Sunday, February 6, 2011

Little Rann of Kutch


The little Rann of Kutch was established in 1973,the largest sanctuary in India, which is spread over 4,953 sq km covering the five districts of Surendranagar, Banaskantha, Patan, Kutch and Rajkot.
The Rann is a flat, white, cracked and utterly barren land in winter ,vehicles can break the speed limit on it except for sparse vegetation known for different species of birds and mammals.There are 364 hills, called bets, which rise across the Rann, and become islands during the monsoon, providing food and shelter to birds & mammals.
Me & Ameet visited this place in the trip organized by Nature India.We got an opportunity to see more than 100 species of birds (Thanks to Group Leaders Adesh & Mandar).



Flamingoes, pink ones in bleeding plumage



Peacock

  
 Wire tailed swallow who has long fine wires in tail


Black Drongo alone on the barren land



Camouflaged Desert Wheatear



Common Cranes family (Two Adults with a  kid)



Young colorful girls, balancing enormous stack of woods



Ruff in a bleeding plumage sharing the canvas with Red wattled lapwing



Black winged stilt kissing its own reflection



The Ruff



Marsh Sandpiper

Rosy Starling feeding on dried corns



Black headed Ibis and Black Wing Stilt



Painted storks along with Spoonbill and Egret



Common Sandpiper



Cormorant drying its wings



Egret with its reflection



Ashy-Crowned Sparrow-Lark



White throated Kingfisher



Greylag Goose



Greylag Goose in flight



Flock of birds(ID ?)



Greylag Goose.These are the migratory birds who travel thousands of miles all the way from Siberia during winter



Green Bee-Eater



Family of Saras Crane.These are the tallest flying birds in the world.



Bay backed Shrike



Wild Ass , a unique species only found in LRK.The count is about 300.They are very shy & run away if approached in their proximity.



During monsoon the land of Rann is under water and it dries up very quickly and cracks in winter

White wagtail looking for a companion



Squirrels munching on green berries



Peacock running away



Mongoose



Eurasian Vulture in a rehabilitation center



Pallied Scopes Owl highly camouflaged



Feeling high (Peacock with pigeons)



Red Ringed Parakeet



Juvenile painted stork



Juvenile painted stork looking out for their parents



Juvenile painted stork waiting for their parents to bring food



Shikra-Female



Indian Roller

Common Kestral



Pied Kingfisher

The colony of Pied Kingfisher.I was not lucky to capture them.But enjoyed a site of watching them hovering in the air and diving in the water to catch the fish.



Moon over the Rann



Sunset in LRK


 Along with above mentioned birds, we also saw Spotted Dove, Laughing Dove, Red Collared Dove, Short Eared Owl, Bluethroat, Brahminy starlings, White-eared bulbuls, Red vented bulbuls, Common babblers, Barn swallows, Black shouldered kite, Streak Throated Swallows , Red Rumped Swallow, Barn, Desert Warbler, Peregrine Falcon and many more.
Thanks to Adesh & Mandar for educating us to this different world of birds.It was a amazing experience.This has given us nice break from a regular daily schedule and we are looking forward for more such trips in the future.