A day and a half in a bird sanctuary: About an hour west of Agra (Taj Mahal) there is a bird sanctuary, Keoladeo National Park.  The bird life was sensational and our guide an extraordinary well-informed naturalist whose excitement was evident as we spotted unexpected delights.  

The birds:  Some of the birds were dramatic and beautiful, painted storks and kingfishers , some defied logic, the sarus crane is the largest flying bird in the world, some wonderfully easy to identify, the snake bird obligingly wriggles his neck in serpentine waves, others kindly sat and conversed with us, the spotted owlets at one point seemed to be doing Japanese bowing to us [perhaps to scare us off, rather than politely greet] while others eluded us for hours, brown-headed barbet.  All my photos were taken with our camera with a zoom, but the guide had perfected the art of placing a small digital in front of his telescope to zoom in for stunningly clear close ups. 

Amazing facts: One group of nests is used by three successive sets of birds.  We didn't establish where this chain began or whether the same nests are used each year or new ones built, but in the regular year the honey buzzards nest April-June, the woolly-necked storks then occupy the vacant nests August and September and then the dusky eagle-owl takes residence for its young October-February.  Isn't this delightfully sensible?

Cuckoos are cuckoos around the world and I managed to snap this shot of a family of jungle babblers with two young magpies in their midst.  The delinquent pied cuckoo parent had deposited her eggs in the babbler nest and the babblers  had kindly assumed parental roles of the intruders when they hatched.

Our guide, Deepak, was a slight fellow with a boyish look and a very reedy voice, at times making us wonder whether he had yet passed into adulthood, with a deep and wide and enthusiastic knowledge of the local flora and fauna.  Our curiosity was piqued, but Elaine was far more controlled than I, so it was left to me through the course of our 6:30a.m.-7:00p.m. day of scouting to casually ply him with questions.  Deepak had been working as a naturalist for 15 years and continued his education by visiting other parks and listening keenly to others.  He had had a six month government training before he got his uniform for the park.  The going rate for a naturalist is about RS150 an hour (close to $3) and many of the guides stood about most of the day. Deepak was brilliant at keeping us out of the blazing sun and yet continuing to show us new birds, butterflies, animals, bees and beetles and when things were a bit slow on discovery he had fascinating tidbits to share.  It turned out that he is a married man with two small sons (5 years old and about a week old). He did a great job balancing the telescope and tripod on his shoulder as we cycled about.  Altogether a man who is very good at his job.

Added excitement: It seems that a tiger decided to look for adventure outside the further south and west Ranthambhor National Park and headed east and north scaring several villages en route.  He landed in our little bird sanctuary and while were were there he helped himself to a young antelope and a wild boar so the more overgrown portions of the park were off limits to us and the park rather busy with park officials setting up bait and cameras to determine what to do with the guest.  When we got back to Delhi  Elaine and I sought out the wildlife books from the library at the hotel and one of the headmen at the front desk noticed our interest.  It turns out that his father is the director of Ranthambhor National Park!  I'll know who to ask next time I'm looking for a naturalist in Delhi.