In
search of the lesser florican, we were to go, but we ended up finding much
more.
Among
the various things that we discovered after landing at Jaipur (en route to
Ajmer) is that it is not a north Indian shanty town in a Bimaru state. On the
contrary it comes across as a well planned and manicured capital. We drove
around the main streets and saw the imposing new vidhan bhavan. The walled city
was equally spic and span and painted in the official colours and could be
easily mistaken for a film set. The Hawa mahal was a bit of an anti climax and
resembled the mockup buildings which one finds in film studios. Dinner at the exclusive Rambag Club Golf
course was an uplifiting experience, the high point being the Paan Kulfi. No
wonder we could feel the sense of pride and belonging about the city in our
most gracious hosts.
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| Our hosts at Jaipur: Neetu and Rana |
The
plan was to land and spend the night at Jaipur and then take an early morning
train to meet up with the group at Ajmer.
We
rolled into Ajmer station on time and immediately the stark contrast hit us.
Inspite of being a well known tourist destination, the place is a classic north
Indian mofussil town, cows on the road and all. Luckily our accommodation was
quite decent and not too far from the station.
Our ride was a Toofan which was quite spacious and appropriate for the terrain.
We
set out immediately after breakfast along the Ajmer Nasirabad Sarwar road and
picked up our local resource person Mr Rathore at the Nasirabad bypass. The
road condition is very good along the national /state highway, but not so along
the small village roads (understandably so).
The
weather was cloudy and very pleasant. In fact it had been raining heavily for
the past few days in the evenings. This probably explained why the countryside
looked like anything but the typical image of Rajasthan in our minds eye.
There
were lush green fields as far as the eye could see. Entire farming families
including women and children could be seen helping with the various activities.
Canals and pumpsets were conspicuous by their absence. Our local expert
informed that the entire farming activity was based on nature and the monsoon ,
and that there was no plan B. Suddenly the movie Lagaan started to make sense.
Roaming
around the villages dotting the vast farmlands, we city dwellers begin to
understand the saying that India is a rural/agrarian country, and the most
important annual event is not the budget or the IPL or Independence day (which
it was incidentally ) but the monsoons.
The
first stop was the bayaweaver point. The topography is typically farmland,
interspersed with slightly elevated rocky uncultivated areas strewn with what
looked like meteorites. (The mystery of the meteorites was solved a little later).
The expert male weavers in their glorious breeding plumage were busy giving
finishing touches to their dwellings and females could be seen taking their
time to decide. The silverbills who hoped to occupy the unused nests were also
seen nearby seemingly placing the bets.
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| Baya weaver pair |
We
moved over unpaved roads in scrubland areas and were soon rewarded with views
of ashycrowned sparrow larks, rufous fronted prinia, the European roller in its
resplendent colours and a pair of Indian coursers.
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| European roller |
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| Rufous tailed lark |
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| Moong flower |
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| Ashycrowned sparrowlark |
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| Indian courser |
 |
| Brahminy maina |
The terrain was strewn with
enormous thorns (as duly warned) and I experienced one which managed go right
through my brand new Quechua trekking boots specially acquired for this terrain.
The
four varieties of larks which have typical breeding displays were all around.
We were told that being scrubland birds, and totally exposed, they cannot
afford to put on brilliant colours and so the mate-seeking strategy had evolved
differently. In this case it was the way that the males take to the skies and
then descend like a parachute or dive like a bomber. In case of the lesser
florican it was the rather spectacular jump which made it suddenly shoot out of
the moong fields by about ten feet and then descend down making a damru like
sound (the exact origin of which is still a matter of debate).
 |
| Rock bushquail |
In
fact the famous mating behaviour of the floricans, was the very reason that we
had travelled all across India and it looked like it was going to be on display
very soon. The conditions that had to be fulfilled were very specific. It had
to be the right season (monsoon of course); the field had to be moong adjoining
a patch of bajra. The moong (being short enough) was ideal for the females to
be able to see their potential suitor. The bajra being tall enough affording
the perfect hiding place in case of danger (the bird being rather shy). For the male to indulge in display, the
weather conditions had to be cool enough (since a lot of energy was spent in
the jump) but not actively raining.
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| Moong and Bajra side by side |
Moreover the landing spot had to have been
made soft enough by the rains so that the undercarriage did not suffer too much
damage. The male patrolled his chosen area (known as leek) and was obliged to
display not only as a mating behaviour but also as a territorial reminder for
other marauding males.
Soon
we reached an area of expected sighting and it was not too long before we heard
the familiar damru sound and the male floricans display was witnessed, though
at quite a distance. Even at that distance, we were left spellbound, though the
photographers thirst was hardly quenched. Knowing that we were in the able
hands of an experienced guide, and that more sightings would follow, we were
quite happy to be driven to the lunch stop. This dhaba was quite neat and
provided all essential facilities. The food was actually quite good as well.
In
the afternoon as we passed by many of the temporary waterbodies, we got very good
views of the Indian moorehens in breeding colours, the shocking red beaks
looking almost like artificial stuck-on appendages.
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| Indian moorehen breeding |
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| Yellow wattled lapwing |
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| Grey francolin |
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| Purple sunbird male breeding |
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| Angry bird? |
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| Large grey babblers |
In
the evening we headed for the quarry. Suddenly the reason for the strewn
meteorites became clear. This area (which is basically a part of a very denuded
Aravalli range) is home to several quarries. Incredulously the same rock yields
four different kinds of minerals (quartz,feldspar,mica and soda) of commercial
use which are totally different in their consistency and appearance. Somewhat
like four siblings in a family of common parentage who are usually totally
different.
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| Quarry |
 |
| Mica; soda;quartz;feldspar |
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| Eurasian eagle owl |
The
purpose of the quarry visit was ,of course, not geological but ornithological.
This particular quarry was home to a pair of Eurasian eagle owls for whom it
was too early an hour to be active. Closeby we were alerted by the unwieldy
flight of the Sykes nightjar which obliged by settling down amongst the
feldspar rocks.
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| Sykes nightjar |
After
a good days birding and sumptuous meal, we woke up early the next day to catch the activity of the florican. After
negotiating impossible looking field tracks for almost an hour we reached the “spot”.
These spots, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, are not random moong fields
but are a result of long years of continuous observations by our expert who
patrols these areas on a daily basis. We
settled down and within minutes spotted our target, and quite closeby as well,
relatively speaking. The jump of the florican was all that it was promised to
be and the male not only obliged repeatedly, but gave close up views as it
crossed the very path that we were standing on, to move into the fields on the other side.
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| Lesser florican |
 |
| Leap for love |
After
a clicking frenzy which went on for an hour or so, we now decided to whet our
physical appetite with a basic but filling “field” breakfast.
Now
that the official target of the trip had
been captured, we quite enjoyed the play of the clouds and rain which started
to build up by afternoon.
The spotting of the dazzling painted grasshopper,
eurasian thick knee and a pair of painted snipes brought lot of excitement.
After lunch we proceeded to check out a large lake, which surprisingly held a
number of greater flamingos.
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| Common kingfisher |
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| Shrika juvenile |
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| Comb duck |
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| Greater flamingo |
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| Painted grasshopper |
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| Painted snipe |
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| Cattle egret breeding |
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| Eurasian thicknee |
By
late evening it started pouring and put paid to any plans of getting another
closer look at the floricans (one can never have enough I suppose). On the way
back, mother Nature put on another spectacular display in the form of dark
multilayered clouds with lush green fields swaying in the foreground. No wonder
the professional photographers amongst us, did not mind some calisthenics in
order to get a better perspective!!
Can
we ever truly capture the vastness and magic of Nature on film, or do we try to
cherish the imprints on our memory, I wonder…
Fact file:
Travelers: Dattakiran Joshi, Sangeeta Joshi
Dates: 14-15 Aug 2015
Tour organizers: Natureindia
Photos: Nikion P 600
Lunch options are only wayside dhabas
