Visual Quotient

Nightlife in the Rann is very interesting!! As the sun sets, most birds go to roost.

Some of them get active around that time. The Syke’s Nightjar is one of them. On the day of our arrival at Kutch, Mr. Dhanraj Malik promised that we would definitely get this lifer.

A couple of days after we landed at LRK, we finished our evening safari and headed to another place in the Rann where Mr. Dhanraj was waiting for us. After the evening tea, we waiting till it was completely dark.

Then, we started off in a jeep with Mr. Dhanraj flashing a searchlight in all directions. His expertise at this was truly remarkable as he was winding his way through the emptiness of the Rann and at the same time making sure he doesn’t miss the most likely places to spot the nightjar. For me or anyone else unaccustomed to the Rann, this would’ve been like searching in the dark.

And sure enough, we found the Syke’s Nightjar. This one seemed a bit skittish; not really waiting on the ground despite the searchlight. Then we found another. And another. And another. So many of them scattered all over the Rann.

The beautiful bird was so well camouflaged with the ground even in the dark. It allowed us to approach fairly close on foot with the searchlight on it. The first nightjar that I’ve been able to observe at such close quarters.

Searching for the nightjar, we came across 2 Jungle Cats (Felix chaus) in the Rann. Though pretty far away, we could admire them with the help of the strong searchlights. Another night, we took a short drive around the villages and found another one. Got this record shot.

If you are visiting the Rann, my strong recommendation would be to spend some time at night in the open Rann. The vast openness, the silence, the stars and the moon can be truly mesmerizing.