A pilgrimage of passage

You could call them the eight passage deities of Kutch. Their blessings can be sought only for a short period between the middle of August and them middle of October, when they take a pit stop in the extreme west of India on their annual migratory passage through Kutch, the westernmost district of Gujarat. You need to get to Bhuj by train or air and then head on west and northwest towards the Greater Rann and the Banni grasslands in these months to seek their darshan. Mandar Khadilkar of Nature India, and our Kutch specialist birding guides, Vikramsinh Sodha and Karthik Patel, were (figuratively) the "priests" who were to do the rituals. 

The long bright red tail of the Red-tailed Shrike shone like a red beacon, distinctly different from the Red-backed Shrike: of course you would have to differentiate them from their resident Bay-backed and Long-tailed cousins. The Greater Whitethroat has to be carefully sorted out from the Lesser one. European rollers, with their pale head and maroon back, were everywhere, completely supplanting the Indian one at this time of the year. The Blue-cheeked Bee-eater is easily distinguished from the smaller Green ones. The charismatic Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin puffed its wings, cocked its tail and allowed us to approach incredibly close: cellphone cameras were almost as useful as bazooka lenses! It helped that the only flycatcher in this habitat at this time of the year was the Spotted Flycatcher. 

And of course the local residents and early winter migrants were eye-pleasing fillers between the main deities. Can there be a prettier sight than a Painted Sandgrouse couple cavorting oblivious to the large cars nearby? Yes, if you’re looking at four endangered White-naped Tits in the same frame or a pair of White-bellied Minivets with the male’s orange breast glistening in the sunlight. Striolated and Gray-necked buntings, not easy to find elsewhere, kept us constantly engaged. The white streaked tail of the White-tailed iora (formerly Marshall's Iora) was a typical distinguishing feature from it’s Common cousin. Warblers are generally a nightmare to distinguish from each other: not so the lovely Orphean Warbler with its black head contrasting with its pale throat. Twelve personal lifers for me on the trip! 

We checked out the nightlife with fond hopes of paying obeisance to the last remaining passage deity on our list: the Eurasian Nightjar. We got a lovely Sykes's nightjar, a winter migrant to Northwest India that had arrived unusually early, and the common Savannah nightjar instead. Just as we disappointed upped our torches and cameras and started the long drive home, a movement on the telephone wire adjacent to the road revealed the distinctive Eurasian nightjar with its white wing markings! A second sighting of the same bird down the road was most relaxed as the bird allowed us detailed photographs. A sighting of the Indian Nightjar as we entered our property rounded off the nightjar clan: Vikramsinh said it was the first time in eleven years of birding in this habitat that he had seen four nightjar species in one night! 

So if you’re bored in the summer or monsoon months and bemoaning the absence of the usual winter migrants to our shores, you know where to head!

White-tailed (Marshall's) Iora

Common Whitethroat

Eurasian Wryneck

European Nightjar

European Roller

Indian Nightjar

Indian Silverbill

Painted Sandgrouse female

Painted Sandgrouse male

Red-backed Shrike

Red-tailed Shrike

Rufous-fronted Prinia

Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin

Spotted Flycatcher

Sykes's Nightjar

White-bellied Minivet female and male

White-naped Tit

Four in a frame!

Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse male

Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse female

                                           

Common Cuckoo