This is the account of a personalized, targeted trip to see displaying Lesser Florican in India during the monsoon, attempting to also see other endangered or special birds such as Great Indian Bustard, Indian Spotted Creeper, Green Avadavat, White-browed Bush Chat, Indian and Red-headed Vulture, White-naped Woodpecker and Forest Owlet – and mammals such as Sloth Bear Melursus ursinus, Blackbuck Antilope cervicapra and Indian Leopard Panthera pardus fusca. We saw all very well.

Female Indian Spotted Creeper Salpornis spilonota rajputanae, Tal Chhapar, India, 3 August 2025 (Jaap Hennevanger)

More and more have I started to focus on seeing special, beautiful and/or unique birds and other wildlife in recent years, rather than focus on “cleaning up” a certain country or region – I never really focussed on increasing my number of birds seen in the first place. Climate change, large-scale logging, bird trade and the evident global biodiversity collapse - I have come to realise we may only have another ten years or so to really enjoy our beautiful natural world, after which it may become unbearable to enter forests that were once vast and filled with odd insects and beautiful birdsong. In a recent Dutch magazine this feeling was named ‘ecological mourning’ - the fact it has an official name means I’m not the only one who feels this way and several of you might have similar thoughts.

Fortunately, I have recently been able to lay eyes on a great number of birds that somehow always appealed to me: unexpectedly, Little Curlew and Spectacled Eider in my home country the Netherlands, both major vagrants; Akiapolaau, Ground Woodpecker, Horned Guan, Swainson's Warbler, Plains Wanderer elsewhere – all personal favorites. The past two years I focused on targets in my favorite region (S)(E) Asia, trying for, and fortunately succeeding in seeing, birds like Oriental Bay Owl, Golden-winged Laughingthrush, Masked Finfoot, Gould’s Shortwing and Whitehead’s Broadbill.

Lesser Florican is a species that everyone will agree should make that ‘ultra special birds’-list. Not only is its plumage unique, the male sporting long head plumes, but also its bizarre display behaviour is quite unparalleled in the birding world and sadly, it seems to be heading for extinction. That was already the case 15 years ago when I told friends I would ‘soon’ be doing a combined trip of cultural Rajasthan highlights and displaying Floricans – they went and saw several displaying birds without having to use local guides – but nowadays things seem far more precarious. From what I gathered, there are still around 200 Lesser Floricans left but during the monsoon, the only season in which displaying males make the bird ‘findable’, most are found in (Tiger) parks that are closed to visitors. It is only in the Ajmer region that a few males display in agricultural areas that can be visited, so here one can see the male jump high above the crops with its plumes and striking black-and-white plumage clearly visible. I was told that in 2024, only three such displaying males were found in that area and so was eager to visit in 2025.

Displaying male Lesser Florican Sypheotides indicus, Ajmer region, India, 1 August 2025 (Lonnie Bregman)

When I started planning the trip I soon realised a traditional approach of hiring a bird guide to accompany me and my friends the whole trip wouldn’t work because of the many cultural highlights in Rajasthan I also wanted to visit. I therefore decided to start the trip with one week of cultural highlights, during which I was joined by Paul Schrijvershof and Wouter Teunissen, followed by dedicated birders Jaap Hennevanger, Lonnie Bregman and Alwin van Lubeck flying in for another two weeks. Peter Lobo of All India Birding Tours kindly put me in touch with experienced driver Roop Lal, who not only knew all the roads, cities and cultural highlights like the back of his hand (no GoogleMaps needed, even in multimillion cities like Jaipur) but who also knew the major birding sites, had local guides on speed dial and knew restaurants that his former clients never caused any stomach problems. Roop and I facetimed prior to the trip to perfect our route, when he advised far-flung cultural highlights at Bikaner and Jaisalmer should actually be incorporated into the birding part of the trip. The whole set-up worked out perfectly and I can wholeheartedly recommend doing a similar trip with him, the reasons for which I will outline below.

Female Rhesus Macaque with infant Macaca mulatta, Jaipur, India, 30 July 2025 (Paul Schrijvershof)

July-August is notorious for being the monsoon period in this part of India. That means very high temperatures and lots of rain – or so one would think. However, even though we had some rain showers, they usually didn’t last more than an hour and surely did not hamper the birding significantly. In fact, the strongest downpours we experienced during the cultural part of the trip when we spent most of our time inside palaces and fortresses. The temperatures were also not overly high; it was some 33 C around Jaisalmer, the desert area in the west of Rajasthan, with temperatures elsewhere mostly around 30 C and decidedly cooler in the mountains near Udaipur. Climate aside, travelling Rajasthan in the monsoon period has some great advantages: it is not the travel period of choice for foreign tourists so you’ll meet very few of those, which also means all hotels are bookable at the last minute, maintaining trip flexibility, and discounts can be negotiated. During our trip it was also ‘temple month’ meaning thousands of pilgrims travelled the state’s roads on foot, heading for major temples to pay tribute - never a dull moment during travel days. Most areas are green and lush and we saw some nice insects. Local guides were available everywhere we went because monsoon is the period most of them have no business, this being especially true at Tal Chhapar (Indian Spotted Creeper) and Desert National Park (Great Indian Bustard). And besides displaying Florican, the monsoon period increases chances of seeing some other specialty birds like Sind Sparrow and Rain Quail.

Rain Quail Coturnix coromandelica, Ajmer region, India, 1 August 2025 (Lonnie Bregman)

We flew Amsterdam-Munich-Delhi-Udaipur with a short night spent at an airport hotel in Delhi. During the first, cultural, week we visited Udaipur, Khumbalgarh Fort, Ranakpur temple, Jodhpur, Pushkar and Jaipur – meeting with the other half of the crew on 31 July 2025 in Pushkar. We were able to incorporate some nice birding into our first week; for example, we stayed at flat-roofed hotels in most cities from where the evening roost flights were spectacular, with thousands of Rose-ringed Parakeets and Indian Flying Fox flying past and, in Udaipur, Indian Grey Hornbill, Shikra and Red-naped Ibis seen during breakfast. Birds like Little Swift and Brown Rock Chat were often found around old buildings and Dusky Crag Martin, Wire-tailed Swallow, Eastern Red-rumped Swallow, Jungle and Large Grey Babbler, Northern Palm Squirrel Funambulus pennantii, Rhesus Macaque and Bengal Sacred Langur Semnopithecus entellus were frequently encountered – Rosy Starling too, away from hilly country. Roop suggested that near Ranakpur temple we do a Leopard safari with a 99% sighting-guarantee and even though it was a rather wet morning, we surely had great views of a female Indian Leopard Panthera pardus fusca as well as several Jungle Bush Quail. That same morning, we saw additional good birds in the forest surrounding Ranakpur temple, such as the endemic, localised White-naped Tit at a nest and furthermore Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher, Red Spurfowl, Black-headed and Indian Cuckooshrike, Yellow-crowned Woodpecker, Crested Treeswift, Bonelli’s Eagle and a distant flock of Indian Vultures. The Leatherleaf Slug Laevicaulis haroldi was a rare find here. At Jodhpur fortress we enjoyed ourselves with Common Babbler, Jacobin Cuckoo, Lined Hooktail Paragomphus lineatus and Painted Grasshopper Poekilocerus pictus. The acacia forests surrounding Pushkar delivered some specialties of the region including more White-naped Tits, one of my most-wanted White-bellied Minivet, Marshall’s and Common Iora, Rufous-fronted Prinia and Bay-backed Shrike. And a large heronry next to Ajmer Lake held hundreds of active nests of birds like Indian and Little Cormorant, Purple Heron and Eastern Cattle Egret while at the lake itself we saw Great White Pelican, Lesser Flamingo and several Painted Storks. Now, in some parts of Asia walking around cities or even national parks can be a depressing business, as they can be devoid of animal life and one struggles to even find common birds. None of that is true in Rajasthan, where it is a true delight to bird because there is always something to see and most birds are tame and approachable, meaning ample photographic opportunities.

Female Indian Leopard Panthera pardus fusca, north of Ranakpur temple, India, 28 July 2025 (Paul Schrijvershof)

Having met the rest of the crew in the late afternoon on 31 July, 1 August 2025 was to be our big day looking for Lesser Florican and as many of the other regional specialties as possible. We stayed at a nice hotel in Pushkar from where we drove for 1.5 hour, swaying left to right to avoid cows ruminating on the road, to arrive at an agricultural area southeast of Ajmer at daybreak, when we picked up our local guide. The local guide did not speak any English so to ensure we made the most of our first day we had hired Dalveer Singh for the day, who guides in this area frequently. We headed straight to the display site where we stood on a small patch of rocks to watch a Lesser Florican male strutting around, displaying every three minutes or so, from a distance of about 500m. While we watched the florican we heard a Painted Francolin call and a dedicated search of all surrounding bushes and posts revealed a perched calling male – this can be a notoriously difficult bird to see. A singing Bristled Grassbird was heard overhead but could unfortunately not be found – we were never to hear it again this trip and therefore dipped it. Although we watched the florican display for two hours we never saw a female but others did few days later. In less than a week this male reportedly stopped displaying so the window of watching it perform is unpredictable and rather small. In order to make sure we got to witness it I had planned the trip in a way that I had four chances: at the start of the cultural part (26 July), when we planned to visit with the whole group (1-3 Aug), upon returning to the region to fly to Surat (9 Aug) and during the last part of the trip (12-16 Aug). In the end we did not only see the bird well on the planned date but also easily saw all other regional specialties that very same day, meaning we could move on to the next site a day later. With Dalveer and the local guide we saw the following birds in quick succession: Ashy-crowned Sparrowlark, Greater Painted Snipe, Indian Stone-curlew, Singing and Indian Bush Lark, Rufous-fronted Prinia, Yellow-wattled Lapwing, Rain Quail, Indian Eagle Owl, Indian Courser, Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse, Yellow-crowned Woodpecker and Rock Bush Quail. A Syke’s Warbler was probably a migrant while we also found the beautiful Sandracottus dejeani water beetle. Lifers I hoped for but we didn’t bump into were Painted Sandgrouse and Rufous-tailed Lark – we were to see both later in the trip however.

Pair of Rock Bush Quail Perdicula argoondah meinertzhageni, near Ajmer, India, 1 August 2025 (Jaap Hennevanger)

Although I initially allocated three full days for the florican and the other local specialties, our luck and perseverance on day one meant we could focus on the acacia scrub near Pushkar the next morning. Early morning we started in the hills nearby where there had been a recent sighting of Indian Pitta but we saw little of note here, although a confiding Asian Green Bee-eater made for a nice subject. Three of us had in fact already scored the local specialties (White-naped Tit, White-bellied Minivet and Marshall’s Iora) towards the end of our cultural tour but we only departed after the others had, too. We drove to Tal Chhapar in about 3.5 hours where we saw large herds of Blackbuck and smaller numbers of Indian Gazelle in late afternoon. We hired two open safari vehicles at the Raptor’s Inn Guesthouse to go birding in the scrubby fields bordering the Blackbuck Reserve the next day – the reserve itself was completely inundated because of earlier rainfall.

Pair of White-bellied Minivet Pericrocotus erythropygius, Pushkar, India, 2 August 2025 (Alwin van Lubeck)

Starting at a congregation of small trees on 3 Aug 2025 our safari guides soon heard the Indian Spotted Creeper the area is famous for and not long thereafter we were able to follow a pair for well over an hour, the male regularly feeding the female moths and other prey with us watching only few meters away. Other wildlife here was equally impressive with two large Laggar Falcons flying around, multiple Egyptian Vulture, White-eyed Buzzard and Booted Eagle, Asian Woolly-necked Stork, Red-naped Ibis, Black-rumped Flameback, Syke’s Warblers – while c 150 Blackbuck, regular Indian Gazelle Gazella bennettii and Nilgai Boselaphus tragocamelus did not disappoint either. We need not have worried about seeing the local spectacular Indian Spiny-tailed Lizard Uromastyx hardwickii as when in late morning the sun came out, we saw several dozens.

Male Blackbuck Antilope cervicapra, Tal Chhapar, India, 3 August 2025 (Lonnie Bregman)

Laggar Falcons Falco jugger, Tal Chhapar, India, 3 August 2025 (Paul Schrijvershof)

We departed around noon and headed for Bikaner. Our first stop was at the (in)famous ‘rat temple’ where reportedly up to 10,000 Roof Rats Rattus rattus are fed, though we only saw 1,000 or so. A spectacular but to some rather gruesome sight, especially when they walk over one’s bare feet! Next up was the beautiful Junagarh Fort in Bikaner which yielded a large flock of confiding Grey Francolins and a trip-exclusive Alpine Punjab Skink Eurylepis taeniolata. The last two hours of the day were spent at the Jorbeer Conservation area just south of Bikaner city where undoubtedly in winter many eagles and vultures come to feast on the heaps of dead animals dumped here. Now, a drive around the grounds produced 12+ Rufous-tailed Lark, 26 Egyptian and two immature White-rumped Vulture, 36 Red-naped Ibis, Common Babblers, Indian Desert Jird Meriones hurrianae and a massive male Indian Wild Boar Sus scrofa cristatus.

Syke's Warbler Iduna rama, Tal Chhapar, India, 3 August 2025 (Alwin van Lubeck)

The following morning we spent a little while between Bikaner and Jorbeer to enjoy a party of Sind Sparrows before we headed towards Jaisalmer. The best birds during this 5-hour journey were undoubtedly two Indian Tawny Eagles flying over the road. That evening, we stayed at a desert camp between Jaisalmer and the entrance to Desert National Park, where many Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse flew overhead at dusk. We were sadly informed that our trusted second driver Ram had been called away because of an urgent family tragedy and so Roop arranged for another second driver last-minute, to take us into Desert National Park the next day, with another finishing the trip with us. Roop’s flexibility and ability to arrange things last-minute was impressive, once again.

White-browed Bush Chat Saxicola macrorhynchus, Desert National Park, Jaisalmer, India, 5 August 2025 (Jaap Hennevanger)

On 5 Aug 2025 we picked up our local guide Uras Khan (no English) and headed to Desert National Park, closed off to visitors in summer. However, with Uras we were allowed to access the perimeter road and we soon found Variable Wheatear, Rosy Starlings, Rufous-tailed Lark, Black-crowned Sparrowlark, Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin, Indian Gazelles, Short-toed Snake Eagle and our first White-browed Bush Chat, an endangered local specialty. Our guide even managed to spot a distant male Great Indian Bustard within 1.5 hours! This distant yet impressive bird at some point flew off out of sight over the hills, but right then locals told us of a group of three they’d seen a few km’s further. Upon arriving at that spot we were able to watch a pair a good bit closer – though still about 600m away – giving us great views through the scope of the birds strutting, feeding and preening. Again, we had scored all targets in less than a full morning – it got even better when an adult Red-headed Vulture flew overhead, another bird that has become increasingly rare in recent years and one we were not expecting to see this trip.

Female Great Indian Bustard Ardeotis nigriceps, Desert National Park, Jaisalmer, India, 5 August 2025 (Jaap Hennevanger)

Uras told us he knew two spots for the localised Sind Pied Woodpecker, a bird that occurs from southeastern Iran until just into western Rajasthan, so in areas off-limits to most western birders. Paul and I had already seen the species in Iran but were not against allocating time to look for it here, however, it turned out one of the spots was very near the border with Pakistan, likely never a good idea to visit and especially not with recent tensions in the border area; the second spot was further from the border but required a long off-road drive, a long walk and gave a less than 50% chance on seeing the bird. So in the end we decided against it – and found ourselves with a bit of excess time on our hands before flying to Surat (Gujarat) on a flight we’d booked in advance. We quickly decided to drive to Mt Abu, further south in Rajasthan, reportedly a great locality to see Sloth Bear and the best for the endangered localised Green Avadavat. In late morning, Paul, Wouter and I did a quick walk around Jaisalmer Fort while the others birded the nearby lake, and off we went towards Mt Abu. Due to the limited availability of good hotels along our chosen route we were forced to keep driving until Mt Abu Road at the foot of the mountain, where we arrived after midnight.

Indian Black-lored Tit Machlolophus a. aplonotus, Mt Abu, India, 6 August 2025 (Jaap Hennevanger)

Playing young Sloth Bears Melursus ursinus, Mt Abu, India, 6 August 2025 (Jaap Hennevanger)

In late morning of 6 Aug 2025 we arrived on top of Mt Abu, in a drizzle. We had a late start in order to properly rest the drivers and ourselves, and we figured with three days and limited targets we could take things a bit slower – which proved a successful approach. We drove to an area that we knew had recent Green Avadavat sightings; it turned out to be a paid entrance to a trail leading up to the western edge of the mountain, where many domestic tourists would visit each night to watch the sunset. Rudra Villa, right at the start of the trail, proved a fine place to stay, with nice rooms and excellent food – it’s owner Rudy took us out a couple of times over the next few days, to watch Sloth Bears in various places and to walk a beautiful trail that even produced a much-wanted lifer!

Male Indian Leopard Panthera pardus fusca, Mt Abu, India, 6 August 2025 (Alwin van Lubeck)

Green Avadavat Amandava formosa, Mt Abu, India, 8 August 2025 (Remco Hofland)

The direct vicinity of Rudra Villa and the trail was not that good for Green Avadavat (although some of us saw a few) but did produce plenty of the Checkered Keelback Fowlea piscator sunning on the logs in the various ponds, Indian Flap-shelled Turtle Lissemys punctata, a nice male Indian Leopard crossing the trail in between dozens of tourists one evening, Red Spurfowl, Grey Junglefowl, Indian Blackbird, Indian Scops Owl, Jungle Nightjar and Indian Black-lored Tit. Fortunately we were informed of a site elsewhere on the mountain where the local kids could show us the Green Avadavat and both times we visited we saw a few of them nicely - not bad for a bird that’s said to be difficult during the monsoon! The trail that Rudy took us on was an ancient road down the mountain, beautifully forested but the number of birds was not that high – me focussing on an area of larger trees paid off once I laid eyes on a party of three most-wanted lifer White-naped Woodpeckers! A roaring Indian Leopard next to the trail gave me a bit of a scare but I considered myself too large a prey for it and fortunately it concurred. On two consecutive nights Rudy took us out to look for Sloth Bears Melursus ursinus and we had wonderful views of four young ones chasing each other playing one night and no less than eleven on a rubbish dump the next!

Grey Junglefowl Gallus sonneratii and three Red Spurfowl Galloperdix spadicea caurina, with two Jungle Babblers Argya striata sindiana and a Northern Palm Squirrel Funambulus pennantii, near Rudra Villa, Mt Abu, India, 7 August 2025 (Alwin van Lubeck)

Female White-naped Woodpecker Chrysocolaptes f. festivus, Mt Abu, 7 August 2025 (Jaap Hennevanger)

In the morning of 8 Aug 2025 we headed to Jodhpur and decided to stop at the West Banas Dam along the way, which proved a great educated guess. Not only was the area full of beautiful dragonflies, it was also great birding with large numbers of Indian Spot-billed and Knob-billed Duck, plenty Glossy Ibis, a Streak-throated Swallow colony, confiding Black-breasted Weavers and three pratincole that, according to a local birder, were very rare here – he chased the birds at the other side of the dam and we later learned they’d been Collared Pratincole as we suspected, a major rarity here apparently.

The next morning we flew Jodhpur to Delhi to Surat (Gujarat), where we were picked up and taken to the wonderful Dang Forest Retreat, our home for the next three nights. Our guide Pavan Patel knew a few pairs of the endangered Forest Owlet and sure enough we saw a pair on our first morning. Vigors’s Sunbird, an Indian endemic found only in the northern part of the Western Ghats, was seen regularly and with some perseverance we had good views of White-naped Woodpecker and Malabar Flameback. However, the birding was very slow in general and we struggled to find any other Western Ghats specialties, such as Malabar Trogon.

Best birds seen in Gujarat were Indian Pitta, Brown Wood Owl, Golden-fronted Leafbird, Pale-billed Flowerpecker, Rufous Woodpecker, Brown-cheeked Fulvetta and the localised endemic subspecies and possible future split ‘Black-winged’ (Jungle) Babbler Argya striata somervillei. This area is said to be more birdy in winter, with large flocks roaming around including several species of Phylloscopus warblers and other migrants. We entertained ourselves with great food and plenty of other wildlife, including the Indus Valley Bullfrog Hoplobatrachus tigerinus and three very spectacular creatures: Indian Chameleon Chamaeleo zeylanicus, Indian Krait Bungarus caeruleus (together with three other highly venomous snakes said to be responsible for 60,000 lethal attacks on Indians per year!) and Eggplant Horned Planthopper Leptocentrus taurus tended by its host, Indian Black Ant Camponotus compressus.

Indian Chameleon Chamaeleo zeylanicus, Dang Forest Retreat, India, 11 August 2025 (Remco Hofland)

In the afternoon of 12 Aug 2025 we flew from Surat to Jaipur, where our trusted driver Roop Lal and a second vehicle were waiting for us; we drove straight to the village of Tehla, south of Sariska Tiger Reserve, as this area holds frequent Painted Spurfowl sightings, one of my remaining targets. Upon checking in at one of the lodges we were told the road heading north from Tehla, through the reserve, was closed during the monsoon, and only from the north a short safari could be booked that would take us to a fortress inside. Although Tiger sightings are not impossible during the monsoon, they are very rare, but we figured such a safari would at least give us a reasonable chance of encountering Painted Spurfowl and perhaps Painted Sandgrouse as well, the other major target we hadn’t encountered yet. We decided to try the safari on 14 August, as it did not run on 13th.

On 13 Aug 2025 we drove to an area east of Sariska Tiger Reserve where eBird logged some Painted Sandgrouse sightings. We never fully understood where the birds could have been seen but enjoyed two hours birding in the middle of a village surrounded by orchards and rocky hillsides, photographing birds like Black-breasted Weaver, hundreds of Rosy Starlings, Common Woodshrike, Crested Bunting and Plum-headed Parakeet. However, our most spectacular sighting was that of several male Indian Peafowl taking turns displaying on a hillside, a truly stunning display of a remarkable bird, here seemingly with the fullest tails I’ve ever seen. We then drove to a gorge west of Alwar where a Dutch birder days before had seen several Indian Vultures, giving great views. The gorge was beautiful and apart from the vultures produced several trip highlights, such as the beautiful Magnificent Emperor Anax immaculifrons, the plentiful Yellow Orange Tip Ixias pyrene and over 100 Bengal Sacred Langur and Rhesus Macaques that were fed by locals. Most entertaining was a group of young Rhesus Macaques using a natural pond as their swimmingpool, several of them cannonball diving whenever there were no tourists passing by.

Indian Vulture Gyps indicus and Little Swift Apus a. affinis, west of Alwar, India, 13 August 2025 (Alwin van Lubeck)

In the night it started raining heavily and it became clear we weren’t going to have a very fruitful, just a very wet safari. We therefore decided to skip the Sariska safari altogether and press on to the Taj Mahal in Agra, about 4 hours drive further east. The forecast indeed proved true – in Agra, it was sunny, hot even, and we sweated our way through the masses of selfying domestic tourists, picking up our first River Lapwing in the process. That evening we stayed at a hotel in Dholpur, close to the mighty Chambal River.

We started 15 Aug 2025 at a small marsh southwest of town, where eBird reported Black-bellied Tern and Small Pratincole days before. Sure enough we found both in double figures and were able to approach the birds to less than 15m, enjoying great views. A single Oriental Pratincole was also present, as was an adult Little Heron trying to swallow a fish the size of its head – at which it finally succeeded. Many other common creatures were very confiding here and so we were able to photograph and video Paddyfield Pipit, White-breasted Waterhen, Indian Cormorant, Asian Openbill, Grizzled Pintail Acisoma panorpoides, Coromandel Marsh Dart Ceriagrion coromandelianum, Three-striped Blue Dart Pseudagrion decorum and Asian Amberwing Brachythemis contaminata.

Critically endangered Gharial Gavialis gangeticus, Chambal river, Dholpur, India, 15 August 2025 (Alwin van Lubeck)

We’d been informed that Chambal River was flooded in the monsoon but it looked just as as I remembered seeing it in January 2011. However, there was more human activity with gravel extraction taking place and fewer exposed sandbars it seemed. From the south side of the river we were able to scan both sides of the large bridge and our vantage point established no Indian Skimmers were present, but both Marsh Crocodile Crocodylus palustris and the critically endangered Gharial Gavialis gangeticus, Great Stone-curlew, River Lapwing, Streak-throated Swallow and White-browed Wagtail were. The previous day, when we drove past Bharatpur (Keoladeo National Park), we had noticed the park was inundated, so we skipped a visit and instead drove straight towards Gurgaon, west of Delhi, in order to attempt finding Sarus Crane, the remaining major target for my friends. When we arrived in late afternoon we noticed much flooding, to the extent not all roads could be driven. We sadly also learned Sultanpur Reserve was closed from a local photographer and his excellent local guide Ramkumar Rawat, that we bumped into. Ramkumar showed us Red Avadavat nearby and after nightfall took us on a hike where we had the much-wanted Painted Sandgrouse on the trail, as well as Brook’s House Gecko Hemidactylus brookii and Western Indian Leopard Gecko Eublepharis fuscus.

Indian Pitta Pitta brachyura, Gurgaon, India, 16 August 2025 (Jaap Hennevanger)

Our final day, 16 Aug 2025, was to be one of the best days of the trip when Ramkumar showed us around Gurgaon, starting with a patch of forest where we got wonderful views of Indian Eagle-Owl, Sirkeer Malkoha, Yellow-eyed Babbler, Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, three Indian Pittas feeding out in the open, White-bellied Drongo, Indian Golden Oriole, Indian Paradise Flycatcher, Plum-headed Parakeet, Asian Brown Flycatcher, Indian Scops Owl and Black-headed Cuckooshrike before lunch. Mind you, all this was found less than an hour’s drive from Indira Gandhi (Delhi) International Airport! The afternoon was again spent in the flooded fields where sure enough Ramkumar was able to show us two pairs of Sarus Crane, Black-necked and Painted Stork, singing Sind Sparrow at its nest, Tricolored Munia, Black-backed Citrine Wagtail, Oriental Pratincole, a first calendar-year Pallas’s Gull, Delicate Prinia and bitterns in all colours of the rainbow, with Black, Yellow, Cinnamon and the locally rare Little all seen. At dusk we were dropped at nearby Delhi airport, where a little after midnight we flew home, concluding a fruitful and very enjoyable trip to Rajasthan in the monsoon!

Singing male Sind Sparrow Passer pyrrhonotus, Sultanpur, India, 16 August 2025 (Remco Hofland)

The c 420 videos of this trip are found on my YouTube page, e.g. under the playlist Indian subcontinent. Pictures of everything we recorded are found with our respective entries in iNaturalist and Observation.org .

Remco Hofland