Rajasthan birding - Keoladeo Ghana National Park (Bharatpur)

Rajasthan trip report here...

With spare days now on hand and Raja not available in Jaipur, we dashed off to Keoladeo Ghana National Park or more commonly called the Bharatpur bird sanctuary to spend our remaining days of the trip that turned out to be an excellent decision with us being there at the right time. Bharatpur, is as small area but is an excellent avifauna sanctuary that hosts thousands of birds, especially during the winter season and people flock here for many reasons – photography, bird watching, cycling around the whole park or just walking and spending quality time listening to the birds and nothing else.

Rajasthan Birding - Jorbeed, Chhapar

Rajasthan trip report here...

Early next day, we were off to one of the most anticipated places on our list – a dumping yard! Yes. Jorbeed is a carcass dumping yard where carcass is treated and dumped and where you get to see a huge diversity of birdlife. This small patch of land is probably where you will see the highes congregation of vultures of many kinds, all in one place. Diclonofenac literally had wiped out the vulutre population from India, but awareness and banning of the drug has seen the population of vulutres recover slowly, but the threat remains large as few species of vultures are still classified as critically endangered.

Rajasthan birding - RTR & DNP

Rajasthan – this name brings to anyone’s mind thoughts about desert, camels, oasis, sand dunes and people in colorful attire; while there’s much more to Rajasthan than just these. Sample these – huge forts, palaces, a hill station, wildlife parks, bird sanctuaries and mouth-watering taste of food. Desert National Park (DNP), Ranthambore Tiger Reserve (RTR), Sariska Tiger Reserve, Keoladeo Ghana National Park or the Bharatpur bird sanctuary, Tal Chappar (TC) wildlife sanctuary are some of the prominent wildlife habitats that host the critically endangered but magnificent Great Indian Bustard (GIB) to a good population of Tigers, Blackbucks, Caracals, Bustards, Cranes and a whole lot of more that can only be seen by exploring the vast state.

Ever since my friend Raja Bandi moved to Rajasthan, there was an open invite for me to visit and me along with Kannan and Harish sir ensured the invite was used judiciously by touring Rajasthan and exploring the wildlife for a good two weeks. Also, should I say, I shopped till I dropped ensuring my baggage over ran its limitation on our return journey 😊. We did this circuit ex-Jaipur by hiring a local cab, a Qualis with a jugaad AC set-up to beat the heat of the desert land.

Jaipur - Ranthambore - Jaipur - Jaisalmer - Desert National Park (Khuri/Sudasari) - Kuldhara - Phalodi(Khichan) - Bikaner - Tal Chaapar - Sujangarh - Jaipur - Bharatpur - Jaipur for a good two weeks enduring the hot days and the chilly nights, particularly harsh were the three nights we stayed at the Desert National Park.

Magadi lake - a conservation success story

Hello,

(a delight to watch... Bar-headed Goose)

I was so keen on sighting the Bar-headed Goose (Anser indicus), that I took few others scanning lakes around Magadi, close to Bengaluru a couple of years ago in search of them and our efforts paid fruit when I could sight them at Markonahalli reservoir but at a very far distance. It was enough for me to glee that I was able to see the prolific travelers (they visit from as afar as Mongolia flying over the Himalayas...!)

Last year having heard more than enough of another 'Magadi (tank) lake'; this one near Gadag town in North Karnataka about 350kms from Bengaluru, that hosts more than 3000+ of the Bar-headed Goose every winter when they come visiting was enough to set me packing to go and witness it live.

(early morning high key images)

Saandip Nandagudi, prolific birder and wildlife photographer, Yogananda Thandra and comedy king Avinash Kannammanavar okay'd to accompany me and we drove down to Lakshmeshwar, about 350kms away and the closest town to the lake. We had contacted Somanna, the forest department temporary guard there for directions and accommodation options and he was of great help for us and one should accolade the hard work he puts in for the protection and conservation of the species for the entire period they stay here.

I am fond of North Karnataka style and varieties of food and an roadside eatery catered to our early morning pangs so much so that it set Saandip on fire because of the spices; well... I enjoyed it :) We stayed put at the PWD IB at Lakshmeshwar that is okay, a better choice would be a hotel near the bus stand that offers decent accommodation as well as food (hotel below and lodging on top) and the food was good while we stayed there.

'Toilets' and 'use of toilets' are something non-existent even today in many places and Magadi town is no exception to this and having a lake is like an attraction where many people openly defaecate in the early hours of the day. I'm stating this to highlight not only the good things but also the practical ground realities that exist and would see if visiting there.

(Brahminy Shelducks)

(they fly in formations...)

(typical landing amidst chaos...)

Getting back to the Geese's, they are called so because of the bars on their neck and are known for their long distance flying, all the way from Mongolia and other European regions to peninsular India crossing over the mighty Himalayas. They breed in the high altitude regions of Ladakh and China and fly down south to pass the harsh winters up north. Another intriguing as well as mind blowing fact about them is that they return to the same wintering hotspot year after year, retracing their path with the help of tailwinds and are capable of covering more than 1000 miles in a single stretch!!!

Their routine is very simple: As the dawn breaks, they all take off in batches with their 'honking' sound and disperse off the fields to feed on groundnuts, corn, rice and other crops and travel long distances in search of food. Sometime between 8-9 am, they all return back to the lake and spend the rest of the day in the lake. They repeat the feeding cycle once in the evening and congregate back by nightfall and prefer to spend the night in the middle of the lake, the deepest part to avoid predators and dogs.

(long distance flyers...)

Specific to Magadi lake, the forest department has done a commendable job in ensuring its protection and declaration as a conservation reserve. Mr Vijay Mohan Raj (VMR), IFS officer is one of the pioneers who played a role in conserving this lake. Somanna, the guard has been given a field scope by the North Karnataka Birders Assocn and a 3-tier watchtower is built by the department to keep a vigil over the lake and also to keep a track of the 'ringed' birds that come in every year. Somanna is keeping a log track of all the 'ringed' birds that visit the lake every year and the information is communicated back to the originator that helps in understanding a lot about the species and their lifestyle. Somanna once rescued a goose that was injured and nursed it back to health on his own with the help of a local vet and is happy that it joined the group back in good health; but his hard work needs to be recognized by the department and sufficient grants/privileges should be released to ensure he can sustain his family while working for conserving the lake and the species that visit them. If he moves on in search of greener pastures and more income, that would be a great loss for the lake and its visitors.

(Painted Stork in flight)

(Northern Shovelers in flight)

(pair of Indian Coursers from a nearby field)

Not only the Bar-headed Goose, we also saw a plentiful of other species such as Brahminy Ducks, Painted Storks, Egrets, Cormorants, Northern Shovelers, Indian Peafowl, Bonelli's Eagle's, Caspian Terns, Hume's Whitethroat and many others, epitomizing the fact that 'you save one species, a hundred more get saved with them'. We were also lucky to sight Indian Coursers in a field where we had wandered off losing our way.

I will list typically what to do and what not to do if you are visiting there:

• Do reach the place early, in fact before dawn and position yourself closer to the banks (empower yourself with the knowledge of east direction)

• Do sit still without movements till they feel comfortable in your presence

• Do not move around like crazy or keep frittering around. A little discomfort... and off they go!

• Patience and perseverance pays

• Afternoon is hot, ideal to end morning session by 10am and return back for evening session by 3pm. Winters will be awfully cold in the morning, tendency to dip low.

• Be a silent visitor and leave no traces of your visit.

• Inform and report any unusual sightings to the guard over there. Try and collect more information about any ringed birds you see.

Other Information:

• Magadi lake is in Magadi, a small village of Shirahatti Taluka in the district of Gadag. Lakshmeshwar town is 11kms from the lake and Gadag is 26kms from the lake. Bangalore is at a distance of 350+ kms and the road is good enough for a self drive and takes about 8hours.

• Magadi (tank) lake houses the Magadi bird sanctuary and spread over 140 acres is a biodiversity hotspot and declared as an IBA (Important Bird Area).

• Accommodation and Food at Lakshmeshwar (PWD IB or a local hotel near bus stand)

• Time to visit: November to February

(difficult to catch loner in a frame...)

(end of a long day...)

Also, please read these blog written on and about the same place...
Saandip Nandagudi's blog
Yashpal's blog
Dr Arun's article on JLRexplore

Andamans - final part

Read the earlier post here...

In the last post, I had showcased images of some of the birds we could see on our trip. Continuing that in this post, I will few more images not only restricted to birds but also covering landscapes, butterflies and some generic.

Hope to have your attention :)

Also adding few notes to help the travelers out there who intend to explore the island for some birding and travel.

Notes:
> We traveled by Air from Chennai to Port Blair and return in the same way. Blr-Chennai was covered by Shatabdi express train. Taking a stopover flight from Blr-Portable would be ideal if a good airfare offer is on.

> Standard taxi fares in Port Blair (irrespective of vehicle size and make), so chose a bigger vehicle for space and flexibility. Rates are fixed for destinations and day long hires costs are also fixed, roughly about 2500/- when we went in 2013.

> We stayed at Hotel Aparupa that is a budget hotel and mind you budget hotel fares start only from about 1500+ tax for a small and simple double room. Food is extra.

> Only two (if I'm not wrong) 'vegetarian' hotels in Port Blair and are little expensive. In general, most of the decent hotels are expensive. Don't expect non-veg food to be cheap, they are equally expensive.

> Port Blair, being an island is very small and houses most of the facilities that you would need on your trip with the airport and the harbor.

> Rates compared to any other tourism places is on the higher side and you will definitely feel it if you are traveling on your own.

> Havelock Island is by far the most popular and the touristy island, renowned for its world famous Radhanagar beach, that we visited and sure is one of the best in the world.

> Havelock Island and Chidiyatapu are the locations for scuba diving, the former preferred more, but we did it in Chidiyatapu and enjoyed it. Read it here.

> Ross Island, Viper Island, Small Andamans, Neil island are some of the important islands on the tourist circuit.

> Cellular Jail in Port Blair, Caves at Ross Island, Sunset at Havelock are some of the places/activities not to be missed.

> Vikram Shil was our guide who is a localite and knows the locations very well and is the preferred person by any individual/group visiting. He is generally booked well in advance and can be reached on +91 9434262681

> Please remember, nature can play havoc anytime it wants to and could be in the form of cyclones, tsunami or dull, cloudy days. Any amount of planning or precaution may or may not work in your favor and keeping calm and having spare days on hand is ideal.

> Again, the airport / port functions if the weather is ideal, else you are 'stuck' there till the conditions turn favorable.

> Sun rises very early here and sets very early. So, at 6pm you are staring at pitch darkness and at 5am you have bright sunshine.

> Birding in general is difficult as the canopies are very high and light reaching the base is very less and in some places nil. The birding is mostly from the roads or near marshes and not many trails inside.

> You may see snakes, birds, butterflies but sighting the big mammals is very difficult considering how dense the forests are, in fact there are no big cats in the Islands.

> Narcondam Hornbill is a bird every birder would have on his wishlist, but unfortunately the island is a no-go with permissions not given to visit as it's a secured location. Nicobar islands hold many gems and again visiting them is practically difficult and permissions, very hard to obtain.

Below is a video of the nature's wrath we felt, cyclone Lehar unleashing its fury. Sadly, no news of Andaman & Nicobars is considered worth to be of national news importance and hardly shown in the mainstream media.

Below are other images that I was able to get through my visit to the islands.

(Light availability is difficult in many places)

(boundaries are only for man!)

(Andaman Tree Nymph, a very delicate butterfly that glides)

(Brown Shrike, this is a subspecies of the mainland visitor that visits this region)

(An un-id'd snake, found it crossing the road in the evening)

(Blue-tailed bee-eater, again a subspecies that visits this region)

(White-breasted Woodswallow, found only in the Havelock Island)

(Andaman Monitor Lizard, unexpected catch from the mangroves)

(Eastern Jungle Crow)

(A couple enjoying the sunset at Radhanagar beach, Havelock Island)

That's it from me folks for now :)

Capturing Wildlife moments - by Ashok Mahindra

Capturing Wildlife moments - A coffee table book by Ashok Mahindra

I have glanced through many books and quite a lot of them are either too monopolistic (focusing only on one subject like the tiger or the elephant) or too dramatic (some carry more photos of the people than wildlife itself)..., but this book caught my attention with varied subjects being showcased right from a common sparrow to the very elusive Malayan Giant Squirrel. This for me in itself speaks about the intent of this book that is aptly described by the author, Ashok Mahindra as below…

“My endeavor as a photographer is to encourage people to care for all threatened species – from the smallest insects to the biggest cats – before it is too late”.

Let me highlight some of the strong points from my viewpoint about this book…

1. Malayan Giant Squirrel, Himalayan Black Bear, Hoolock Gibbon, Wild Buffallo, Stump-tailed Macaque, Pallas’s Fish Eagle, Gharials representation with descriptions is the winning point of this book.

2. Mangrove roots, Termite mounds, Trees of Kanha & Bandhavgarh along with some behavioral descriptions and illustrations caught my attention that emphasizes the importance of everything in the wild, be it big or small, be it flora or fauna.

3. The lesser fauna (to the large sect of people) representation such as the frogs, butterflies, spiders, gecko along with their behavioral description is sure to hold the reader’s attention providing them insights into many forms of life that they would have been ignorant about.

4. The big mammals like the tigers, elephants, lions, leopards, rhino with some interesting facts and stories about them fill the dominant part of the book.

5. Pictorial representation of common species like the cormorant, sparrow, kingfisher, painted stork is sure a differentiator from many books that tend to overlook them.

6. Some of the images are stories by themselves like the couple of rich landscape photos or some of those individual tiger frames or the photos showcasing elephant behaviors.

7. The Thirteen ways forward conceptualized by Ashok Mahindra effectively summaries the current situation we are in and what needs to be done.

8. The author has covered a large portion of the wildlife inhabited areas in India ranging from Dachigam in Kashmir to Valapari in Tamil Nadu and from Gir in Gujarat to Kaziranga in Assam that speaks about the voluminous effort put in and it’s very likely this collection is over a period of many years of traveling the wild in India.

What I felt could have been better in the book was the layout formation and more emphasis on certain text (highlights in a paragraph) and inclusion of scientific names would have added more value.

For a nature lover, seeing wildlife is complete bliss and taking the effort to compile them and add substantial information about their status, behavior, distribution, threats is itself an accomplishment worth accolades.

Overall, a good coffee table book to read through that conveys a very strong message and hopes to inspire the young Indian generation in conserving what is left of the natural resources.


"This post is a part of the book review program of at Saevus Wildlife India in association with The Hemchand Mahindra Foundation for the book Capturing Wildlife Moments in India"

Andamans birding

Day 1 - Scuba diving at Chidiyatapu
Day 2 - Jirkatang road birding
Day 3 - wash out due to Lehar cyclone
Day 4 - Chidiyatapu birding trails and local harbour
Day 5 - Chidiyatapur trails and Sippy ghat
Day 6 - Havelock Island
Day 7 - Jirkatang road birding
Day 8 - Corbyn's Cove and departure

In short, this was the summary of our week long birding and wildlife trip to the Andaman islands of which two full days were lost due to the Lehar cyclone that hampered the weather, our plans and made us miss quite a few species that were otherwise had to be seen.

Tsunami had a devastating effect on these islands and the proofs of that are still evident today with numerous localities lost and some tracts of land lost forever to the might of the sea/ocean. Lehar cyclone came in unexpected and hit with greater impact than expected (was expected to be a passing one with the impact being a gloomy half day with some showers) and Mount Harriet and Havelock islands bore most of the severity of the cyclone.

We thought of cancelling and pulling out mid way but when the cyclone hits the islands, all services are disrupted and importantly the air services are cancelled for the days till the impact reduces. So, in short we were stuck on the island and had to bear the gloomy days. Being positive thinkers and having planned and spent, we decided to complete our trip to the T and then return as per our schedule. Photography wise, it was not very fulfilling but sighting the species through your eyes and binoculars were rewarding enough.

Overall, birding in Andamans is no easy job, there are no definite trails as such and most of the forest birding happens from the road. Jirkatang trail is a traffic magnet as this road passes through the Jarawa reserve that has restricted timeline and the vehicles are always in a hurry to cover that stretch. Early mornings and early evenings are the order of the day which means early morning birding is the best bet and evening sessions would be short and a bit tricky. Darkness sets in very fast and you need to spend long evenings everyday.

Added to all the above, the vegetation in Andaman and Nicobar islands are tropical rain forests and the trees compete with each other in growing tall and at many places, the sun barely gets a chance to reach the ground that means light is quite tricky for birding. Species wise, almost all that you see in this region are either new for you (if you are visiting for the first time) or are subspecies of the mainland species. So, it's like you need to make a note of everything you see including the most common ones too as you never know for tomorrow they may be classified as a new species in itself.

For us, Chidiyatapu and Jirkatang was the best trails in terms of species seen as we got to see the Anadaman Woodpecker, Andaman Drongo, Andaman Bulbul, Andaman Serpent Eagle, Andaman Scops Owl, Andaman Cuckoo Dove, Violet Cuckoo, Andaman Nightjar, Andaman Shama, Andaman Hawk Owl, Andaman Treepie, Andaman Teal, Olive-backed Sunbird, White-headed Starling and many more species.

I'll add below a few species that I could document for you guys out there to see and enjoy from the Andaman islands. Please note they are nowhere close to good but yet want to showcase what we got to see.

(pair of Changeable Hawk Eagle)

(Andaman Coucal)

(Andaman Woodpecker, most commonly seen)

(Andaman Treepie, always prefers to be inside...)

(Red-breasted Parakeet and the moon)

(Crested Serpent Eagle, Andaman subspecies)

(Andaman / Sunda Teal, their numbers have gone down after the Tsunami)

(Collared Kingfisher, Andaman subspecies, the most common Kingfisher seen here)

(Hume's Hawk Owl, Andaman speciality)

(Andaman Hawk Owl, another Andaman speciality)

(Violet Cuckoo, one of the most colorful birds)

(Andaman Cuckoo Dove, another Andaman specialty)

(Blue-eared Kingfisher)

(this was being chased about by the bully Stork-billed Kingfisher)

I'll try and fit in shots of landscape, butterflies and few more birds in the next post.

Till then... Adios!