India July - August 2011, Agra

No visit to India is complete without a visit to the Taj Mahal, or at least that is what many travel guides tell you. We followed this advice and paid this monument that is by many named "the most beautiful building in the world" a visit. The Taj Mahal did not disappoint and I agree with its informal name. However next to the Taj, we enjoyed some views of the more common Indian species in this city. Just within the gardens surrounding the Taj Mahal we found several interesting species like Egyptian Vulture, Little Green Bee-eater, Spotted Owlet, Jacobin Cuckoo, Indian Grey Hornbill, Brown-headed Barbet, Jungle-babbler, Rose-ringed Parakeet and Indian Chat. Behind the Taj Mahal flows the Yamuna River. Here we saw some other interesting birds including River Lapwing, Painted Stork, Eurasian Spoonbill, Red-wattled Lapwing, Large Grey Babbler and Rufous Treepie.

Indian Chat (Cercomela fusca)

Indian Grey Hornbill (Ocyceros birostris)

Spotted Owlet (Athene brama) with a damaged pupil

The endangered Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopteros) can be seen soaring above the Taj Mahal

Male Rose-ringed Parakeet (Psittacula krameri)

The Taj Mahal, seen from the Backside. Painted Storks (Mycteria leucocephala), River Lapwings (Vanellus duvaucelii), Red-wattled Lapwings (Vanellus indicus) and Indian Jungle Crows (Corvus culminatus) foraging at the Yamuna River.

Most monuments within Agra have large gardens like the ones at the Taj Mahal and all these gardens hold similar species and more. Next to the gardens of Monuments we also paid the Sur Sarovar Bird Sanctuary a visit. This site is easily reached by taxi from Agra city center. This bird sanctuary was quite disappointing as it did not hold many birds next to a single Asian Openbill, a single Asian Woollyneck, some Oriental Darters, Indian and Little Cormorants and some Indian Rollers and Rufous Treepies. We also visited the Bear Rescue facility that is also located within this bird sanctuary. The rescue center is interesting and the people there are very welcoming and keen to teach you about their bears. However next to this rescue center there is very little of interest in the sanctuary, both for "normal" tourists and birders, as most of the bird sanctuary seemed to be military terrain and therefore off limits. I would not recommend the Sur Sarovar Bird Sanctuary as a birding site.

Oriental Darter (Anhinga melanogaster)

Indian Cormorant (Phalacrocorax fuscicollis) and Little Cormorant (Microcarbo niger) in flight

India July - August 2011, Srinagar

We left Ladakh by the only other motorable road. This road leads through the Zanskar area, which is just as marvellous as the previous valleys we visited, and leads in the end to the capital of Kashmir: Srinagar. We spent a couple of days in this disputed area, but remained unfortunately only inside the city. The lake in the city, on which one can sleep in boats (quite expensive though), offers fairly decent birding and we enjoyed our stay there.

Birds observed on the lake included many Indian Pond, Black-crowned Night, Little, Cattle and Great Egret, Common, Pied and White-throated Kingfisher, Black, White-winged and Whiskered Tern, Citrine Wagtail and Clamorous Reed Warbler. The biggest surprise however was a 1kj Red-headed Bunting male in between a dozen of House Sparrows. The yellow rump was seen well and it also had a red-brown hue on the head, excluding Black-headed Bunting.

1kj male Red-headed Bunting (Emberiza bruniceps). Note the reddish hue on the head and the still very fresh plumage.

Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis)

White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon Smyrnensis)

Pied Kingfishers (Ceryle rudis)

I hope I can come back to this disputed area to try for the three endemics. I regret I did not have time to search for them during this trip, so I highly recommend that people visiting Ladakh, don´t forget to give Kashmir a try, because the people here are very nice and we had no problem at all during our stay and the birds here included some endemic and mythical species! The best trip would be of course to start in the Great Himalayan National park for Western Tragopan and Cheer Pheasant, than go to Ladakh and finish in Kashmir with an Orange Bullfinch. We keep dreaming!