As February 16th dawned, sorry mooned (because at 5 AM moon was still shining bright and not a ray of sunshine was in sight) 15 people decided to ignore or agree with the early warning systems of m/s BBC met tarot association, IMD palm reader society, world weather crystal ball ngo and set out towards the group meeting point at Amity school. Scheduled for 6.30 AM, most arrived in time and soon being environmentally (read the full word and just the mental bit) responsible, pooled into 5 cars and decided to head off towards Surajpur. As people were piling in, Hume’s warbler, tailor bird, rock pigeon and house crow were spotted and ticked off the list in various copies in each car. The day looked promising and each futurist predicted a day full of sunshine and happy birding. Alas, nature had something else in mind and soon our view and hopes were shrouded in mist of varying density. Playing hide and seek with each other in our group and other vehicles on the road, we arrived at Surajpur at 7.30 AM where other birders waited for us. The WWF staff that had apparently decided to do birding later looked on as we debated about whether we should breakfast now or later. As you can see being true Delhi birders, we were as concerned about fooding as about birding.
More adventurous of us decided to go birding but agreed to stay within each other’s line of sight. As we peered through the fog, bird songs teased us and rustles of feathers in trees tantalised us. “Oh looks like a warbler..... can you see the wing bars.............all I can see in silhouette...... hey that’s a Greylag goose...........yes but where.....” Well you get the general drift of the conversation. However, being Delhi Birders, undeterred we carried on and were soon rewarded with sights of Alexandrine and Rose Ringed Parakeetes, Common Teals, Northern Shoveller, common moorhens and Indian Darters. A little ahead a Spotted Owlet called from a tree next to us and demonstrated live experience of the word “camouflage” After more than 15-20 minutes of peering, calling, staring, cursing we gave up. Central Coordination Committee please note that Spotted Owlet is NOT amongst the birds listed in our bird list, and neither is Black Francolin which we heard repeatedly but did not see! J
As our shoes got wetter, and cries from fellow birders for tea grew stronger we decided to take the first breakfast break and decided to wait out the fog. Fortifying ourselves with lots of Tea, sandwiches, parathas, pickles, biryani, biscuits of various flavours, mathri, namkeen, mini fried idlis, chocolates... (I think we lost track of what all we were eating!) we again headed back as the fog cleared up a bit. Debashish and I had already moved ahead and we started counting species. Soon we realised that we had been left behind for some had headed up while still others decided to head towards the trees. A little later as we met up with the group and tallied our numbers and found that we had seen Tufted Duck, Common Snipe and Black Necked Stork which the group had missed out on. All except the Snipe were captured on Debashish’s camera. A pair of Sarus called out and yours truly spotted them on the far side of the lake where they had blended in with the mist. In the lake, Common Teals and Northern Shoveller were most common. Others included, Common Pochard, Wigeon and Gadwall. Red Crested Pochard, Gargney, and Ferruginous Pochard were conspicuous by their absence. Of the waders, no Stints or Plovers were seen. Other waders were also very few in numbers. Weavers and Munias too were completely missing! Common Chiffchaff and Prinias – Ashy and Plain – turned out to be the most common birds to be spotted. We saw a formation of Greylag geese take off and land and as they were landing, they were joined by Bar Headed Geese. Soon the fog started rolling back in and around 12.30 PM we decided to end our search at Surajpur and head towards Dadri. At the parking, flights of Night Herons again delayed us as we added a few more species to our list and enjoyed our second tea with some snacks – biscuits, wafers, namkeen, more parathas, some more chocolate.... you get the drift. A Greater Spotted Eagle and a possible Booted Eagle gave us a taste of things to come.
As we headed to Dadri, two of our birders – Col Mohan and Bela decided to head back to Delhi due to prior commitment and others with freshly fuelled enthusiasm headed towards Dadri. Craning our necks to see raptors and peering outside to catch a glimpse of Barred Button quail only gave us neck aches as the usual congregation of birds (Central Coordination committee may note that since it is multiple species, I am refraining from using the correct term of congregation for each species) at Dadri seemed to have gone to enjoy siesta. Unwilling to give up we started exploring our usual haunts and were rewarded with 4 species at the first pond. One the waders generated a lot of debate – green sandpiper or common? While we debated, it kept itself resolutely at an angle that did not permit closing of the argument conclusively. Finally fed up with us offering differing explanations, it turned and was labelled as green sandpiper. As we trundled and squeezed through the narrow lanes of Beel Akbarpur village, dodging tennis balls, dumpers, boleros and trucks, at 2 PM we finally spotted our first House Sparrows. Heading towards the canal we were hopeful of spotting the Brown Crake and the other two Kingfishers – Pied and Common. Alas both the Kingfishers gave us a miss not just at the canal but also at the other ponds (sorry Anandji, all water bodies have shrunk significantly and whatever is left over is being rapidly lost to local construction). The Brown Crake did oblige us a little later. Strategy wise we had decided to specifically look for Larks and Pipits at Dadri and usually there are so many of them (in numbers) that after a while we usually just ignore them. But that is “usually” February 16th as you may have noticed ladies and gentlemen was not turning out to be your usual day. So now we had to look for our Larks and Pipits. Slowly and steadily our count went up as we added paddy Field Pipit, Bengal Bushlark, Crested lark, Oriental Skylark and Ashy Crown Sparrow lark to our list. Black and Grey Francolin called but not visible. A Sarus pair gave us a glimpse and a Jackal chased or was chased by an imaginary being across the road. Elephant grass on both side of the road had been burnt and therefore there were no Munias or weavers. We needed another round of fortification as we wondered what the final water body may hold for us.
Heading off again, we saw that the place where we usually spotted the Bristled Grassbird and Tri Coloured Munia was now being developed as someone’s house. Further ahead, with land slushed from last two days of rainfall, we approached the water body and were rewarded by sightings of White Tailed Lapwing. Black Francolin female was conspicuous by absence. Further ahead were Spoonbills resting their bills on their backs and a Greater Spotted Eagle and a Steppe Eagle gave us good views. Another Sarus pair was flushed out as your truly chased a Shikra hoping that it would turn into a Peregrine!
Finally around 4.30 PM we decided to head back. Before getting into our cars we tallied the results and were not happy about touching last year’s numbers. Immediately Rita called her daughter to do some neighbourhood birding in Mayur Vihar. Naina had missed the outing due to her exam. She added 9 birds to our list. On our way back we were rewarded at Ghodi Bacheda’s turn by the first ever sighting of a Desert Wheatear at Basai and as a goodbye gift a Grey Francolin raced across on the road. In the service lane on the Highway first ever sighting of a River Lapwing was recorded. As we tried to protect ourselves from aspiring Ayrton Senna and Schumachers, we saw a Buzzard fighting in air with crows. However our speed did not permit us to slow down, stop or turn.
In all we saw 115 species. List of birds and Birders is attached for information. Fellow Birders, please check the list in case I have missed anything. C u all on 22nd.
Cheers
Vineeta
Dear All,The Group Photo of Birders present at Dadri at the end of the birding dayVijayWg Cdr Vijay K Sethi (Retd)PH 011-26491538FAX 011-26490105Mob 9810134504
Vineeta Dixit
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