Wednesday 28th of March 2018 and they knocked on my door at 4 o'clock. They brought two pots of tea and I had my tea while enjoying the early morning. I went to the restaurant quarter past 6 o'clock. There was a lot of birds in the garden and it was beautiful to hear all the bird song. And thanks to my new recorder I could record the morning sound and that means that you can enjoy the early morning sound as well. Just hit play below!
Excellent! Best breakfast in ages, not the healthiest but the best tasting
At my restaurant at 6 thirty in the morning
We check-in to the park and we drive along the dirt roads until we end up on a beautiful grass land. We spotted a Grey-breasted Prinia and a couple of Stonechats. The stonechat was sitting just next to us so I got a few pictures. Zitting Cisticola, just one picture and only a recording of the Grey-breasted Prinia. And lucky that I bought my new ZOOM H5 recorder and you can enjoy the Grey-breasted Prinia song below.
Male Stonechat
I cannot identify the stonechat
Common Stonechat
Common stonechat is the name used for the Saxicola species Saxicola torquatus when this is treated in its broad sense.
It is, however, now more widely considered to be a superspecies consisting of several related but distinct species, which are outwardly fairly similar but genetically distinct and replacing each other geographically without significant hybridisation:
• African stonechat Saxicola torquatus in the strict sense
• European Stonechat Saxicola rubicola
• Siberian stonechat Saxicola maurus
• Stejneger's stonechat Saxicola stejnegeri
• Madagascan stonechat Saxicola sibilla
Three other species, not previously included within the broad view of common stonechat, have also been shown to be members of the superspecies:
Not all of the above are currently recognised as full species by all of the relevant taxonomical authorities, for example the British Ornithologists' Union,[6] currently include stejnegeri as a subspecies of Saxicola maurus.
A fantastic morning in a beautiful landscape. We drove through the grass land and suddenly we were in a beautiful forest. But no tigers, just a lot of deer everywhere. Birds, of course, but they are very hard to get on picture, at least any good pictures. We have to cross a dry stream and we have to go up on a very old looking bridge built by timber.
We run in to a female Himalayan Flameback on the other side of the bridge. And I can also record the beautiful Black-hooded Oriole with my ZOOM H5 recorder. We cross the river again going back to Tiger Tops Karnali Lodge for lunch. We spot a Indian Pond Heron and a beautiful White Wagtail. The wagtail is a wee bit too far away but I got a picture.
Approaching a bridge and new adventures
Female Himalayan Flameback
Pictures not good enough to make it to my list of observed birds
And we know it is a Himalayan Flameback because it only have 3 toes
I'm lucky with a Black Drongo just before the hotel, sitting on a branch not giving a damn about us stopping to take a picture. Yet another lunch that was very good. Checking my pictures in my room before we left for the afternoon safari at 3 o'clock. Of course, keeping my eyes out for birds on the way to the gate. I was in an at least to say UP BEAT mood. We spotted a gorgeous Black Redstart in the sunshine.
What a beautiful bird in the sunshine, but the bird got away and my mood turned from UP BEAT to disappointment. We saw a Pale Martin sitting on the wire just before we reached the gate. I took several pictures but only one could be used. All the safaris I have been on have been great, but there is always one game drive where exactly nothing happens. And this afternoon was one of them. A very slow afternoon in the forest.
We saw a Crested Serpent Eagle , a majestic eagle. But I have seen millions of them so I can't say that I was very excited. I got two pictures before the eagle escaped.
We continued to a military post where we stopped to go look at the river. If we were lucky there might be a tiger coming for water. We came up with exactly ZIP and we were soon back in the jeep. We started to drive back slowly towards Tiger Tops Karnali Lodge. Driving through a silent forest. We had seen nothing except the eagle. OK, there was a green Woodpecker that I managed to get a few very bad pictures of.
The most exciting was that we spotted a big group of male spotted deer. And they were all laying down on the ground. So this was a sight we enjoyed for a little while until the deer were up and standing again. We continued leaving the deer behind.
We left the park and the sun was setting over the fields when we approached the hotel. Yet another gorgeous day have come to an end. And tomorrow we will go rafting on the Karnali River
Spotted Deer
Spotted Deer
Sun is setting
The jeep was attacked by an elephant ramming his tusk in to the jeep
I will go to Chitwan National park when I'm ready here in Bardiya. They have an old Tigress eating people, she have killed 12 or 18 people. But they don't want to kill her. She is so old that she will soon die anyway. And there is a hole in our jeep and I asked if someone had been shooting at them. But it was an elephant in Chitwan attacking the jeep ramming the tusk through the steel.
So Chitwan seems to be the place for some wildlife action. I had yet another excellent dinner, but this is too much so I asked for fruit salad for lunch and dinner from now on. Bacon and egg for breakfast, darn, their bacon and egg is really good.
OK, my fruit salad idea was fresh out of the hat when we ran in to trouble. We will do a full day of rafting on the Karnali River and they will make picnic lunch for us. Well, of course, fruit salad that have been ours in the heat will not be very nice to eat.
I asked them to fill the smallest box they could find with their excellent home-made bread. But fruit salad for dinner only! Anyway, click HERE to find out how our rafting adventure on Karnali River turns out. This promise to be fun!
OK, it has come to my knowledge that we have senior citizens visiting my web page. How hard can it be? So it's not very easy for them to see the blue coloured links to the next page.
Jiffy (also jiff)
noun [in SING.] informal a moment: we'll be back in a jiffy.
ORIGIN late 18th cent.: of unknown origin.
So as you understand, in a jiff pretty much depends on your internet.
So I put a “Next” button here and I hope that there isn't any problem to understand how to use that one. So just CLICK the “Next” button on your left hand side and you will be on the next page in a jiff!
Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas
Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!
Haga usted dice el español? No hay problema! Ver la siguiente página sólo hacer clic el botón “Next” encima!
Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra
Sprechen sie Deutsch! Kein problem! Wenn Sie die folgende Seite sehen wollen gerade klicken der Knopf “Next” oben!