October 1999
Saw the large cuckoo shrike. At this
time the white-browed bulbuls appeared. They are usually in pairs and not as social
or as vociferous as the red-whiskered ones. The white brow is very clear and they
are a quiet grey colour. The drongos came into the garden in large numbers in
October. There were the common black drongo or king crow, the sleeker grey or ashy
drongo, and the bronzed drongo. The last I watched carefully, because I wasn’t
sure of its identity. The yellow wagtail was in the garden the whole month. It
walked along the hose pipe - and that's where it stayed. In the colony, I also saw
the grey wagtail and the
October 2000
The wood shrike is in the garden. The weather
is sunny and the sky does amazing changes of colour. There are a lot of sea birds in
the sky because the fishing boats are out once more. There are Brahminy kites
(garudas) skimming above the house, and the white-bellied sea eagles are there too, along
with the grey fishing eagle and the pariah kite. The kingfisher comes to the garden
more often, but he is not a regular fixture like he used to be. The lapwings are
found on the road, but they do not frequent the garden as yet. Dileep saw the large
cobra do its rounds of the fence.
It rained
quite suddenly and it was a heavy shower. After the shower, I saw three garudas
perch on the coconut tree in the corner of the garden.
This month
I saw two new birds – the ashy wren warbler (a pair of them) were flitting about at
the bottom of the garden, and I also saw a Wynaad laughing thrush perched on the telephone
lines in the colony.
End
October – haven’t really seen too many birds. I can think of two
reasons. One, that there are too many big predatory birds around in the sky, and
two, it has been raining and I haven’t spent as much time as I should in the
garden. No sign of the peacocks.
The
weather has been strange since the whole of the Diwali week. It is very hot and
humid and very still. There has been no breeze and even though we are on the sea,
not a leaf stirs. It is now 4 days since this still weather began. I do not
see the fishing boats out at sea, and nor are the sea eagles flying around in the
evenings. The occasional eagle flaps its wings and flies – quite different from
the effortless gliding. People say there will be a storm or cyclone.
30th
and 31st October – this was a field two days or watching birds, or maybe I
just looked out for them better. The pond heron is back. He comes around 9 am,
and walks around the garden like he did in February. And the good bit is that the
kingfisher is back! He sits on the swing bar, and darts at worms that he sees on the
grass. He’s there almost the whole day now. Today I saw lots of birds.
The
earliest are the small birds – the sunbirds and the wren warblers and the
flowerpeckers. This is the first time that I have noticed the wren warblers and the
flowerpeckers – or maybe I did briefly a year ago and didn’t make a mental note
of it. They look like sparrows. The little grey shrike sits in the cycus, or
further on the trees. Several pairs of orioles are all over the garden. They
are boisterous for a change. There seem to be more females than males. Lots of
drongos as well – the king crow drongo as well as the slim ones These come out
around 8 am. The coucal arrived about then too and headed for he cycus. It
walks between the prickly leaves and eats the buds. Around 9 am, a sparrow hawk sat
on the fir tree and spent a lot of time preening its feathers. I have noticed that
whenever a sparrow hawk sits on a tree, none of the other birds go to that tree – he
must be fierce. The barbets were also out in full force. The bulbuls
(red-whiskered and black headed) came too. The early morning was a very misty one
and the mist cleared and returned again. I guess the birds decided to grab whatever
sunshine they could find.
There were
the spotted doves on the lawn, as well as a few black-headed munias.
The house
martins, the house swifts began appearing in the evenings. Off and on, there has
been the wire-tailed swallow too.
October
2001
I was in the US this whole month
October 2002
The
mornings have the smell of the winter weather � the �puja� smell.
The occasional crow pheasant and kingfisher comes into the garden, but
the birds are not in pairs. The
sparrow-hawk has been back twice to his perch on the swing.
He even chased away a crow that was sitting nearby.
The sparrow-hawk is a regular now and he has a pair of black-naped
orioles really worried.
Went
for a wonderful boat ride from the Cortalim bridge right up to the Cumbarjhua
canal. Saw crocs, 6 kinds of
kingfishers and many more. Am
writing this up separately.
Saw
a flash of white one morning in the forest in front. It was a male Paradise Flycatcher!! And it flitted around for
quite some time. It is the first
one I have seen in the colony! What
luck! The Golden woodpecker has
also appeared and picks insects from the stems of the coconut leaves.
The
Crocodile trip � 13th October, 2002
This
was a trip organised by the Southern Birdwing group. Neil Alvares and Harvey D�Souza are two young people who do
a lot for the environment. They
have programs on birdwatching, snake talks, walks to identify plants �
something is on every month.
This
is a popular trip and the last time we had to turn back because there was no
place in the boat. This time we
booked in advance. The motor launch
had benches and we set off at 8.30 am. We
travelled 12 kms � up the Zuari river, and into the mangrove backwaters as
well.
We
saw 9 �muggers�. These are
brackish water crocs, and they are not man-eaters.
They are endangered animals. They
are difficult to spot because they blend in with the mud, the logs of wood and
the rocks on the bank. They eat
about two small fish in a day. According
to the National Geographic, crocs could live for 2 years without eating!
Crocs have external ears � so we had to be very quiet while going along
the mangrove backwaters. In many
places, we saw their tracks as they had clambered up on to the bank.
We
saw egrets, grey and purple herons, redshanks, greenshanks, whimberels,
sandpipers, reef and pond herons along the banks.
On the stakes in the water, and on branches, we were lucky to see 6 types
of kingfishers � the stork-bill, the white-collared, the small blue
kingfisher, the white-breasted, the black capped, and the pied kingfisher.
We also spotted the brahminy kite, the white-bellied sea eagle, the
harrier, the peregrine falcon and the osprey.
It was a real treat! We saw
several nests of Brahminy kites.
On
the way back, we had an unusual treat. We
saw a little head sticking out of the water and a wavy water line in its wake.
It was a rat-snake zipping right across the Zuari river.
We turned the boat around to try and catch it but it was really fast.
It got to the bank and leaped out of the water and caught hold of a low
mangrove branch. We watched it draw itself onto land. It is a non-poisonous snake.
This
was a wonderful trip and I would recommend it to anyone � even if they are not
environment fiends like me.
Mahabaleshwar
� 27th October
This
was a happy stop on the way to Pune. I
had hoped to see many more birds though. A
rusty-tailed flycatcher was a regular visitor on the storm drain.
I had seen a similar one in 2001 in Mahabaleshwar.
A long-tailed shrike lived in the hedge and sunned itself very openly. A black bulbul pair also lived to the tree in the garden.
They have orange legs and orange beaks.
I was lucky to see a pair of black-lored tits.
We see the yellow-cheeked ones in Goa.
At
Pune, just outside our room, a barbet coppersmith couple were busy all day
making a hole in a branch. This let
me watch them in detail.
October
2003
I�m
back after a long break in the US. It
takes time to spot the birds. This
month I�ve only seen babblers, the Brahminy eagles and the occasional sunbird.
