January 25-February 14, 2025 with Terry Stevenson
As usual we started our north India tour in Delhi at the modern-style Suryaa Hotel. Some of the group arrived early and took optional city tours, but our first official birding began at the nearby Okhla Bird Sanctuary. Despite weather reports of foggy days, it was clear and sunny as we walked the main path enjoying our first Indian Peafowl, Greater Coucal, Crested Serpent-Eagle, Indian Gray Hornbill, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Common Tailorbird, Red-whiskered Bulbul, Indian White-eye, Common and Bank mynas, and Oriental Magpie-Robin. Our first mammals included good looks at Rhesus Macaque and Northern Palm Squirrel.
We then headed south to Agra and made a brief visit to the amazing Taj Mahal, where, unfortunately it was public holiday and very, very crowded. Quickly moving to a 'plan B' we made a hasty retreat and temporarily replaced the Taj with a visit to Agra Fort. Together with an expert local guide we were informed about the history of this vast building and how Shah Jahan (builder of the Taj Mahal) had been imprisoned here by his very own son.
The following day found us driving about one and a half hours to the Chambal Safari Camp, where after coffee and cookies, we headed to their boat on the Chambal River. What a wonderful trip this was, with excellent close sightings of such varied species as Bar-headed Goose, Great and Indian thick-knees, River Lapwing, the localized Black-bellied Tern, the rare Indian Skimmer, Red-naped Ibis, a roosting Brown Boobook, Spotted Owlet, Brown-headed Barbet, Rufous Treepie, and Orange-headed Thrush. We also had close looks at enormous Gharials and Marsh Mugger Crocodiles.
Having left the Taj Mahal early on our first visit, we now made a return trip and were there by dawn -- an excellent decision, and everyone enjoyed our visit to India's (and one of the world's) most famous monuments in a more peaceful atmosphere.
Leaving Agra behind we made a short drive to Bharatpur, stopping briefly for another cultural visit, this time at Fatepur Sikri -- the palaces of Akbar the Great. Lunch was in our Bharatpur hotel and then we had an afternoon in glorious sunshine at this world-famous wetland reserve. Now known as Keoladeo Ghana National Park, it really is a fabulous place to photograph waterbirds, and just some of the species we enjoyed were hundreds of Garganey, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall and Northern Pintail, Indian Spot-billed Duck, White-breasted Waterhen, Greater Painted-snipe, Bronze-winged Jacana, River Tern, Black-necked and Painted storks, and Eurasian Spoonbill.
Still based at Bharatpur, we then made a day trip to Bund Baretha, an area of scrub-farmland with several small ponds and a huge reservoir. Highlights here included Asian Woolly-necked Stork, Common Kingfisher, Indian Roller, Long-tailed Shrike, Gray-headed Canary-Flycatcher, Blyth's Reed Warbler, Hume's Warbler, Yellow-eyed Babbler (actually a parrotbill), Common Babbler, Tickell's Blue Flycatcher, Purple Sunbird, Scaly-breasted Munia, and Citrine Wagtail. We finished the day with a stop at Bayana Rocks and soon found two critically endangered Indian Vultures.
We finished our stay at Bharatpur with a second visit to the wetland reserve, and thank goodness we'd had such great weather during our first afternoon, as our second visit was in thick fog! New birds were restricted to a few very close species like Black Bittern (super close scope looks at that), Bay-backed Shrike, Clamorous Reed Warbler, White-eared Bulbul, and Yellow-throated Sparrow. We then had lunch at our nearby hotel, before heading to the railway station and a two-and-a-half hour train journey to Sawai Modhopur -- gateway to the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve.
Ranthambhore is always a highlight of any trip to north India, but this year was exceptional -- with six different Tigers on the first day -- three almost full-grown cubs together in the morning, and then two separate females and a male in the afternoon. In addition to the Tigers, we also saw large groups of Bengal Sacred Lemurs, Ruddy Mongoose, Sambar, and hundreds of Chital (Spotted Deer). We had two full days here and were able to make four drives within the park, each on different assigned tracks. These drives gave us an opportunity to see all the major habitats, including woodland, lakes, rocky hills and the meandering stream beds. Many new birds were added to our list, and just some of the highlights were: displaying Indian Peafowl, Painted Spurfowl, Barred Buttonquail, Painted Sandgrouse, Greater Painted-snipe, River Tern, Black Stork, Shikra, White-eyed Buzzard, Indian Scops-Owl, Stork-billed Kingfisher, Alexandrine and Plum-headed parakeets, White-browed Fantail, White-bellied Drongo, Asian Tit, Rufous-fronted Prinia, Large Gray Babbler, Black Redstart, and Siberian Stonechat.
Leaving Ranthambhore behind, we then drove to Delhi, but not before a short walk near our hotel where we got more great looks at Painted Sandgrouse, several Rufous-fronted Prinias, and two Common Woodshrikes. We spent a night back at our Delhi hotel and then began the northern section of our tour by heading up the new highway and on to Ramnagar -- stopping to watch some close Sarus Cranes and then a Wallcreeper at the Ramnagar Barrage.
We were now based near Corbett National Park, which always produces many great sightings, and with three days in this area (both outside and inside the park) we had fabulous looks at yet another Tiger. This one was walking right out in the open and crossing a river before merging in to the forest undergrowth. New birds included; Kalij Pheasant, Red Junglefowl, Black Francolin, Red-collared Dove, Himalayan Swiftlet, Ibisbill (distant in the scope), Himalayan Griffon, Changeable Hawk-Eagle, Pallas's and Lesser fish-eagles, Asian Barred and Jungle owlets, Great Hornbill, Oriental Pied-Hornbill, Crested Kingfisher, Lineated Barbet, eight species of woodpeckers including Gray-capped Pygmy, Brown-fronted, Fulvous-breasted, Rufous, Streak-throated, the flamebacks -- Greater and Himalayan, and Lesser Yellownape, Collared Falconet, Red-breasted Parakeet, Long-tailed and Scarlet minivets, Black-hooded Oriole, White-throated Fantail, Hairy-crested Drongo (feeding in a Cotton Silk Tree), Gray Treepie, Common Green Magpie, Yellow-bellied Fairy-Fantail, Himalayan Bulbul, Black- chinned Babbler, White-crested Laughingthrush, Long-billed Thrush, Small and Rufous-bellied niltavas, Blue Whistling Thrush, Himalayan Rubythroat, Plumbeous and White-capped redstarts, and Golden-fronted Leafbird. We also enjoyed great looks at several new mammals, which varied from Yellow-throated Marten to Northern Red Muntjac and Hog Deer, and on the open plains about 60 Indian Elephant, including huge bulls, females and young.
Our final destination in the north was Nainital, an old hill station town and formerly the home of Jim Corbett. We had three nights here enabling us to visit the famous Snow View -- with a magnificent vista of the Himalaya Mountains, a day to Sat Tal and Chafi, and a third day as we descended to the Bajoon (Mongoli) Trail.
It was exceptionally warm this year and some of the migrants from higher high altitudes had already returned to the peaks. However, we still did really well with new birds including Oriental Turtle-Dove, a pair of Tawny Fish-Owls, Great and Blue-throated barbets, the gorgeous Rufous-bellied Woodpecker, Slaty-headed Parakeet, Black-headed Jay, Red-billed Blue-Magpie, Green-backed, Himalayan Black-lored and Black-throated tits, Himalayan Prinia, Mountain and Black bulbuls, Buff-barred, Lemon-rumped, Whistler's, Gray-hooded and Black-faced warblers, Chestnut-headed Tesia (for some of our group), Striated, Streaked, Chestnut-crowned and White-throated laughingthrushes, Rufous Sibia, White-browed Shrike-Babbler, White-tailed Nuthatch, Bar-tailed Treecreeper, Alpine Thrush, Little and Spotted forktails, Himalayan Bluetail, Blue-fronted and Blue-capped redstarts, Baya Weaver, Rufous Sparrow, Pink-browed Rosefinch, Himalayan Greenfinch, and Rock Bunting.
To conclude our tour, we then took a train back to Delhi and after a night at our hotel near the airport made a morning visit to Sultanpur National Park -- a wetland reserve very much like a mini version of Bharatpur. In glorious weather, both within the reserve and at the nearby rice fields we added a variety of new birds, including Eurasian Wigeon, Common Pochard, Tufted Duck, Common Hawk-Cuckoo, White-tailed Lapwing, Caspian Gull, Greater Flamingo, Indian Spotted and Imperial eagles, Ashy-crowned Sparrow-Lark, Delicate Prinia, Striated Babbler, and Sind Sparrow.
And finally, with rooms still available at our hotel, we had plenty time to shower, change and re-pack, before our transfers to the international airport and our flights home.
Mammals seen on the tour
Indian Flying Fox (Pteropus medius) About 30 at the Chambal Safari Lodge, and at least 250 at Ranthambore.
Rhesus Macaque (Macaca mulatta) Very common and widespread throughout the tour.
Bengal Sacred Langur (Presbytis entellus) Widespread, with a total of about 250.
Northern Palm Squirrel (Funambulus pennanti) Very common around Delhi and to the south.
Golden Jackal (Canis aureus) One at Bharatpur.
Yellow-throated Marten (Martes flavigula) Wonderful looks at a pair near Corbett NP.
Small Indian Mongoose (Urva auropunctata) One of our group saw one near Nainital.
Ruddy Mongoose (Urva smithii) Seven, mostly singles or pairs at Ranthanbore.
Jungle Cat (Felis chaus) Singles for some of the group at Chambal River and Ranthambore.
Tiger (Panthera tigris) Just amazing this tour, with 6 at Ranthambore and 1 at Corbett.
Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus) About 60 in the grasslands below our lodge at Corbett NP.
Northern Red Muntjac (Muntiacus vaginalis) Five at Corbett NP.
Chital (Axis axis) Also known as Spotted Deer, they were common in many areas away from the mountains; in all we saw about 700.
Hog Deer (Axis porcinus) Six at Corbett NP.
Sambar (Rusa unicolor) About 60 at Ranthambore, and 7 at Corbett.
Nilgai (Boselaphus tragocamelus) One at the Okhla Bird Sanctuary, and 6 at Sultanpur Jheel.
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/388364
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/ind25TRIPLIST.pdf
-- Terry Stevenson