India; Northwest - Day 12: Siyana Camp

   We had a full day birding around the Siyana with Dax today, birding in the cooler morning and then again in the evening. Because of his expertise in the area, and the fact that we only had a few targets, we had a very enjoyable and productive day.

  To start we visited an area of fields just below a massive inselberg rising out of the desert. Here we wanted to find the Sirkeer Malkhoa, which I had seen before but was happy to see again, and fortunately it did not take long to find them with two birds showing well. Dax was impressed as he said it was normally a difficult bird to see. We continued exploring this area for Rock Bush Quail, and after following the calls for some time we eventually flushed a couple of individuals, but failed to find them on the ground once they landed again. There were other commoner birds in the area as well, and it was a very enjoyable few hours. And to finish off we had excellent views of a Small Asian Mongoose. 

  We continued around the inselberg to another area of thorny woodland in the hopes of finding a few migrant warblers but we failed to find any. There was some nice birding to be had still, with White-browed Fantail and Common Woodshrike being the highlights. However the heat was already getting up and activity had already dropped, so once we were satisfied birding here we returned to our lodging to see out the heat of the day. There was little to report during this period but we had nice flyover views of Oriental Honey Buzzard and Booted Eagle that helped pass the time.

  In the afternoon we returned to the same area we had been in the previous afternoon, to the southwest of the town. There was good birding to be had again, with excellent views of both White-bellied and Small Minivet throughout the afternoon, as well as more White-browed Fantails and Common Woodshrike. And towards the end of the afternoon we ventured out into the adjacent fields to try again for the Rock Bush Quail, and this time I was lucky enough to see two individuals on the ground.

  As dusk fell we tried a few night birds. It started with the Indian Eagle Owl, which was already calling but helpfully flew to an exposed area of canopy where we could see it perched conspicuously. Next we tried some nightjars and had excellent encounters with flyby Savanna and Indian Nightjar, although they never landed close or allowed for any good photos. And then once we were back at the lodge we tried for Indian Scops Owl and had an individual come in to the large tree in the garden, where it showed for a short while before leaving. 

Species List:
Siyana Camp: Indian Peafowl, Grey Francolin, Rock Bush Quail, Feral Pigeon, Eurasian Collared Dove, Laughing Dove, Painted Sandgrouse, Greater Coucal, Sirkeer Malkoha, Indian Nightjar, Savanna Nightjar, Little Swift, Red-wattled Lapwing, Black-winged Kite, Booted Eagle, Indian Eagle-Owl, Asian Green Bee-eater, Eurasian Wryneck, Laggar Falcon, Rose-ringed Parakeet, White-bellied Minivet, Small Minivet, Common Woodshrike, White-browed Fantail, Black Drongo, Bay-backed Shrike, Long-tailed Shrike, House Crow, Indian Bush Lark, Common Tailorbird, Rufous-fronted Prinia, Dusky Crag Martin, Barn Swallow, Eastern Red-rumped Swallow, Red-vented Bulbul, White-eared Bulbul, Lesser Whitethroat, Yellow-eyed Babbler, Large Grey Babbler, Common Babbler, Brahminy Starling, Indian Robin, Black Redstart, Siberian Stonechat, Purple Sunbird, Indian Silverbill, House Sparrow, Yellow-throated Sparrow, Grey-necked Bunting,