Birding the Indian sub-continent during the northern summer (1 Viewer)

Next summer (july - august) I will probably visit the Indian sub-continent for a few weeks. There are many reports about India. All reports I can find are about northern winter and spring.
Anyone here who has visited India in july or august? And which region should I choose? The Himalayas, lowlands or maybe Nepal or Sri Lanka?

Thanks in advance!

Ies Goedbloed

Sri Lanka is quite doable in the northern summer. It can be wet in the southwest, but not usually all the time and many days are rain free. The southeast around Yala should be dry and fine. You miss out on the wintering specialities but otherwise should be able to see most things. There's a trip report about my visit in the summer somewhere on here, which will provide more details.

As I'm sure you know, this is the monsoon season and travel in much of the Sub-continent can sometimes be problematic at this time of year, with torrential rain and flooding. Most national parks are closed, which will obviously limit your options.

I would tend to avoid the central and eastern Himalayas (including Nepal), as it's likely to be a wet, muddy, leech-infested ordeal, and the NE states are likely to be even worse.

On the other hand, the drier western Indian lowlands and possibly western Himalayas are likely to be a reasonable option. I've visited Gujarat and Rajasthan in August, and really enjoyed the trip. Temperatures were reasonable, I didn't have much rain, and several otherwise tricky bird species were very conspicuous (e.g. Lesser Florican, Painted Francolin, Rain Quail).

Perhaps the most obvious destination is Ladakh - this is the optimum time of year to visit this fascinating region, which generally gets very little rainfall at any season.

Hi Ies,
I can support DMW’s suggestions from what a friend of mine saw in summer... My brother (not a birder) visited the region in summer and did not have too much trouble with rain.

Thanks so far! I' m going for six weeks. Probably I will visit both Ladakh and western India.

What is currently the best fieldguide for the area?

Greetings,

Ies

Goedbloed said:

What is currently the best fieldguide for the area?

Greetings,

Ies

Click to expand...

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=232437

Niels

Thanks, ordered allready!

Andrew Whitehouse suggested Sri Lanka. I had a superb vacation there 2 years ago. I went with my son and, unusually for us, used a driver/guide, Chaminda Dilruk. We enjoy finding things ourselves and Chaminda was not intrusive but he also had stake-outs for everything. Beside that he was a great birding companion, was able to modify the itinerary as we wished etc.etc.. I can give you his e-mail, if you so wish.

Dave

P.S. We also costed out a similar independent trip. The lower rates for the accommodation, avoidance of car hire etc.. ment it was almost the same.