Northeast India; Day 9 - Kaziranga National Park

  Today would already be our last day entering the Kaziranga National Park, with two more drives scheduled; one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. Having seen Tiger the previous evening, we would be able to enjoy a much more relaxed pair of game drives, with few birds left that we wanted to target. 

  We did our morning game drive in the Western Sector of the park. It being Saturday, it was significantly busier than the drive the previous morning in the Eastern Sector. Still, we managed to make it work for us, and we had a few good bird species. The highlights on the bird front were in a small patch of woodland where we had a smart male White-tailed Robin, a nice Orange-headed Thrush and a male Kaliji Pheasant, the latter of which would not come out of the undergrowth for us. We additionally had our first Greater Adjutant stork, which was distant on the other side of one of the larger lakes we stopped out.

  On the mammal front we had our closest India Rhino encounters, with a few individuals standing right next to the road feeding away in the aquatic vegetation. Otherwise we had the same selection as we had the previous days, minus Indian Elephant and Tiger, but gaining a group of Smooth-coated Otter of which we saw a group of four individuals at our first stop, before a single sunbathing on one of the lake islands!

  In the afternoon we returned to the Central Sector of the park where we had encountered the previous days Tiger, but there was to be no repeat this time, although we heard the alarm calls of deers. We enjoyed some brilliant Indian Elephant feeding in the tall grass, as well as more Indian Rhinos and a few nice Water Buffalo. This was our only drive where we encountered the Sambar deer, with two feeding in the woodlands at the far end of our drive. In one of the rivers we also added Assam Roofed Turtle to our trip list, a localised species we had hoped to find.

  On the bird front it continued to be excellent, although much the same species as our other visits to the park. We added Blossom-headed Parakeet to our trip list, which was one of our few target species for this site. Another target was Slender-billed Vulture, and after some putative flyovers, this time we drove under two active nests with adults sat in their respective trees, giving excellent views. Other goodies included our first Ferruginous Duck and Temminck’s Stints of the trip, giving a little flavour of home

-Indian Rhinoceros

-Indian Elephant

-Wild Water Buffalo

-Barasingha

-Hog Deer

-Sambar

-Smooth-coated Otter

-Assam Roofed Turtle

-Slender-billed Vulture

-Crested Honey Buzzard

-Pallas Fish Eagle

-Spot-billed Pelican

-Eastern Yellow Wagtail

-Indian Pond Heron

-Blossom-headed Parakeet

-Orange-headed Thrush

-Finns Weaver

Northeast India; Day 8 - Kaziranga National Park

  Today was our first full day, and only non-weekend day, visiting the Kaziranga National Park. One of Indias most famous national parks, with a large population of Indian Rhinos and also good numbers of Elephants and Tigers. Although we had some birds to target here, mammals were a key part of our reason for visiting, and we were excited to see what we might be able to find.

  Our first drive in the reserve was in the eastern section of the park, which has less tourists but also less chance of seeing Tiger. For us, this was an important destination as it hosted more of the parks waterbird species, and we wanted to try to find a few targets. The main water body here was full of wildfowl, mostly common species from Europe but also two drake Falcated Ducks that were a bonus for us. Along the waters edge we found a few common species of wader and heron, with Lesser Adjutant being another key target for us.

  In the woodlands around there were less birds, but there were a few species we wanted to try and find. We had some luck with Grey-bellied Tesia, although it was a nightmare to get out of the bushes when we could only look into the vegetation from the car. A few perched up raptors were also nice, especially a close Grey-headed Fish Eagle, and overhead we had a group of Spot-billed Pelicans and a mixed flock of Vultures, featuring Slender-billed and Himalayan Griffon.

  On the mammal front we easily saw most of the parks herbivores, with the iconic Indian Rhino being present in large numbers around the lake. For the most part they were distant but there was a single individual that was nice and close to the road. In addition, we had Water Buffalo, Hog Deer, Wild Boar and a few distant Barasingha. Only on our way out did we spot a distant Indian Elephant on the far side of the lake, badly obscured by the haze.

  After lunch, and a confrontation with some Rhesus Macaques that had entered the grounds of our lodging, we headed back to the park, this time to the busy central zone. There were many cars getting into the National Park, and the roads were busy. We did not make it far along the track since we wanted to target birds and these were difficult to see with cars passing by frequently. Still, we managed to find Swamp Francolin, our main target for the area, easily, and Chinese Rubythroat was a stunning bird that eventually came out of the reeds. Additionally, Red-breasted Parakeets flew by in a small flock, and in an open area we had a nice Rosy Pipit.

  Our progress was slow due to trying to find various birds, and as such we had not ventured far into the park. We had left the Rubythroat spot and were searching for Chestnut-crowned Babblers further up the road, which we did indeed find, when we glanced back to see the shape of a Tiger crossing the road, a distant orange shape that quickly vanished. Only three of our group of six saw it, and although I was one of them, it was still a very frustrating encounter. Our guide had a suspicion that it might cross a water body further up the road, but we waited there for more than an hour as the sun gradually set, and we never saw it.

  On our way out we stayed as late as possible, and were rewarded with a very nice Dusky Eagle Owl. However, as we were leaving, I spotted a orangy-brown animal moving through the grass ahead of us. I could not work out the colour scheme with any of the other animals in the park, until it finally clicked! TIGER! I called out and our driver quickly stopped so we could look properly, and confirm it was indeed a Tiger. It was walking towards the road, so Papu suggested we move forward and get ready to watch it crossing. Already jeeps were starting to assemble even in the short time frame, but we had the front-row seat to watch an absolutely massive male Tiger cross the road in the front of us! It then wandered into the trees, where we were able to watch it sniff at a tree and then scent mark! An absolutely incredible encounter, especially for a park where finding Tigers can be very tricky!