The Tal Chappar is a sanctuary in Churu district of Rajasthan,
on the fringe of the Great Indian Desert. It contains the most elegant antelope
in India,
the black buck. The sanctuary with almost flat tract, interspersed with
shallow low-lying areas, has open grasslands known as ‘Tal’ in the local language.
It came to recognition in the last 3-4 years due to unusual sighting of birds
such as Spotted Creeper, Yellow Eyed Pigeon, Stoliczka’s Bushchat and many
other species.
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| A male Bluebull in the grassland |
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| Blackbuck prime mammal of the Sanctuary |
Since last two years I was looking forward to visit this sanctuary
for the rewards this place has to offer. But due to my unfixed academic schedule
I was not able to plan for this. In October'12 I received a
vacancy announcement in an Expedition by ‘Nature India’ planned for Tal Chappar
that was going to happen on 13th to 16th October. So without much hesitation I confirmed
my participation. I would gladly like to thank Adesh Shivkar and Mandar Khadilkar for the
notification and a very successful trip with experience of lots of new birds
and nature moments in the excursion.
On the way
The birding towards the Tal began with unexpected
appearances by Grey Hornbill and Yellow footed Green Pigeon at Jaipur station.
As we moved further towards Chhapar we came across many ducks, plovers and
other wetland and scrubland species giving a sign of arrival of winter in the
Region. European Roller which is a passage migrant to the country was also
sighted number of times that day; which retained its absence in the next days
of the tour.
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| European Roller A passage migrant to the country seen only in months of September and October |
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| Painted Grasshopper |
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| Black Winged Stilt |
The whole team was excited over what the place has to offer.
Various water bodies on the way gave rise to exciting moments such as Blue
Cheeked Bee-eaters diving in water, courting of Stilts and a game of hide and
seek with Painted Snipe. Our expedition continued for the whole morning and
further extended until we reached our stay at Sujangarh.
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| Female Greater Painted Snipe |
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| Courting Black Winged Stilt |
Beautiful Black Bucks
On the second day, we departed early morning for the most
awaited visit to the sanctuary. The road to the Chhapar village cuts across the
sanctuary in two parts; giving lush views of the grassland to the commuter. Many times the Blackbucks and other fauna negotiated the borders of the fence and appeared on the road.
While entering the park, the life that makes its first
appearance is the Blackbucks. These antelopes roam here, like kids do in the
backyard. It was fabulous to see them running and hopping like children. When
alarmed, these antelopes leap into the air followed by other members. The
action almost makes them look like they are flying in air, signifying flight and
security.
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| Little Buck in the air |
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| Blackbucks |
Sanda
Sanda is the local name for Spiny Tailed Lizard, a species
of agamid lizard (family of dragon lizards) found in Kutch and Thar deserts of the Indian Subcontinent. It has distinctive spiny scales and large spines on the
tail giving the lizard its name. These lizards are very abundant on the east
arid part of the sanctuary and are the main attraction to the raptors and other
predators.
Raptor Opportunities
With abundance of prey such as Spiny tailed and Monitor
lizards, gerds and other rodents and wide open grassland, here we got to
see a variety of birds of prey. Not only raptors belonging to desert and
grassland, but also raptors of woods such as Bonelli’s Eagle and Crested
Goshawk have been reported from this area. I was fortunate to capture some
close stances and good posture in flight.
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| Common Kestrel |
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| Montagu's Harrier |
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| Laggar Falcon |
Spotted Creeper
Sighting of this little bird was like icing on the cake.
A Spotted Creeper has strongly spotted and barred plumage making it very
difficult to trace on its usual perch of Prosopis cineraria. This tree is
locally known as ‘Khejri’ and is of major use to the locals.
A very active bird often climbs up the tree with long toes
tipped with strong and curved claws for gripping. There was a pair of these
continuously jumping from one tree to another and climbing up. It gave everyone an opportunity to shoot, but a difficult one.
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| Spotted Creeper |
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| Southern Grey Shrike |
Survival of the Sparrow
After tiring session of capturing Sandas, Spotted Creeper
and other birds, on the afternoon of the second day, we came to a dhaba near
the sanctuary entrance for lunch. Afterlunch it was preferred by some to rest from the
horrid sun of the region. But a few of us favoured a small expedition in the
surrounding area. Lead by Adesh, we were very lucky to spot another endemic
uncommon bird named Rufous Fronted Prinia. We returned back to the dhaba with a few
more birds; like this Common Buzzard.
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| Common Buzzard |
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| Eurasian Collared Dove |
One more thing which I noticed around this place was plenty
of sparrows feeding on grainy crops, food leftovers and water pots kept for the
customers. The House Sparrow, because of its numbers, ubiquity and association
with human settlements, the presence or the absence of it is very affecting to
the human mind than other birds in the wild. The reason behind mentioning this
point here is the conscience that had developed in many minds for past few years regarding the supposed disappearance of this tiny beauties from their
Urban Spaces. This place here is a delight to such people as they see a vast
number of sparrows. Is the generosity of the locals in keeping food and water
resources the reason? Or is there really God’s hand in their survival?
These questions might arise in some minds as they see following scene.
Back to Site
We came back to the Sanctuary to sight more birds and other
animals. This time a Monitor Lizard gave a visit. After this we headed for a
small pond in the Sanctuary. It was very curious to see a Common Kestrel
running behind grasshoppers in the open part of the grassland. Such behaviour
of this fast species was never seen before. Near the pond, a different species
of Pigeon which winters only in the Northern parts of the Country was seen.
Yellow Eyed Pigeon, named due to the presence of a yellow ring around eyes has
been reported only from here in the state for last four years.
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| Yellow Eyed Pigeon |
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| An evening in the Sanctuary |
Next morning after breakfast with harriers, eagles,
Demoiselle Cranes and Bluebulls we headed in search of another uncommon species
of corvids known as Punjab Raven. We didn’t get to see this bird but sighted a few other birds on the way adding numbers to the list.
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| Indian Roller in Flight |
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| White Eyed Buzzard juvenile taking off |
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| White Eyed Buzzard |
In the evening we headed for a place south of the Sanctuary. On the way one more lifer bird, Long Billed
Pipit was spotted along with some Indian Bushlarks. The destination was a
scrubland around the road populated with few thorny shrubs. On the other side
of the road the scrubland was bordered by a sandy patch with few Fox dens in
it. Here we sighted the rare Stoliczka’s Bushchat. This species is also seen in Kutch.
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| Stoliczka's Bushchat |
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| Long Billed Pipit |
After some time there was a report of Indian Fox on the
other end. We rushed to see this little mammal, but were not able to locate it
quickly. Then, at one turn I saw the fox comfortably lying down in a ditch. The
fox was very quick to notice my presence and ran away swiftly. The mammal was an adorable being with soft fur and long ears. It almost seemed like one of the
soft toys that my mother used to make when I saw it for first time lying on the
ground. This could be the reason why a sweet person with deceiving actions is
called a fox.
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| Indian Fox |
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| Montagu's Harrier |
Discovering Rarities
The last day of the excursion arrived and we made our move
towards Ajmer with plans of visiting Sonkhaliya on the route for the endangered Great
Indian Bustard. On the way one of our vehicles got some technical problems and
we took a halt at one village near Didwana. As never got enough of it, we took this
as an opportunity for one more birding expedition into an unknown land and
ventured into a nearby grove. This place was the backyard of several houses
together leading towards farms separated by grove of Prosopis cineraria.
But to our surprise, with help of a fellow birder Sandeep,
we sighted the Spotted Creeper here again. This was the second location in the
country where this bird is seen; first one obviously being the Tal Chhapar
Sanctuary. As explained earlier taking shot of this beauty was difficult.
After the vehicle was repaired we moved towards Sonkhaliya as planned.
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| Spotted Creeper re-discovered |
The Great Indian Bustard is locally known as ‘Ghodavan’ and
is the state bird of Rajastan. We didn’t get to see any Bustard as such but came across
such bright colours in otherwise dry region.
Also we saw an Eurasian Eagle Owl, one of the largest species
of owl in the world. Specifying its size in figures will be injustice to the
experience of seeing the owl flight. Let the photographs determine it……
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| The Owl on a 25-30 feet high Khejri Tree |
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| Eurasian Eagle Owl in flight |
(This Article and the featured Photographs belongs to Sanket Mhatre (https://www.facebook.com/
