naturestories

Corbett trip report-day 1

2009-03-17T15:52:00.014+05:30

I don't know if Corbett can be called the 'Mecca' of Indian wildlife, for it is our first national park. What I do certainly know however is that it features on every wildlife lover's wishlist, not once but umpteen times even after having seen it & it existed right up there in my wishlist too for donkey's years now. I decided not to let the donkey get any older now (no, not me, its the years I meant) & my D-day was 21st Feb 2009, when I boarded the train to Delhi with 5 of my team-mates: Adesh, Mayuresh, Yogish, Prakash & Amit. The rest of the team viz Kalpana Malani, Rama Bishnoi, Renee Vyas, Anup Randive, Dr.Vipul Tanna & Dr. Sheila Tanna & Sangeeta Nemne were to meet us at Delhi the next evening from where we were to proceed together.

I could give this report a hilarious start if I were to put down the travails of our journey to Delhi in our very own Lalu's 'Bharatiya Rail'...but I choose not to relive the agony & spare my team mates reading this report the same as well.You can get an idea of what a wonderful time we had, from the fact that we boarded the train at 9.30 pm & woke up (na...opened our eyes, for sleep we couldn't in any case) next morning to find no water in the compartment, right till we reached Delhi...ahem, ahem. Earlier, at 12 midnight, an enlgihtened lady chose to instil some sense of sharam in me, for I was travelling with 5 guys...uhhhh, yeh mera India, yeh mera Indiaaaa!!! Our PJs on our own selves (& more on our gluttonous co-passengers) along with our regular experimentations & in-depth discussions on the tea being served ( whether it tasted better or at least at par with any of the Ayurvedic kadhas) helped us kill time. We did manage to get people to jump out of their pants too on every sighting of a sarus crane or an egyptian vulture which was perched close at eye level. You see the language barrier? ...if we were travelling through Gujarat, we could have said "saras che", but closer to Delhi, we couldn't tell people that we were 'bird watching' & so let the mystery remain & each time we jumped, people jumped too. Our ishtyle of getting even, for having made us jump through the night. Finally Delhi arrived & i can't recall for sure if it was we or the comparment which was stinking. The rest of the team which arrived by flight from Mumbai missed the wonderful journey we had. After a wonderful dinner (at last) & exchange of pleasantries, we boarded the Ranikhet Express. This one seemed better & we fell flat in no time.

Next morning we were to alight at 5.45 am, but nobody minded a little more sleep & so were unperturbed by the fact that the train was late. The loss struck us much later as it was 7.45 by the time we reached Kathgodham, from where it would take us another hour to reach Ramanagar. Na, we weren't fools to alight at Kathgodham, but the rail lines were closed for repair work. So, we clearly missed our first morning session completely. Yet we were happy!!! Why? Well, bad luck would die of guilt if it troubled us anymore...so we were sure it would leave us in peace now for the rest of the trip.

The journey to Ramnagar took us through tall teak plantations, hugggge silk cotton & sindoor trees, while we stopped on & off to click a black shouldered kite here & a grey bushchat there or to admire the numerous baya nests suspended from electric wires. But we didn't say'Aga baya', for we remembered, we weren't in Maharashtra now. On the way, the confusionof 2 Sangeetas in the team was attempted to be resolved by calling us senior & junior, but neither was us would have the junior tag, so we settled on tall & short, where I naturally had no say...how unfair!!! We stopped at the Jim Corbett Museum where we also found the LGB, white eyes, great tit..whence somebody recalled one of Dr.Subbu's great postings, which began with how one doesn't find such great tits too often anymore...ahem, ahem. I am certainly no competiton for his style of writing so I leave it at that.

To enjoy the pictures even as u read this post, click here http://picasaweb.google.com/drsangeeta.dhanuka

Day-1: Soon we reached Kosi Barrage & spotted a tall man with a spotting scope...hmmm our types, eh? It was none other than Manoj Sharma, our expert for the trip. As he greeted us & showed us the first few birds of our trip which included the river lapwing, plumbeous waterstart, a crested serpent eagle perched close by on a tree, the brahminy ducks, the cormorants, streak throated swallows, the plain martins, green sandpiper, green shank, white browed wagtail, white wagtail & others, his detailed explanation of their behaviors & identifying features, already had us awestruck with his knowledge. And I thought, 'hmmm brilliant person, but seems very quiet & serious. How is he gonna tolerate the cacophony of 13 jungli babblers-cum-laughing thrushes for 5 days?' Little did I know then, he was the 'GURUJI' of us all in the humor dept too. And was I glad to see that!!!

We headed to Corbett Naturecamp at Dhikuli for some awesome .........sllrrrrp breakfast & ignoring our own as well as others' sweaty stink, decided to forego the wash & headed straight for Mohan-Kumeria. The omen was good for right outside the campsite we saw the OHB, egyptian vultures & the brown rock chat. As the drive began, 2 rollers provided magnificient poses on an equally photographic barren tree trunk. A king vulture couldn't bear the attention & adulation 2 little rollers were receiving & flew right across & our cameras turned to him. The rollers felt insulted & dashed off. Then came the high point of the day. As we drove on, we suddenly saw alot of activity in a small patch of 3-4 trees. Off we jumped & straight into a goldmine!!! Our heads & necks suffered abirder's syndrome for all at once there were black & Himalayan bulbuls, spangled drongos,chloropsis, red breasted parakeets, grey headed woodpecker pair. While our eyes, heads, necks, torsos & the camera lenses tried to long jump from branch to branch & tree to tree & failed miserably in the attempts, a marron oriole crept up out of nowhere as if to jeer at us langur descendants. In a moment all the other birds were forgotten & our necks got worse with the birder's syndrome.

It was 30 mins before we regained our human senses, but Manoj was determined to make monkeys out of us once again. He took us straight to a spot to show us the tawny fish owl & while we hadn't even had our fill, Adesh called "lesser yellow nape, lesser yellow nape". We became langurs once more jumping here & dancing there..trying to see with naked eyes as well as thru the spotting scopes & then trying to capture the pictures. When we had finally settled, Manoj again said "ok now lets go to another spectacular spot, I will show u something great..we may even find forktails". We jumped into our vehicles trying to appear human. On the way we saw a close view of a juvenile steppe eagle & a southern grey shrike.

We reached a waterbody & a white capped water redstart took its hat off to us. Others in the party were the grey hooded warbler, crimson sunbird, blue whistling thrush & black chinned babblers. Just then a pair of slaty headed parakeets exhorted us to look at how colorfully dressed they were, rather than breaking our eyes on tiny birds. Gladly we turned, but then a grey headed woodpecker would have none of the nonsense & called us towards him. Suddenly someone realised it was quite some time since we displayed our monkey tricks. It was none other than the wall creeper who kept giving us brief glimpses & hiding again like a sensuous maiden. We were langurs once more, running all along the road to get another glimpse of it.

It was 4pm & Adesh commanded "Back to the jeeps pls..lunch is waiting for us". Don't know how he manages to think of food amid such beauties..but i guess he is used to such days more than often. As we drove, I saw an unusually long tail among some trees at a bend &......halt!!!!!! Red billed blue magpie...not one but three. Nobody heard Adesh's lunch bugle & jumped off the vehicles yet again. Some mintues spent & then Adesh said "sabke eyes pe patti bandho..warna aaj mujhe lunch khana naseeb nahi hoga". For sometime the brids kept away & we arrived at the campsite at 5pm for lunch.

5.30 pm & our flock was out again for a hunt to Garjia for the ibisbill. The hunt wasn't successful but we got the martins, crested & pied kingfishers, lapwings, common mergansers, great hornbills, grey treepie.

Back to the campsite, as we got off the jeeps Manoj saw a jungle owlet right there at almost eyelevel. I don't know if he can hear some supersonic & some low frequency sounds of birds, for in that dead darkness he could spot a brown hawk owl sitting high up in a tree!!! How, only he knows.

Well that was the end of day 1 & after a bath the team met over sumptuous dinner. Btw, the food during the trip really made gluttons out of us. It was early to bed, for we were to start for Dhikala at 6 am

Red, Red Wings

2008-10-28T00:26:00.001+05:30

This article was written by me for a magazine

ONE OF the most miraculous sights in nature is the lifecycle of the butterfly — it goes through a complete metamorphosis as it passes through four distinct stages: egg, caterpillar, pupa and adult butterfly. Let me share my own experience with rearing butterflies on my window sill.

About four years ago, someone gifted me a pupa of the Red Pierrot butterfly. A pupa is that stage in the lifecycle of a butterfly after which the adult emerges. As I watched the pupa, one day at a time, the wait was agonising. Eventually, on day nine, its colour changed from white to black and I knew the birth was near. I checked on it several times that night, with no luck!
By morning, the pupa was transparent and the colours of its wings were visible. At noon, the pupal case burst open and out crawled the beauty, struggling to find its feet. It had two black forewings and two red hind wings on the upper side, while the underside was white with black dots; a black and red margin to the wings was interspersed with white dots. I filmed the event until the newborn fluttered off, confidently, first onto a plant on my window and then out into its world.
I then bought a Kalanchoe plant for my window. This is the plant on which these butterflies lay their eggs: most butterflies have specific plants from which they take their nectar and specific plants on which eggs are laid for the caterpillars to feed on. It took a patient three-month wait before my Kalanchoe flowered.
Then, within no time, I saw tiny eggs on the leaves, soon followed by tiny caterpillars. Caterpillars feed voraciously; they are virtually eating machines. Soon, not much of my plant remained!
The caterpillar sheds its skin three to four times during its development, during which process it temporarily stops eating. This stage is called the instar. Ten to 15 days later, the first pupa formed and I stored it carefully in an openmouthed container, lest the birds should take it away.
After thus removing a few more pupae to safety, I stopped, reasoning with myself that I was interfering with the ways of nature. Nature has its own way of balancing things and the food chain would be imbalanced if all organisms had a 100 percent survival rate. However, I did watch and count them several times a day, to reassure myself that they were all safe. I had 25 of them now!
Soon, one after the other, the pupae began to hatch — sometimes one a day, at other times two or even three. Over a period of 10 days, I saw 25 Red Pierrots come to life and take their first flight into the world from my window.
A few days after all the births were through, I saw a Common Mormon butterfly laying eggs on my curry leaf plant. These caterpillars grew much larger than the Red Pierrots. Naturally, therefore, there was a higher risk of attack. I allowed nature to follow its course and four of the eight pupae were eaten by birds.
These simple joys of nature bring with them immense pleasure; they sooth our frayed nerves, all the while teaching us the ways of life. For those interested in attracting butterflies to their windows or gardens, you can grow plants like Pentas, Ixora, Marigold, Petunia, Sadaphuli, Jatropha, Aster, Lemon grass, Plumbago and Heliotropium — and watch as various varieties of butterflies arrive to suck their nectar.
Or, if you want to watch the lifecycle of a butterfly at first hand, try planting Kalanchoe, Curry Leaf, Passiflora, Bryophyllum or Calotropis, and wait for the butterflies to come and lay their eggs, and watch their metamorphosis. Remember, butterflies usually lay eggs towards the end of the monsoon, and continue right up to February. The creature may not emerge from the pupa for months together, depending on the species and on whether the conditions are favourable for its survival, though this occurs only in extreme climatic areas.
Go ahead and observe the miracle of nature — it will humble you for sure; albeit delightfully. •

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 43, Dated Nov 01, 2008

http://tehelka.com/story_main40.asp?filename=Op011108Change.asp

World Wetlands Day 2008 at Bhigwan

2008-08-08T14:10:00.028+05:30

Bhigwan, a small dusty town on the border of Pune and Solapur district is located on the Pune-Solapur Highway. It is at a distance of 105 km from Pune.

Bhigwan, a wetland formed by the back waters of the Ujaini Dam(built on rover Bhima) is home to a host of migratory birds. These come different parts of the world, including South America, Canada, Siberia and Eastern Europe. Spread over an area of roughly 180 sq. kms, it was proposed as a wildlife sanctuary in 2004.

February 2, is celebrated as the World Wetlands Day to raise public awareness about wetlands and to promote the conservation of this valuable ecosystem. This day marks the anniversary of signing of the Convention of Wetlands in Ramsar (also called the Ramsar Convention) in Iran in 1981.

For more information on wetlands see the end of this post

We were lucky to spend the World Wetland Day' 2008 at this wetland. 23 of us from MBC, led by Adesh, started from Mumbai on 2nd Feb by road. Reaching the place by 2.30 pm, via Pune, we could see one of the three wetland patches of the place right away. While we stopped to have lunch, the sight of flamingos at Diksal in the far distance made us extremely impatient while the hotel took its own sweet time to serve food. The lunch break stretched to 1.5 hours. Lunch over, we finally proceeded to Diksal.

Diksal is just off the Pune-Solapur highway. Here the, birding was from a narrow, raised road with lakes on both sides. We were awed by the sight of 100s of ducks. There were common teals, brahminy ducks, comb duck, gadwalls, garganey, pintails, shovellers, white ibis, cotton pygmy goose, black winged stilts, harriers, both species of jacanas,black & brown headed gulls, whiskered terns, caspian tern, coots, grebes & others. Suddenly we saw the small pratincole & there was a rush of excitement in the group. It was a lifer for me too. Besides we saw the clamorous reed warbler at close quarters & another species of warbler too. The count was already close to 50 species at this place.

Back at the hotel at night we played some nature quizzes & other games.

As instructed, we were ready by 6 am in the morning in anticipation of more interesting sightings. We proceeded to Kumbhargaon, which is a village. Here there is a large beautiful waterbody lined by dense vegetation. Here there were numerous waders. Shanks- red & green, Sandpipers-common, wood & green, plovers, stilts, godwits, curlew, ruff etc. As we continued to enjoy the feast Adesh suddenly spotted the white tailed lapwing, a lifer again for all of us. Further we also came upon the common snipe, openbilled stork & the wooly necked stork. Proceeding ahead we we did some scrubland birding from the road & were richly rewarded again. A pair of of spotted owlets, yellow & citrine wagtails, brahminy kites flying at low heights, shrikes, chiffchaf, silverbills, swallows- red pumped, wire tailed & streak throated, the subtle identification differences of which were explained by Adesh. We also saw the Indian bushlarks, ashy crowned sparrow lark, rufous lark & malabar crested lark.

Daalaj, our last destination was reached through a dirt track, walking across rice & sugarcane fields. Here there is a huge lake where we saw the painful sight of bird traps & poachers who are huge in number. We took some pictures for evidence.

Among birds we saw the stone chat, openbilled & woolly necked storks, glossy ibis, spoonbills, black ibis, painted stork, grey heron, purple heron, great tit & others. Then perched on a tree we saw the greater spotted eagle. Meanwhile, a flock of flamingos flew overhead & our eyes followed them into the distance. We decided to follow in the direction & after walking through some more dirt tracks & fields, reached the spot were we saw them standing tall in the marshes. 3-5 of us decided to crouch low & apporach them. Slowly but steadily, taking care not to get caught in the muck, we reached quite close to them. It was awesome to see them so close & they obliged us for pictures while we remained as crouched as possible so as not to disturb them. It was 1.30 pm by then & time to return. We were more than satisfied having seen 134 species in 2 days.

ABOUT WETLANDS

Wetlands are areas where water covers the soil, or is present either at or near the surface of the soil almost through the year. How the soil develops depends on water saturation & this is turn determines the species of plants and animals. Wetlands may support both aquatic and terrestrial species. The plants here are specially adapted to the conditions.
Wetlands include swamps, marshes, billabongs, lakes, saltmarshes, mudflats, mangroves, coral reefs, fens, peatlands, or bodies of water — whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary. Water within these areas may be static or flowing, fresh, brackish or saline.

Wetlands are very important to us as they protect our shores & reduce the impacts of floods, absorb pollutants and provide habitat for animals and plants. They are important in many other ways. They purify our water & are home to fish and other freshwater and marine life. Mangroves growing at the boundary of land and sea (where the soil salinity is very high) provide a natural buffer against cyclones and storms. For thousands of years they have protected the shores of southern India.

Wetlands provide tremendous economic benefits as well: water supply, fisheries (over two thirds of the world’s fish harvest is linked to the health of coastal and inland wetland areas); support to agriculture by maintaining the water, recreation and tourism opportunities.

Ramsar sites are wetlands which meet one or more of the criteria laid down during the Ramsar convention, to inlcude them as important ecosystems which need to be protected. India has 19 Ramsar sites, i.e. 19 wetlands sites which are of international importance. This is because India has recommended only 19 wetlands for listing under the Convention. This is a fraction of what needs to be saved. 199 meet more than one Ramsar criterion, 11 of them in Maharashtra, according to experts

The proposal in 2004, to declare Nannaj as a bird sanctuary was the outcome of a major 'Inland Wetlands of India, Research Project' that had been undertaken by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and an initial amount of Rs 9 lakh is also reported to have been sanctioned. The study team was asked to submit another detailed report after three years following which the MoEF would take the final decision regarding the sanctuary. The decision is awaited.

Andamans: 20th Dec 2007 to 6th Jan 2008

2008-08-03T10:43:00.051+05:30

A camp to Andamans was conducted by SPROUTS from 20th Dec 2007 to 6th Jan 2008.

We were 11 of us, right from a 10 year old to 60 year olds, people from diverse backgrounds & varied interests, but all sharing one common love - NATURE. We flew from Mumbai to Chennai, spent a day there & then flew out to Port Blair. The tour lasted 18 days in all. In the 18 days' tour, we covered as much as we could- North Andamans, Middle Andamans & Little Andaman.

The Andaman & Nicobar are an archipelago of 572 islands of which 36 are inhabited. They are known for thei tropical rainforests. Forest types include tropical evergreen, moist deciduous, littoral & mangrove forests. Geographic isolation has resulted in a high degree of endemism i.e. speices of biodiversity which can only be found here. The beaches are pristine, the colors of Andamans as I like to call them visible everywhere, in the sky as well as in water. Snorkelling was an unforgettbale experience for all of us, especially since most of us didn't know how to swim. But we snorkelled not once but 4-5 times & every time each one had his/ her own underwater sightings to share. Believe me, its an amazzzzzzing world out there. Alas none of us had an underwater camera.

There were a lot of other first time & new experiences too.....travelling by road through a tribal area, a journey of more than 15 hours on a ship,including spending the night together on the deck under the open sky & trying to beat the cold breeze & many more.

With help from all members we tried to capture & document as much of the biodiversity as we could, which is borne out by the fact that we saw more than 90 bird species of which 40 were lifers for me, many of them being endemic species !! (Andamans & Nicobar put together have about 246 bird species). Also photographed a number of butterfly species, lots of lizards, loads of species of crabs & shells, 2-3 snake species, many spiders,corals, fish, &many more.

We also have some crazy wildlifing moments to remember - trying to photograph crabs at 11 pm in the night at Cuthbert bay, getting off in the middle of the road during one of our drives back from NorthAndamans to see a Serpent eagle & ending up birding for an hour on the road to come across some of the most memorable sightings, collecting shells for identification purposes, photographing them well upto 11 in the night & then stepping out at 11.30 in the night when the whole city was as silent as death, to release them back to where they belong- the sea, at times sitting up late after dinner after a tiring day to make the list of sightings or to confirm some IDs (sometimes one of us dozing off in between at times & the other 2 trying to wake up) & many more moments.

Here in brief are the places we visited:

Day 1: at Chennai we visited the Crocodile Park which hosts numerous species of crocodiles & a good amount of info on each species too.

Day 2 saw us flying out to Port Blair early in the morning. The view of the Islands from the flight as we appproached Port Blair was breathtaking as you can see in these pictures below.

We reached the hotel & right in the backyard was a lake & our birding had a flying start with the blue tailed bee-eaters, the white bellied sea eagles & shrikes

In the evening we visited the cellular jail (infamuosly known as Kala Pani) for the light & sound show, which was a spine chilling story of the torture the inamtes went rhough for India's freedom struggle. The story was rendered by the wandering spirit of the jail (metaphorically)

Day 3: We went birding in our backyard at 5.30 am & it was awesome to say the least. The wagtails, pacific golden plovers, swallows....but what stole the scene was a whie bellied sea eagle pouncing on a snake in the water & flying off with it, only to be chased by a crow right upto the distance. We also had bitterns right in our backyard.

We then proceeded to Ross Islands by a ferry. The islands were the erstwhile capital of Port Blair during the British & Japanese regime. THey are the smallest isalnds of Andaman & house the ruins of old buildings.The sights of the beautiful underwater creatures-Clown fish, Angel fish, Emperor fish, Parrot fish & others clearly visible through the clear waters left us gasping. The moment we threw bits of food in water, the entire swarm would congregate at one point. The Island is now with the Indian Navy due to its strategic location. Here again we saw some interesting birds including the red breasted parakeet

In the evening was a visit to the Viper Islands, where the devastation of Tsunami was still visible, but the sunset we saw during our return journey was one of the most beautiful one could see in life

Day 4: This was the day we were most waiting for. First we did our morning birding behind our hotel from 5.30 am onwards & were richly rewarded with the stork billed kingfisher & others

We then proceeded to the Red Skin Islands, for our first experience of glass bottom boats & snorkelling. As we landed, a fairy blue bird kept us busy for quite some time.
The first snorkelling experience which gave us a breathtaking view of the corals & the undersea world, left us wanting for mre & soon enough each one of us went for our second round which lasted longer & took us deeper away from the coast

Day5: We got up early to proceed to Mount Harriet NAtional PArk & had some of the most magnificient bird sightings including many endemics & lifers. This is at a height of 1200 feet above sea level. The total trail is 16 km but we barely managed 2-3 as there was so much wildlife to see which kept us busy. We saw the Andaman woopecker, the fulvous breasted woodpecker, the Andaman treepie, shama (Andaman subspecies), Andaman Green imperial pigeon, drongos & more

We then proceeded by Road to Baratang, heading towards the northern part of Andamans. The drive was through the Andaman trunk Road which runs from Port Blair to Diglipur, a length of 333 kms. We passed through the area of the Jarawa tribes, who are aborigines & saw some of them along the road too. Only 200 of them now survive. Here the convoy of vehicles is guarded by armed personnel & there are fixed timings when the convoy is allowed to pass through. The lorikeets gave us company during our lunch break.

The evening was spent at the Parrot island in Baratang, here thousands of parakeets come in to roost at night. It was quite a suspense filled evening in itself. No parakeet till 5.30 pm....disappointed faces amongst us.......the ferryman asking us to be patient & then......2 parakeets appearing for an aerial survey, followed by 2-3 more, another flock of 5 from another direction & so it went on till there were hundreds of them from everywhere & all of them settling on the trees. Thrilled to the core, we then celebrated Christmas eve at our hotel

Day 6: started early with a visit to the mud volcano at Baratang. Here a changeable hawk eagle welcomed us

We then proceeded to Diglipur passing through Mayabunder on the way. We had some fabulous early morning birding on the road, seeing many new species- the crested serpent eagle (Andaman subspecies), the white collared kingfisher, snipe, white headed myna to name a few. Reaching Diglipur we proceeded to the Ross & Smith islands, the best preserved islands of Andamans. They are twin isalnds joined by a sand bar. Here we again had a go at snorkelling, though I stayed away this time as the water was deep

Day 7: was a birding feast from the hotel balcony in the morning

We then proceeded for the saddlepeak trail & it was yet another feast in terms of the birds & butterflies we saw. the clipper butterfly, lots of pierrots & sunbeams, the olive backed sunbird, white rumped munias, red cheeked parakeets, Andaman coucals & others. We also came across a lot of washed ashore dead corals & loaddds of shells which were beauties too

Day 8: began with birding around our hotel. It was a lovely morning filled with black headed bulbuls, scarlett minivets, fairy blue birds, white headed mynas among others, after which we left for Rangat, the northern most part. On the way we found the Dark serpent eagle & the pacific swallows. We also visited the forest dept of Mayabunder who were kind enough to give me a compliemtary copy each, of the books on birds & butterflies of Andamans (which are now out of publication) & also some charts on marine life.

On reaching Rangat, we proceeded to the Cuthbert beach at night where we saw a lot of marine life. This is also known for turtle nesting, though it is not known if they still nest here after the tsunami

Day 9: began with a visit to the limestone caves, before we headed back for Port Blair

Day 10: On this day our destination was Havelock isalnds, the most popular tourist place in Andamans. We started at 5.30 am & reached by noon. Our resort was a beach resort & we couldn't have asked for more. We spent our sunset at Radhanagar beach

DAy 11: We began with birding around the hotel, where we had the hill mynas, the Indian dollar bird, the chestnut headed bee-eater, pied triller, glossy stare & the Burmese Turtle dove to name a few.

During the day we visited the Elephant Beach & Kalapathar

Day 12: We returned to Port Blair & it being New year's eve & also the last day of the trip for the Peel family, we celebrated it in style

Day 13:The new year 2008 began with a vist to the Aquarium, Anthropological Museum & Cellular Jail. The jail was constructed as a 3 storeyed structure with 7 wings like the rays of a star fish. It had 698 cells, one for each convict. It was shuddering to see the inhuman conditions of the cells & made one wonder what stuff the freedom fighters were made of to have borne the cruel ordeal. Only 3 of the 7 wings now exist after the tsunami. The museum gave an insight into the history of the islands as well as the lifestyle of the aborigines. The Aquarium is a treasure trove of the most beautiful marine creatures & luckily only video shooting is allowed inside so I managed to capture all on my handycam.

Day 14: The Peel family had left for Mumbai while we proceeded for Little Andamans, the southern most Islands. The sea was rough & the journey lasted more than 12 hours. Here the tsunai has wreacked maximum devastation & the effects were still there to see. They are the residential isalnds of the Onge tribes of whom only 99 now survive, due to contact with civilisation. Being Negritos, they are people of small stature. Feeling sea sick after the travel, we fell asleep after dinner

Day 15: We were told that we would have to cut short our journey due to the weather & return to Port Blair by the evening ferry. So we decided to make the most of the available time & visited the White Surf falls & Harminder Bay. The harminder bay was a mine full of shells of all types & the place to be to study them. We couldn't have enough of them. Here we also saw how the Onges & other tribes of Nicobarese have been dislodged due to the tsunami & while their rehabilitation was to be complete by 2007, sadly, we saw very little progress on that front. We headed back for Port Blair at 4pm & reached at 10 am next day

Day 16: Tired after the overnight journey we simply lazed around

DAy 17: The last day of our stay at Andaman, we visited the North Bay Isalnds in the morning where we also had our final round of snorkelling which incidentally was also the best byfar. The evening was at the Chiriya Tapu sanctuary, which is at the Southernmost tip of Andamans wth lush mangroves surrounding it & gave us some of the best parting gifts, including a flock of 100s of purple backed starlings & a mangrove whistler followed by a most picturesque sunset

Here is the bird checklist in total. I have put in '?' where we are not 100% sure of the IDs.

Andaman & Nicobar together have 270 bird species of which 106 are endemic to these islands. Andamans itself has about 225, going through the checklist in the bird book that we got. We sighted a total of about 91 species of which 35 were endemics!!!! Of the 91, 40 were lifers for me.

1. Blue tailed Bee-eater
2. Andaman Red Whiskered Bulbul
3. Red vented Bulbul
4. White bellied Sea Eagle
5. Brown Shrike
6. Golden Plover
7. Common Sandpiper
8. Redshank
9. Grey Wagtail
10. ? White throated Bulbul
11. Andaman Coucal
12. Andaman White breasted Kingfisher
13. Indian Robin
14. Andaman Magpie Robin
15. Barn Swallow
16. Glossy Swiftlet
17. Andaman Koel
18. Whimbrel
19. Andaman Red breasted Parakeet
20. Curlew
21. Indian Myna
22. Indian Lorikeet
23. Blue Rock Pigeon
24. House Crow
25. Large billed Crow
26. Indian Peafowl
27. Andaman Olive backed Sunbird
28. Fairy Bluebird
29. Nepal Martin
30. Andaman Chestnut headed Bee-eater
31. Cinnamon Bittern
32. Andaman Black headed Bulbul
33. Andaman Large Cuckoo Shrike
34. Burmese Turtle Dove
35. Andaman Drongo (?large/small)
36. Andaman Racket tailed Drongo
37. Andaman Pale Drongo
38. Andaman Dark Serpent Eagle
39. Black Bittern
40. Fantail Flycatcher
41. Cattle Egret
42. Median Egret
43. Great Egret
44. Andaman Flowerpecker
45. Andaman Monrach Flycather
46. Small Blue Kingfisher
47. Andaman Storkbilled Kingfisher
48. Andaman White collared Kingfisher
49. Andaman Scarlet Minivet
50. Eastern Small Minivet
51. Andaman White headed Myna
52. Andaman White backed Munia
53. ? White rumped Needtletail
54. Andaman Black naped Oriole
55. Large Andaman Parakeet
56. Andaman Long tailed( red cheeked) Parakeet
57. Andaman Green Imperial Pigeon
58. Andaman Shama
59. Little Ringed Plover
60. House Sparrow
61. Pacific Swallow
62. ?Black naped Tern
63. Andaman Treepie
64. Andaman Black Woodpecker
65. Andaman Spotted breasted Pied Woodpecker
66. Black headed Munia
67. Black capped Kingfisher
68. Pintail Snipe
69. Little Stint
70. Eastern Reef Heron
71. Little Egret
72. Pied Triller
73. Andaman Emerald Dove
74. Andaman Blue eared Kingfisher
75. Andaman Common Hill myna
76. Andaman White breasted Waterhen
77. Lesser Whistling Teal
78. Andaman Glossy Stare
79. Indian Dollarbird
80. Yellow Bittern
81. ? Brown backed Needletail
82. Purple backed Starling .............. huggggge flock on a tree
83. Mangrove Whistler
84. ? Common/Swinhoe's snipe
85. ?Grey headed Fish Eagle
86. Common Stonechat
87. Purple Moorhen
88. ?Rose ringed Parakeet [
89. Little Green Heron
90. Brown Hawk Owl -Andaman subspecies
91. Crested Hawk Eagle

The team:

Anand Pendharkar
Sandeep Talpade
Ram Mankame
Anil Pendharkar
Anita Pendharkar
Pranad Patil
Martin Peel
Helen Peel
Luke Peel
Eleanor Peel (Eli)
Sangeeta Dhanuka

How I got into nature & wildlife

2008-08-03T10:36:00.002+05:30

I REMEMBER THAT SUNDAY in August 1999. It was probably the most defining moment of my life. I did not realize it then, but that day changed me, or should I say, brought to the fore the real “me”, which had been hidden somewhere for 25 years. It gave me something to look forward to in life, forever.

As a teenager, I loved watching the TV series Our Living Planet, by Marty Stouffers. I always thought those beautiful forests, those magnificent animals and birds existed in places only Marty could reach and I had to be content with watching them on TV. I envied him and wished for an opportunity to see them at least once. Then one day, when I was about 15, I saw an article in a magazine about the Keoladeo Bird Sanctuary in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, along with some lovely pictures. My joy knew no bounds when I found that what Marty had been showing on TV all these years, existed in India too, at least at one place. I carefully stored away that issue and decided this was a place I’d definitely visit some day.

Life went on. I joined medical college but Marty and his series, as well as my Bharatpur dream, persisted. While in medical college, on Saturdays, I often sought permission from a professor (who was also my mentor at that time, in a way), to leave class early so that I could catch Marty’s series. Interestingly, the professor never stopped me. We had often seen him stop suddenly in the midst of his lectures, as if to listen to something. Most of us laughed. I was also curious — why did he do this? But it remained a mystery.

I got my medical degree, started my practice and life seemed good. Two years later, I fell ill and had to be operated upon. 15 days later, the surgery had to be redone because of negligence during the first surgery. But the damage had been done. I continued to fall ill very often and underwent three or four surgeries within two years. The repeated agony caused depression; the medicines killed my appetite and I became skinny. In a way, my illness affected my upcoming practice too. I saw that I could never succeed the way I had in the first two years. I became a nervous wreck and was frustrated in general.

All through these years, I had been in touch with my professor on and off. He was aware of my illness and consequent depression. One day he said, “Why don’t you come with me this Sunday?” “Where?” I asked. “Leave that to me,” he said. “Just come over.”

So I did. I accompanied him on a nature walk with the BNHS (Bombay Natural History Society), on their forest land. I then learnt the secret of his frequent pauses in the midst of lectures — he listened to the bird calls, trying to identify them. No wonder I was allowed to leave early for Marty Stouffer’s series too! Anyway, I enjoyed the walk, came back home feeling better. Soon, life was back to where it was.

Then, in August 1999, the newspaper carried a beautiful picture of the karvi flowers in bloom on the front page. The caption read: “These flower once in eight years and this is the flowering year. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has arranged a nature walk to watch these, in the Sanjay Gandhi national park.” Something within me stirred. I called my professor to ask if he was going for the walk and sure enough, he was. I registered my name too. As we went deeper into the park, my heart leapt. This was what I was yearning to see all these years, unaware that it was right here, practically in my backyard. The forest was just like what I had seen in the series and so close to where I lived. Why hadn’t I found it earlier?

I felt a childish impulse to jump and laugh out loud in sheer joy — it was as if I had found a long-lost love, or a treasure that I had been searching for. The karvi flowers, the monsoon streams in the forest, the lush greenery, the birds, and the butterflies — everything took over my senses and I was transported into a different world.

I then started going on these walks more often, as much as my health allowed. Once in two months, once a month and then once every two weeks. My health improved. But more than that, over a period of time, from a quiet, timid, shy personality, I turned into an extrovert. I made friends; I turned confident; I became assertive. Was this the real me? Where had I been buried all this time? I also took to photography, and started visiting many sanctuaries and national parks over the years that followed. I got involved in conservations and awareness activities.

Today, I endeavour to spend at least a few hours every week outdoors, with nature. What started as a hobby has become a passion, a purpose, a guiding force in life — it is something I live for. It has helped me brave all storms in life and emerge smiling.

Published in Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 28, Dated July 19, 2008

Mumbai Bird Race 2008

2008-02-27T19:05:00.004+05:30

SPROUTS TEAMS’ EXPERIENCES IN THE MUMBAI BIRD RACE 2008

“The bright sun was burning our necks. We had been on the move since early morning. However, we all were happy… very happy.. the reason; an Osprey with a big fish in its clutch, the first thing that we saw at the lake. We were sitting on the small jetty at IIT Powai lake. The whole lake bordered by tall and majestic buildings, was shining in front of us… probably in joy too, as it was getting the much needed attention on this day. It was the Mumbai Bird Race, an event much awaited by bird lovers”……that’s Ovee for you.
Ovee had planned everything with her team of “Dusky Crag- Martins”, Reshma ( a student from Kirti college, studying Oceanography), Geeta (another Oceanography student from Mithibai college) and Sahila (engineering student from D J Sanghvi college and a fellow PUKAR-SPROUTS project team member).

Three other SPROUTS teams were also participating in the event-
· “Hobby” led by Parth leading the Subramniam family,(Hobbies traveled with the “Dusky Crag Martins” as they had hired a car together),
· “Ashy Wood Swallows” from Borivali, led by Sangeeta – This team had Sonal, Shivangi & Vishal Bhave (again Oceanography students from Kirti, Suraj Das a SPROUTS member, Rahul Kolekar, member of the SPROUTS Pukar project team & a guest member Kunal Munsiff
· “White Eyes” from Mulund, led by Pranad. The team included Saloni from the PUKAR team, Vaijayanti from Kirti college, Sahil & Shaheen Sahibole

The PUKAR project was the main reason that ‘SPROUTS’ was in this race. The project concerns biodiversity of Mumbai and its impact on urban youth. Bird Race was the last of the six community events that we needed to complete under the youth fellowship programme. We had a chance to connect with over 300 participants from all over Mumbai!

Our plan was to visit the variety of urban habitats in our city & avoid the forest areas like SGNP to show people how much of biodiversity exists even within the city. We had also decided to stop at gardens, housing societies and highways in between the major places. All of these areas, right in the hustle and bustle of the city were purposefully chosen to stick to our project’s aims. It was not about the race or seeing maximum number of birds in a day; it was about the value of the hotspots or hotspecks where these birds are found and to observe the birds there with the common youth.

“Dusky Crag- Martins” decided to start with Lokhandwala mangroves, Bhavan’s college, a play ground behind that, Aarey milk colony, IIT Powai, Sewri and end the day at MNPS.
“Ashy wood swallows” decided to cover IIT campus at Powai – Godrej mangroves at Vikroli- Sewri & finally MNPS.

1st Leg: Lokhandwala mangroves was a good place to start with for the ‘Dusky Crag- Martins’, as they saw our commonest birds there. The newest and youngest birdwatchers within the team were excited seeing a Koel or a Parakeet. “The excitement in their faces gave me the energy and enthusiasm throughout the whole day. Activities such as Bird Race are a good chance to involve new people and pass on the joy of bird watching” says Ovee. After learning the basic things such as shape, size, call, colour which help to identify birds, the team proceeded to Bhavan’s college.
Golden Orioles, Coppersmiths, Waterhens and Fantails enchanted everybody. The day had just started and the birds were at their best. The team also observed plants, including our state tree Queen’s Flower or Taman. The play ground was teaming with activity of Grey and White Wagtails, Shrikes and Pipits. We had been to mangroves, a college campus, and a play ground, it was time to visit a dense greenery at Aarey milk colony now. The sun was getting higher and everybody was starting to get a little tired, especially the kids with Hobby. Not many new birds seen here. Probably because the areas were planted with exotic trees.

The ‘Ashy Wood Swallows’ began from Borivli on the dot at 6.15 am & reached IIT Powai in 20 minutes flat……a luxury indeed. The moment the team reached it was greeted by a small kingfisher on the pole. The sun hadn’t quite risen yet & the team got to see how the bird activity actually begins as the day breaks. As the sun rose, the birds rose too. Everywhere there were birds……the majestic purple heron in its purple plumage, the white browed & grey wagtails, the purple swamphens, gulls, terns, spotbilled ducks, the sandpipers, an owlet, sunbirds, parakeets, starlings, bulbuls and what not. As the team moved into the other areas around the campus there were ibises, jacanas, prinias, yellow eyed babblers, cuckoo shrike, fantail and then the highlight……..the ZITTING CISTICOLA….highlight not because it is a rare bird, but because not many in the team had heard of this fancy name or knew how to identify it, so it gave the team a new high. The team’s tally at IIT was a great 61 !!! It was appetizing enough for a sumptuous breakfast of sandwiches, idlis & other munching stuff that the team had carried

2nd leg: The ‘Dusky Crag- Martins’ team then moved towards IIT Powai in high hopes and hungry tummies. Everybody munched the packed food on the way. That’s when Reshma, pointed out a bird on a wire on the highway. It was a Black Shouldered Kite! Everybody reached the Powai lake in excitement. Just as the team stepped out of the car, there it was, an Osprey flying over the lake. What an amazing sight it was!! Powai IIT campus has so many various habitats, a lake, gardens, grassland, and trees, that it attracts many birds and the birders with them every year We observed many water birds near the lake including Northern Shoveller Ducks and Purple Herons. Many birds found in well wooded areas such as Jungle Babblers and Spotted Doves were also seen. The Bee-eaters attracted everybody the most. Those brilliant coloured small rockets which zoomed in on dragonflies spread a big smile on every face. All were surprised as about 30 Kites together took flight on the team’s arrival at the grassland near the boathouse. It was an amazing site!.

While Ovee’s team reached IIT, the ‘Ashy wood swallows’ proceeded to the mangroves at Vikroli. It was scorching hot but the officer in charge at the place happened to be a friend of Kunal & gladly agreed to accompany the team on the trail to the creek. The team saw a falcon, a tit, white cheeked bulbuls, warblers, sunbirds etc & on reaching the creek had some nice sightings. The terek & the common sandpipers, the pond heron, the red & green shank, the marsh sandpiper & more waders. The best sighting was the display of sandpipers & the team also captured it on their cams. However the tally rose only by 10.

The high point was the visit to the aquarium where there were lion fish, emperor fish, angel fish parrot fish and many more. Their colors enthralled one and all. As the team reached the watchtower, it ran into the ‘White Eyes’ led by Pranad & everyone had a lot to talk. There was a team photo session atop the tower with hilarious laughter & fun

3rd Leg: The famous Flamingos of Sewri were next in everybody’s minds. All the SPROUTS teams reached there around 2 pm and were greeted by many waders. There were Godwits, Plovers, Sandpipers and a lone Black Headed Ibis along with the greater & lesser Flamingos, the western reef heron, a peregrine falcon, curlew, stints to add some more. It was disappointing to see absence of Mudskippers though. Many other teams here and all exchanged their experiences.

There was with just an hour before the finish at MNPS. All rushed there and took a quick round of the area. The team had hopes for seeing Shikra and Alexandrine Parakeet which had not been seen during the day. The park looked changed. It was made neater and looked rather vacant. The patch of mudflat on one side was also dry, some construction work going on in that area. There have been sightings of Lapwings, Sandpipers, Gulls and Raptors in this area before but this time there were just a few grey herons.

It was time to submit the logbooks. A tally of 78 species for the ‘Dusky Crag Martins’, 84 for the ‘Ashy Wood Swallows’, 81 for the ‘White Eyes’ & 61 for the ‘Hobby’ was not very high compared to some other team which saw over 130 birds in the whole day, but the teams felt victorious.
“I had participated in the Mumbai Bird Race event last year, but this time it was different, I led a team! The experience taught me the importance of qualities such as decision making, leadership, teamwork, and planning. It was a test of my knowledge and abilities. In my view, we won as they could observe 78 species of birds from urban areas and most important, the team was happy at the end of the day. We not only observed birds but also plants and habitats. It would be great to have a Plant Race next year!”….is what Ovee had to say at the end of the day

We had some pamphlets describing our project, which we distributed to many other teams. We also distributed planner, our PUKAR mid-term product, to Sunjoy Monga, Adesh Shivkar and Mandar Khadilkar which were the key figures in organizing this event. It was a nice moment when all the four teams went together on the stage and explained the reason behind visiting totally urban areas . The long, fun filled day ended with exchange of experiences over dinner.