Another early start with a
couple of hours drive to the Chambal River arriving at dawn; birds seen before
our boat trip on the river bank included flocks of really smart RIVER LAPWINGS,
a GREAT
THICK-KNEE, single Brown-headed Gull and Pallas’s Gulls, a fine array of Wagtails
including WHITE-BROWED
WAGTAILS, Citrine Wagtails, Yellow Wagtails including beema and thunbergi individuals and a range of alba Wagtails with MASKED WAGTAIL, Amur Wagtails and alboides seen and my only Tree Pipit of the trip.
We then had a couple of hours on a boat trip up the
river where some of our targets were seen including 3 RIVER TERNS, 31 INDIAN SKIMMERS, plenty of Mugger Crocodiles,
a couple of Gharials
and at least 2 Ganges
River Dolphins. Other birds
seen on the river included a cracking adult LAGGAR FALCON perched up on the cliffs, an Osprey (the only one of
the trip), Temminck’s Stint, Kentish Plover,
Common Sandpiper and Sand Martin. A
little walk around after the trip then produced Paddyfield Pipit,
a BROOK’S LEAF
WARBLER, a Red-breasted Flycatcher,
a SIRKEER
MALKOHA, big flocks of CHESTNUT-BELLIED SANDGROUSE leaving the river after drinking and a Blue Rock Thrush.
It was then an hours drive to the Taj Mahal at Agra
but unfortunately it was closed on the day we pitched up so we were relegated
to park at the back of it; the Taj Mahal itself kept our attention for a few
minutes before the birds came back into focus with a few bits on the river in
front including a decent flock of Whiskered Terns,
Black-headed Gulls, Brown-headed Gulls and two Steppe Gulls with some waders such as
Avocet (the only ones of the trip), Ruff (unusually swimming around like
Phalaropes!), Temminck’s Stint, Little Stint and Spotted Redshanks. The park itself was also good with plenty of
wintering migrants in amongst the usual species with Taiga Flycatchers,
Red-breasted Flycatchers, Hume’s Warblers, Greenish Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat
(of indeterminate denominations), Hoopoe, Eastern Black Redstart, Citrine
Wagtails and various Yellow Wagtails.
River Lapwings
Wire-tailed Swallow
White-browed Wagtail
Masked Wagtail
Indian Skimmers
River Tern
Yellow Wagtail ssp.
Hoopoe
Hume's Warbler
Muggers
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