Sambhar lake « Lazy Birder

Two of us spent a pleasant Sunday evening (on November 20, 2009) birding around Sambhar salt lake (Rajasthan, India). Located about 90 kms west of Jaipur, Sambhar is India’s largest salt water lake, spread over an area of about 200 sq. kms. We left Jaipur at lunch time, took National Highway 8 towards Ajmer and consciously decided not to look for interesting birds en-route as the same had greatly delayed our last outing to Sambhar! The weather was pleasant (about 25 degrees celsius) and the sunlight was harsh, with a few specks of clouds in the sky. We reached the town of Phulera (an important Railway junction) and straight away drove to the nearby Naliasar lake. The lake had very little water and one largish pond right next to the road had about 50 Northern Shovellers (Anas clypeata). Had we stopped the car to look at them, they would have all flown away so we kept on driving towards Sambhar.

No crops were growing on any of the agricultural fields just before Sambhar lake, monsoon rains in this part of the country were poor this year. As portions of the lake became visible from the road, it became apparent that the lake was dry.

Upon reaching the lake, we saw water in some of the salt pans but no sign of Flamingos, for which the lake is famous. We parked our car near the massive Bargad or Banyan tree (Ficus benghalensis) that is a landmarks for birders (see photo below) and a heronry in good season. The water body next to it (a natural pond where rain water collects) had some water and some birds too!

We spent around an hour birding around the pond taking care not to disturb the birds especially as the real estate available for birds was limited! The pond revealed c20 Gadwalls (Anas strepera), a White-tailed Lapwing (Vanellus leucurus) (see photo below), a Common Redshank (Tringa totanus), a couple of Little Ringed Plovers (Charadrius dubius), a White-browed Wagtail (Motacilla maderaspatensis), a Booted Warbler (Hippolais caligata) feeding on the ground, a Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea), plenty of Little Grebes (Tachybaptus ruficollis), a few Black-winged Stilts (Himantopus himantopus) and circling overhead: plenty of Plain Martins (Riparia paludicola). Call of Lesser Whitethroats (Sylvia curruca) from nearby trees was often heard, Green Bee Eaters (Merops orientalis) and Large Grey Babblers (Turdoides malcolmi) were also present.

At 4:30pm, after a late (packed) lunch, we drove back to Naliasar lake south of Sambhar and reached the small water body west of the lake. This location is also known to birders, is a picnic spot (plenty of litter around proved that) and has some nice chhatris (small, dome shaped traditional architectural forms). Again the area this water body covered was not much and it would most probably dry up in the next couple of months. Feeding on the green grass nearby were c130 Bar-headed Geese (Anser indicus) and this was the highlight of our trip. Alarmed by a few stray dogs, they performed a spectacular flight around the pond (see photo below) and settled down on the grass again.

The waterbody had c20 Northern Shovellers (Anas clypeata), c6 Common Pochards (Aythya ferina), 2 Pied Avocets (Recurvirostra avosetta), a Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) and a few Little Grebes (Tachybaptus ruficollis). A group of Ruffs (Philomachus pugnax) c25 flew-in and performed superb aerobatic maneuvers over the pond for a few seconds before flying away. We spent the next few golden minutes watching the sun set behind the waterbody, said goodbye to our feathered friends and drove back to Jaipur, stopping along the way for a refreshing cup of tea on National Highway 8.