Saturday, September 13, 2014

In Search Of Lesser Florican

Hello Folks

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 .

Indian Peafowl - Male Display


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 .


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 .

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 .

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 .
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.

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/   

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