(delhibirdpix) Najafgarh ,SNP fields+ Basai-24th May 15

Hi!

After  a short deliberation over phone  it was decided to explore Najafgarh on 24^th May when Delhi was experiencing 44 degree temperature probably maximum of the season as per the reports few brave hearted birders Rajeeve Khanna ,Savithri Singh,Sumit,Sonia,Sanjay Tiwari Akshay,Anurag & Self landed up in Najafgarh area under the leadership of Nik & Wingco to beat the heat. Initially  birding was slow but later with the rise of temperature it accelerated .  A pair of spotted owlets,common hawk cuckoo,black francolin calling loudly, perched on a dead stump 'Subhan Teri Kudrat' truly a welcome call to greet Delhi birders. Couple of black winged kites hovering in clear blue sky searching for breakfast.  While rest of the cars stopped for a while to enjoy the melodious song of Indian Golden Oriole ,self and Wingco decided to move forward . Suddenly two small ball like objects rolling on the road attracted our attention on close examination we both said WOW ! it was a  pair of Barred Button Quails not easy to see. By the time we could take position to capture this amazing moment they started running on the road and disappeared in the nearby bushes but after giving us couple of record shots.

While moving slowly we noticed some white birds in the wetland on closer looks they were Greater Flamingos believe it or not I have never seen this much of congregation of flamingos in NCR there were 4-5 scattered flocks of adults and sub-adults each one comprising of hundreds in number what a lovely sighting said,  Wingco .Yes ! indeed I replied. Large numbers of greater cormorants & Indian cormorants were drying their wings in the morning sunlight on the eucalyptus trees. On the banks of drain weavers were busy in wooing their lady love on the Typha grasses on their incomplete nests. We took a break for breakfast on the barrage that included cakes,upma,pulao,matthi,sweets,murk,fruits and lot more. What a fantastic feeling it gives when we stop under tree canopy to take our breakfast in the lap of mother nature where melody of orioles and whistling of yellow footed green pigeons break the silence. Isn't it amazing.

We now headed for SNP fields through   villages. Oriental pratincoles ,Chestnut Bellied Sandgrouse,Yellow & Red wattled lapwings were busy guarding their chicks and eggs and were intermittently calling out loudly. We met Sanjay here with Anurag. From here we headed to Basai for Greater Painted Snipe and we were not disappointed a pair was feeding very close by .  I have not mentioned here so many Crested  larks,pipits,bank mynas,egrets,herons,coucal,bulbuls ,prinias and many other common birds. We returned home around noon after a very good birding trip.

Surya Prakash, Ph.D. ( Zoology),Member- BNHS, IBCN, WWF
Room # 001 C.I.F.
School of Life Sciences
Jawaharlal Nehru University
New Delhi 110067
INDIA
Phone (Work) 26708767

--
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.