10- 13 November 2018
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| Malabar pied hornbill |
Headed to Goa...? Well, enjoy the beaches.
Now that’s
what friends would say if you tell them you are planning a trip to this former
Portugese colony. The truth however is that Goa stands to offer a little more
than that.
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| Giant wood spider |
It depends, of
course, entirely on what you are seeking.
As some of my friends who were simultaneously vacationing in Goa remarked
“the beaches seem to be a bit crowded this year”!! Most of us visiting the
beaches would wholeheartedly concur. A chance conversation with an interesting
co-passenger in the train revealed that he, having been brought up in Dadar,
worked in Silicon valley, quit to return to India, and having searched for a ‘liveable’ place in India, found a
piece of heaven near Anjuna!! So I guess there is a different Goa for everyone
after all..
Since it was
the post Diwali extended weekend, we found ourselves surrounded by huge and
jolly crowds of holidaymakers, school trip groups, honeymooners and so on at
the Margao railway station on the Konkan railway route. As we were trying to
find our way to our group, one young man asked me “sir which way to Calangute?” All roads it seems led to some beach or
the other!! Our Goa was revealed to us as
soon as we headed eastwards towards Maina lake after a quick breakfast stop at
Krishna Udipi (Margao bypass,Borda) .
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| Maina lake / St Rita's church |
Those of us
who assumed from the name that it would be a place to spot little else but a
variety of starlings, were in for a surprise as we parked at the edge of this
huge piecuresque lake filled with a variety of ducks among the pink and white
lotus blooms . It was overlooked by the
small but neat looking St Rita’s Church where the devout were seeking the
blessings of the Almighty.
The Almighty
blessed us as well, with a breathtaking display of giant flocks of glossy ibis
numbering a few hundred which settled in and vanished in the paddy field opposite
the lake.
We were of
course more captivated by the sightings of the cotton pygmy goose and other
ducks and raptors overhead. An unfortunate Baillon's crake had met an
untimely death, probably due to a road kill. Holding the featherweight avian
felt surreal as one realized that living birds appear to be so much bigger and
heavier...
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| Masterclass on the Baillons crake |
Also surreal was the revelation by Adesh that in the wild, a bird
could seldom die of old age. A predator was always lurking around for it to get
slightly sick or weak. So the question “what is the average lifespan of a bird”
was indeed a difficult one to accurately answer, and the recorded age of some captive
birds was indeed astonishing if not also misleading. The beautifully told tale
of William, the hornbill which represents BNHS, is the reason why many of us
prefer to do our birding the NatureIndia way.
We were soon on
our way into the ghats of central Goa. The drive along the predominantly laterite hills felt so much like home for
me since my village is only a short distance away, across the border in Ratnagiri. Another revelation was that all the houses
had freshly painted Tulsi vrindavans in the front yard and gaily coloured Akash
Kandils hanging all around. A clear indicator that, while coastal Goa was
predominantly Christian, with the famous churches that are part of any tourist
itinerary, the interior was mostly Hindu and dotted with various temples.
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| Natures nest, Surli, Goa |
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| A trail inside the resort! |
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| The resort |
A two hour drive
on narrow but very well kempt roads brought us to our resort at Surli village
near the Bhagwan Mahaveer WLS. Natures nest is truly a jewel; its reputation
fully deserved. It is thoughtfully and
tastefully constructed to enable one to immerse in the lap of nature, while
affording all the necessary comforts.
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| The foot spa |
It even boasts of a small stream and pond
which bubbles magically when one claps loudly. Nobody knows why for sure but a
possible explanation is gas release from the underlying limestone. The tiny
fish therein do however know how to make a meal out of the dead skin on ones
feet, thus providing for a natural foot spa for weary travellers.
Just as we
entered the resort, all exhaustion of the overnight journey and bus ride was
quickly forgotten as we were treated to an eye level display of resplendently coloured
crimson backed sunbirds in front of the dining area.
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| Crimson backed sunbird male |
Though the appetite for photographing
sunbirds in good light can scarcely be whetted, the elaborate spread laid out
in earthen pots was quite tempting. Not only were we treated to a sumptuous variety
of local vegetables and seafood, the chefs made sure that we “roti eating city
people” were given a delectable taste of
a variety of millet bhakris and soul kadi .
I assume that even the staff working in such
pristine environments gets their soul cleansed thoroughly. A conclusion i came upon
while waiting for the early morning tea at 0545 when i heard the cooks brewing
the pot to strains of soft meditative music.
The evening
trail near the village rewarded us with spectacular sightings of the Malabar
barbet and the Malabar parakeets. The little green bee eaters and flowerpeckers
were also seen in good numbers.
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| Malabar barbet |
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| Little green bee eater |
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| Malabar parakeet |
The next
morning’s birding started after the customary salutations to the Indian
lorikeets hanging on the powder puff tree at the resort gate. We soon found ourselves chasing the endemic
Vigors sunbird which seemed to have a particular liking for the banana flowers.
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| Indian lorikeet |
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| Vigor's sunbird |
Also being chased away was the Little spiderhunter which unfortunately had
fallen foul of the territorial claims of the sunbirds.
The birding
trails were along the roads proceeding towards the Bondla WLS including the Zoo
area in the west and towards the Bhagwan Mahaveer WLS including the Tambdi
Surla temple towards the east.
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| Brahmani temple |
We found that
areas near the bridges, temples and villages were the best places for
sightings. The jungle stretches, though beautiful and promising to hold the
Malabar trogon, turned out to be frustrating and neck breaking.
The trail
towards the Bondla zoo area included a breakfast stop outside the Ganjeshwari
temple. This area is considered a premium birding spot and we saw a busload of
foreigners who seemed serious birders going by the individual scopes that each
of them was carrying. We were however focussing on the innovatively packed
breakfast (in plastic breadboxes) and so the birds decided to give us a go by.
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| Ganjeshwari temple, Bondla WLS |
The zoo
canteen area threw up a dizzying display by the highly camouflaged flying
lizard (Draco). The only giveaway was when it extended the gular flag (throat
pouch). The most dramatic appearance was when it extended the patagia (wings)
just before it took off to smoothly glide from tree to tree.
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| Flying lizard (Draco) |
Though the
superstructure is nicely built, sadly, the canteen was disappointingly manned
and provisioned and could provide what could only be described as a survival
meal.
The highlight
of the evening at the bridge was the spectacle of the Malabar pied hornbills
numbering several dozens, returning to roost on the tall trees overlooking the
river. The clockwork arrival of the little swifts encircling us in progressively
lowering flight levels before finally swooping under the bridge, making a few
loops and then settling down to roost was nothing short of spectacular.
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| Malabar pied hornbill | | |
Infact
throughout the trip we witnessed some unusual (rarely witnessed would be a
better description) bird behaviour including the mobbing by ashy woodswallows
of a marsh harrier, ten times its size. The most dramatic was a fantail like
display by tailor birds and green warblers which seemed to defy logic. It was
only when the sharp eyes of our guide Gajanan spotted a green vine snake, did
it become apparent that the birds had formed a united front against the
reptile.
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| Warbler in attacking posture |
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| Indian yellow tit |
The reason for
an Indian yellow tit pecking at a tree trunk like a woodpecker was revealed
dramatically when it pulled out an almost 2 inch long caterpillar. How it
managed to make a meal out of this bristled poky creature had to be seen to be
believed!!
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| RIP Fluffy😿😿 |
Noticed only
by the felinophiles amongst us, was the resort cat with a fluffy
tail who would be dutifully present to see off and receive the birding parties
every day. Today he was missing when we came back in the evening. It was shocking to learn that he had become the victim of a roadkill in front of the
resort about half an hour after this photo was taken!
This reaffirmed the fact that life is rather transient and that whatever we
thought of doing in our lives, needs to be done right away...Later that night we were told the remarkable story of the book "Birding on borrowed time" by Phoebe Snetsinger (http://www.birderslibrary.com/reviews/books/misc/birding_on_borrowed_time.htm). The lady had been given one year after a cancer diagnosis but went on to become the human who had seen the maximum number of birds in her life..
The next morning’s
sightings included that of one of the smallest - the brown capped pygmy woodpecker, and also that
of the largest - the white bellied woodpecker which drew attention by its loud drumming
behaviour. The bridge area put up spectacular shows of the black rumped munias,
pompadour green pigeons, red rumped swallows, brown cheeked fulvettas and golden
orioles.
The rather shy,
grey headed bulbul did also finally afford a glimpse to those who could wade
into the dense thickets. The crested serpent eagle on the other hand had no
such compunctions and chose to perch on a tall electric pole. The fire throated
bulbul also gave a thrilling display of its rather dramatic colour scheme. The
white rumped shama broke all records by allowing us to photograph her for a
good half an hour and still did not get disturbed at all.
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| Red rumped swallow |
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| Crested serpent eagle |
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| Fire throated bulbul |
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| Pompadour greenpigeons |
The Tambdi
surla temple turned out to a rather well kempt ASI monument being a 13th
century structure made of schist in the Hoysala style, though lacking in the
intricate carvings seen in the temples down south. The forest nearby was
teeming with birdlife including the orange minivets. The march of army ants on
the cobbled floor was eye catching as well.
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| Mahadev temple Tambadi Surla |
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| Army ants |
The night
session at the nearby plateau turned out to be fruitful, though the Jungle
(grey) nightjar finally decided to show up only as we had given up and were
turning back (as it often happens in birding). The bird seemed completely
oblivious to our presence and that of the bright torch lights as we moved away
and left him to consume the insects finding their way into its jar like mouth. We
tried to replicate this gluttonous behaviour later that night at the “surprise”
barbecue at the resort.
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| Jungle (grey) nightjar |
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| Barbecue at the resort 🐔 |
On the last day we headed towards the Karmali lake after a breakfast
stop at the Canopy office nearby. One had to pass through the village to get to
the bund leading to the middle of the lake. We spotted the Isabelline shrike
which not only appears to barely qualify as a shrike, but has been seldom seen
in these parts.
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| Village near karmali lake |
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| Isabelline shrike |
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| Greenshank |
The bright sunny outing
turned out to be a masterclass in wader spotting. Also on display were the
osprey and the marsh harriers. The blue tailed bee eaters were seen pulling
dragonflies out of the air as they perched on the dry trees.
Before heading
for the railway station in the evening, we stopped for a short while at the
nearby Verna fields which yielded the Malabar crested lark and the black
crested buntings. This is also the place where the rather unusual spectacle of
a tiny ashy woodswallow relentlessly mobbing a marsh harrier played out to the
amazement of everyone witnessing.
Just goes to show that in the real world when
it comes to self defence, it isn’t always about size or perceived superiority.
Something that the pilot in the cockpit of the MiG 29 (Naval version, clearly
displaying the hook below the undercarriage) hovering above the fields would
have done well to ponder upon.
Thus ended our
sojourn to Goa with a total birdlist of 150, a gain of a few lifers and some
new birdingmates, and a yearning for more birding stories...
Trip details:
Tour operator: NatureIndia (Adesh Shivkar)
Stay: Natures Nest, Surla, Goa
Camera: Nikon P 600
Permethrin and leech socks are advised for those sensitive to tick bites. There were no leeches at this time.
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| The seekers |
