We would have two days birding the Greater Rann of Kutch area, based in the town of Nakhatrana. After discussion the previous afternoon, we decided to spend the morning targeting the Grey Hypocolius. Although a species most of us had seen before, the fact that it is a migrant species meant that it could leave any day, and as such we put it to the top of our priorities. Fortunately we arrived at the area the birds were frequenting to find a flock of nine flying over us! We followed them to where the landed and got excellent views of them jumping around the bushes. Over the next hour we continued to follow the flock and got some incredible views of them feeding on berries.
In the same area we
also had another of the main targets for the area with Marshalls Iora, although
it did not show as well as the Hypocolius. In the same area we had my first Jungle
Prinia, an unspectacular species but one that I was happy to get out of the
way. But the highlight of the other birds was probably a big flock of around
100 Great White Pelicans that passed low overhead!
Once we were satisfied
with our Hypocolius we moved to a drying pool in the middle of the desert to
hopefully get some birds drinking. Although it was only 09:00, it was already
getting very hot, with temperatures of around 40 degrees forecast for the day.
We had a nice Grey-necked Bunting drop in to the area, but that was the only
species and individual. In the adjacent bushes there were two more Marshalls
Iora and these showed better than the bird in the morning. Additionally in the desert
areas there were quite a few Rufous-tailed Larks.
At around 10:15 we
moved again, this time to a nearby large lake that is a bird sanctuary. It was
incredibly hot once we arrived here, but still had a few nice birds including a
Jack Snipe that we flushed but got nice views of as it flew away. Otherwise the
majority of the species present were wetland birds we had become familiar with
over the last few weeks. A few warblers singing in the reedbed frustrated us,
with no conclusive outcome before we succumbed to the heat. Otherwise we had
nice views of two Indian Grey Mongoose and a mother and piglet Indian Wild Boar
that crossed the road in front of us. After this site we returned to the lodging
to see out the worst of the heat, arriving back just after midday.
After the midday
heat we set off out at 15:30 to find our two remaining main target species for
the area, starting with Sykes Lark. It was still hot and we failed to find them
during our initial sweep of the open areas, however it wasn’t long after we
started searching the bushes that the birds appeared… when we found about 10
feeding in an area with cows next to where we parked the car. After prolonged,
enjoyable views we continued birding and found an Indian Grey Mongoose, and a
few nice dry forest species like Yellow-wattled Lapwing and Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse.
With the lark safely
seen, we continued into another area of thorny woodland to search for the very localised White-naped Tit. Unfortunately
there was no response to our tapes, and after over an hour searching the only
species of note that we managed were two Eastern Orphean Warblers. However,
after I had wandered off into the woodlands, I heard yells to come back and
returned to find out the tit had just flown off. After a short and agonising wait,
the bird came back and showed quite well, relieving the pressure.
We had a short drive
at dusk to try find some mammals, but the best we could manage was a nice
Indian Hare and a few Indian Peafowl.
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