I visited Keoladeo National Park, Bharatpur over a couple of days in the middle of October 2013.
This is going to be a fantastic winter season because vast areas of the sanctuary are flooded - including parts that were dry in previous years. Ducks and waders have only just started trickling in, but there is already an unmistakable buzz about the place.
This post is just a short note to report the sighting of the Great Bittern (Botaurus stellaris) in Keoladeo.
When I relayed this information to some of the Naturalists at the park, their response was somewhat puzzling. A couple of the experts were aware that this species has been reported there earlier. However, most of the birders that I have contacted since my visit, and indeed from trawling the net for information on sightings in India (particularly photographs), it appears that the Great Bittern has remained quite elusive over the years.
This is not unexpected. Like most bitterns this species is very shy and secretive. Also it keeps extremely odd hours: being active from dusk right through the night. Its preferred habitat is dense reed-filled marshes. Being a migrant in the winter, not much is known about where it comes from and when.
I'm now going to flesh out the notes I scribbled the very same evening that I made the sighting.
Date : October 17th 2013
Time: approx 1730 hrs.
Clouds had rolled in and it was gloomy as I turned back for the day from the far end of Mansarovar lake. I was on a bicycle (which one can hire at the park). Actually, walking the bicycle on an embankment which separates the lake from the marsh / forest.
Several dense trees (growing out from the edge of the embankment) overhang the tamarisk and tall reeds beyond. The tree branches are often at, or below, eye level.
Three largish 'heron-like' birds were perched low on different branches of a particularly leafy tree, not 20 yards from me. Two were quite familiar, naturally. First, an adult Black-crowned Night Heron, and the second, an Indian Pond Heron. The third was a much larger bird than the other two. My eye had been drawn to the unfamiliar. Even though I got a good look to register the plumage, it quickly flapped up to a higher branch and was now partly hidden. I backtracked a little to get a clear shot with the camera. This movement alarmed another individual hidden close by, which launched into flight away from me.
The upper-wing markings were wholly unfamiliar!
And it was calling in flight. A single note: 'aarr'. Repeated a few seconds later.
Rather excited by now, I turned my attention back to the first bird - prompting it to take off in turn.
There was a gap between the trees a few yards behind me, so I dropped the cycle and sprinted back.
This sudden movement obviously flushed another individual in the vicinity!
So now there were three birds on the wing - all calling in flight. They would have flown less than a 100 yards and out of sight, before I could train the binoculars on them. Damn!
However, the brownish barred upper-wing plumage clearly discounted the usual suspects - the herons.
No, it could not have been any of the other bitterns seen here either - all are much smaller, and somewhat familiar to me.
There you have it then... that's what I saw and heard.
Later, back home, I have checked through the bird guides and have matched the flight call on the xeno-canto website.
The only piece of the puzzle that doesn't quite fit is that there were 3 birds. Most bitterns are solitary.
Perhaps this was a pair together with a juvenile recently arrived as migrants?
Is it a big deal? I don't know to be honest.
But from what I have been able to learn so far, this is a bird seldom seen in India, and certainly only rarely photographed.
I would look forward to hearing from you if you have crossed paths with the Great Bittern in India.
sahdevsingh2004@yahoo.co.in
This is going to be a fantastic winter season because vast areas of the sanctuary are flooded - including parts that were dry in previous years. Ducks and waders have only just started trickling in, but there is already an unmistakable buzz about the place.
This post is just a short note to report the sighting of the Great Bittern (Botaurus stellaris) in Keoladeo.
When I relayed this information to some of the Naturalists at the park, their response was somewhat puzzling. A couple of the experts were aware that this species has been reported there earlier. However, most of the birders that I have contacted since my visit, and indeed from trawling the net for information on sightings in India (particularly photographs), it appears that the Great Bittern has remained quite elusive over the years.
This is not unexpected. Like most bitterns this species is very shy and secretive. Also it keeps extremely odd hours: being active from dusk right through the night. Its preferred habitat is dense reed-filled marshes. Being a migrant in the winter, not much is known about where it comes from and when.
I'm now going to flesh out the notes I scribbled the very same evening that I made the sighting.
Date : October 17th 2013
Time: approx 1730 hrs.
Clouds had rolled in and it was gloomy as I turned back for the day from the far end of Mansarovar lake. I was on a bicycle (which one can hire at the park). Actually, walking the bicycle on an embankment which separates the lake from the marsh / forest.
Several dense trees (growing out from the edge of the embankment) overhang the tamarisk and tall reeds beyond. The tree branches are often at, or below, eye level.
Three largish 'heron-like' birds were perched low on different branches of a particularly leafy tree, not 20 yards from me. Two were quite familiar, naturally. First, an adult Black-crowned Night Heron, and the second, an Indian Pond Heron. The third was a much larger bird than the other two. My eye had been drawn to the unfamiliar. Even though I got a good look to register the plumage, it quickly flapped up to a higher branch and was now partly hidden. I backtracked a little to get a clear shot with the camera. This movement alarmed another individual hidden close by, which launched into flight away from me.
The upper-wing markings were wholly unfamiliar!
And it was calling in flight. A single note: 'aarr'. Repeated a few seconds later.
Rather excited by now, I turned my attention back to the first bird - prompting it to take off in turn.
There was a gap between the trees a few yards behind me, so I dropped the cycle and sprinted back.
This sudden movement obviously flushed another individual in the vicinity!
So now there were three birds on the wing - all calling in flight. They would have flown less than a 100 yards and out of sight, before I could train the binoculars on them. Damn!
However, the brownish barred upper-wing plumage clearly discounted the usual suspects - the herons.
No, it could not have been any of the other bitterns seen here either - all are much smaller, and somewhat familiar to me.
There you have it then... that's what I saw and heard.
Later, back home, I have checked through the bird guides and have matched the flight call on the xeno-canto website.
The only piece of the puzzle that doesn't quite fit is that there were 3 birds. Most bitterns are solitary.
Perhaps this was a pair together with a juvenile recently arrived as migrants?
Is it a big deal? I don't know to be honest.
But from what I have been able to learn so far, this is a bird seldom seen in India, and certainly only rarely photographed.
I would look forward to hearing from you if you have crossed paths with the Great Bittern in India.
sahdevsingh2004@yahoo.co.in
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