Bharatpur in the holidays

Taking a direct train from Haridwar proved to be a good idea as I reached Bharatpur at about 3 in the morning. Despite the lack of sleep we were hoping for a good session as the weather had cleared up and minimal fog was expected. However being Christmas and a Friday (Taj Mahal was closed), the park felt more like a jogging park. Despite local city rickshaws also being brought in, there were still lots of people looking for more cycles and rickshaws. The roads until Sapanmori and the canteens were packed with people by the time it started getting warm.

 
The mornings on all three days started well. We began by searching for mammals crossing the roads and silhouettes against the rising sun's reflection along the smaller roads. We saw a few jackals, ungulates and monkeys this way. On the first day we also caught glimpses of the Siberian Rubythroat at the first checkpoint but the constant crowds getting inquisitive with our cameras kept scaring it away. For most of the trip, as soon as the sun came up, we consciously moved deep into the park to avoid the crowds.While most regular spots had been disturbed, we managed to find a large tailed nightjar and a lone python thanks to the efforts of our rickshaw pullers.

Evenings saw the crowds concentrated at the "Darter point". A lone stick where a darter would perch daily as the sun set behind it. Our rickshaw guide told us how he had put up the stick and it was not a natural perch even as a couple of tourists discussed who had "invented" the shot. There were of course multiple other jokes we overheard with the naive locals and tourists. Someone mistook pigeons for owls, a shikra to be Shakira, while a city rickshaw puller took a shot at the origin of the purple heron's name - it seems 'palpal hairaan' (hindi for surprised every moment). Other rickshaw pullers occasionally pointed at us and identified us as "photographers". Our host at the Iora, Mr Devendra, provided us with a few more of these jokes in the evenings involving amateur photographers and their equipment.

Despite the crowds, and the constant push to get away from them, we managed to see quite a few raptors, owls and owlets and the usual storks. One of the mornings also had 2 pairs of sarus cranes on either side of the road. Monitors and turtles were fewer but occasionally visible as the sun came up. Kingfishers pied  and commons were also easily spotted near the canteen. Black bitterns and little herons were found in the evenings while waders, ducks, storks, ibis and spoonbills filled up the park due to abundant water this year. A number of raptors constantly disturbed the ducks while crows tried to chase them away during the day. Overall, as always there was plenty of wildlife on display despite the crowds, but I would recommend any serious visitors to avoid the rush during the year end holidays. The crowds do get on your nerves quite a bit.