November 21st - Birding south of Pune

Jane came to India to see birds and on this day we certainly did.  Our two very knowledgable guides arrived a bit after 6:30 and off we went.  The trip to the Mayureshwar Sanctuary is 76 km and should take one and a half hours plus a stop for breakfast and lunch.  With all the stops into various byways where there were interesting birds to watch, we arrived at 3:30.  Jane estimates that she saw 76 separate species.  I must have too but not being a real birder remember maybe 4.  I really liked the painted stork, the flamingos and a rather lovely irredescent blue kingfisher.  I'm teasing a bit here but I enjoyed the day very much. 
The nature preserve while small had a very interesting landscape, looking more like an african savanna than India.  We saw a number of Indian gazelles and climbed a watch tower at the highest point.  Very peaceful and beautiful.
The restaurants we stopped at for breakfast, lunch and tea were very enjoyable with different foods at each - all vegetarian.  Over the meals, we chatted with the guides.  One of them has just opened an Italian restaurant in Pune.  He talked a lot about India and the need for education and hygiene to improve the standard of living.  I think the money being spent on airports and medical tourism while people were struggling to survive bothered him a lot and it was a very interesting discussion.