Little Rann of Kutch - A Day Trip

I had been planning to got to Thol on Sunday (9th November 2008) when Kunan Naik, an avid birder and photographer invited me to join him on a trip to the Little Rann. I had been planning to go there in December and hence jumped at the opportunity as Kunan had been there a couple of times and was familiar with the place.

The Rann of Kutch is a seasonally marshy region located in the Thar Desert biogeographic province in Gujarat state of northwestern India and the Sind province of Pakistan. The name "Rann" comes from the Hindi word ran meaning "salt marsh".I n India's summer monsoon, the flat desert of salty clay and mudflats, averaging 15 meters above sea level, fill with standing waters, interspersed with sandy islets of thorny scrub, breeding grounds for some of the largest flocks of Greater and Lesser flamingoes. At its greatest extent, the Gulf of Kutch on the west and the Gulf of Cambay on the east are both united during the monsoon.

This inhospitable salty lowland, rich in natural gas and a resting site for migratory Siberian birds, is part of India and Pakistan's ongoing border dispute concerning Sir Creek. The Rann is also famous for the Indian Wild Ass sanctuary, the Little Rann of Kutch, where the last of three species of Asiatic Wild Ass (Equus hemionus khur or khar), the only ones in Asia, still exists along with wolves, foxes, jackals, chinkara gazelles, nilgai antelope and blackbucks. The Rann of Kutch is also the only place in Pakistan and India which plays host to migrating flamingoes. There are 13 species of lark in the Rann of Kutch.

We left Ahmedabad at around 4:00 and the 110 Km journey to the Little Raan took us around 2 ½ hours in Kunan’s Gypsy, with a couple of breaks thrown in along the way. We reached the forest guest house around 6:30 and headed off straight into the Raan along with Udaybhai, (a forest officer) who was a friend of Kunan and a local guide.

We traveled into the Raan in a Maruti gypsy’s as its 4 wheel drive is best suited to marshy soil of the area. It is also advisable to hire the local guide as they are familiar with the area and know which parts of the Raan are approachable by vehicles.

The first thing that struck me during our outing was the difference between bird watchers and photographers is their approach. While a bird watcher / environmentalist is content to sight birds through a pair of binoculars / telescope a photographer pursues the birds like a trophy often with disregard for the bird and its habitat. Watching these 2 experienced birders was a great learning experience for me.

One of the first birds we spotted was the Common Krestal (falco tinnuunculus) which is a common, but very shy bird which flies of at the slightest of noise / disturbance. A little further into the bushes we spotted the Zitting Cisticola (Cisticola juncidis) and the Desert Wheatear, Oenanthe deserti. Some other common birds like the White eared bulbul (Pycnonotus leucotis), Green bee eater (Merops orientalis) and the Jungle Babbler (Turdoides striata) were also spotted along the route.

Past the scrubs we came across a huge vast open piece of land where the parched earth was cracked and dry. At places the earth was stained with a white residue, salt, for the water that had long since dried up. Here we spotted the Crested Lark (Galerida cristata) which blends beautifully with the arid landscape and is hence very difficult to spot unless it moves. A little ahead we came across a heard of the famed Indian wild ass (Equus hemionus khur) also called khur, which is a subspecies of wild asses native to southern Asia. While I was busy taking pictures of the wild asses Udaybhai called us over as he had spotted a Painted Francolin or Painted Partridge (Francolinus pictus). This one was pretty far of and I had a hard time photographing it.

It was almost 9:30 and we headed of towards the water bodies and marshes. There we spotted Black Stork (Ciconia nigra).There were a lot of birds including The Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus), The Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea), Western Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus), The Painted Stork (Mycteria leucocephala), Little Egret (Egretta garzetta), The Common Spoonbill or Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) Skylark (Alauda arvensis) and also some ducks like the Brahminy Duck (Tadorna ferruginea), a couple of Spot-billed Ducks (Anas poecilorhyncha), though Udaybhai was pretty upset that there were so few of them.

The Common Crane (Grus grus) were seen in large numbers. You can see hundreds of them all clustered together and when they decide to fly, it’s an amazing sight to watch. They are pretty clumsy during takeoff, but amazingly graceful in flight. We also spotted The Dalmatian Pelican (Pelecanus crispus) and the Spot-billed Pelican (Pelecanus philippensis).

We decided to take another route back and there we were able to spot some Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus ), Indian Pond Heron (Ardeola grayii), Bar-tailed Godwit (Limosa lapponica) and a couple of the Least Sandpiper, Calidris or Erolia minutilla and a few Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica), Ruff (Philomachus pugnax) and some Common Redshank or Redshank (Tringa totanus). Here I was also lucky to get a couple of pictures of The osprey (Pandion haliaetus) in flight.

There are a lot of Rock Pigeons (Columba livia), Laughing Dove (Streptopelia senegalensis), Long-tailed Shrike or the Rufous-backed Shrike (Lanius schach), Bay-backed Shrike (Lanius vittatus) and other common birds.

We also saw some Neelgai Antelope (Boselaphus tragocamelus Pallas) near the boundary of the sanctuary.

We started back from the Little Raan at around 12:15 and on the way back alongside the road we spotted a number of Black-shouldered Kites (Elanus axillaris), White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis), Indian Rollers (Coracias benghalensis) and also a bird which looked like a Long-legged Buzzard (Buteo rufinus), but was way too far to identify positively.

We reached back at around 14:30 and I was tired but happy to have had such a great experience of the Raan with two seasoned bird watchers and now appreciate their patience and thrill of being able to identify a bird correctly, which I now realize is pretty difficult given that a slight variation in colour, striation or a almost unnoticeable change is the shape of the tail could change the bird all together.

Panchgani - A travalogue

We travelled to Panchgani from the 26th to the 30th of October 2008. An overnight train from Ahmedabad to Pune, saw us reach Pune at around 5:00 AM on the 26th and after a short halt we were off to Panchgani which is around 100Kms from Pune.



The route to Panchgani is a very scenic one with a lot of greenery and the flowers along the road were a sight to behold. A 2 hour drive and we were all ready to check-in to the “Blue Country Resort”, where we had booked our stay through ‘Club Mahindra Holidays’. Blue Country is a Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) property where ‘Club Mahindra’ have some rooms booked on a permanent basis. There are some horror stories about the resort floating around the net, but our stay there was quite pleasant and uneventful. Though the restaurant as reported is pretty small and so it gets full really fast and you need to be early to be able to get a seat for breakfast or lunch. Dinner is usually served outside on the lawns and so it’s a much better experience. Any yeah the room service, especially if you order something just before lunch or dinner time sucks . . .
Okay so having got all that out of the way, the property itself is quite beautiful with a Dolphin embossed Swimming Pool, a room for table tennis and carom and a small children’s park to keep them happy.



Legend has it that Panchgani is named after the five hills that surround it. These were settlements of the natives and hence the town came to be called Panchgani, panch meaning five and gani meaning settlement. The town was founded by John Chesson in 1854, who developed it with a grant from the Governor of Bombay. Soon it came to be the home of a number of Christians and Parsis, and a getaway from the heat of the plains.
Panchgani is at an altitude of 1334 m, it is just 38 m below Mahabaleshwar. These 38 m translate themselves into a breathtaking 18 km approach, that swoops around and bends with abandon, offering splendid views of the river Krishna on one side, and the coastal plains, on the other. Panchgani is the quintessential hill station. It can be seen in the architecture of the old British buildings, the Parsi houses, and the boarding schools that have been around for a century or more.



The five hills surrounding Panchgani are topped by a volcanic plateau, which is the second highest in Asia after the Tibetan plateau. These plateaus, alternatively known as "table land", are a part of the Deccan Plateau and they were raised by pressure between the earth plates. The area has high seismic activity, with an epicenter near Koynānagar where the Koynanagar Dam and a hydroelectric power plant have been built. Another place you must visit is Mahableshwar which is just 20Kms from Panchgani and a well known hill station



There are many tourist points in and around Panchgani, most of them offering breathtaking views of the valley below. There are various sightseeing hill destinations points in Panchgani such as Sydney point, Table land, Parsi point, devil's kichen, Dhoom dam, the lingmala falls and Rajapuri caves. The Sydney point is placed on small hillock facing the Krishna valley. We can see the glittering waters of the Dhom Dam and Pandavgad and Mandhardeo from here. Table land is situated around 60 mts high and second largest natural mountains in Asia. From here we can easily see devil's kitchen. Parsi point is a windy road situated on the Mahabaleshwar way overlooks the Krishna valley and the blue mirror like waters of the Dhom Dam. Doom dam is a beautiful boating spot, which is situated 21 kms from the panchgani. Scooter boats and Speed boats one can enjoy here. Rajapuri caves is placed about 10 kms from the town. It has a religious importance as there is a temple of Lord Karthikeya, (Lord Shiva's son).



When in Panchgani don’t miss Sherbaug (http://www.sherbaug.com/). This is an amazing theme park and you can easily spend over half a day here strolling through the amazing gardnen, eating a traditional Maharashtrian meal or just lazing around on the many swings and beds scattered around the place. Sherbaug also boasts of a beautiful fossil and semi-precious stone collection and some dinosaur eggs.



A genteel place, Panchgani doesn't really pander to commercial tastes, as does Mahabaleshwar. Here, holiday pastimes include walking, riding on one of the numerous ponies that canter around town, or simply unwinding at home in the cool of the veranda or drinking tea on the lawns. And if you feel energetic, amble down to the bazaar to shop for very reasonably priced shoes and slippers, preserves and squashes made from fresh strawberries and raspberries. You can also visit the MAPRO outlets and stuff yourself with all the free samples that they give. Note: After a few, they all taste the same and you will be as confused as ever 

Panchgani has some amazing flora and fauna and I had a great time taking photographs there.


So after 4 pleasant days and our bags full with a variety of syrups, jams and pickles we headed back to Pune on the 30th to catch our train back to Ahmedabad.

Rufous-backed Shrike (Lanius schach) -erythronotus race

Rufous-backed Shrike (Lanius schach) -erythronotus race
Originally uploaded by Umang Dutt

Taken @ Thol wildlife sanctuary near Mehsana, Gujarat, India

The Long-tailed Shrike or the Rufous-backed Shrike (Lanius schach) is a member of the bird family Laniidae, the shrikes. The eastern or Himalayan race, L. s. tricolor, is sometimes called the Black-headed Shrike.
It is a common resident breeder throughout the Indomalayan ecozone from Kazakhstan, through Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indian peninsula except eastern states , to New Guinea, found on bushes in scrubby areas and cultivation. Winter visitor to southern areas such as southeast India and Sri Lanka.

It has some resemblances to the grey shrikes, such as the Southern Grey Shrike, Lanius meridionalis, sharing the pearl grey head and mantle and black mask extending from the forehead, through the eye, to the ear coverts. An eastern race found in Bhutan to Arunachal Pradesh, sometimes called the Himalayan L. s. tricolor, has a black head extending from the eye mask to the whole crown and nape.
It is small for a grey shrike, but has a very long tail with rufous edges. The underparts are white, but with rufous flanks. The bill and legs are nearly black.

This bird has a characteristic upright "shrike" attitude perched on a bush, from which it sallies after lizards, large insects, small birds and rodents.

Prey may be impaled upon a sharp point, such as a thorn. Thus secured they can be ripped with the strong hooked bill, but its feet are not suited for tearing.

Its flight is undulating, but its dash is straight and determined.

This species is a very rare vagrant to western Europe on the strength of a single accepted British record on South Uist in November 2000. It has also occurred as a vagrant to Japan, Oman, Israel, Hungary and Turkey.

Monkey - Black-footed Gray Langur (Semnopithecus hypoleucos)

Saw this little money sitting on a bed of flower lost in thought as it happily chewed on a twig.

The gray langurs are a group of Old World monkeys and make up the entirety of the genus Semnopithecus.

Gray langurs are large and fairly terrestrial, inhabiting open wooded habitats and urban areas on the Indian subcontinent. Until recently they were considered one species, Semnopithecus entellus; now seven distinct species are recognized.When only one species was recognized, it was also called the Hanuman Langur (named after the Hindu vanara divinity Hanuman), the Common Langur and the Entellus Langur. In Sri Lanka, it is natively known as the Wandura.
They are largely gray, with a black face. In Indian mythology, this is because Hanuman, a monkey warrior, burnt his hands and face trying to rescue Lord Rama's wife. Males are up to 75 cm long, and females 65 cm. Langurs from the southern part of their range are smaller than those from the north.
Gray langurs feed on leaves, fruit, buds and flowers. Their diet, however, is highly seasonable, with mature leaves being eaten only as a fall-back food during the winter months. In the summer, especially before the monsoon season, they are highly frugivorous. They also supplement their diet with insects (up to 25% in some months), tree bark and gum.
Though they sleep in trees, they spend more time on the ground than any other known colobine species. They are diurnal and usually walk on all fours.

They live in medium to large groups, usually with one dominant male. Males do not hold the dominant position for long in a group, with the average being about 18 months. Adolescent males who are expelled from the group sometimes form 'bachelor' packs. These packs, after a time, start to harass the group that expelled them, and challenge the alpha for leadership of the pack. If an attack by a bachelor pack is successful and they are able to kill the alpha, they will engage in a power struggle, where first all of the infants fathered by the previous alpha are killed, and then the bachelors fight among themselves, killing each other until only one remains, who then becomes the leader of the pack.
An interesting relationship has been observed between herds of Chital deer and troops of the Northern Plains Gray Langur (S. entellus), a widespread leaf-eating monkey of South Asia. Chital apparently benefit from the langurs' good eyesight and ability to post a lookout in a treetop, helping to raise the alarm when a predator approaches. For the langurs' part, the Chital's superior sense of smell would seem to assist in early predator warning, and it is common to see langurs foraging on the ground in the presence of Chital. The Chital also benefit from fruits dropped by the langurs from trees such as Terminalia bellerica. Alarm calls of either species can be indicative of the presence of a predator such as the Bengal Tiger.

House Crow (Corvus splendens)

A crow is a crow, until you observe it closely, then its actually a pretty amazing bird.

The true crows are large passerine birds that comprise the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-sized jackdaws (Eurasian and Daurian) to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on all temperate continents (except South America) and several offshore and oceanic islands (including Hawaii).

The crow genus makes up a third of the species in the corvid family. Other corvids include rooks and jays. Crows appear to have evolved in Asia from the corvid stock, which had evolved in Australasia. A group of crows is called a "murder."



Crows make a wide variety of calls or vocalizations. Whether the crows' system of communication constitutes a language is a topic of debate and study. Crows have also been observed to respond to calls of other species; this behavior is presumably learned because it varies regionally. Crows' vocalizations are complex and poorly understood. Some of the many vocalizations that crows make are a "caw", usually echoed back and forth between birds, a series of "caws" in discrete units, counting out numbers, a long caw followed by a series of short caws (usually made when a bird takes off from a perch), an echo-like "eh-aw" sound, and more. These vocalizations vary by species, and within each species vary regionally. In many species, the pattern and number of the numerical vocalizations have been observed to change in response to events in the surroundings (i.e. arrival or departure of crows). Crows can hear sound frequencies lower than those that humans can hear, which complicates the study of their vocalizations.

Loud, throaty "caw-aw-ah"'s are usually used to indicate hunger or to mark territory. When defending a nest site or food, crows will usually enlarge their crest feathers and hunch their shoulders to increase their size. Softer, gurgling sounds have also been observed as a sort of beckoning call, or a call of affection. These noises are emitted from within the throat of the bird, much like a cat's purring.



The House Crow (Corvus splendens), also known as the Colombo Crow is a common Asian bird of the Crow family. It is between the Jackdaw and the Carrion Crow in size (40 cm in length) but is relatively slimmer than either. The forehead, crown, throat and upper breast are a richly glossed black, whilst the neck and breast are a lighter grey-brown in colour. The wings, tail and legs are black. There are regional variations in the thickness of the bill and the depth of colour in areas of the plumage.

It has a widespread distribution in southern Asia, being native to India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Laccadive Islands, South West Thailand and coastal southern Iran. It has been introduced to East Africa around Zanzibar (around 1897) and Port Sudan, and arrived in Australia via ship but has up to now been exterminated. Recently it has made its arrival in Europe, and has been breeding in the Hook of Holland since 1998. It is associated with human settlements in all of its range, from small villages to large cities.

Due to a human population explosion in the areas it inhabits, this species has also proportionately multiplied. Being an omnivorous scavenger has enabled it to thrive in such circumstances.

The invasive potential for the species is great all over the tropics. It has as yet not established in the New World. This species is able to make use of resources with great flexibility and appears to be associated with humans and no populations are known to exist independently of humans







At least some trees in the local environment seem to be necessary for its successful breeding. It lays 3-6 eggs in a typical stick nest, and occasionally there are several nests in the same tree. In South Asia they are parasitized by the Asian Koel.

Spotted owl - Athene brama

The Spotted Owlet (Athene brama) is an owl which breeds in tropical Asia from India to Southeast Asia. This species is a part of the larger grouping of owls known as typical owls, Strigidae, which contains most species of owl. The other grouping is the barn owls, Tytonidae.
Spotted Owlet is a common resident bird in open habitats including farmland and human habitation. It nests in a hole in a tree or building, laying 3-5 eggs.
The Spotted Owlet is small (21cm) and stocky. The upperparts are grey-brown, heavily spotted with white. The underparts are white, streaked with brown. The facial disc is pale and the eyes are yellow. There is a white neckband. Sexes are similar. The flight is deeply undulating.
This species is nocturnal but is sometimes seen in the day. It can often be located by the small birds that mob it while it is perched in a tree. It hunts a variety of insects and small vertebrates. The call is a harsh chirurr-chirurr-chirurr.

Black-rumped Flameback, (Dinopium benghalense) - Adult Male

Black-rumped Flameback, (Dinopium benghalense) - Adult Male
Originally uploaded by Umang Dutt

Side profile

The Black-rumped Flameback, (Dinopium benghalense), also known as the Lesser Golden-backed Woodpecker, is a woodpecker which is a widespread and common resident breeder in much of South Asia.

This flameback is a species associated with open forest and cultivation. It nests in a tree hole, laying three white eggs.

Like other woodpeckers, this species has a straight pointed bill, a stiff tail to provide support against tree trunks, and zygodactyl or “yoked" feet, with two toes pointing forward, and two backward. The long tongue can be darted forward to capture insects.

The Black-rumped Flameback is a large species at 26-29 cm in length. It is a typical woodpecker shape, and has a golden yellow back, with paler wings. The rump and tail are black. The underparts are white with dark chevron markings. The black throat immediately separates it from other golden backed woodpeckers in the Indian region. The head is whitish with a black nape and throat, and there is a greyish eye patch. Unlike Greater Flameback, Chrysocolaptes lucidus, it has no dark moustache stripe.

The adult male Black-rumped Flameback has a red crown. Females have a dark forecrown, with red only on the rear half. Young birds are like the female, but duller.

The Sri Lankan subspecies D. b. psarodes has a crimson back and all the dark markings are blacker and more extensive. It is sometimes considered a separate species from the nominate Indian form.