India; Northwest - Day 19: Jamnagar

   We left Nakhatrana and the Greater Rann of Kutch at 04:00 so we could make good time to our next destination, the coastal regions around the city of Jamnagar. It was a six hour journey, but with a few stops we finally reached our first location, about half an hour from Jamnagar, at 10:30. It was already hot and the tide was not due to be high until 12:30, but we settled in to scan for wading birds for the next two hours.

  Our main target here was the Crab Plover. And there were plenty of them, although for the first hour they were little more than white blobs shimmering on the horizon. Fortunately as the tide came in we got much better views, but they never showed well, even spending high tide hiding behind a sand bank. Still, they were impressive with a few hundred on display. Other wading birds were plentiful as well, with Broad-billed Sandpiper and a distant Terek Sandpiper being the best of the rest. Other nice coastal birds included a distant full summer-plumage Pallas Gull.

  An unexpected bonus here were my first Mudskippers, which were abundant in the mud on the waters edge. They were really comical to watch, as they gorged themselves on silt, with the larger individuals displaying their dorsal fins. For the first half an hour I spent most of my time watching these fish rather than any birds.

  In the afternoon we searched the salt pans to the north of the town for Indian Skimmer. There was also a freshwater lake with plentiful eBird records where we spent some time, but ultimately we failed to find the skimmers during our evening of searching. The time was not wasted however as the area was quite birdy. Although most of the waders and waterbirds were common species, it was nice to appreciate them again. We had nice views of both Greater and Lesser Flamingo, two flyby Small Pratincole, nice views of River Tern and our first Osprey of the trip. Overall an enjoyable but overall disappointing evening, but we will try again in the morning. 

Species List:
Jamnagar: Ruddy Shelduck, Garganey, Northern Shoveler, Eurasian Wigeon, Indian Spot-billed Duck, Tufted Duck, Grey Francolin, Feral Pigeon, Eurasian Collared Dove, Laughing Dove, Little Swift, Eurasian Coot, Grey-headed Swamphen, Black-winged Stilt, Pied Avocet, Eurasian Oystercatcher, Grey Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Red-wattled Lapwing, Tibetan Sand Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Kentish Plover, Eurasian Curlew, Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit, Terek Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Common Redshank, Common Greenshank, Ruff, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper, Sanderling, Dunlin, Little Stint, Crab-plover, Small Pratincole, Slender-billed Gull, Brown-headed Gull, Pallas's Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Little Tern, Gull-billed Tern, Caspian Tern, Whiskered Tern, River Tern, Greater Flamingo, Lesser Flamingo, Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Asian Openbill, Painted Stork, Oriental Darter, Little Cormorant, Great Cormorant, Glossy Ibis, Black-headed Ibis, Red-naped Ibis, Eurasian Spoonbill, Little Egret, Western Reef Heron, Indian Pond Heron, Great Egret, Grey Heron, Osprey, Western Marsh Harrier, Asian Green Bee-eater, White-throated Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Black Drongo, House Crow, Ashy-crowned Sparrow-Lark, Barn Swallow, Wire-tailed Swallow, Red-vented Bulbul, Rosy Starling, Indian Robin, Purple Sunbird, House Sparrow, Western Yellow Wagtail,