Lovely Lesser Kestrel

Hello friends, hope you are doing good, before we start let me thank everyone for reading blogs religiously, your blessings motivate me to find something new every time.

So after back-to-back trip reports let me update you with one lovely bird, which I recently found near Lonavala. Today’s blog is also a type of trip report but it is for only one bird as compared to other trips where we can see countless birds. Let’s go and meet this small bird of prey.

The Small Trip

Trip to Lonavala was just unplanned because it is famous for weekend leisure trip but never thought that it also offers sighting of such a lovely bird known as “Lesser Kestrel.” 

Vishnu got the news that this bird is currently roaming around Lonavala and is a major attraction for the birders. When I got the news I was unable to drive to Lonavala due to a UK trip but on my arrival to Mumbai immediately the next day I requested Vishnu to accompany to visit this place of the special bird. Vishnu as a true friend never says no for birding and photography opportunities. He accepted the request and joined me for Lesser Kestrel capture. This is how we reached the destination without any planning. Here Aarin (Jr. Vishnu) also joined us for birding, Along with Kestrel the real action was little Aarin, it was a treat to see six-year-old champion with such a high enthusiasm towards wildlife at this age.

Sometimes an unplanned trip is much more rewarding then the planned trip, so let's move to the next section to feel the rewards.

Wonderful facts

The lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni) is a small falcon. This species breeds from the Mediterranean across Afghanistan and Central Asia, to China and Mongolia 

It is a summer migrant, wintering in Africa and Pakistan, and sometimes even to India and Iraq. It is rare north of its breeding range, and declining in its European range

The genus name derives from Late Latin falx, falcis, a sickle, referencing the claws of the bird, and the species name commemorates the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Naumann

It is a small bird of prey, 27–33 cm (11–13 in) in length with a 63–72 cm (25–28 in) wingspan. It looks very much like the larger common kestrel but has proportionally shorter wings and tail

The male has a grey head and tail like male common kestrels, but lacks the dark spotting on the back, the black malar stripe, and has grey patches in the wings

The female and young birds are slightly paler than their relative, but are so similar that call and structure are better guides than plumage

The morphological similarity with the common kestrel is most puzzling, but still, it appears to betray the present species' actual relationships: the lack of a malar stripe seems ancestral for kestrels, and the grey wing color unites the lesser kestrel with most other Falco species, but not the other true kestrels

The lesser kestrel is, as the name implies, a smaller and more delicate bird than the common kestrel, and it is entirely sympatric in its breeding range with it; they compete to a limited extent

The lesser kestrel eats insects, but also, small birds, reptiles, and rodents (especially mice), which are often taken on the ground

Lesser kestrel would, in fact, have an advantage if some would-be predators confused it with the larger species and consequently avoided it, it might be a case of Müllerian mimicry. Müllerian mimicry is a natural phenomenon in which two or more well-defended species, often foul-tasting and that share common predators, have come to mimic each other's honest warning signals, to their mutual benefit

Please visit DSLR section to co-relate the content with pictures, do let me know if you need any help to visit any of these places, get in touch with me on btwildart@gmail.com

Learning of the day

State Bird of Chhattisgarh

The common hill myna (Gracula religiosa), sometimes spelled "mynah" and formerly simply known as hill myna or myna bird, is the myna most commonly seen in aviculture, where it is often simply referred to by the latter two names. 

BT Wild Art

DSLR Section 

UK Trip Report

Thank you so much for the overwhelming response to the Bharatpur blog, now adding another trip report but this time it is not a wildlife trip. February month is for a family trip with parents so apart from wildlife I keep schedule according to their choice, so this time trip report is from the UK, of course, it is not United Kingdome but it is our own UK “Uttarakhand.” The beauty of the places in Uttarakhand "UK" is just unmatched, you can feel it like heaven at all the time, and the season makes it more fruitful. 

To begin with, let me tell you what all we evaluated and then will go into the details of the places. Since the trip was for parents, the adventure was not part of the schedule. The places we covered were Haridwar, Rishikesh, and Mussoorie. All three places have their own importance and are rich with a beauty which made us crazy and so happy that it cannot be described completely in words. Still, I will try to elaborate with key information so as it will help you to plan your trip, so let us take a flight and reach directly to the UK without any visa. 

Entry to heaven

On day one, we arrived at Dehradun and reached Rishikesh for a stay since it was already 8 pm so no point to evaluate anything on day 1 so the journey started from day 2. We were stationed at Rishikesh but we started with Haridwar. 

Haridwar

As you are aware that Haridwar is regarded as a holy place and is known for hosting important religious events and serving as a gateway to several prominent places of worship. If you are not aware then let me tell you that Haridwar is famous for the celebration of Kumbha Mela, which is celebrated every 12 years and every 6 years for Ardh Kumbh. 

Being a short trip we only had 1 day to evaluate Haridwar so we opted to visit Chandi Devi temple, Mansa Devi Temple and Har ki Pauri. 

Chandi Devi Temple

The temple is situated atop the Neel Parvat on the Eastern summit of the Sivalik Hills. Chandi Devi Temple was built in 1929 by Suchat Singh in his reign as the King of Kashmir. However, the main murti of Chandi Devi at the temple is said to have been installed in the 8th century by Adi Shankaracharya. The attraction recently introduce is a cable car (Ropeway/ Udankhatola). Visitors can reach the temple either by trekking route of 3KM or by cable car. 

Chandi Devi Temple is highly revered by devotees as a Siddh Peetha, which is a place of worship where desires get fulfilled. It is one of three such Peethas located in Haridwar, the other two being Mansa Devi Temple and Maya Devi Temple.

Mansa Devi Temple

Near from Chandi Devi temple, it is located on a top of the Bilwa Parvat on the Sivalik Hills. The temple, also known as Bilwa Tirth is one of the Panch Tirth (Five Pilgrimages) within Haridwar. The term Mansa means wish and it is believed that the goddess fulfills all the wishes of a sincere devotee.

The temple is known for being the holy abode of Mansa Devi, a form of Shakti and is said to have emerged from the mind of Lord Shiva. Mansa is regarded as the sister of the Nāga (serpent) Vasuki. She is also believed to be the daughter of Lord Shiva in his human incarnate. Similar to Chandi Devi temple same Udankhatola (Cable Car) service is available here as well.

Har Ki Pauri

HAR means 'Lord Shiva', 'Ki', means 'of', and 'Pauri', means 'steps'. Har Ki Pauri is a major landmark place and a famous ghat on the banks of the river Ganga in Haridwar. A center place of attraction among devotees in Haridwar, Har ki Pauri is believed to be the place of exit of holy river Ganga from the mountains.  Kumbh Mela is celebrated on Har Ki Pauri Ghat, so now you can imagine the importance of the place. 

World-famous Ganga Aarti takes place in the Brahmakund area of Har ki Pauri, a sacred spot where it is believed that the nectar (Amrit) felled on earth. We were lucky to be present at Ganga Arti, the flow of the holy river was a treat to watch and Arti gave us peace of mind, truly amazing experience. 

Arti Timing - Sunset time 

To ensure you get the best place to feel the divine and spirituality, you need to reach at least one hour prior to the start of Arti. It starts around 6.15 pm, check sunset time of the day you plan to visit and accordingly plan your arrival at the place.

Rishikesh

Now it’s time for Rishikesh, Located in the foothills of the Himalayas in northern India, it is known as the "Gateway to the Garhwal Himalayas" and "Yoga Capital" of the World. Similar to Haridwar it is known as the pilgrimage town and regarded as one of the holiest places. The place also offers adventure activities such as River Rafting, Bungee jumping, etc. but our preference was not adventuring so we went to other important places such as: 

Neel Kanth Mahadev Temple 

The temple is situated at a height of 1330 meters and is located about 32 km from Rishikesh. The temple is one of the most revered holy shrines dedicated to Lord Shiva and is a prominent Hindu pilgrimage site. It is surrounded by dense forests and is adjacent to the mountain ranges of Nar-Narayan. It is enveloped between the valleys of Manikoot, Brahmakoot, and Vishnukoot and is located at the confluence of the rivers Pankaja and Madhumati.

Ram Jula & Lakshman Jula

Ram Jula is an iron suspension bridge across the river Ganges, built-in the year 1986, the bridge is one of the iconic landmarks of Rishikesh.

Lakshman Jula - Despite its location on the outskirts of the city, it is one of the iconic landmarks of Rishikesh, it was closed in 2019 due to repair but now it is operational. It is said that the Hindu deity Lakshmana crossed the Ganges on jute ropes where the bridge is built. Lakshman Jhula was completed in 1929.

Parmarth Niketan

Parmarth Niketan is situated in the lap of the lush Himalayas, along the banks of the Ganges. Swami Shukdevanandji Maharaj (1901–1965) founded the ashram in 1942. As the largest ashram in Rishikesh with over several hundred rooms, Parmarth Niketan provides a clean, pure and sacred atmosphere as well as abundant, beautiful gardens to thousands of pilgrims, who come from all corners of the Earth. 

Ganga Arti at Triveni Ghat

It is the biggest and most famous ghat in Rishikesh at the banks of Ganges. Triveni Ghat remains overcrowded with devotees to take ritual baths to get cleansed from their sins. It is believed that the ghat was visited by Lord Krishna when he got hurt by the arrow of Jara – a hunter. Being the most venerated ghat in Rishikesh, Triveni Ghat is even used by devotees to perform the last rites and rituals of their loved ones. 

the Star of the Trip

The ghat is famed for the Ganga aarti performed to the chants of Vedic hymns. The traditional aarti is a sight to behold. The atmosphere while forming aarti is just amazing, you just forget every stress and mind gets freshen up due to the purity of the atmosphere. You can also participate in aarti by contributing to your wish. They don’t demand money forcefully after aarti spiritual music is played and people dance there freely to enjoy the moment. 

Mussoorie

Now after religious visit time came for leisure so we decided to visit Mussoorie to see hill station in the UK. It is about 35 kilometers (22 mi) from the state capital of Dehradun. It is in the foothills of the Garhwal Himalayan range and hence offers beautiful sightings of mountains layered with snow. Due to winter, the temperature was below 10 and that’s the charm of it. On the 20^th night, it was raining with lightning which pushed the temperature to below 6 degrees. 

During the stay of 2 days, we only evaluated Dhanaulti, a place located 24 km away from Mussoorie. The Doon Valley and snow-covered Garhwal Himalayas can be viewed from there. We saw layers of snow still there on roads and on the mountain. Lovely weather complimented the place to make our trip the most successful one. During Dhanaulti finally, I clicked a few birds as well to get satisfaction because I cannot keep myself away from wildlife for long. 

We missed a few 😞

Though we missed a few things such as Maya Devi temple, Rafting, Bungee Jumping, Kempty waterfall, Beatles Ashram, Rajaji National Park, etc but due to a short trip, we managed to cover a few best places and trust me all of them were just best. 

Local Food treat 

During the trip we also enjoyed local food at places such as Choti Wala, Gulab restaurant, and Kumar Sweets at Dehradun. Additionally local street food at various places like aloo tiki, Kachori, Samosa, Chole Bhature, GOTI Soda, Shikanji were amazing, wherever you go you just cannot miss out on local food. 

I hope you enjoy now wildlife blog as well, leaving you with few clicks in DSLR section, do give your feedback on btwildart@gmail.com

Vote of Thanks: The blog cannot end without a vote of thanks the contribution of each one is crucial without which the journey is incomplete

Travel arrangement 

Saurabh/Jogi (Mumbai Travelers) guys you and your team are just perfect, just because of you the trip was memorable. I was concerned due to parents along with me but you managed the whole trip from the booking of the hotel to car released all my worries. Many thanks and blessings to you from parents as well. Cheers!

Hotels 

Cygnett Resort Grand Shiva at Rishikesh - Good & descent rooms, humble and helpful staff and good food.

Amatra Dunsvirk Court, Mussoorie – Very Good food, superb view since it is located on the highest point of Mussoorie. Very humble and ready to help staff. 

Car Driver  - 

Naeem Bhai on the first day and Jitendra Ji for the rest of the trip, very helpful and caring, driving was very careful on ghats, many thanks. 

A Message of the Day – 

Parents didn’t leave you when you were young. So don’t leave them when they are old. they deserve much more than what we can do for them because their sacrifices cannot be measured. 

BT Wild Art

DSLR Section 

Bharatpur Trip Report

Hello lovely readers, I am sure you all are doing well. To start with let me convey a sincere apology for keeping on a long wait for the new post, I was traveling to search for something best for you and yes best is here. So now, let me fulfill the delay by one of the best blogs of the year. Yes, one of the best because it is the first trip report of the year and that is to directly from the World’s Heritage site. It is none other than “The Keoladeo National Park” formerly known as the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary; this is close to my heart and in the top 5 in my favorite list. So without taking more time, let’s take a Rickshaw ride to enter the sanctuary. 

The journey begins

Four of us (Amish, Ashwini, Vishnu, and me) started the journey from Mumbai central to Mathura by discussing various topics like birding, photography, the major attractions of the place, etc.. and preparing accordingly preparing wishlist of what all we want to target. The start of the journey was near to spoilage due to one “Kesto” person fully drunk joined the same boggy but fortunately, I and Vishnu managed to shift him to other boggy, his expression and walk reminded us the famous “Bevda” of old-time “Kesto”, somehow we managed to escape from spoilage. This is just trailer to the excitement of the journey now let us see what happened when we reached Bharatpur.

From Mathura to Bharatpur we started at 9.am and enjoyed local food like Jalebi, Samosa, Pyaj Kachori and to compensate oily food we had healthy juice of carrot, palak, orange, etc. After taking the taste of local food we reached IBIS Farmhouse, a well maintained rather I must say the best place managed by best guide Mr. Ratan Singh (award winner guide). The moment we stepped in we realized that not even a four-star hotel will give such a wonderful feeling for stay and food. Now we were very sure that our time in the sanctuary would also be the best, let me tell you why. 

The arrangements were so well planned by Mumbai Travelers that there was no scope for complaint. Experts were placed for perfect execution. So now, the time came for us to start our mission “Birding” and we started with a prayer to get the best from Bharatpur. To get best out of it we had another expert “Jaivinder” Rickshaw puller cum guide, he knows the forest like resident birds. Now the real journey started for action and drama, let us see what happened when we crazy people entered the sanctuary. Since we sighted more than 80 species I will update you with exciting sightings but will help you many other pictures in the DSLR section so as you can take a feel of the trip sitting at home. 

Entry to heaven

Owlet ki Prem Gatha

We entered the heaven and Jaivinder welcome us with a super sighting of spotted owlets, there were 3 at the same place, two were busy in romancing and another was sitting sadly since it was without any company. We got lovely shots of romancing owlets; it was just fun to see cute birds enjoying the activity without bothering human presence.

Pythagoras oops Rock python

Meanwhile, we were enjoying the lunch we got the news that Indian rock python is out there in open, in excitement, we immediately reached the place to try our luck. 10 ft long python in front of you laying in open with open eyes and taking feel with tongue, it was just awesome feeling to see big one so close in front of you. (Taori you called me or trying to reach python through call, please clarify😆😆)

Husky Dusky Eagle Owl

When you visit Bharatpur you always wish to see Dusky Eagle Owl but not many turn lucky as we were. it is very difficult to sight Dusky but here with the help of Jaivinder the expert, we could sight 3 at a time. It was a small family of Dusky, Male was sitting on one tree keeping eye on family, a female dusky was there with the little one on another tree. The male was keeping an eye to ensure that both are safe from any danger. Small dusky with its orange eyes and the white fluffy body was very cute. It is a lottery for us because we got 3 at a time including the little one.  

Great Indian spotted eagle

Now we were reaching the sunset time where we wanted to take Bharatpur special shots but during that time we found Great Indian spotted Eagle feasting on something, it was a sign of luck because it is not easy to find rare species like Eagle, Python, Dusky in a row. After this, we tried our hands on some sunset shots to practice for next day especially for sunrise.

Day 2 begins

Rising star kingfisher

The day started with sunrise with lovely cold morning and no fog as well, beautiful weather with sunrise what else you can demand. You can only demand Kingfisher sitting on a tree in the range of rising sun. we were just praying for this moment and it happened, Kingfisher came exactly in the range of sun and gave us the moment of life. We just grabbed it with two hands to get trademark shot, please visit DSLR section and share your comments on pictures, it will help me to improve.

Lovebirds Sarus Cranes

Now it was time for the main attraction of Keoladeo Park, it is like the attraction of a tiger for the forest. I had seen Sarus during the last visit as well but dance performance was yet to be captured and this time the luck knock the door again. The lovebird couple came in the center and displayed the dance performance; it includes loud trumpeting, leaps, and dance-like movements. It is difficult to describe in words, you need to visit DSLR to understand the kind of experience we had. 

Steppe Eagle

Now Eagle came as a blessing to make our trip memorable, you will not believe that we spent at least 30-35 minutes to enjoy the complete cycle of how eagle kill and eat its food. We were heading to watchtower area for Spotted Eagle but suddenly Amish Sir saw Steppe Eagle snatching water snake, he immediately asked me to check on it, I too notice the same and observed that Eagle with kill landed in near the area. The landing was on the road, Eagle was searching for a safe place for lunch. Somehow we managed to hide from Eagle's eye contact and enjoyed the beauty very closely but after some time Vishnu entered the area in search of something else but shocked to saw an eagle on road. Now it was enough for the Eagle to stay long on the road so it took flight with a kill and found a place on top of the tree, it started eating snake without waiting and bothering about anything. The way raptor eats the kill is just ruthless, no mercy for the poisonous snake as well, apart from all other sightings, trust me this was the BEST. 

Bull NE Kar di Batti GUL

The best sighting we enjoyed a lot but at the same time it gave us a little experience of wilderness, I describe the same as the "Batti Gul" experience. 

This sighting we will not forget for two reasons, one for the way we got Eagle with a kill and the other is Big Bull. Suddenly it came from nowhere and we came directly in its range. We realize that due to fear Bull may charge towards us so we took the precaution to keep a distance from the bull. After 5 minutes bull ran away at high speed which was threatening and scary for the moment but no damage was done as we were on alert and cautious of bulls' fear so we kept some distance and allowed a clear path to pass by without any hurdle.  

COUNT DOWN

Now let me give you to count of sightings to end the Trip report.  

Spotted owlets (12 in total), Golden Jackal, White-throated KF, Pied KF, Common KF, Indian Spotted Eagle, Steppe Eagle, Indian Rock Python, Dusky Eagle Owl (3), Sarus Cranes, Wooly neck, Painted Stork, Black Neck Stork, Pelicans, Darter, Cormorants, The greater coucal (Bharadwaj), Turtle, Black-headed IBIS, Black Bittern, Marsh Harrier, Common Teal, Northern shoveler, Red Crested Pochard, Shikra, Golden Jackals, Spotted bill duck, Bar-headed Geese, Yellow-footed green pigeon, Pintail. Francolin, Deer, Blue bull, Languor, Golden Oriole and many more. 

Jhalana

Now let me add another surprise here, we did one safari at Jhalana for leopard/hyena but this time luck was not in our favor so we could not manage leopard/hyena. Overall experience to chase a big cat was just superb, Very good effort made by Chitter Bhai to show leopard but we missed it by a minute, better luck next time. We saw Eurasia Sparrow hawk picking up a kill and running away and many other birds such as Francolin, Black shoulder Kite, Owlets, Black Red Start, Shrike, Peacock, Blue bull, languor, Rose Ring Parakeet and many more.  This was my 4^th visit and will keep visiting this small lovely forest on every opportunity of Jaipur travel. 

I hope you enjoy the trip report, request you to post your feedback and help me to improve to provide unique content. 

New Year Calendar

Let me know if you are interested in buying wildlife calendars for the cost of Rs. 300 per calendar, based on request will arrange the same. You can select images as well, do let me know your choice and interest on btwildart@gmail.com

Vote of Thanks: The blog cannot end without a vote of thanks the contribution of each one is crucial without which the journey is incomplete

The Team –

Amish, Ashwini, Vishnu and Bhavesh (BT Wild Art)

Expert Guide

Jaivinder and his partner – Your knowledge and efforts are commendable, your love and passion for wildlife is just unmatched, thank you so much 

Stay and Food – IBIS Farmhouse

Special thanks to Ratan Singh Ji and his son MukeshJi and ChanderJI

Travel Management - As usual Mumbai Travelers, Saurabh/Jogi and Prathamesh

Jhalana Safari – Sumeet Juneja, ChhitarJI (Gypsy Driver) and young cameraman Lucky Juneja

A Message of the Day – 

No life without Wildlife – Preserve it – Respect it – Enjoy it

Wildlife is Mother Nature’s greatest treasure; to protect it we must take every measure

BT Wild Art

DSLR Section 

Sunrise Trade Mark shot with Kingfisher

Romancing Owlets  - Spotted Owlet

Any Caption for this?

Mr. Alone - Spotted Owlet

Indian Rock Python

Indian Rock Python

Little Dusky

 Dusky Eagle Owl - Female with Baby

Indian Spotted Eagle

Typical sunrise shot

Sarus Crane

Sarus Crane performing dance

Trumpeting 

Dancing Display

Steppe Eagle

Steppe Eagle with water Snake kill

Steppe Eagle - Eating pattern

Woolly-necked stork

Rose Ringed Parakeet

Marsh Harrier

Bar Headed Geese

White-Throated Kingfisher

Golden Oriole

High Five together - Spotted Owlets

Black Bittern

Turtle

Black-necked Stork

Pied Kingfisher

Golden Jackal

At Jhalana - Eurasian Sparrow Hawk

At Jhalana - Eurasian Sparrow Hawk