Report on Visit to Tal Chappar Bird Sanctuary

by Chandrima Roy

August 14th–5 a.m. Rita and I reached Ajit’s house, picked up Koustubh and started on our long drive to Tal Chappar... We had two routes we coudl choose from–one given by Koshy and the other given by a friend of Ajit who is a frequent traveler to Bikaner. The driver decided to take the other route because he said it is faster and a quicker one and we shall be nearly always on the highway while the other he said was through the villages and small cities where we may get stuck due to rains and bad roads–on the return journey he took Koshy’s route-and met the traffic jams and flooded, broken roads with camel carts, motor cycles and tempos, etc.

On the way to Tal chappar somewhere between behrur and shahpura we stopped at a dhaba as the driver wanted to have tea and breakfast. Our next stop was near Ringus for lunch – (we were carrying our birding breakfast food parathas and sabji – we ordered dal and lassi (so as not to annoy the dhabawala) and had a feast and were on the highway again. We entered Sikar city looking for an ATM – there we saw some beautiful lovely havelis with exquisite paintings there was another huge haveli which had gracefully architectured elegant chhaatris. A clock tower in the market place belonging to the British raj—the shekhawati havelis deserve the fame that they have got. From there via Lachmangarh and Salasar we reached Sujan garh.

We decided to go straight to the sanctuary and not waste time checking in at the hotel so we called Mr. Poonia to tell him that we are on our way - enroute we were thrilled to see a lagar falcon sitting on a fence and the white eyed buzzards inside the sanctuary, thrilled and stimulated by this first sight we reached the sanctuary where Mr. Arun Soni took us around this very unique habitat- Black bucks , cinkaras playing and frolicking around—we took shots of the white eyed buzzards , a pair of tawny eagles feasting on something –we went near to see what it was –the carcass of a fawn was lying there – I believe the tawny eagles prey on helpless fawns – We returned to the office to find Sharad Sridhar and his family there Mr. Poonia was also there with them— we exchanged pleasantries and reminisced over the adventure of the brown fish owl at sonepat in the drizzling rain. He told us we must see the rufus tailed scrub robin which was the rarest of the rare birds.

Mr. Poonia asked us to reach the sanctuary at 6.30 am ,the following day - so promptly at the appointed hour we were there, and Mr. Poonia took us around – showed us the rufus tailed scrub robin, wheat ear (Isabel line and the variable ),Rufus tailed lark , short toed snake eagle three vultures fighting in the air (they could not be ided)monitor lizard , spiny tailed lizard, Eurasian thick knee—we saw and took shots of how the newly born fawn lies flat on the ground trying to merge with its surroundings to avoid predators from above and far—also the juvenile black buck suckling the female.

As the GIB was a doubtful sighting and we had seen all that that there was to see --we decided to return home the same day. Around one – o--clock thanking Mr.Poonia and Mr. Arun Soni we started on our journey back home taking Koshy’s route. We could not see any dhabas , hunger made us decide to have a snack lunch at a restaurant in Udaipur vati of Kachoris and samosas served in chaat style – and perasfor sweet dish (the peras were delicious and I carried some home). Reached Delhi home around d 9.30 pm.

The list of birds sighted: 1—common tern 2-grey francolin 3-indian pea fowl 4-black-rumped flame back woodpecker 5—hoopoe 6—European roller 7- Indian roller 8- White breasted king fisher 9-green bee eater 10-blue cheeked bee eater 11-rose ringed parakeet 12-- Rock pigeon 13—Eurasian collared dove 14-red collared dove 15-chestnut bellied sand grouse (three flocks in flight and sitting ) 16-green sand piper 17--Eurasian thick knee 18—little ringed plover 19—red wattled lapwing 20—black winged stilt 21-black winged kite 22—3 un ided vultures 23-egyptian vulture 24-Short toed snake eagle 25-white eyed buzzard 26-tawny eagle male and female 27-laggar falcon 28—cattle egret 29-little egret 30—black ibis 31-wooly necked stork 32-southern grey shrike 33- bay backed shrike – enroute 34—drongo 35--- Rufus tailed scrub robin 36--Indian robin 37-brown rock chat 38-isabelline wheatear 39 –variable wheat ear 40—rosy pastors 41—juvenile rosy pastors plenty of them also 42---brahminy myna 43—common mynas 44-bank mynas 45—pied mynas 46—dusky crag martins 47—wire tailed swallows - -- on the way 48—ashy prinia – on the way 49—ashy crowned sparrow larks -- huge flocks in the sanctuary 50 --Rufus tailed lark 51--oriental sky lark 52 – Indian bush lark 53—purple sunbird 54—house sparrow 55—silver bills 56--common babbler – on the way 57—red vented bulbuls 58--Golden oriole – on the way 59 – white cheeked bulbul 60-black kites 61—paddy field pipit 62—rufus tree pie – on the way 63 – jungle babbler 64 –large grey babbler Animals 65 – black buck 66—cinkara 67-Spiny tailed lizard 68—blue bulls 69--monitor lizards

Our visit was very enjoyable and will be one of the favourite memories Mr. Poonia and Mr. Arun Soni were extremely hospitable and took all the pains and effort to show everything that needed to be seen there. Their devotion, dedication and passion for the sanctuary can be seen everywhere at the park--it is truly exemplary. My deepest thanks to them. We all enjoyed every bit of the trip.

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