Our flight arrived on time and after a long wait at immigration we collected our bags and headed out to meet Devender our driver and headed off on the drive south to Bharatpur. We arrived at our hotel, the Birder’s Inn, after 7am, after a quick breakfast of omelette and toast we were ready to go birding. Birding in Keoladeo Gana park is either on foot or by bicycle rickshaw and we had two bicycle rickshaws waiting outside the hotel to take us the few hundred metres to the park.

Once in the park we found that our rickshaw drivers were good birders, picking out birds and recognising calls. We quickly caught up with some of the common birds in the initial, scrubby, area of the park including Black-winged Kite, Long-tailed Shrike, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Yellow-footed Pigeon, Jungle Babbler and House Crow. We also had a nice flock of 20 Alexandrine Parakeets in a tree above the road, a nice comparison with the very common Rose-ringed Parakeets.

We were accompanied along the road by the calls of many Lesser Whitethroats and Bluethroats with birds showing occasionally. Our rickshaw drivers lead us a short distance off the road to see 2 Spotted Owlets roosting in a tree, the birds occasionally opening an eye to peer down at us. A foray into the brush got us good views of a couple of Greenish Warblers before our rickshaw drivers produced another couple of cracking birds. On one side of the road was a roosting Jungle Nightjar and close by on the other side was a roosting Indian Scops Owl. We headed back to the hotel for some lunch well satisfied with our mornings birding.

After lunch we headed further into the park to the wetter areas and a different set of birds. There were large numbers of herons and egrets, Cattle, Little, Intermediate and Great White Egrets, Grey and Purple Herons, Painted Storks and Asian Openbills, Woolly-necked Storks, Black-headed and Glossy Ibis, Indian Pond Herons and Eurasian Spoonbills. Great, Indian and Little Cormorants and Oriental Darters were present in good numbers, but ducks were rather scarce.

There were about 50 Lesser Whistling Ducks and 20 Indian Spot-billed Ducks plus a few Northern Pintail and a single Ruddy Shelduck. The wet grasslands had lots of Red-wattled Lapwings and Bronze-winged Jacanas plus a few Grey-headed Swamphens and numerous Wood Sandpipers and a couple of Green Sandpipers. Pied and White-breasted Kingfishers were seen regularly perched up around the wetlands.

Careful study of a perched raptor confirmed it as an Indian Spotted Eagle and this was followed by a Crested Honey Buzzard, several Shikras and finally, as we were heading out of the park, a smashing perched up Crested Serpent Eagle. So, the end of a long day and back to the hotel for dinner and a few beers.

Today we met up with our guide, Brijendra Singh, and headed into the park again. In the scrubby area near the gate, we saw our first Grey Francolins and smart Pied Bushchats and also a brief Lesser Flameback. A side track took us to an area with a few houses and a pond and one of the smartest birds of the trip, an Orange-headed Thrush. The trees at the back of the pond produced our only Coppersmith Barbet of the trip.

Further exploration of the area gave us Taiga and Red-breasted Flycatchers and a few Ashy Drongoes. Another side track had a couple of Clamorous Reed Warblers in the trackside bushes and two Dusky Eagle Owls roosting out in the swamp. We had a packed lunch taken at a picnic area accompanied by Jungle Babblers and Brahminy Starlings. A viewing tower gave views of roosting, Black-crowned Night Herons and lots of ducks, mostly Teal and Pintails but including Garganey and small numbers of Comb Ducks and Cotton Pygmy Geese.

We studied several perched eagles and found both Indian Spotted and Greater Spotted Eagles but no other species. After further searching we got good views of one of the few Black-necked Storks in the park and then a female Bunting feeding at the side of the track which turned out to be a White-capped Bunting. As we were heading out of the park Brijendra found a Black Bittern skulking in some waterside bushes, a nice way to end the day.

Today we headed to an agricultural area to look for Indian Courser. Despite an extensive search there was no sign of any Coursers but good birds that we did find included Desert and Isabelline Wheatears, Tawny Pipits, Ashy-crowned Sparrowlarks, Greater Short-toed Larks and an Indian Bush Lark as well as our first Brown Rock Chats and Black Redstarts. Several Egyptian Vultures were sitting around the area, other vultures may not be doing well in India, but the Egyptian Vultures seemed to be quite common on the plains.

We returned to the hotel for lunch and then back again to Keoladeo Gana. Our time in the park produced lots of the water birds that we had already encountered but two Dalmatian Pelicans were new, and we were able to add Little Swifts, White-browed Wagtail and Olive-backed Pipit to the trip list. We got further good views of perched Greater Spotted Eagles, Black-winged Kites and a Eurasian Hobby. We found what was probably the same Black Bittern as we left the park although the views this time were much better. So back to the hotel for food and beer to celebrate another good day.

After breakfast today, we loaded the car and set off for a cruise on the Chambal River. We made a couple of stops along the way. Our first stop was at a random wet area beside the main road. The area held good numbers of waders including Black-winged Stilts, Greenshanks, Spotted Redshanks, Common Redshanks, Wood Sandpipers and Temminck’s Stints plus lots of wagtails. The wagtails included several smart Black-headed Wagtails and good numbers of both Citrine and White-browed Wagtails. Moving on our next stop was at a disused quarry. Immediately we picked up two Blue Rock Thrushes and a nice Bluethroat followed by a male White-capped Bunting only seen by Mark and Brijendra. Walking the area, we had two Long-billed Pipits along with up to ten Paddyfield Pipits, Crested Larks, Citrine Wagtail, Egyptian Vultures, Red Avadavats including several red males, and a Ferruginous Duck with a flock of Tufted Ducks on a small pool.

Arriving at the Chambal River we had a few sightings before our river trip started. An adult Pallas’s Gull was flying around close to where we parked before disappearing and being replaced by a sub-adult, River Lapwings were numerous along the shore and several Mugger Crocodiles were hauled out on small islands just offshore.

Once our trip on the river began, we did a quick tour of the small islands for closer looks at the Muggers before heading off down river where we soon had close-up views of several Gharials. Our study of the Gharials ended when a Black-bellied Tern was spotted sitting along the shore. Close to where the tern was sitting were a few waders and a Red-naped Ibis. The waders included two Curlew Sandpipers with a small flock of Dunlin, Kentish, Common Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers. Further along the river there was a large colony of Plain Martins nesting in the riverbank, we also managed to pick out two Pale Martins here, and close by a Bonelli’s Eagle was perched on a bluff.

As the boat turned to head upriver two River Terns appeared but didn’t hang around. Further upriver there was a second Black-bellied Tern, identified as a different bird by the ring on its leg. Finally, as we got close to our starting point, we moved close to the opposite shore where a pair of Great Stone Curlews were sitting, showing very well, a second pair were slightly further along the shore.

We returned to shore and had our packed lunch overlooking the river before heading back towards Bharatpur. We stopped again at the wetland area visited early seeing the same species but with the addition of three Sarus Cranes. Our final stop was on the outskirts of Bharatpur which was fairly quiet, just a couple of Common Rosefinches, until we lucked into a pair of Greater Painted Snipe in a small wet area. The birds walked into a small patch of reeds, and they were so well camouflaged that it took a major search to relocate them. We watched the birds until it was almost dark before returning to the

This was our last day of birdwatching at Bharatpur and straight after breakfast we headed back into the park. We did a long walk through a dry area of the park, which was initially quiet, but we soon began to pick up birds. A warbler close to the track turned out to be a Blyth’s Reed Warbler, the first of several seen during the morning, followed by a nice close Bluethroat, several Ashy Prinias and two Common Woodshrikes. As we watched the Woodshrikes the only Eurasian Wryneck of the trip showed well for a couple of minutes. A large flock of Indian Silverbills feeding on grass seed heads contained at least six Black-headed Munias. Perched up raptors included Greater Spotted Eagle, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Shikra and Eurasian Hobby and a thrush that flew up to sit in a tree turned out to be a female Tickell’s Thrush. A short walk off the track into the brush produced at least twelve Indian Thicknees several of which hung around to give excellent views. Heading back towards the main track we were entertained by several Red-breasted Flycatchers before we found a smart male Red-headed Bunting feeding close to the path. Before we got back to the main track we had a nice mixed flock of Wire-tailed and Streaked Throated Swallows plus a couple of close Green Bee-eaters. As we headed out of the park for lunch David picked up a flying White-eyed Buzzard which then landed to give decent scope views.

After lunch we headed back to the agriculture area to try again for Indian Courser. Although we widened our search of the area, we had no luck finding any Coursers. We did however enjoy the search, scoring several new species for the trip as well as getting further good views of birds we had previously seen in the area. A Southern Grey Shrike give prolonged good views sitting on a wire and two Indian Rollers showed well but two Red Collared Doves only sat up briefly before flying off. Various Siberian Stonechats kept us on our toes while a flock of Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse appeared several times but always landed out of view. One length of fence had Long-tailed, Bay-backed and Isabelline Shrikes plus a White-breasted Kingfisher with a couple of Desert Wheatears hoped around on the ground below. We worked this very birdy area until dark and time to head back to the hotel.