August month in Rajasthan is special for birding because of Lesser Florican in Shokhaliya Village in Nasirabad in Rajasthan. Nasirabad is near Ajmer which is well conencted by trains from many cities of India. Some one has used Shokaliya as the spelling in Google maps, so if some one is searching Shokhaliya, which is commonly used spelling, one may not be able to locate it.
Shokhaliya village is approximately 6KM from NH-76 Highway, from Kota Mod Choraha ( Kota Road ) towards Kota. This area is also known for Great Indian Bustard, and most probably its a myth now as we have not actually met anyone who has seen Great Indian Bustard recently in that area. Most probably, they have migrated to some other areas, mainly due to mining activities in some areas there.
We, IndiaBirding team, Pradeep Joshi ( Sukhuwal), Ashish Paliwal, Vijendra Prakash Parmar and Dr. Durgesh Sharma went to Shokaliya on 24th August 2014 to see elusive Lesser Florican. We could see 6 lesser florican at different places in the area.
This year, many birders came from various places and some birders like Mr. Surendra Singh Chouhan has seen female lesser Florican and was able to take beautiful photograph of her. It was also published in news paper.
This time, rain started a late in Rajasthan, so last week of August was ideal for watching Lesser Florican. Male lesser florican display during morning and evening if it its sunny and hot, else day display whole day if its cloudy.
It is a challenge to photograph Lesser Florican as they are very shy and does not allow human to come near to them. It is best to photograph when its jumping while displaying to attract female lesser florican.
Apart from Lesser Florican, Shokaliya is good place to photograph Indian Eagle owl, Rain Quail, Great Thick Nee or Indian Stone Curlew, Indian Courser, Chestnut Bellied Sandgrouse, Painted Sandgrouse, Black Winged Kite, Indian Roller, Rofus Fronted Prinia, Rock Bush Quail, Jungle Bush Quail, Grey Francolin among others.
