Keokoladeo National Park

Comb Duck


Bluebull (Indian Antelope) - tried to taste Sarah's umbrella


Painted Stork and cormorant colonies

With the Taj Mahal in the bag, we decided it was time to move onto our next destination. Luckily, our goal was only a couple hour bus ride away, so getting there wasn't a full day ordeal (like most of our travel recently has been). We arrived in Bharatpur in the state of Rajasthan around lunchtime and found a decent hotel near the entrance to Keokoladeo National Park. The host was very friendly and gracious, but that night would prove to be one of the hottest, worst nights of sleep of the whole trip. The power going out repeatedly didn't help the situation at all, since the fan only made it only marginally tolerable in the hot, stuffy room.

Anyway, this national park is famous for its wetlands and huge breeding bird colonies. We spent the entire next day in the park. The lakes, wetlands, forest, and grasslands of the area are all easily accessible by bike along canal paths, so we rented a couple bikes and went out on the trails. We'd met a guide the day before at the entrance who offered to show us around, so we took him up on the offer. He met us at 7am, and we spent the next four hours with him. His bird knowledge was extensive, and I really enjoyed birding with him. We tallied a total of about 70 species that day, most of them with him, but adding a few others later in the day by ourselves. I won't put an entire list here, but highlights included:

Brown-headed Barbet, Grey Nightjar (on a branch), Common Chiffchaff (the guide knew all the little warbler-like birds by call), Comb Duck (awesome bird - check the picture), Booted Eagle (2 of these), Cotton Pygmy-goose (voted cutest bird - the size of a green-winged teal!), Painted Storks (hundreds of these fabulous birds), White-breasted Waterhen (sounds like a monkey), Indian Robin, Indian Silverbell, Wooly Stork (2 on nest), Spotted Owlet (very cute!), Black-rumped Flameback, Darter, Eurasian Spoonbill, Collared Scops-owl, etc.

I had a great time out here, and I think even Sarah was impressed with the show the birds put on. The other overwhelming factor of the day was the HEAT. It was so hot and humid.... I haven't sweated that much in a long time -- even in all the tropical places we've been in the last few months. The afternoon brought a huge, exciting rainstorm, which luckily played itself out by the time we had to head to the train station.

We caught a train to Ajmer that evening. This time we had booked ahead and gotten upper bunks. It was way more comfortable than the last time we were on a train. We arrived late at night in Ajmer, ready to head to Pushkar. More on that in the next blog posting.

egg sandwich on the train.