The critically endangered Sociable Plover - Vanellus gregarius
24th Jan, 2010: A day of “Super specialty birding” is what I would call the day! Swati and Aasim opted to stay back due to yesterday’s tiring drive. So I went along with Mr Jugal Tiwari to a thorn forest near Banni grassland searching for the first target species of the day. “White-naped Tit” – This species underwent a rapid population decline in the recent past. Its small, severely fragmented population continues to decline, although at a reduced rate, as a result of the loss, degradation and fragmentation of its tropical thorn-scrub habitat. It therefore qualifies as Vulnerable.
We waited for the sunrise and realized that the sky was very much over cast and there was not enough light to use my BIG lens, but in the “don’t give up” spirit I trudged along with Mr Jugal Tiwari carrying all the heavy equipment. I did manage to get a decent shot of Marshall’s Iora with the 100-400 on my 50D. Luck was on my side and the sky cleared around 8:00am but the White-naped Tit was no where to be seen or heard. Then suddenly a flash of white was seen in the Acacia and sure enough it was a pair of the sought after birds. White-naped Tit is a very shy bird and also very very active. Add to it the fact that thorn forest does not lend itself well to photography! However I was not going to give up so easily – I kept following it – it was only after I had walked about 2 kilometer, zig zag thru the thorns that the bird decided I was not a threat and was on a single branch for about 5 min. This was enough time for me to get some good pictures. Satisfied, we headed back to CEDO early. Swati and Aasim were all excited and more than willing to accompany in the afternoon.
The target species were “Sociable Plover” and “Cream-colored Coursers”
Sociable Plover is a critically endangered bird whose one time population estimate was less than 500 birds remaining worldwide. However recently two super flocks of 1500 and 3200 have been discovered in Syria and Turkey respectively.
We had a rough idea of where to find the Plovers and we were told that for some reason the Coursers and Plovers are usually together. While we were on the way we spotted an Indian Horned Owl, this bird I have seen often but was never able to photograph. This time my wish was fulfilled.
We reached the area where there was probability of Sociable Plovers but the area was totally empty except for a few cows…. After about 30 mins of searching Swati exclaimed “Coursers!!” To the right about 50 meters away was a pair of Cream colored Coursers. These birds are not endangered but are a local rarity and are seldom seen. We crept slowly ahead in the car and we saw that there were in fact six of them. Without disturbing them much we took photographs and then set about searching for Sociable plovers, They were found within 200 meters of the Coursers. At first we saw just 4 then we realized that the ground opposite had a flock of them. We counted 53!! This probably is the largest single population from India. We were ecstatic… Socialble plovers are not shy at all and photographing them was easy.
We took a chance to see if we could spot the Desert cat in her den but were not so lucky – I took this opportunity to teach Aasim some basics of Wide Angle photography. Luck once again smiled on us when we had a close encounter with an Indian Fox and thanks to Mr Tiwari’s expert knowledge on the behavior we could take some good shots despite low light. He predicted that the Fox will go some distance and sit down and it did!
Near Charri Dhandh lake we stopped to watch the sunset and see the Common cranes return to roost. The sight was magical! – in the backdrop of a beautiful sunset waves upon waves of Common cranes flying in, sometimes the line would span the entire horizon – It was just magical. Me and Swati just stood there for a long time, hand in hand awestruck at the beauty, listening to the cranes communicating with each other.
The day however still had one final offering to make – we caught a Long-eared Hedgehog in the glare of our car’s light and I took a pot shot – It came out pretty well 
White-naped Tit - Parus nuchalis
White-naped Tit - Parus nuchalis
Indian Eagle Owl - Bubo bengalensis
Indian Eagle Owl - Bubo bengalensis
Pallid Harrier - Circus macrourus (female/Juvenile?)
Marshall’s Iora - Aegithina nigrolutea
Grey-necked Bunting - Emberiza buchanani
Sociable Plover - Vanellus gregarius
Sociable Plover - Vanellus gregarius
Cream-colored Courser - Cursorius cursor
Cream-colored Courser - Cursorius cursor
Indian Fox - Vulpes bengalensis
Indian Fox - Vulpes bengalensis
Long-eared Hedgehog - Hemiechinus auritus
Clear and nice shot.
Lovely pose and crisp shot.
Intense yellow eyes. Looks nice.
very pretty capture …what a cute little bird
beautiful shot
Lovely capture.
Superb.
Real good shot.
Nice look.
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Seen on your photo stream. ( ?² )
So nice.
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Seen on your photo stream. ( ?² )
They also added this photo to their favourites
Excellent catch…my mom loves owls…they are for luck !
nice!
good camouflage
Beautiful bird. Excellent focus and catchlight in the eye.
Beautiful capture!
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Seen in my contacts’ photos. ( ?² )
They also added this photo to their favourites
wow… classy. I enjoy your blog as well. Good job.
Wow, good for you to capture such a rare species….thank you for showing us !!!
They also added this photo to their favourites
Amazing shot of this beauty !!!
Delicate photo of an interesting bird !
They also added this photo to their favourites
Beautiful bird & photo !
WOW – excellent owl shot !
Lovely nature photo !
Pretty bird!..Very well taken!..Great picture!
Excellent work!..LOVE it!
Have a great weekend my friend!
They also added this photo to their favourites
Beautiful catch
They also added this photo to their favourites
Lovely shot..
Beautiful bird portrait…
Beautiful….
Congratulations!
They also added this photo to their favourites
Very elegant!
Amazing and beautiful DOF. Great photography.
Is it a prime 1000mm? Wow!
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Seen on your photo stream. (?)
great ….
wow ….
lovely capture.
Excellent find and great shot.
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Seen on your photo stream. ( ?² )
Beautiful guy. Funny, but I find some reseemblance with the jackals ears
Excellent…what a beauty, great work and such an awesome photostream buddy, really enjoy your work, thanks for sharing it..wow.
Nice! Thanks for the great addition to the Fieldguide Birds of the World! The project has few representatives of that species. — FBW Admin
BirdsPhotos
Please add this great bird photo to "Birds Photos" group
Wow, great shot. Beautiful capture.
Hi Tarique,
There are a lot of photos of this bird around, however, rarely have I seen it photographed well. This is a good photo. My compliments.
Hi Tarique,
Good shot, in spite of the unfortunate foreground branches (I think you tried to clone them out). Why don’t you try and paint those zones that are browned out?
@cuckooroller – I finally got lucky after trekking a couple of kilometer after this bird. No I did not try to clone out the foreground branches – the foreground was near and the lens big enough to almost look thru them
Thanks for the compliments.
Nice! Thanks for the great addition to the Fieldguide Birds of the World!
Added this photo to their favorites
Added this photo to their favorites
Added this photo to their favorites
Beautiful, very neat and perfect picture. Technically very impressive.
Your photo is “A” Class ( Please, Post 1-Comment 2 )
Please, consider adding this photo to “A” Class group
beautiful!..great shot sir!..
Two Thumbs Up my Friend