Little Rann of Kutch Short Birding Tours

The bustling city of Ahmedabad is the starting point of our Short Birding Tours of Little Rann of Kutch. Upon your arrival in Ahmedabad, our representative meets you at the airport, train station or any other location of your choice. We then drive you to the Little Rann of Kutch.

The north-westerly drive from Ahmedabad cuts through several small towns and villages of Gujarat, giving you a rare glimpse into rural India. After a 4-hour ride, we arrive at a pre-booked resort in the Little Rann of Kutch. We check in, and take a short break for rest and lunch before stepping out for a birding excursion around the resort. The location of the resort is such that all it takes is a short stroll to reach the areas swarming with birds. Our schedule of the day is drawn to give you at least half a day for this preliminary birding experience of the Little Rann. If not more, we should clock in at least a few dozen bird species on this short excursion.

In the evening, we return to our resort for dinner and overnight.

After breakfast, we go out for daylong birdwatching in the Little Rann of Kutch. To cover the long checklist of about 200 bird species, we cover different birding trails on each one of the coming days.

The bird targets of our expedition include several types of geese, ducks, flamingos, bitterns and a range of raptors. Among the sought-after birds are the likes of Common Quail, Rain Quail, Rock Bush Quail, Greylag Goose, Bar-headed Goose, Ruddy Shelduck, Cotton Pygmy Goose, Gadwall, Eurasian Wigeon, Indian Spot-billed Duck, Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Garganey, Marbled Duck, Red-crested Pochard, Common Pochard, Ferruginous Duck, Tufted Duck, Great Crested Grebe, Black-necked Grebe, Greater Flamingo, Lesser Flamingo, Painted Stork, Woolly-necked Stork, White Stork, Glossy Ibis, Eurasian Spoonbill, Eurasian Bittern, Yellow Bittern, Cinnamon Bittern, Black-crowned Night Heron, Striated Heron, Western Reef Heron, Great White Pelican, Spot-billed Pelican, Dalmatian Pelican, White-rumped Vulture, Indian Vulture, Red-headed Vulture, Cinereous vulture, Short-toed Snake Eagle, Western Marsh Harrier, Pallid Harrier, Montagu's Harrier, White-eyed Buzzard, Indian Spotted Eagle, Greater Spotted Eagle, Steppe Eagle, Bonelli's Eagle, Booted Eagle, Red-necked Falcon, Eurasian Hobby, Laggar Falcon, Macqueen's Bustard, Brown Crake, Baillon's Crake, and Spotted Crake, besides many others.

In the evening, we return to our resort for dinner and overnight.

The wetlands and marshes of the Little Rann of Kutch yield an interesting variety of cranes, gulls, lapwings, and terns. The scrubs and woods host several kinds of kingfishers, shrikes and bee-eaters. At night, we also look out for nightjars and owls.

We expand the checklist with sightings of birds such as Sarus Crane, Demoiselle Crane, Yellow-legged Buttonquail, Pied Avocet, Yellow-wattled Lapwing, Sociable Lapwing, White-tailed Lapwing, Pacific Golden Plover, Little Ringed Plover, Kentish Plover, Lesser Sand Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Caspian Plover, Black-tailed Godwit, Whimbrel, Marsh Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Sanderling, Temminck's Stint, Dunlin, Ruff, Cream-colored Courser, Indian Courser, Slender-billed Gull, Black-headed Gull, Pallas's Gull, Caspian Gull, Gull-billed Tern, Black-bellied Tern, Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse, Painted Sandgrouse, Yellow-footed Green Pigeon, Greater Coucal, Sirkeer Malkoha, Barn Owl, Rock Eagle-Owl, Short-eared Owl, Grey Nightjar, European Nightjar, Sykes's Nightjar, Indian Nightjar, Savanna Nightjar, Black-capped Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher, Green Bee-eater, Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, Blue-tailed Bee-eater, Yellow-crowned Woodpecker, Brown Shrike, Red-backed Shrike, Isabelline Shrike, Bay-backed Shrike, Long-tailed Shrike, Great Grey Shrike, Indian Golden Oriole, White-browed Fantail, and Asian Paradise Flycatcher.

In the evening, we return to our resort for dinner and overnight.

The birdwatching adventure of Little Rann of Kutch is never complete without the sightings of its many larks, swallows, warblers, prinias, wheatears, and buntings.

The stellar cast in this category includes Singing Bush Lark, Indian Bush Lark, Greater Hoopoe-Lark, Bimaculated Lark, Rufous-tailed Lark, Greater Short-toed Lark, Crested Lark, Sykes's Lark, Oriental Skylark, Black-crowned Sparrow-Lark, Ashy-crowned Sparrow-Lark, White-eared Bulbul, Grey-throated Martin, Barn Swallow, Wire-tailed Swallow, Plain Leaf Warbler, Sulphur-bellied Warbler, Paddyfield Warbler, Blyth's Reed Warbler, Moustached Warbler, Clamorous Reed Warbler, Sykes' Warbler, Booted Warbler, Zitting Cisticola, Rufous-fronted Prinia, Grey-breasted Prinia, Graceful Prinia, Jungle Prinia, Ashy Prinia, Plain Prinia, Lesser Whitethroat, Eastern Orphean Warbler, Desert Warbler, Brahminy Starling, Rosy Starling, Bluethroat, Rufous-tailed Scrub Robin, Stoliczka's Bushchat, Isabelline Wheatear, Pied Wheatear, Desert Wheatear, Variable Wheatear, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Yellow-throated Sparrow, Streaked Weaver, Tawny Pipit, Long-billed Pipit, Tree Pipit, Chestnut-breasted Bunting, Striolated Bunting, Red-headed Bunting, Black-headed Bunting, and Grey-hooded Bunting.

In the evening, we return to our resort for dinner and overnight.

If you wish, we may squeeze in an early morning tour of nearby birding trails of Little Rann of Kutch, before packing up and leaving for Ahmedabad. We go back the way we came in. The drive takes about 4 hours. In Ahmedabad, we drop you at the airport, railway station or any other location of your choice. The Little Rann of Kutch birding adventure comes to an end.