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December 1998 -  January 1999

         This was the first time I came down to Goa to visit Dileep at his new job.  We were at the guest house, and there were so many birds around that was glad I had brought my binoculars.   And thus began my love story with the birds of Zuarinagar.

          There were a lot of magpie robins at the guest house.  Also the red-vented, red whiskered, and black-headed bulbuls.  The magpie robins were the most prolific.  Often there were purple sunbirds, and the occasional crow-pheasant.  I spotted the yellow backed sunbird too, but not well enough to be able to identify it at that point in time.   There were lots of babblers every evening – either in the flower-beds or on the lower branches of the cashew trees.  I heard the cries of the peacocks, but didn’t get to see them.

January 2000

      Not much time to watch birds as the house has been full of guests and I have also been in Delhi.  The koel began calling this month and the female came to sit on the pepper creeper near the verandah.  Pratap saw it first.  No snakes around either.

January 2001

This has been a busy period with many guests and not enough time to sit out and watch the birds.  The kingfisher and the pond heron are as regular as ever.  Mostly there are drongos and orioles.  The sunbirds are back again � just the olive-backed and the purple sunbirds.

  There is a coucal pair that comes in every morning.  The ashy drongos have built a nest on top of the mast tree behind the alphonso.  They are late risers � about 8 am.

I heard the first long koel call on the 19^th of Jan! About the same as last year, and also the same as Gomia.

End Jan � The kingfisher tries to sit on the lawn alongside the heron � he is uncomfortable, but he tries.  On Sunday, a mongoose came into the lawn. The heron strode towards it and glared. The mongoose sat up on its hind legs and they glared at each other � then the mongoose backed off.

  The garden has the bulbuls (blackheaded), the sunbirds, the flowerpeckers, and magpie robins. Not many birds. The Brahminy kites are occasional.  On my walk I can see the shikra and the kestrel near the wetlands.  Occasionally, a roller.

   On the 23^rd I went to Chorao island and Maem lake.  Beautiful journey. From the ferry, I saw the white-bellied sea eagles, the little egret, the big egret, the grey heron, and the garuda. Didn�t see very much else, but the drive was worth it.  On the way I got to see two wire-tailed swallows very close � that was a treat, because now I have a proper estimate of their size.

30^th January � went to Carambolim with Sumita � what a treat!  There was a totally new lot of migratory birds there. And so many of them. There were the usual purple moorhens, moorhens, grey heron, jacanas � and whistling teals, pheasant tailed jacanas, all sorts of amazing water birds. The swamp was full!

January 2002

            Not much of birdwatching this month.  I have been busy, and we have had guests too.  The sparrow-hawk is a regular, so no other birds come along.  No trace of the peacocks or the coucal or the orioles either.

  We went to Cotigao and that was a treat.  We saw the forest wagtail � several of them walking peacefully along the road side, quite unbotherd by us.  Then we saw two bronze winged green pigeons.  Inside the sanctuary, we witnesses a fight between a racquet tailed drong and a female paradise flycatcher.  The flycatcher was obviously after the drongos nest, and was being chased all over the place.  The female is a beautiful russet. The racquet-tailed drongo is beautiful and large � the first I had seen.

            Went to Gujarat and saw a lot of forest wagtails with black bibs walking along the school pavements.  On the way to Ahmedabad I saw an Ibis with its curved beak.  There were streams with a lot of stilts in the water.

January 2003

Another New Year!  It is warm this January.  The first of the chloropsis has arrived and they sing beautifully � I think they are the most tuneful of all the bulbuls.  This is the gold-topped one.  The sparrow-hawk continues to look at me on the verandah, morning and evening.  He knows me and does not move away even when I walk on the lawn and he is looking for insects!  I whistle at him in his language.

I spotted a white-eye pair in the colony.  The crow-pheasant is around and I can hear the call in the mornings.  Since the last two years, the koels have appeared on the 17^th of Jan �let�s see when it happens this year.