Hi everyone,
-- Seven of us, led by Dr. SP, commemorated Endemic Bird Day by paying a visit to Asola Wildlife Sanctuary. The intense heat during summers in Northern India is not known to affect birders, and we bravely spent over four hours out in the field despite the blazing sun!
We got our first endemic shortly upon arrival with views of the distinctive(?) "ear" of an Indian Scops Owl that seems to have occupied a nest box there. The bubbling calls of Blue Tailed Bee Eaters were heard from above but the birds were elusive to the eye. Trilling calls of Common Babblers emanated from the undergrowth and some Chestnut Shouldered Petronias accompanied House Sparrows for breakfast on the ground.
A Common Woodshrike perched boldly atop a Keekar tree and refused to budge until we were right under it. This was the first of many Woodshrikes to come...their sweet whistling calls rented the morning air for much of our walk. We soon made our way to open stony country where Indian Bushlarks burst into song and the elusive Blue Tailed Bee Eaters finally made their appearance. A Chestnut Bellied Sandgrouse flew swiftly overhead, but could not avoid detection by several pairs of keen eyes!
The undulating and bolder strewn terrain of of Asola reminded me of the beautiful deciduous forests of the Himalayan foothills...except for the heat of course! Some Rufous Fronted Prinias chased each other while we tried to photograph them in vain. Meanwhile, a single male Small Minivet uttered his call before giving brief views when he perched up in the canopy of an Acacia.
Nearby we observed an inter-species territorial fight-Two Bay backed Shrikes, a Long tailed Shrike and some Woodshrikes seemed to be having an argument and it was amusing to see (or rather hear) them calling frantically and chasing each other around through the trees.
As we began to head back, a pair of Yellow Wattled Lapwings (another endemic!) appeared and stared at us through those big yellow eyes before beating a hasty retreat. It was past 8:30am now and though we were low on energy, our high spirits (no pun intended!) propelled us to check out the charismatic Blue Lagoon!
The drive to Blue Lagoon took us through some excellent Aravalli forests and a few were lucky to spot a Barred Buttonquail amongst the roadside vegetation. Upon arrival, the 37 degree heat would have made the vivid blue waters of the lake very tempting, that is if they weren't a steep 100 foot drop below us! Plain Martins were actively engaged in nesting along sand banks and some White Browed Wagtails flew lazily over the clear blue waters. A small assortment of Spot Billed Ducks, Grebes and Moorhens were out for a swim. We called it a day at this point and retreated to the comfort of air conditioned cars.
Today's full list of 67 species can be viewed at the link below. Apart from birds we also managed views of Golden Jackal and the rare Ruddy Mongoose.
Happy Birding!
Udiyaman :)
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "delhibirdpix" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to delhibirdpix+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to delhibirdpix@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/delhibirdpix.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
No comments:
Post a Comment