In Bharatpur we have only one attraction we want to visit, Keoladeo National Park, a famous birding site especially now during the winter months. We are staying quite close to it so after breakfast we are an the entrance gate in about five minutes and then it is time to walk in.
We have a long walk ahead of us, initially we would have liked to take the electric bus but it is quite difficult to schedule and you cannot hop on hop off so walking it is, through beautiful nature.
Soon we start seeing our first birds and mammals, sometimes they are really bunched up together like the green pigeons and even the palm squirrels.
We take a side path soon to avoid the traffic on the main street. There aren’t many people here, in fact we encounter only two groups, which makes an encounter with jackals quite thrilling. We wait for a while for them to make a decision and they do the same so we start walking towards them and they give up and slink into the bushes, phew.
From the place where the jackals were waiting for us on we walk on the edge of a lake. It is a beautiful lake really and we enjoy stopping and just looking at it really even though there are not as many birds as we expected here.
Not many birds on the water that is, on the ground there are quite a few. We are especially happy that we see our first Brahminy Starling/Myna while supposedly common this is the only place we were able to see them.
And then we also see a bluethroat which is great as we looked for it for a whole Alaska trip with no luck in finding it. And here it is quite common as we see two of them during our walk. Mammal wise we see cows in this area, not unexpected as they are everywhere.
At an intersection is a bench and we sit on it to enjoy the beautiful views and the calm. It is quite unusual to have this quiet in India so we want to enjoy it as much as we can before moving on.
In this section the waterbirds start to appear. Nothing special just grebes and cattle egrets but all are fun to see and examine how they behave.
As we walk we have to make a decision, should we go a larger loop and arrive directly at the end of the road or a shorter one and return in the middle of the road. We decide on the shorter one so we can explore also a refreshment stand that is supposedly located just where the shorter loop ends. The shorter loop takes us also on a dike between two lakes so we hope for some nice views and maybe some special birds.
There are some nice birds as we walk, nothing new compared to the previous days but still special to us. We really like the bar-headed goose as they can be quite feisty and do not fly away immediately after seeing us.
We get lucky and also see a spotted owlet on the trail followed by a black drongo, surprisingly our first one on the trip given how common they are.
As we keep watch over the marsh we notice some dots moving in the distance. Focusing on them we notice they are deer, probably nilgai coming to the water for a drink.
There are also prinias all around us but finding them can be quite difficult as they flit around and like to hide in the underbrush.
The trail takes us unexpectedly through the warden housing area and then deposits us at the refreshment kiosk which is quite welcome. We buy some cold drinks, as we are quite dehydtrated even though we drink almost continuously from our provisions but it is warm and humid. We also eat some snacks while being carefully watched by mynas and babblers looking for crumbs.
We know continue on the main road which is surprisingly busy compared to the morning. The new birds keep coming however and that is what we want, with a nice white-tailed lapwing on the fields patiently waiting for us to take its photo.
Bronze-winged jacanas are also common and we see quite a few of them and also many painted storks. So many that they start fighting with each other for premium spots,
We keep an eye out for the huge gray-headed swamphen and are quite happy when we see one, they are relatively difficult to see otherwise. Nilgai are also common here with many just sitting in the water and eating the vegetation.
One of the things we really wanted to see was a pied kingfisher which are really common supposedly. However it takes a long time, almost to the end of the road, until we finally notice one. At least he gives us a show flying around and doing aerial acrobatics before moving on. And then we are at the end of the road where we take a break before returning to the parking place, a walk that is decribed in another post.
