The month of August is a weird one, particularly so in the southern parts of the country. The rain has not made up its mind to leave yet, the sun is in no hurry to shine bright and the idea of winter is as remote as some of the migratory birds still enjoying the warm climes of their homeland. If you still gather your will to go to any of the usual birding trails, you’ll find yourself listening more than seeing birds and more often than not the light drizzle means your optical gear is inside your bag not risking been taken out because you never know when that drizzle may transform itself into a downpour. No wonder then that most birders prefer to wait out this month in the hope that the winter migrants start making their way here soon.
But this same setting is when the residents are nesting and bringing up the next generation of their species with utmost care and caution. One such resident is the Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher, more commonly referred to as — ODKF. So when Anup (Anupdeodhar) made plans to visit a hide near the Karnala Bird Sanctuary, refusing was not on the anvil. Waking up in the wee hours of the morning and driving 120 Kms to sight a nesting pair was worth the effort. Or was it?
See for yourself — The Polychromatic Grim Reaper — a title conferred upon the ODKF by a fellow birder on Twitter.
“Oh! You saw a nesting pair?”
“From a hide?”
“Is that even birding!”
Got this a lot when I shared across my first pictures of this prismatic pocket sized marvel. Made me think if I was doing my birding right or have I began chasing photographs for the sake of it. Couple of more trails in the rain — one at the Green Valley Park in Navi Mumbai and the other at Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary in Kochin (Kerala) from where I returned without much to show really got me thinking about what is it that I’m trying to attract.
Almost immediately, the policy wonk took over and in no time we had a 2X2 matrix ready. The idea was to plot the time and effort I’m putting into what I believe is a passion and understand if there is delta that I’m missing.
Here is what we put together—the Change Matrix
Clarity ensued and I could now attribute my birding pursuits to a passionate change that is driven primarily by effort. The travel, the early starts and long trails, the near misses, the rustle in the bush and all those “new” calls. That is what makes the passion work for me. And that is what I would want my birding experience to be about.
Photography on the other hand is an incremental change. Its a subset of time—something I’m not going to get better at overnight. With this separated, my next trail was a lot more fulfilling and enriching. Well maybe its the charm of the place itself. Bhigwan is a gift that keeps giving and this trip was no different. With rain filling up the main water body of the area, the action shifts to the grasslands. I also teamed up with an entirely new birding partner for this trip. Two days of pure bliss followed!
Masked by the tall grasses with their criss-crossing patterns, the bush birds were in a different league altogether, tottering along the edges of fields and vehicle tracks, they always seemed to be in a hurry of sorts to get somewhere!
But the Painted Sandgrouse takes the mantle for the most artistic bird I have sighted till date — hands down!
Other lifers sighted included the Indian Courser, Tricolour Munia and the rather elusive Brown Crake and Jungle Nightjar
Sightings in Bhigwan don’t come easy. Infact the sightings actually happen pretty far off from the place. The day usually starts at 4.30 AM with an hour long drive to the grassland — essentially farmlands with intermittent patches of uncultivated vegetation. Early birders get to see the early birds — and some more like wolves and the ever so graceful Blackbuck antelope in our case.
So one trip was all it took to put the Change Matrix to test and it came out unscathed! More effort in birding and more time for photography seems to be working just fine now.
So how do I plan to work on the Sustainable Change then? That part I’m associating with gaining more knowledge about wildlife in general and birding in particular. And nothing aids the pursuit of excellence like a book. Was able to get my copy of the Birds of India — published by the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) to mark the occasion of 75 years of India’s Independence.
If you have been using the Helm Field Guide (Grimmett and Inskipps) or the pictorial guide by Bikram Grewal, this one comes across as a breath of fresh air. The book starts off with a highly appreciative foreword by Mr Richard Grimmett. There are sections dedicated to history of ornithology in India tracing evidence from pre-vedic period and going upto the post independence era. Another section on the contributions of the ZSI to ornithology in India is very informative as well. The actual field guide part of the book does it’s job well. Very clear photographs that capture the distinguishing features of birds are accompanied with detailed inserts of ID markers. Even the most notorious to ID —warblers have been very well documented in this book.
Most of the photos are habitat shots — for example most of the owls are presented in dark surroundings that they are usually sighted in at night. The only visual aspect that the book may have done better is the range maps — the use of a fluorescent orange colour markings inside a blank India map doesn’t always come off well when superimposed on colourful images. I’m yet to take the book out in the field to put its name to test but I’m confident that it will not disappoint. 😎
Phew! That is a lot of talk for what started as a weird birding month. If you have stayed this long, here is a Red Avadavat for you.
(Don’t forget to leave a 👏 if you found the read to be worth your time.)
PS: Do you have any thoughts on the Change Matrix? If yes, then please leave a comment.
PPS: All my ebird checklists are available here.
