I got up at 5 AM and just felt exhausted and unenthusiastic. At breakfast I asked Bryan if it were possible to bird with the group in the morning and then have our bus take me back to The Bagh for a restful afternoon. He said it was no problem and probably others would join me! That was very encouraging; he's a very accommodating leader!
After bowls of porridge and French toast for me and fried eggs for Bob, we joined the others on the bus and drove back to Keoladeo Ghana National Park where we found our rickshaw driver, Mr. Singh, and off we went further into the park.
Yellow-footed Green Pigeon
We saw Indian Spot-billed Ducks, a very pretty duck with red on its face and a yellow-tipped black bill, while walking along the road and were also lucky enough to talley four species of owls within an hour! We climbed a watch tower and sat for an hour overlooking a vast wetland meadow. We watched an Imperial Eagle face off with a Greater Spotted Eagle, and herds of the large Nilgai antelope. Just as we were climbing down, a flock of Bar-headed Geese flew overhead - the first flock of the season for these birds that migrate right over the Himalayas from Siberia flying at about 30,000'!
Our rickshaw drivers took us back to our lunch hotel and afterwards Bob, Hilary, and I, plus two others elected to return to The Bagh for the afternoon. We got back about 2 PM and walked all around our beautiful 10 acre hotel grounds. It is surrounded by a high wall and is an oasis in the middle of this bustling, and rather chaotic, town. There are several pavilions of rooms constructed of marble with inlaid colored marble, an enormous pool, restaurant and bar.
We napped, wrote up our notes, and generally relaxed until the others returned. Bob was relieved to find that he had missed only one life bird that the birders who stayed at the park saw.
Marble veranda near our room
We had a good dinner with dishes of mutton, chicken, and okra which they managed to de-slime. For dessert I had Gujjar ka Halua, shredded carrots in thickened milk, sautéed in milk fat, which was very sweet, as usual, but quite tasty! And more Ras Malai, thickened milk shaped into balls and served in saffron sauce.
Dessert
The hotel had arranged to show us a video made back in the 80s of bird life in the park around the year - very interesting to see the wildlife in and out of monsoon season.
No comments:
Post a Comment