Rajasthan 2023
Ethan’s first stop in India was Rajasthan where he birded principally in Keolado and Desert National Parks. It was also his first time birding in Asia.
After countless failed attempts to get a good photograph of the Common Kingfisher in Europe, Ethan found this guy within minutes of starting to bird in India.
Even the most common species are exciting the first time on a new (sub)continent. Clockwise from top left: The Jungle Babbler, Rufous Treepie, Indian Robin, and White-Breasted Waterhen. If you are interested in Jungle Babblers, Ethan has assembled a small collection dedicated to the species that can be viewed on this site.
Usually Gray-Headed Swamphens’ feet are concealed beneath the water but this one decided to impersonate a cormorant and now Ethan has nightmares.
A throuple of Little Grebes swimming in a circle.
Despite being something of an antinatalist, Ethan has a fondness for storks like this Painted Stork.
An Indian Nightjar
The Cotton Pygmy-Goose is probably the best and sweetest Anatid. Unfortunately, this one was either very shy or just busy feasting on delicious hydrophytes so Ethan had to settle for this fairly distant photograph.
An Indian Spot-Billed Duck and a Little Cormorant. Hopefully you can figure out which one’s which on your own.
A Pied Kingfisher doing its hovering thing
A Spotted Owlet that Ethan found living behind his tent.
So Linnaeus had some trouble with the Sarus Crane apparently. He placed them taxonomically with the herons and named them after the Trojan Antigone who was transformed into a stork.
This is a Black-Crowned Sparrow-Lark. Something is seriously wrong with these guys’ eyes. That is just not where eyes are supposed to go. Ethan requests that these Pan’s Labyrinth-looking freaks stay away from him in the future.
Ethan was relieved to find this cool, more normal looking Greater Hoopoe-Lark. Unlike a typical lark, this one stayed for a long time and allowed Ethan to get quite close.
On the left a White-Breasted Kingfisher enjoys a tasty frog. On the right is Ethan’s first good view of an Asian Green Bee-Eater.
Some (indignant) desert birds. From left to right: Chest-Bellied Sandgrouse, the fairly rare White-Browed Bushchat, and the Isabelline Shrike which Ethan had had his eye on for a while.
Some even more intensely desert-y birds. On the left the Desert Wheatear and on the right the Asian Desert Warbler.
It’s sort of weird that these little guys are just out there, running around in the desert. On the left is the Indian Courser and on the right the Cream-Colored Courser.
A critically endangered Red-Headed Vulture swoops towards Ethan while “flipping the bird.”
The Eurasian Griffon
The Cinereous Vulture
The endangered Egyptian Vulture (The Pharaoh’s Chicken)
The best bird Ethan saw in Rajasthan was undoubtably the Great Indian Bustard. They are very sick boys because they keep running into powerlines and getting eaten so there are only maybe 100 or so left.
The sweet, sick boy eats at beetle snack for strength. Get well soon sweet boy.
Apparently the GIB lost out on becoming the National Bird of India (and the protections that would have come with it) since the word “bustard” was too similar to the word “bastard.” Hopefully the GIB captive breeding programs will be successful but if not, that’s not a bad reason to go extinct.