Bucket List

An article is now online of the '50 birds to see in India before die' (see the first 25 here), as I have only seen one of them in India - here it is - these Sociable Plovers were in the Greater Rann of Kutch last year, in total there were 21 in the flock. Maybe the article should be titled '50 birds to see in India before they die', as two from this first part are almost certainly extinct !

7th February 2010 CEDO.

After the relatively poor returns on the 5th, we managed to get into C.E.D.O. at Nakatrana for a night and hired a guide for some Kachchh specialities.
Before dawn, on the way to Fulay, there were 5 Indian Nightjar and 4 Black-naped Hares on the back roads.
At the Fulay site there were 7 Grey Hypocolius feeding on the berries of the toothbrush trees, a Sirkeer Malkoha and a Bluethroat. 3 Pallid and 2 Montagu's Harriers hunted the nearby fields.
The next stop was 'Bird Rock', a large outcrop of lava sticking out from the Banni grasslands, here there was Red-tailed Wheatear, Dusky Crag Martins and 2 Blue Rock Thrushes. This site also has Eagle Owl, but not today !
We then moved on to the grassland north of Charri Dhand, after a little searching we found 2 Stoliczka's Bushchats and 2 Desert Warblers, plus a fly-over Long-legged Buzzard.
After Lunch at C.E.D.O. we stopped at a roadside spring near Sharanath Temple, where 3 House Buntings and 10 Grey-necked Buntings came in to drink. At the temple itself, there were 2 Brown Rock-chat.
Back in the Banni Grasslands we went to see flock of Sociable Plovers, that the guide had found a few weeks before, close views of 21 birds surrounding the car.
In the early evening went back to Charri Dhand and watched about 50,000 Common Cranes come in to roost. An added bonus was 5 Sykes Nightjars in the Banni Grasslands on the way back.


Sirkeer Malkoha.

Grey Hypocolius.

Grey-necked Bunting.

House Buntings.

Brown Rock-chat.

Blue Rock Thrush.

Red-tailed Wheatear.

Sociable Plovers.

Stoliczka's Bushchat.