractors to make them ready for sowing. Rakesh has spent considerable time persuading the farmers to leave space around the areas where the Pratincoles have laid eggs.
As we walked about in the area we saw several Pratincoles flying about, calling and settling in the fields for short durations. When they land in the field it becomes almost impossible to spot them unless they move or call. After walking about for sometime in that area we spotted three Egyptian Vultures on a railway line and headed in that direction. There were two adults and a subadult. The railway track also had Little Green Bee-Eater juveniles perching. The juveniles have yellowish cheeks.
On the other side of the railway line there was a water body with Spotbills and Comb Ducks. Painted Storks, Black Necked Storks, Wooly-Necked Stork, Black-winged Stilts with juveniles and Red-Wattled Lapwings were sighted. The highlight however was flocks of Sarus Cranes. One flock had 9 individuals and the other 12. In all we must have seen about 26 Sarus Cranes in that area. Vineeta crept up to the larger flock wanting to capture them in a frame, and almost stepped on a snake in the process! We also saw a hare bound past and many Nilgai. Zitting Cisticolas were `zitting' about as were Wire-Tailed Swallows. Plain Prinias and Paddyfield Pipits were plentiful.
After this we trudged back all the way to where the car was parked, the sun was beginning to show its might! The next was to be a pit stop for breakfast and to see the nesting of an Egyptian Vultures. On the way we saw a Rufous Tailed-Lark. The grove where the Egyptian Vulture was nesting also had crows and drongos nesting. A Red-Vented Bulbul flitted about while we enjoyed a breakfast worthy of Delhi Bird traditions! There were Egg-rolls, Poha, Cucumber and Cream Cheese Sandwiches, Paneer Sandwiches, Nippattus from Bengaluru, Litchies, Cold Masala Nimbus etc. The `paan, bidi, cigarrette' call of the Black Partridge gave us the necessary musical score while we feasted in the shade of the trees.
We waited for sometime to see if the Egyptian Vulture parent would come back to tend to possibly one or two chicks (we were not able to spot them well), and speculated on whether the adult we had seen was male or female. When the adult did not return we decided to head for an area where Eurasian Eagle Owls had been seen. We saw a Kestrel and Black-Shouldered Kites on the way.
As we drove past a canal, which barely had any water, we spotted nesting holes of Bank Mynahs, also spotted a few Pied Mynahs. Soon the track narrowed with bushes lining one side of the track. We stopped every now and then when we spotted birds: four lovely chicks of a Red-Wattled Lapwing being suprvised on their field walk-about; Large Grey Babblers, Common Babbler, Jungle Babbler, Chestnut Shouldered Petronias, Sind Sparrows, Asian Koel Male, Baya, Black-Breasted and Streaked Weavers, all in nesting mode, Greater Coucal, which make a very interesting nest by creating a two hemisperes out of Thick Grass Reeds with a hole/ lateral entry space.
We parked a little distance from the area where the Eurasian Eagle Owls are found. Rakesh had mentioned that there was a nest with three juveniles. When we reached we realised that the juveniles had grown up and moved away but we were very lucky to get good sightings of two adult Eurasian Eagle Owls. By this time, the sun was almost over-head, we decided on not doing Bhindawass but to venture further in the area to see flamingoes. We spotted a flock of Asian Openbills which engaged a little of our time. The Flamingoes had most sensibly decided to exit that area as the water had dried-up, the sun and the heat also made us call it a day and we headed back to Delhi.
We also saw Rednaped Ibis, Black-Headed Ibis, Spoonbills, Eurasian Collared Dove and Laughing Dove, Pied Bushchat male, female and juvenile, White-Throated and Pied Kingfisher. It was a wonderful day's birding with many birds in the nesting and parenting mode.
Geetha Venkataraman
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