Coming in a bit late here (as always), still jetlagged from traveling through the holidays. 2019 was no doubt a tough year for me personally. I was unsatisfied with my year total as the year came to close, having pretty much stopped birding from April through November.
But India brought new life to my year’s birding. It is truly a spectacular country in every way: biodiversity-wise, culturally, culinarily, architecturally, historically, religiously - I was beyond blown away spending a month bouncing around this magical place. If someone told me before I arrived that I would end up cresting over 600 species for the year, I wouldn’t believe it. But it happened! Along with 160 lifers (not including January), here’s how:
36-hr layover in Shanghai:
375. Crested Myna (lifer)
376. Eurasian Tree Sparrow
377. Long-tailed Shrike
378. Light-vented Bulbul (lifer)
379. Black-faced Bunting (lifer)
380. Daurian Redstart
381. White Wagtail
382. Spotted Dove
383. Little Grebe
384. Rustic Bunting
385. Little Egret
386. Plain Prinia
387. Common Snipe (lifer)
388. Blue Rock-Thrush
389. Pallas’s Bunting (lifer)
390. Grey Heron
391. Eastern Yellow Wagtail (lifer)
392. Japanese Tit
393. Eurasian Sparrowhawk
394. Chinese Pond Heron
395. Chinese Blackbird
396. Azure-winged Magpie (lifer)
397. Common Moorhen
398. Red-billed Starling (lifer)
399. Grey Wagtail
400. White’s Thrush (lifer)
401. Pallas’s Leaf Warbler (lifer)
402. Pale Thrush (lifer)
Brief layover in Delhi:
403. Common Myna
404. House Crow (lifer)
405. Black Kite
First week in Goa for a wedding:
406. Brahminy Kite
407. Oriental Magpie-Robin
408. Black-headed Ibis
409. White-browed Wagtail (lifer)
410. Kentish Plover (lifer)
411. Common Sandpiper
412. White-breasted Waterhen (lifer)
413. Little Cormorant
414. Common Kingfisher (lifer)
415. Green Bee-eater
416. Indian Pond-Heron (lifer)
417. White-bellied Sea-Eagle (lifer)
418. Purple-rumped Sunbird (lifer)
419. Malabar Grey Hornbill (lifer)
420. Black-rumped Flameback (lifer)
421. Jungle Myna (lifer)
422. Black Drongo
423. Intermediate Egret
424. Wire-tailed Swallow (lifer)
425. Red-rumped Swallow
426. Indian Golden Oriole (lifer)
427. Red-wattled Lapwing (lifer)
428. Little Swift (lifer)
429. Dusky Crag-Martin (lifer)
430. White-rumped Munia
431. White-browed Bulbul (lifer)
432. Striated Heron
433. Coppersmith Barbet
434. Asian Koel (lifer)
435. Red-vented Bulbul (lifer)
436. White-throated Kingfisher
437. Indian Robin (lifer)
438. Thick-billed Flowerpecker (lifer)
439. Nilgiri Flowerpecker (lifer)
440. Purple Sunbird (lifer)
Took the groom birding in the Western Ghats of Goa:
441. Large-billed Crow
442. Orange-headed Thrush (lifer)
443. Rufous Treepie (lifer)
444. Greater Racket-tailed Drongo (lifer)
445. Grey-fronted Green Pigeon (lifer)
446. Malabar Whistling Thrush (lifer)
447. Oriental Honey-buzzard (lifer)
448. Crimson-backed Sunbird (lifer)
449. Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher (lifer - split with Indochinese Blue FC since I last saw ssp. C. tickelliae indochina, now C. sumatrensis indochina)
450. Jungle Babbler (lifer)
451. Chestnut-tailed Starling (lifer)
452. Mountain Imperial-Pigeon (lifer)
453. Crested Treeswift (lifer)
454. Plum-headed Parakeet (lifer)
455. Common Iora (lifer)
456. Green Warbler (lifer)
457. Malabar Starling (lifer)
458. Brown-headed Barbet (lifer)
459. Vernal Hanging Parrot (lifer)
460. Red Spurfowl (lifer)
461. Greater Coucal
462. Ashy Drongo
463. Square-tailed Bulbul (lifer)
464. Common Tailorbird
465. Indian Yellow Tit (lifer)
466. White-rumped Shama
467. Chestnut-headed Bee-eater (lifer)
468. Black-hooded Oriole (lifer)
469. Orange Minivet (lifer)
470. Speckled Piculet (lifer)
471. Brown-cheeked Fulvetta (lifer)
472. Bronzed Drongo (lifer)
473. Black-naped Monarch (lifer)
474. Velvet-fronted Nuthatch (lifer)
475. Brown-capped Woodpecker (lifer)
476. Common Woodshrike (lifer)
477. Indian Paradise-flycatcher (lifer)
478. Western Crowned Warbler (lifer)
479. Puff-throated Babbler (lifer)
480. Bar-winged Flycatcher-Shrike (lifer)
481. Black-backed Dwarf-Kingfisher (lifer)
After flying back to Delhi, along the drive to Jim Corbett Nat’l Park / Tiger Reserve:
482. Red-naped Ibis (lifer)
483. Asian Openbill
484. Eurasian Hoopoe
485. Green Sandpiper
In and around Corbett on a number of open jeep safaris:
486. Crimson Sunbird (lifer)
487. Indian White-eye (lifer)
488. Himalayan Swiftlet (lifer)
489. Grey Bushchat
490. Golden-fronted Leafbird (lifer)
491. White-capped Redstart (lifer)
492. Plumbeous Redstart
493. Citrine Wagtail (lifer)
494. Rose-ringed Parakeet
495. Blue-bearded Bee-eater (lifer)
496. Pied Kingfisher
497. Ibisbill (lifer)
498. Himalayan Bulbul (lifer)
499. Yellow-bellied Fairy-Fantail (lifer)
500. Grey-capped Woodpecker (lifer - #1100!)
501. Greater Yellownape (lifer)
502. Grey-headed Woodpecker (lifer)
503. River Lapwing (lifer)
504. Crested Kingfisher (lifer)
505. Crested Serpent-Eagle (lifer)
506. Red-headed Vulture (lifer)
507. Black Stork (lifer)
508. Changeable Hawk-Eagle (lifer)
509. Lineated Barbet (lifer)
510. Blue-throated Barbet (lifer)
511. Oriental Pied-Hornbill
512. Great Barbet (lifer)
513. Black-throated Thrush (lifer)
514. Indian Peafowl
515. Stork-billed Kingfisher (lifer)
516. Common Greenshank (lifer)
517. Shikra
518. Streak-throated Woodpecker (lifer)
519. White-bellied Drongo (lifer)
520. Stonechat
521. Rufous-breasted Accentor (lifer)
522. Blue Whistling-Thrush (lifer)
523. Grey-headed Canary-Flycatcher (lifer)
524. White-throated Fantail
525. Streak-throated Swallow (lifer)
526. Wallcreeper
527. Long-tailed Minivet (lifer)
528. Chestnut-bellied Nuthatch (lifer)
529. Cinereous Tit (lifer)
530. White-rumped Needletail (lifer)
531. Ashy Bulbul (lifer)
532. Rosy Minivet (lifer)
533. Jungle Owlet (lifer)
534. Common Chiffchaff
535. Grey-hooded Warbler (lifer)
536. Ruddy Shelduck (lifer)
537. Great Cormorant
538. Red-crested Pochard (lifer)
Drive back to Delhi:
539. Black-winged Stilt
540. Asian Pied Starling (lifer)
541. Bank Myna (lifer)
542. Eurasian Kestrel
543. Long-toed Stint (lifer)
544. Western Yellow Wagtail (lifer)
545. Ashy Prinia (lifer)
In Delhi’s local parks and sights:
546. Alexandrine Parakeet
547. Lesser Whitethroat (lifer)
548. Yellow-footed Green-Pigeon (lifer)
549. Hume’s Warbler (lifer)
Agra’s majestic Taj Mahal and Agra Fort:
550. Large Grey Babbler (lifer)
551. Egyptian Vulture (lifer)
552. Laughing Dove
553. Painted Stork
554. Eurasian Spoonbill
555. Lesser Black-backed Gull
556. Pallas’s Gull (lifer)
557. Greater Flamingo (lifer)
558. Wooly-necked Stork (lifer)
559. Oriental Darter
560. Common Redshank (lifer)
561. Little Stint (lifer)
562. Black-winged Kite (lifer)
Morning in Bharatpur’s bird sanctuary, Keoladeo Nat’l Park:
563. White-eared Bulbul (lifer)
564. Common Hawk Cuckoo (lifer)
565. Grey Francolin (lifer)
566. Indian Spot-billed Duck (lifer)
567. Black Bittern (lifer)
568. Wood Sandpiper (lifer)
569. Bay-backed Shrike (lifer)
570. Clamorous Reed Warbler (lifer)
571. Purple Heron
572. Ferruginous Duck (lifer)
573. Indian Scops-Owl (lifer)
574. Red-breasted Flycatcher (lifer)
575. Black Redstart
576. Glossy Ibis
577. White-tailed Lapwing (lifer)
578. Greater Spotted Eagle (lifer)
579. Lesser Whistling-Duck (lifer)
580. Eurasian Marsh-Harrier
581. Dusky Eagle-Owl (lifer)
582. Black-necked Stork (lifer)
583. Knob-billed Duck (lifer)
584. Brahminy Starling (lifer)
585. Bronze-winged Jacana (lifer)
586. Spotted Owlet (lifer)
Fatehpur Sikri and the drive west out into the desert of Rajasthan:
587. Brown Rock Chat (lifer)
588. Variable Wheatear (lifer)
589. Pallid Harrier (lifer)
Around the Mehrangarh Fort of Jodhpur:
590. Eurasian Griffon
591. Booted Eagle (lifer)
592. Indian Silverbill (lifer)
593. Common Babbler (lifer)
And with the sun setting on the year on December 31st, along the drive from Jodhpur to Jaisalmer:
594. Dalmatian Pelican (lifer)
595. Common Pochard
596. Grey-throated Martin (lifer)
597. Steppe Eagle (lifer)
598. Bonelli’s Eagle (lifer)
599. Great Grey Shrike (lifer)
600. Red Collared-Dove
601. White-browed Fantail (lifer)
Happy new year to all!
