Peter Kaestner Birding 2007

Peter Kaestner's 2007 Birding Blog

2007 was a great year for birding. So far I have seen 70 lifers and added another nine birds through armchair taxonomic revisions. Unless I get really lucky in the next couple of weeks, it looks like 8141 will be my total for the year.

I began in January with a short business trip to Korea, where Nial Moores helped me find several really great birds, including Relict Gull, Baikal Teal, and Scaly-sided Merganser.




The big trip of the year was my R&R trip to Cental Asia. The highlight was a week in Kasakhstan with Hank, continuing a tradition that we have kept alive for over three decades. We did the standard route, with time in the mountains south of Almaty, the deserts to the north, and two days in the steppe near Astana. Because of the uncertainty of independent travel in Central Asia, we arranged for a car and driver through a bird tour company. Our driver had instructions to arrive at the locations to look for the staked out species, but he didn't know why he was stopping at the particular spot. Hank and I would get out of the car, size up the habitat and then try to guess what bird we were supposed to see there. It was kinda fun, and we ended up getting just about everything we needed. Indeed, I only missed two birds that I needed, Black-headed Penduline Tit and Pin-tailed Sandgrouse.

A perky White-tailed Rubythroat at the observatory above Almaty.

The rare Pallas' Sandgrouse in the desert east of Almaty.

The handsome Sociable Lapwing seen in the steppe was not a lifer.

After leaving Hank, I went to Uzbekistan and western China, with the primary goal of seeing ground jays. I was very lucky, and managed to find both possible species including the local Biddulph's Ground Jay in Xinjiang (photo).

In September the girls and I went to Ladakh over the Labor Day weekend. The main targets were the Tibetan Sandgrouse and Black-necked Crane. The sandgrouse, a Tibetan plateau endemic, is probably the most difficult Tibetan speciality to find in the usual part of Tibet where birders visit. With only that and the European Pin-tailed Sandgrouse left to complete the family, going to Ladakh was key to my success. The crane would finish out the family for me and seeing it on its breeding grounds would be a real treat.

The idea was to visit the area SE of Tso Kar, a lake situated at 4600m (15,000ft). After acclimatizing for one night in Ladakh's capital Leh, the three of us headed for the roof of the world. The two lifers were easy, and both were in the bag within an hour of arrival.

The Tibetan Sandgrouse along the road was very cooperative.

Finding the Black-necked Crane was easy, but I kept my distance so not to disturb them.

In July, I was getting close to 8100, and was hoping to get a memorable bird for the milestone. The Cheer Pheasant, a bird that both Kimberly and my brother Hank had seen -- and I had not, was a good choice, but my trip to the Himalayas at Nani Tal came up one bird short. The endangered pheasant was number 8099. I next tried the monsoon grasslands of Gujarat for the nomadic Lesser Florican, a bird that performs a wonderful display, popping out of the grass like a black and white Jack-in-the-Box. The florican was outstanding!

A Lesser Florican, number 8100, popping out of the grass at Velevadar NP.

The same image, with the florican magnified.

In addition to these great trips, I also had an opportunity to visit the Andaman Islands on business (where I got all but one of the possible endemcs) and I was able to make a weekend trip to Sri Lanka where I caught up with all but one of the traditional endemics there. (I detect a trend and I'll have to fix!)

My last lifer trip was a great voyage to Pushkar, with my brother Reed and his family. The targets were one bird that I've wanted for a long time (White-bellied Minivet), and another that is fairly widespread but rarely reported (Rock Bush Quail). Fortunately, both cooperated.

So as the year 2007 ends, I am looking forward to the year ahead. I've got only 11 birds to see in pennsular India, including seven potential lifers in the South. Apart from that, I will be trying to focus on the north-east, home of some 100 possible lifers. On New Years day my family and I are flying to Kaziranga for four days. While there are 15 potential species in the park, I'm only likely to get five or six, since I won't be birding that seriously.

I am also planning a trip to EagleNest Reserve and Shillong in March with Hank, where I should pick up over 30 new species. When added to a summer swing through NE Tibet to twitch the Pink-tailed Bunting (a recently recognized family -- I need to get it to keep my record perfect) I should again meet my goal of 50 lifers a year.

Here's hoping that your birds are cooperative and that your travels are safe.

KAESTNER'S NEW DELHI CHRISTMAS 2007

Greetings from India!

Our family taken at the Pushkar Camel Festival.

Photo by my brother Reed Kaestner.

Introduction:

As 2007 comes to an end, I am trying a new way to communicate our yearly news. I hope that by publishing on the web, we will be able to get our information out in a more timely manner and to be able to get feedback on it in real time. In addition, it saves resources by not printing and mailing 75 color letters. This yeaar my Chrstmas e-mail list includes over 250 people, so this format will increase my ability to stay in touch with friends near and far.

On the down side, the blog format will change my writing and editing styles, and it will likely take some time for me to figure it out. In the interim, please bear with me as I move into the Internet age.

Our second year in India has been great, as we have continued to explore this dynamic and diverse country. In addition, I have stepped up the tempo of my birding, which has yielded a bunch of lifers. In addition, we've had a lot of visitors, including my brother Reed and his family who came through in the end of November and my brother John and his family who arrived December 22.

We continue to be active in our church, the Delhi International Christian Fellowship, which has been thriving as the expatriate population of Delhi grows. We have enjoyed worshipping with our pastor from Guatemala, Karl Smith, and otherwise supporting the congregation.


Travel:

We made trips to Corbett Park, Ladakh, Agra, Kerala, Ranthambore Park, and Pushkar ths year. At Corbett, we had a fun time looking (unsuccessfully) for Tiger and seeing lots of birds. The highlight was a ride on an elephant through the dense forest.

Our shadow on a cliff in Corbett Park.

Of course, our visit to Agra was magical. I have been to the Taj Mahal over a dozen times, and every time I walk through the gate and see that spectacular building. One of the most interesting places we saw was Akbar's tomb in Sikander. In the evening light, the ancient monument took on a aura of its own. One of the highlights of the place are the animals. As dusk approached, the lawns were full of Blackbuck, Peafowl, Rhesus Monkeys, and Langurs.

Taj Mahal

One of the most interesting trips of the year was one that Kimberly missed. The girls and I went to Ladakh, a part of the Tibetan plateau that is politically part of India. While the main reason for going was to see some Tibetan birds (see my bird blog), but we were not prepared for the stark beauty of the landscape. In some ways it reminded us of Namibia, where the dry climate allows you to see right through the geology of the earth.

Photos from Ladakh.

Tibetan Asses watch me from afar.

Our camp at 15,000 feet

Ladakh's stunning geology.

Our travel to Kerala over the Indian holiday of Diwali was nice, but we ended up biting off more that we could chew. We did a four-day visit that included a tour of the historical district of Kochi, a trip up into the high mountains of the Western Ghats, and a night on a houseboat plying the famed backwaters. We might have pulled off the ambitious trip, but for our driver. Thomas (yes, 40% of Kerala is Christian) was a particularly safe driver, and as a result, he drove with an agonizing deliberativeness. As we drove from the coast up to Periyar Park, our car was being passed by every manner of wheeled conveyance, even motor rickshaws and dump trucks full of rocks. While the mountains were beautiful, we mostly saw them from the frustrating vantage of our snail-car.

One of the goals of the trip was to see animals, and we did find the commensal Bonnet Macaque, the striking Nilgiri Langur, and the impressive Indian Giant Squirrel. Kimberly, Laurel, and I were -- after a long and acimonious negotiation -- able to go on a short walk in the forest at Periyar, where we saw a small black snake and hundreds of land leechs.

The highlight of the trip was a trip on the backwaters of Kerala, a delightfully tranquil area of canals, palm trees and tropical villages. We had a whole boat to ourselves, which was a real treat.

The tranquil backwaters of Kerala.

Our last family trip was a visit to see my brother Reed and his family at the Pushkar Camel Festival. The town is located on the fringe of the Thar Desert, and is the center of a massive festival of camel trading, religious devotion, and general revelerie. Hundreds of thousands of people congregate in the area, making it a perfect place for photographers.

A Rajasthani Dancer at Pushkar.

Kimberly --on camel back -- surveys the Pushkar crowd.

People's News:

Laurel is doing well, and is enjoying her junior year. This year, a family from Cairo that we knew well came to Delhi and Laurel was reunited with one of her friends from Egypt. Her big news, however, was that she finally got her left knee fixed, when she had surgery for an unstable patela in November. While the recuperation will be a challenge, she is excited about being able to finally do sports. Notwithstanding her bad knee, Laurel led the Kaestner women as stalwarts of the American Embassy School's women's softball team. Finally, she continued her claranet play, filling theschool's second seat this year.

Katie this year has been leading up to her college applications, three of which are still pending today. This past summer we did a marathon college visit trip, seeing schools in Maryland, Ohio, and Michigan. She ended up applying to three schools, Washington, Hillsdale, and Hope Colleges. Right now, she is waiting for word from her early action applications. Katie was a real sport as she learned how to play softball with Laurel and Kimberly. She also worked on her photography, and is now published.

Kimberly had an eventful year, as she was re-assigned to the systems office of the Embassy effective in the summer of 2008. She also was one of the solid performers on the AES women's softball team, that placed fourth in the league. Finally, she joined the polo club so that she and Katie could ride through the forest of Delhi's ridge. This year, we ran (walked) with the HASH less than in the past, but had some memorable outings.

Peter has had a memorable year, with a productive time at work and lots of brding opportunities. His year culminated in his promotion to Minister Counselor. This means that he will have nine more years of work in the State Department, if he decides to. Since the girls will both be in college when the assignment in New Delhi ends in the summer of 2009, at least one more tour is likely.

I hope that you have ejoyed our Christmas letter blog. I trust that it will improve with age and become as informative as our letters of old. Please send me your comments so that I can improve it.

We wish you a very memorable Christmas and a wonderful New Year, full of fun and fulfillment.

Love,

Peter, Kimberly, Katie, Laurel, and Rocky