Okhla, New Delhi

Two days left in India, so a day out to Okhla Marsh in Delhi for a few specialities  - Yellow-bellied Prinia, Streaked Weaver, Striated Babbler and White-tailed Stonechat.
The Yellow-bellied Prinia was no problem at all with up to 20 singing in the reeds, Streaked Weaver was the one I thought I'd have trouble with, but the first Weaver that I saw was a Streaked - bonus ! Next up, Striated Babbler, there were quite a few small groups in the reed, though getting a view of them was a different story, but with a bit of patience they gave themselves up eventually. White-tailed Stonechat was a bit of a problem as I only saw 3 Stonechats all day, 2 were Siberian and one (a 1w/ female type) that looked just like a Sibe apart from it had loads of white in the tail (see photo).
Elsewhere around the marsh every ditch had it's own Purple Heron and several Bluethroats, a single Crested Bunting was in the Acacias and there were several Citrine Wagtails kicking around.

Blue Pansy

Bluethroat

Crested Bunting

Citrine Wagtail

Purple Heron

Striated Babbler

Siberian or White-tailed Stonechat

Streaked Weaver

Yellow-bellied Prinias

Chambal Days 2 & 3

As you can tell, I've now spent quite a bit of time trying to get some decent views of Indian Skimmer – and still no luck, I think three days is enough though. The past two days on the Chambal weren't wasted though, managed to see 2 Gangenic River Dolphins and got the best views I've ever had of Jungle Cat. Bird Wise the river has been pretty good fare over the last couple of days with over 300 Bar-headed Geese, 40 Greater Thick-knee, 2 Ospreys, 2 Citrine Wagtails, 20 Black-bellied Terns (though none close enough to photograph), 20 Pied Kingfishers and multiples of Ruddy Shelduck, River Lapwing, Painted Stork, Lesser Whistling Ducks and Black-winged Stilts. Oh, and I also found a Brown Hawk Owl nearby.

The six Egyptian Vultures, that were seen on both days, were always hanging around one particular sandbank, and today I found out why – it's the place where the bodies are burned !

Jungle Cat

Bar-headed Geese

Brown Hawk Owl

Citrine Wagtail

Egyptian Vultures

Great Thick-knee

Osprey

Pied Kingfisher

Sunset over the Chambal

A scene that has probably been happening here for thousands of years

 

Even More Shrikes

More rain overnight and more migrants on my new temporary patch - 23 Hoopoes, 1 Great Reed Warbler, 4 Ortolan Bunting, 2 Spotted Flycatcher, 25 Reed Warbler (none yesterday), 40 Barred Warbler, now 96 Red-backed Shrikes, 10 Willow Warbler, 2 Chiffchaffs, 1 Red-throated Pipit, 3 Citrine Wagtails, 15 Yellow Wagtails, 3 Lesser Grey Shrikes, 40 Isabelline Wheatear, 6 Lesser Whitethroat and 10 Common Whitethroat.
A Great Crested Grebe offshore was a bit of a surprise. Also 27 Black-winged Stilt flew over heading south mid morning.

Barred Warbler

Citrine Wagtail

Isabelline Wheatear

Lesser Grey Shrike

Red-backed Shrike

Reed Warbler