Birding India Part 10: Great Rann of Kutch Dec 17-20
This video is mainly a slideshow and covers our extension days to Gujarat, way too few (only 2 whole days!), but resulted in a handful very important Target Birds: Demoiselle Crane, Grey Hypocolius, White-naped Tit, Sykes's Lark, Sykes's Nightjar, Red-tailed Wheatear plus Marshall's Iora and Grey-naped Bunting.
The two days of birding went well, we got all our Target Birds and then some! Second day was spent in Mandvi, by the sea, where we got the Cranes but also Greater Flamingo, Slender-billed Gull, Brown-headed Gull, Black-headed Gull, Pallas's Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, 3 species of Terns and a few species of shorebirds (like Oystercatcher, Eurasian Curlew & Kentish Plover).
We could've had two half days of birding added (arrival and departure days), which was the plan when the trip was hatched the year before. However, the flight to Bhuj disappeared, and we had to make do with Ahmenabad and a 8-10 hour drive one way. There went those birding hours! Adding to that the landwide riots, with closed roads to and from stations and airports, the trip back to Ahmenabad had to start before dawn.
Then there was the problem with the pilots not being cleared for landing by help of instruments only, combined with the everpresent heavy smog over New Delhi... We got redirected to Indor, after circling Delhi for at least 30 minutes (no smog in Indor, so it was OK for them to land there, but we hadn't made any progress at all).
We were locked in the cabin, waiting 5 hours for another crew cleared for instrument-only landing. They were flewn in from Mumbay...
Then re-fuelling, then off we went and actually landed in New Delhi an hour or so later. We were so late, on group-member was very VERY close to miss his flight home. We were met with a rep from Ashok Country Resort, that had his incheck bag (left on the hotel during our days in Gujarat), and drove him pronto to the international terminal. Thanks to that he made his flight.
Our group leader, my partner and me had a little more time and therefore drove to Ashok and our incheck luggage and one hour of rest, after final repack and a quick wash of our exhausted bodies.
After that, everything went smooth once again. No problems at the airport, through security and then a beeline to the Finnair VIP-lounge. We had (before leaving to Gujarat) jumped on the offer to upgrade to Business Class again, and after all the flight problems we were VERY happy to be able to lie prostrate in the seats during the long flight home!
Пікірлер: 12
Nice and beautiful video. Thanks for sharing so wonderful footages. Big Like 6
Amazing Photos and amazing place
@Hummingbirder1
Жыл бұрын
Thank you! And, yes it is, I wish we could've stayed longer.
Thanks for sharing this nice video, enjoyed. I had been there in Jan.
@Hummingbirder1
Жыл бұрын
Thank you! I hope you had a better travel experience than we had (getting to/from Gujarat/Rann of Kutch from Delhi in our case), especially the trip *from* there!!
Oh my! What an exhausting trip! But so exciting filming all those lifers. I was so happy for you. I paused a lot, so I could read everything and not miss out. I know it's a while since you posted but I've just found you recently, and, I got to see you at the end, lovely. BTW you did very well bringing out the detail on the Golden Jackal considering all the dust. All the best to you Hummingbirder1.
@Hummingbirder1
Жыл бұрын
Hi Joan (this is me, assuming that's your name, and one is never supposed to assume anything...) Thanks again for your considerate and uplifting comment! Yes, that was an exhausting trip, with not enough time at the goal location. It certainly left you wanting more, but sadly also knowing: there won't be more. I'm getting too old (and poor) to get abroad on expensive birding trips now. I might only have one left. We'll see. It will be Australia and it will be a real humdinger of a trip. Two months plus, next fall. Until then: only old stuff from my hard drive OR new stuff from around Sweden. Also: my name is Pia, so, if you want to, you don't have to call me by my "screen name". Either in a comment or just in a thought while looking at my stuff. I am visible on a few photos, often taken by my partner. Like the one showing off the best ice cream in Sweden (in our opinon) in a video from Skärhamn that I posted last year. (Play list linked at the end of this video, I think). All the best to you, and, hopefully: "talk" to you later. 🙂🥰
@joanhuggett5164
Жыл бұрын
@@Hummingbirder1 I was so elated when I began reading your reply that I ran out to tell family about it half way through. Yes, my name is Joan (Huggett married name, Rodier maiden name). Now I know who Hummingbirder1 is; you are the Pia Duade mentions on his videos. I will watch out for that 'humdinger of a trip' when you come down under. And in the meantime, just know I will be enjoying myself on your channel. I'm so glad you said I could comment as I look since it's very hard to keep it to myself (as I did, when I was oohing and aahing looking at your South American slideshow videos, just recently.) Thanks so much Pia, you have made this day special.
Thank you for this wonderful video (and others)! Really appreeciate the background bird sounds instead of annoying music. My hometown is Ahmedabad so i was curious why you chose these two locations instead of the Little Rann of Kutch and Nalsarovar. I've seen Demoisselle cranes and flamingoes in LRK among other birds and mammals. Nalsarovar is a very large shallow lake that attracts hundreds of thousands of a variety of birds. Both these locations are within 90 mins drive from Ahmedabad and are the go to spots for wildlifers.
@Hummingbirder1
29 күн бұрын
Hi, and thank you! About not changing the itinerary, I'm not sure. The trip was organized by Rockjumper, and maybe the lodging was already paid for when the change in flights were announced by the airplane company? I do not know. The extra days ended up not being optimal at all, what with all that ground transport time. When Rockjumper planned the trip, maybe 1 year in advance, the flight Delhi-Bhuj were still in play.
@adityam.5056
29 күн бұрын
@@Hummingbirder1 ok yeah the tour operators should have considered these two locations seeing how close they are to Ahmedabad. That would have saved you a lot of time and energy. There is also the Thol bird sanctuary which is barely 30 mins from the city.