For many of us, 2021 has left behind voids we have no clue how to fill up. So when the last week of the year dawned, there was this weird feeling about the calendar flipping over ... finally! It was not an euphoric feeling, but more of a (long sigh) relief. The flicker of hope that maybe, just maybe, this is where we pick up the pieces and build back those bridges.
Hope. Lets put your name to test this year. And what better a way to do it than with some humor. How about humor from a Dinosaur talking about mental health issues?
@dino_comics was a 2020 find for me and I never even realized when the fanboy journey started. So when they put this up at the stroke of the new year, I kinda took their advice to ❤️ and planned a birding trip to Goa. 🏖️
Yeah, yeah, I heard that chuckle. Want to know if taking this advice was worth it? What else can I say … Read on!
They say the best way to win a Noble prize is by working with someone who has already won one. I believe the same goes for pursuit of excellence in any field and birding is no exception. Savio Fonseca is a name of reckoning in the Goa birding circles, and there is a very simple reason for it — he has co-authored a book titled — “Birds of Goa” along with Bikram Grewal. The book is a photographic guide to the 400+ bird species found in Goa. The state of Goa- usually seen as a speck on the map of India sits at a unique position when it comes to bird diversity. The small geographic area has diverse ecosystems like wetlands, grasslands, coastal, mangrove, estuarine and the western ghats to moot! No wonder it is home to 4% of all global bird species and some of them endemic to the region. Savio is the person you need to be with if you want to make the best of your time in the state.
S: “Are you sure you will be able to start early on January 1st?”
Me: “Umm.. Yes, why not?”
S: “Well there are many reasons why not but I will take your word for it. No worries, will see you at 5.30 in the morning.”
The kind of expectations this conversation had set meant that I had to drag my sober butt into birding gear at 5 AM in the morning of the first day of the year to sit in Savio’s SUV as we set off towards the Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary (WLS). First light had still not graced us when we stopped on a bridge hearing the call of what I would later know was a Brown Boobok. Seeing Savio sprint with a large flashlight towards what looked like the middle of the bridge made me realize that I will not be told to catch up unless I do. Savio had spotted a Brown-fish Owl and I had missed it in its entirety. Its been a while since a towering figure gave a neat little dressing down on being alert and on the ready. Point duly taken. Gum boots stretched over till the knee and silent thank you to the sun for showing up muttered behind the lips as we set off on a trail that would by the end of it give me my most lifers/day and make every known muscle sore to the core.
“You should start the new year how you want to spend it.”
Put a Drongo in a frame and the entire frame just lifts itself up has been a personal experience. The first pic on the trail was no different. A pair of these magnificent beauties were busy tapping into the Palash flowers when the first lifer of the day — The Malabar Gray Hornbill showed up. Taking close from the Indian Gray Hornbill but with a beak that lacks the “casque”. Do you know what hornbills use this evolutionary extension on their beaks for? This might help. We also spotted the beautiful Vigor’s Sunbird — an endemic species to the region and the Thick-billed Flowerpecker. Also got a gazillion pictures of the Brahminy Kite, a bird that eluded even a record shot for the past year.
We trekked along, waiting at spots that Savio’s trained eye had already scanned for movement and deep understanding of the terrain had further added a layer of surety of a good sighting. One after the other the lifers kept gracing me with their august presence. Three bulbuls — Yellow Browed, White Browed and Gray Headed. Black-hooded Oriole, Gray-fronted Green Pigeon and the Red Spurfowl were sighted even before we had stepped inside the Bondla sanctuary.
As we were moving around through the day, a shrill-sounding zeez-zeet call would make heads turns only to realize we had yet again missed sighting the Vernal Hanging Parrot — called so for their uncanny ability to feed and even sleep upside down. Took me till the end of the day to get a not so upside down click of this sparrow sized ball of energy!
A halt in another clearing inside the sanctuary led us to our second group lifers — The Jerdon’s and Golden-fronted Leafbirds, Little Spider Hunter, Blue-faced Malkoha, Heart-spotted Woodpeck and the mesmerizing Asian Fairy Bluebird. The endemic Blyth’s and the Chestnut-tailed Starling were next to be sighted.
Celebrity of the Western Ghats — the Malabar Trogon eluded us and so did the Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher but then that just means I have two more reasons to come back here.
We clocked 70+ sightings in the Bondla WLS before moving to the second hotspot of the day — The Bhagwan Mahavir WLS — built around what is Goa’s oldest temple. The sightings here were of the Verditer Flycatcher, a winter visitor to these parts from the mountains in the north along with the Chestnut-headed Bee Eater, a heart-throb. The area is flooded with tourists and they have started making their presence felt in the stream behind the temple. The noise and chatter is not taken well by the elusive Blue-eared Kingfisher — a resident of this spot.
We were all but closing what had been an exasperating day in the field when we decided to take one last stop. And glad we did! Yet another clearing showered us with more lifers. This time the Malabar Parakeet, Indian Blackbird, Yellow-throated Sparrow and the Malabar Barbet were spotted in fading light.
The day may have ended with these sightings you’d think. But it had not. Not for Savio, no. While I barely managed to drag myself back to my accommodation, ~12 KMs of walking in sun and shade had not deterred Savio from preparing a detailed field report and sharing it with me in the next couple of hours. The passion and energy was infectious to say the least and I was more determined than ever to make the most of the next day — From thick deciduous forests to mudflats and wetlands. 😍
The early morning sun had just about creeped up on the horizon when we were quite into the middle of the Zuari river. But the rising sun was not on my mind as one after the other these rare beauties started making their presence felt. One can only wonder why “Kingfisher” is not the state bird of Goa — too obvious some might say. Puns aside, for the first time I spotted the Indian Mugger Crocodile in its natural habitat and it was a sight to behold (from the safety of the boat)… 😬
From estuary to coastal wetlands in a few hours flat— where we were greeted with a 300–350 strong mixed flock of plovers — Savio to the rescue again as I kept taking record shots for him to later ID and add to my lifer list. Lesser Sand-Plover, Greater Sand-Plover, Ruddy Turnstone, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Dunlin, Black-headed Gull, Brown-headed Gull, Caspian Tern, Great Crested Tern and Sandwich Tern to name a few. Candid confession here that I was not even aware of the names of some of these. 🙈
The list of sightings had already crossed a 100 with more than half of them lifers for me. High point though was the fact that someone as seasoned as Savio came across his — wait for it 396th lifer 🤓— The Thick-billed Warbler on this trip. Yay!
So as we neared the end of the trail — oh wait — we haven’t seen the Grasslands yet. So back in the car we zoom around to the last spot on the trial whilst catching the Asian Openbills enroute and then spotting the sweet singing larks in the middle of an industrial complex!
I couldn’t believe that in less than 48 hours we had trudged along more than 20 KMs on foot, sailed across a river by boat, traversed the length of a state in a car and it was already time to board my next mode of transport out of Goa. So much to learn — most important of all, the revision of not having the luxury of a slow start — or as Savio would say — “We can wait as much as we want, the birds won’t…”
At the Bhagwan Mahavir WLS, when we had taken a rare break for sipping a cuppa chai — I took this from my phone. A microcosm of the towering experience and expertise of Savio compared with my noob self.
Hyper charged with this two day speed march, I returned to some amazing sightings in the home patch.
And then went over to the place where I started my birding trails early last year with a mobile camera — TS Chanakya mudflats in Nerul and come back with some of these sightings.
Self disciple has been the one key take away from this month’s birding experiences. Showing up matters, consistently showing up matters even more. The extra effort to study terrain, tide, sunrise-sunset timings can go a long long way in ensuring a great trail than just landing up unprepared. The will to explore uncharted territory needs to be backed with the ground work of knowing what we are seeking. The month and subsequently the year has began well inspite of blocks put by virus variants, bad air quality, cold waves and whatnot. Perhaps this is how the year is going to pan out then, we doing what we have to do in the face of adversary — now doesn’t that sound like the last two already!
For those still with me:
Ebird checklists for all trails can be found here. I’m also taking a 12-week online course on basic ornithology to get my fundamentals right. It’s free and conducted by some of the top faculties across research institutions in India. I’m always looking for birding partners, particularly in new cities. Happy to buddy up🤝
I maintain a thread of my lifer sightings here. And available on most social media platforms with the handle @oldwonk.
Savio can be contacted through his website — https://birding.avocet-peregrine.com/
Disclaimer: All photos in this post were taken by me except those taken by Savio which have been mentioned separately.
