India; Northwest - Day 4: Harike Bird Sanctuary

   For our second day at Harike we prioritised the search for the Jerdons Babbler, starting in the area where I had found the birds the previous evening. We headed straight to this area, and almost immediately had a Jerdons Babbler perch up but sadly not for long before it dived back into the cover. This continued for the next half an hour or so, where fleeting but good views were had but always too brief for any photos leaving us frustrated. Finally, one bird decided to sing almost unobscured by vegetation and I was able to grab a couple of nice photos.

  We continued birding the general area until late morning. There were a few nice species that we saw such as another Rufous-vented Grass-Babbler, a few Rosy Pipits, a flyover Pallas Gull and thousands of ducks in the channel. We tried to find a couple of other targets in this area but unfortunately drew a blank on those and by 10:30 we decided to head back for some breakfast before heading out again.

  After breakfast we birded another road near the sanctuary where there were more trees bordering the reedbeds. Here we hoped to find the White-crowned Penduline-Tit but although we almost certainly an individual we never saw any. The birding was generally quite slow, with limited activity and mostly species we had seen before. There were two Brown Rock Chats and another pair of Rufous-vented Grass Babblers which responded very well to playback.

  During the late afternoon we birded the area near the canal just down from the main sanctuary car park. This was a decent area but again most of the species we saw were the same we had become familiar with over the previous two days. There was one nice new bird with White-tailed Lapwing, but the undoubtedly highlight of the afternoon was a Smooth-coated Otter in the river, which swam very close to the bank, checking us out, before swimming away.

Species List:
Harike Bird Sanctuary: Greylag Goose, Ruddy Shelduck, Common Shelduck, Garganey, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, Eurasian Wigeon, Indian Spot-billed Duck, Mallard, Northern Pintail, Eurasian Teal, Common Pochard, Tufted Duck, Feral Pigeon, Oriental Turtle Dove, Eurasian Collared Dove, Yellow-footed Green Pigeon, Greater Coucal, Common Moorhen, Eurasian Coot, Grey-headed Swamphen, White-breasted Waterhen, Black-winged Stilt, Little Ringed Plover, Red-wattled Lapwing, White-tailed Lapwing, Pheasant-tailed Jacana, Common Greenshank, Black-headed Gull, Brown-headed Gull, Pallas's Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, River Tern, Little Grebe, Asian Openbill, Oriental Darter, Little Cormorant, Great Cormorant, Glossy Ibis, Black-headed Ibis, Eurasian Spoonbill, Black-crowned Night Heron, Little Egret, Indian Pond Heron, Eastern Cattle Egret, Great Egret, Medium Egret, Grey Heron, Purple Heron, Black-winged Kite, Shikra, Western Marsh Harrier, Spotted Owlet, Indian Grey Hornbill, Asian Green Bee-eater, White-throated Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher, Brown-headed Barbet, Alexandrine Parakeet, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Black Drongo, Rufous Treepie, House Crow, Common Tailorbird, Yellow-bellied Prinia, Plain Prinia, Zitting Cisticola, Grey-throated Martin, Red-vented Bulbul, Hume's Leaf Warbler, Common Chiffchaff, Lesser Whitethroat, Yellow-eyed Babbler, Jerdon's Babbler, Rufous-vented Grass Babbler, Jungle Babbler, Striated Babbler, Indian Pied Myna, Common Myna, Bank Myna, Siberian Stonechat, Pied Bush Chat, Brown Rock Chat, Black-breasted Weaver, Western Yellow Wagtail, White-browed Wagtail, White Wagtail, Rosy Pipit, Tree Pipit,