25. Trip to Keoladeo Ghana National Park, Bharatpur Part II

The second day we were much wiser. We took rikshaws! This time we knew exactly where to find which bird. Not just the water birds, the bush birds too frequent the same trees, being creatures of habit. Therefore it is so important that we leave their habitat untouched. We quickly went through the park but couldn't resist taking some more pictures. 

Check out the above video of a painted stork feeding her chicks. I was fascinated by the amount of fish she carried in her gullet. Mother Nature is unparalled!

A Purple sunbird that posed specially for us

A white throated kingfisher

Spoonbills we had missed amidst the hordes of painted storks the first day

A wounded Monitor Lizard

We went to the park canteen as Raka was very keen to feed the very tame squirrels and jungle babblers there. We were rewarded by finding a young pet nilgai grazing there, who had been handraised by a local resident when its mother died.

A squirrel fattened on junk food

A hoopoe on the canteen lawns

A pet nilgai

Keoladeo (Shiva) Temple after which the park is named

 As the trip that we had done in 3 hours the previous day was over in one we were mulling over whether to go and see some elusive pythons or go for a boat ride. We chose the boat ride because to see the pythons we had to trek a lot. It was the right choice. The boatman took us to this magical place which took our breath away. The pictures below do very little justice to it.

Blue Throat (female) positively my best sighting, seeing the male and the female both.

 

Giant ant hills

 Feeling besides ourselves with joy after this wonderful experience, we thanked and tipped Vijay kumar our boatman and happily trekked back the remaining kilometer and a half to the gate. The trek back was not without its surprises. Last time while driving back we had suddenly seen a jackal cross the road. We hoped we will see it again, but did not. But we did see a shikra, a grey francolin some drongos and the lovely yellow footed green pigeons right near the entrance.

Shikra

Grey Francolin

Day one of the trip