Hello Folks
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| Lesser Florican - Male Display |
Since
the time I started birding ,it was always a dream to watch a florican display
during the monsoon .But the biggest query was , “where to see it ? “. As time
passed by after years and years of birding thing started to change and became
easy ,Facebook and many other social sites showcased postings of Lesser
Florican ,things became more exciting ,as of then .I was aware where to see
this guy .But being a amateur and student by profession it was very difficult
as I could not afford the same ,so this
was a big problem .Years passed and florican was still on my wish list. 3 years
passed still no trip .
It was
in August 2013 wherein I decided to drop my profession as a hospitality person
and follow my passion ,with this aim ,I decided to quit my job at Sofitel
Mumbai BKC and decided to join Wildlife SOS and move to Agra .A place where
everything was new to me ,the birds ,the culture ,the people etc. But on
brighter side things were getting much better as I was located in Northern part
of India ,a place where we were sharing our borders with Uttrakhand ,Madhya
Pradesh ,Rajasthan and Nepal which means Wildlife is just next door. I took
advantage of this and visited many destinations which in the past I could
afford it ,new birds and many lifers .As things started getting is places ,I
decided to explore more ,with this I came up with a decision to fulfill my
dream of watching a florican .
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It was
July 2014 ,and monsoons did not arrive in Agra ,as I did not knew much about
florican ,so decided to study it more ,things started to get more exciting
,because by now I knew where he is sighted ,also I can afford to visit this
place and that too in a day .So decided to call up some of my birding friends
and gurus ,who can assist me with same. I also started searching for florican
in moongh field nearby me ,I tipped some local farmers to look for this guy
,search was on ,but still no results ,on investigation with farmers it was
found that around 10 years back ,one florican female was observed in one of the
farm lands ,but no records after that .I was sad to know that it did not exists
any more but was happy to know that it did once exists here ,so it was nothing
wrong searching him .Later as the season was about to end ,I was more curious
to visit this place called Sonkhaliya grassland , a small village on outskirts
of Ajmer City. In the last 3 years Sonkhaliya became the most famous hotspot to
observe and photograph Lesser Florican .
It was
19th August 2014 ,I got a call from my Guru Adesh Shivkar sir ,that
he needs assistance for his tour at Sonkhaliya .My excitements knew no bound
and I decided to grab this opportunity and visit this place and decided to go .
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| Indian Bush Lark |
All things
packed camera ,binoculars ,field guide check and here I come .Finally the day
arrived and I was at Sonkhaliya.I caught a overnight bus from Agra to Ajmer
,reached Ajmer check in at hotel and meet sir and tour members .The journey in
search of florican ,finally begin .The weather conditions were really bad in
terms of florican sightings as it was too hot (39 degrees) ,florican generally
prefer to be active and jumpy in monsoons or at least cloudy or pleasant weather
rather than harsh sunlight ,so fingers were kept crossed . The entire tour had
4 birding sessions ,two morning and two evening .On first day in morning as it
was too hot we decided to explore the local avian biodiversity of Sonkhaliya
region .Apart from florican’s this grasslands are also known for other dry
scrubland species like Larks ,Pipits ,Coursers ,Thicknee ,Eagle owl and more .The
first bird our team sighted was a passage migrant to India a European Roller as
we proceeded ahead we came across many species like Rosy Starling ,Shikra ,Grey
Francolin and Common Babblers .
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| European Roller |
Just another few miles of drive and we reached
our first birding site ,where we scanned for scrub land species like larks
,francloin and prinia .We managed to sight some interesting species here like
Rufous fronted Prinia and various other larks .Another stop and our search for
florican begin ,we reached in middle of farm land where there was a 360 degree
view of just lush green farmland ,which is an ideal habitat for florican but no
luck with sightings ,but we did manage to see one of rarest and uncommon lark
species with its great flight displays ,”Singing Bush-Lark” we managed to take
some photos and decided to move ahead .
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| Singing Bush Lark |
After our lunch we decided to enjoy our
siesta’s as it was too hot for birds to be active .Around 15.00 we decided to
move ahead and look for florican ,as it was getting dusk and they are very
active during this time. Our search begin and we stopped at farm land where
Adesh suspected sighting of florican .The search was on and we sighted 7 family
members of Indian Courser ,at a far distant ,we managed few shots and suddenly
one of tour member screamed falcon .At a closer look ,their was a Red Necked Falcon
pair on one of a electricity towers far in middle of farm land .We managed to
observe it through our spotting scope and decided to get back to florican as it
was getting dark . Just few steps and Adesh sir called us to come and
observe a Male florican Display .
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| In Land of Lesser Florican |
We all
managed to get some decent shots .This was my first ever sighting of this guy and
a new lifer added to my life list on moving ahead we visited the eagleowl spot
and got some decent shots of one of largest owl in India ,the Indian Eagle-owl
,we also managed to sight Indian Thick-knee ,photography done and decide to
return back to hotel.
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| Rufous fronted Prinia |
Next
morning we left hotel at 5 am in morning ,just to ensure we should miss any
glimpse of florican display ,we decided to leave early in morning before sun
rise .We reached the farm land where florican was sighted few days back and
tried to search for him .Suddenly we heard “croak “ call and looked here and
there and sighted a Male Lesser Florican busy with his jumping display ,this
male was at a distance of 60-80 meters from us and we got some of best shots
and videos of his display .We were happy and excitement knew no bound ,we
observed the birds behavior ,its display and its call for next few minutes.
Lesser
Florican Formula :
Look
(Left-Right-Front-Back) – Get Ready – Bend Down – Jump High – Bend Legs – Slow
Landing –Back to Normal – Barely 3-5 sec display .But can be sighted 100 times
or more in a day by a male.
Throughout
the day we observed 5 more individuals but all far for us .We just waited and
observed the “Lesser Florican Babba” displaying and we devotees were observing
him .The last display and last florican of day ,we decided to move and return
back to hotel .A tour which changed my life by fulfilling my dream to observe
the mighty Lesser Florican dance and also meeting some of best wildlifer’s from
Mumbai.
A
special thanks to Adesh Shivkar sir for giving me this opportunity and believing
in me and kudos to Nature India Tours ,one of best wildlife tour organizing
firm.
Highlights of the trip :
Lesser
Florican
Red
Necked Falcon
Grey
Francolin
Rock
bush quail
Indian
Peafowl
Indian Thick-knee
Yellow Wattled
lapwing
Green Sandpiper
Common
Sandpiper
Common Greenshank
Common
Redshank
Greater Painted
Snipe
Gull-billed
Tern
Eurasian
Collared Dove
Red
Collared Dove
Jacobin
Cuckoo
Indian Eagle
Owl
European
Roller
Indian
Roller
Blue
Tailed Bee-eater
Indian
Bushlark
Singing
Bushlark
Ashy Crowned
Sparrow lark
Crested Lark
Rufous
tailed lark
Streak
throated swallow
Red
rumped swallow
Rufous
tailed shrike
Southern
Grey shrike
Rosy Starling
Large
Grey babbler
Common
Babbler
Lesser
White-throat
Ashy
Prinia
Plain
Prinia
Rufous
fronted Prinia
Variable
Wheatear
Baya
Weaver and more
Others observed
Blue
Bull
Indian
Grey Mongoose
Red Sand
Boa
Bengal
Monitor Lizard
Thank
you
Warm
Regards
Prathamesh
Desai
Nature India
http://natureindiatour.blogspot.in/
