We took a quick 2 day trip to Corbett National Park over Christmas. Peak season, not the best time but, that’s all what I was able to manage in a hurry. It was more of a recce trip and, I actively avoided staying at Dhikala, in the core of the park.
A six and a half hour drive from Delhi got us to Dhikuli, where we dumped our bags in the hotel. Right at the parking lot, Kishore rammed his money shot of a Blue Throated Barbet. That was, one sweet shot to start with ! A little later, off we went to the area just north of the Gargia Temple before the light went down. We got good views of River Lapwings, Plumbeous Redstarts and Wagtails. The light fades pretty quick in the winters and, by four thirty PM, it was time to pack up.
River Lapwing & The White Faced Wagtail
The next day morning we did the Sitavani route. It was biting cold and I had not planned on getting gloves. My fingers pretty much froze but I tried shots by “poking the AF On” button , kind of like, a skeleton might have poke something! Enroute we saw a flock of Minivets in their flashing colours. I should have reached for my 300mm but, the cold had made my mind pretty numb. But I did get one single shot of a Scarlet Minivet Female. Yes the female is bright yellow !
I lost a sitter shot of a Blue Whistling thrush as well since I just couldn’t make out much through my fogged viewfinder . The viewfinder was fogging due to my breath and, all I could do was rely on the AF to do its trick and it worked…. kind of.
Grey Headed Woodpecker
As the sun came up, the bird activity picked up and, the Sitavani parking lot / canteen yielded quite some birdies. I am told that the river below has some good spots as well but, we never went below the temple since, there was huge action right at the canteen. Besides we downed a couple of cups of hot chai and, finally warmed myself enough to click with some control ! I am not sure one trip to Sitavani is enough though. One needs to get there a few times and, just wait for the action 
Chestnut Bellied Nuthatch
Fulvous Breasted Woodpecker
Grey Bushchat on the ground
Bar Winged Flycatcher
Great Pied Hornbill-scape
The evening we hit Lohachaur route.
Enroute to Lohachaur, there is this very prominent stream that flows across the road and ( there is a brick bus stand you cant miss ) there is a board, Fork Tail Creek. Sure enough we spotted the Fork Tail but no luck with pics. Got some nice views of White capped & Plumbeous Redstarts though.
White Capped Redstart
Plumbeous Redstart
Lohachaur itself was not great on birdies on our particular ride. We did however get a spectacular view of two lesser fish Eagles fly past. I spotted them way too late for me to grab the 300mm. It would have been a nice eye level shot if, I had managed it . On the way back we heard sambar calls but, no luck with any tigers. But, we did see a few Crested Laughing Thrushes in the bushes. I was informed of some property inside Lohachaur where one can see the Green Magpie and the Red Billed Leothrix, well, something I must note for the future . On the way back, we stopped again at the stream and, were given brilliant views of the Yellow Bellied Flycatcher and Redstarts. But, The light was pretty low by then and, one managed some pics on high ISO .
Yellow Bellied Fantail
Rufous Gorgeted Flycatcher
The second day morning we hit the Mohaan – Kumeria trail. We looked for the ibisbill, at the point north of the temple and sure enough found it in the mist.
Ibisbill
Kingfisher in the mist . This is my favourite pic from this trip. Need to strive for more consistency at this level definitely.
Further up the Mohaan trail, immediately after the tri-junction, on the left, we spotted the Rufous Bellied Niltava and a Fluvous Breasted Woodpecker. At Kumeria, on the Kosi river bank we spotted, Crested Kingfishers, the Wallcreeper and the Brown Dipper.
Wallcreeper Crested Kingfisher Hover
Brown Dipper
This is a brilliant place to spot these species. On the return, just after Mohaan we spotted the Collared Falconet. The guy was sitting way too high on a tree , so got a couple of record shots at best.
Collared Falconet
When we got back, Jyoti mentioned that there was a lot of activity happening in the hotel garden itself. White eyes, tits, Fantails nuthatches, all happening right there. It was a cold morning so, the activity was still pretty high almost past noon. Here, I got this shot of the Oriental white eye on a red Poinsettia .
The evening safari was at Bijrani. A tigress with cubs had been spotted in the morning and we thought we’d try as well. The Bijrani canteen has a few elephant sheds towards the rear. We went to check the area behind it and, I got a shot of the White throated Fantail.
White Throated Fantail
I was told that this is a good area to keep on the list since, a lot of birds can be found here. As we didn’t have much time, we didn’t hang around there too long. On the Bijrani trail we spotted Crested Tree Swifts and Changable Hawk Eagles. Apart for spotted Deers, the only mammal we spotted was a lone tusker. One of our jeeps got stuck and the engine revs scared the tusker sending, a couple of folks into a bit of a worry 
We did try to listen for more sambar/ deer / langur calls but, not much luck and, no tiger.
The last day morning we drove back to the Ibisbill point and saw three of them. The mist and the light made it for a difficult shot but, patience paid .
Waiting for the light to come up over the Kosi River
Ibisbills
There is the original colour version of this one below in the gallery. I like the B&W better.
The we drove on ahead to Fork Tailed Creek area and found a bunch of birds. Notable among them, a Rufous bellied Niltava gave us some half decent shots .
Rufous Bellied Niltava
We hurried back to the hotel and tried to do some garden birding. I got this record shot of a Crimson Sunbird right at our porch.
Sigh…. wish we had more time ! A quick breakfast but, it was already very warm now and hardly any activity in the garden. We went to the riverside right behind the hotel, and spotted Crested Kingfishers. I tried a couple of flight shots which came out well . Only that the subject was too small in the frame with the 300mm. But, basically my flight settings worked on the D2X, so this is something I need to try the next time
I think we did almost 80 odd species of birds in two days. For me personally, I don’t care for the count but only look at the percentage of stellar images that one can capture.
Crested Kingfisher flight
Flight shot setting D2X
a. Lock On set to Short
b. AF ON button
c. AF-C
d. Dynamic Area Mode ( Centre switch position )
e. Manual Exposure
Why Manual exposure for flight? The meter can get it wrong due to the changing background tonality. Hence, calculate exposure for that light and set it manually so that the exposure values do not change as you track the bird in the viewfinder.
All in all a pretty good trip considering it was just a recce and only two days. Now I know a little about, what to plan the next time for Corbett
Corbett winter tips:
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* Need High ISO
* Need Long Reach
* Must have gloves and ear muffs for the mornings.
* If its cold the bird activity will start a little late and continue late into the afternoon.
* By 0900H, the light gets pretty harsh, especially if the sky is clear.
* Light fades real fast in the mountains. Outside limit 1645 PM, so plan your afternoons early !
* Lot of good birding at the hotel gardens & trees as well.
* Lots of places to stake out and sit for birdies !
** Mohaan-Kumeria route
** Sitavani ( Walk down to the river )
** The stream enroute to Durgadevi gate ( Fork Tail Creek stream ).
** Dhikala of course ( But, Ive not been there yet )
For the complete set of images from the trip ( There are quite a few more than in the blog ). Click here>> Corbett pics December 2009