Last updated: 7th March 2023
India 2019
11th-28th February 2019
This was a pure birding trip to Northern India purchased from the UK company ‘Sunbird Tours’, although all
tours are joint organized together with the American sister company ‘Wings Birding Tours’. The group of nine participants that came from various countries plus our Sunbird/Wings birding guide, assembled in Delhi the day before the trip started. The group was assisted by a local guide/tour escort who accompanied us the whole time, coach driver with helper when travelling between localities or jeep driver and park guide when inside the national parks. The itinerary was well planned and tested earlier to see as many species as possible during the 17 field days we had available and was based at three main localities accessible from Delhi, including Ranthambhore, Bharatpur and Nainital in the Himalayan foothills. Traveling between these localities was by modern coach and sleeper night train although also a longish journey in open jeeps, but within Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve and the Nainital areas was only in three open jeeps. Accommodation varied from luxurious hotels to basic lodges, but always the best available at each site. The tasty Indian food, much of it vegetarian, varied little at the more basic accommodations but was superb and very varied at the best hotels. Our birding guide had excellent birding skills
in finding and identifying the 400+ species we saw on the trip and has guided this tour for many years, but surprisingly, there was minimal personal communication with some participants. Our local guide did an excellent job organizing the ground management making our tour as good as problem free. He also had good birding skills and found several good birds during the tour, but he was not updated for the localities of several rarer species and unfortunately due to this we didn’t see these.
Because of hasty birding tempo there was often little time to appreciate all the new species seen, including several of the more interesting ones and little time for discussing subspecies or age and sex of some observations.
This tour it seemed was designed mostly for general birders rather than knowledgeable or experienced ones.
Bird photography was not a priority on this birding tour but as these images show, there was occasionally time to take reasonable images of some species although if too much time was used there was a risk of missing the
next good bird.
All in all, a superb birding tour with many new species seen and many photographed, but if bird photography is the prime interest, then the above points should be carefully addressed when considering a birding tour of this type.
A selection of mammal images from this trip will be found under Diverse Nature - Mammals.
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11th-28th February 2019
![]() Cotton Pygmy-Goose(Nettapus coromandelianus coromandelianus) female - Keoladeo Ghana National Park, 16th February 2019 | ![]() Ferruginous Duck(Aythya nyroca) male - Keoladeo Ghana National Park, 16th February 2019 | ![]() Kalij Pheasant(Lophura leucomelanos hamiltonii) male - Jim Corbett NP, 23rd February 2019 |
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![]() Oriental Turtle Dove(Streptopelia orientalis) presumably S.t. agricola. - Nainital, 25th February 2019 | ![]() Eurasian Thick-kneeBurhinus oedicnemus harterti - Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve, 14th February 2019 | ![]() River Lapwing( Vanellus duvaucelii) - Chambal River, 18th February 2018 |
![]() Red-wattled Lapwing(Vanellus indicus indicus) - Jaipur, 13th February 2019 | ![]() Marsh Sandpiper(Tringa stagnatilis) - Jaipur, 13th February 2019 | ![]() Small Pratincole(Glareola lactea) - Chambal River, 18th February 2018 |
![]() Indian Cormorant(Phalacrocorax fuscicollis) - Keoladeo Ghana National Park, 17th February 2019 | ![]() Indian Pond Heron(Ardeola grayii) - Keoladeo Ghana National Park, 17th February 2019 | ![]() Indian Pond Heron(Ardeola grayii) - Keoladeo Ghana National Park, 17th February 2019 |
![]() Black-winged Kite(Elanus caeruleus vociferus) - Jim Corbett NP, 24th February 2019 | ![]() Crested Serpent-Eagle(Spilornis cheela cheela) - Jim Corbett NP, 22nd February 2019 | ![]() Steppe Eagle(Aquila nipalensis nipalensis) second year - Keoladeo Ghana National Park, 17th February 2019 |
![]() Imperial Eagle(Aquila heliaca) second year - Keoladeo Ghana National Park, 17th February 2019 | ![]() Imperial Eagle(Aquila heliaca) second year - Keoladeo Ghana National Park, 17th February 2019 | ![]() Black Kite(Milvus (migrans) lineatus) 'Black-eared Kite' - Sultanpur NP, 28th February 2019 |
![]() Lesser Fish Eagle(Haliaeetus humilis plumbeus) - Jim Corbett NP, 23rd February 2019 | ![]() Brown Fish-Owl(Ketupa zeylonensis leschenaulti) - Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve, 14th February 2019 | ![]() Pied Kingfisher(Ceryle rudis leucomelanurus) - Chambal River, 18th February 2019 |
![]() Indian Roller(Coracias benghalensis benghalensis) - Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve, 14th February 2019 | ![]() Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker(Dendrocopos macei) - Between Kathgodam & Kumeria 20th February 2019 | ![]() Long-tailed Shrike(Lanius schach caniceps) - Jim Corbett NP, 24th February 2019 |
![]() Bay-backed Shrike(Lanius vittatus vittatus) - Sultanpur NP, 28th February 2019 | ![]() Common Green-Magpie(Cissa chinensis chinensis) after a rain shower - Nainital, 27th February 2019 | ![]() Rufous Treepie(Dendrocitta vagabunda vagabunda/bristoli) - Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, 13th February 2019 |
![]() Rufous Treepie(Dendrocitta vagabunda vagabunda/bristoli) second year - Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, 13th February 2019 | ![]() Coal Tit(Periparus ater melanolophus) 'Spot-winged Tit', with flower pollen in its plumage - Pangot, 26th February 2018 | ![]() Himalayan Black-lored Tit(Machlolophus xanthogenys) male - Nainital, 27th February 2019 |
![]() White-eared Bulbul(Pycnonotus leucotis leucotis) - Keoladeo Ghana National Park, 16th February 2019 | ![]() Whistler's Warbler(Phylloscopus whistleri) - Nainital, 25th February 2019 | ![]() Large Gray Babbler(Turdoides malcolmi) - Ranthambhore Tiger Sanctuary, 12th February 2019 |
![]() Jungle Babbler(Turdoides striata striata) - Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, 13th February 2019 | ![]() Streaked Laughingthrush(Trochalopteron lineatum lineatum) - Nainital, 27th February 2019 | ![]() Streaked Laughingthrush(Trochalopteron lineatum lineatum) - Nainital, 27th February 2019 |
![]() Rufous Sibia(Heterophasia capistrata) - Pangot, 26th February 2019 | ![]() Red-billed Leiothrix(Leiothrix lutea) - Nainital, 25th February 2019 | ![]() Oriental Magpie-Robin(Copsychus saularis saularis) male - Keoladeo Ghana National Park, 16th February 2019 |
![]() Rufous-bellied Niltava(Niltava sundara) male - Corbett NP, 20th February 2019 | ![]() Blue Whistling Thrush(Myophonus caeruleus temminckii) - Nainital, 25th February 2019 | ![]() Blue-capped Redstart(Phoenicurus coeruleocephala) second year male - Nainital, 27th February 2019 |
![]() Blue-capped Redstart(Phoenicurus coeruleocephala) female - Nainital, 27th February 2019 | ![]() Black Redstart(Phoenicurus ochruros rufiventris) male - Keoladeo Ghana National Park, 16th February 2019 | ![]() Pied Stonechat(Saxicola caprata) first winter male - near Bharatpur, 17th February 2019 |
![]() Gray Bushchat(Saxicola ferreus ferreus) male - Nainital, 27th February 2019 | ![]() Sind Sparrow(Passer pyrrhonotus) male – Sultanpur NP, 28th February 2019. | ![]() White (Amur) Wagtail(Motacilla alba leucopsis) second year - Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve, 14th February 2019 |