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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 I 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.

December 1999

    I was at Delhi for most of the month.  It was Ma's first death anniversary on the 12th, and then Neil arrived.

December 2000

            This month I have been pretty regular about the birds – there is a definite change of scene.  I love my kingfisher.  He’s there every morning and sits exactly where he used to sit last year – at the edge of the swing bar.  He looks towards the verandah though, and not out to sea.  I’m sure he acknowledges my presence, because he is so used to my timings. It doesn’t worry him when I walk around the garden.  The monkeys spend time in the garden in the evenings – I don’t like it when they sit on the fir tree in the mornings.  I watch them shush away the birds with a wave of their arms, and they’ve even tried to shush the kingfisher away.  That’s when I go across, and yell at them.The kingfisher likes moths and butterflies and dragonflies!  He does this flight across the garden , dips and catches a creature, and then continues to the fir tree. Then he comes back to the swing.  I watch him eat his catch.

               Every morning and evening, there is a flight of swallows and swifts. I can recognise the sizes, the tails, and the wingspans now.  Difficult to get them for long periods in my binoc view though.   They’re obviously eating the dragonflies.  The bee-eaters don’t seem to be around..  Last month I used to watch and count the sea-eagles and kites.   This month, it is rare to see them glide over the house.  I suppose it is because the fishing boats are going further out to sea now.  I see the sea birds only when the boats are coming back towards Hollant.  I can see them in groups in the distance.

There has been a pair of black-headed bulbuls in the garden. Along the road near the factory, I have often seen the Indian roller on the telegraph wires.  He sits alone and very still.There are quite a few wren-warblers at the bottom of the garden, and now the babblers are back to making their din.  The wood shrike sits on top of its bare branch in the tree in front.  The orioles are all over, and so are the drongos. 

The pond heron comes in more frequently – about 8.30 am.  The lapwing comes at night, and we also see a lot of them on the road in the dark.Mid-December:-  The pond heron is a regular now, and he has spent a night roosting on the kingfisher’s place on the swing bar.  The kf was very uncomfortable the next morning, watched him from the tower, and kept trying to land on the bar. Finally he sat on the tree and watched the heron.   When the heron awoke properly, he got down to the lawn, and all was well again!

I met a birdwatcher at Carambolim – Terry Moss from Nottingham. He had 10x42 binocs and a scope.  He showed me the purple moorhens, the moorhens, the coots, the marsh harrier, the grey heron, the purple heron, the cormorants, the jacanas.  He told me about how to identify immature birds.  Then he came to Zuarinagar and we walked around the estate.  We spotted a kestrel and a shikra at the wetlands, and the ashy wren-warbler at the guest house.

He’s been birdwatching at Baga Hill and has seen the scarlet minivet (m&f), Besra, Indian swiftlet; and at shrimp ponds he’s seen the pied bush-chat, chestnut shouldered petronia,  I haven’t seen these yet.

Birdwatchers from the UK make amazing reports about their visits. These have hand-drawn maps of areas, trees, birds found.  They are really comprehensive reports – I wish I could lay my hands on one of them.

31^st December � we�re ready for the new millennium! I have been regular with the birds.  Neil brought me the Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp.  It is a great book!  The kf and the heron have got their equation sorted out.  The heron flies to the swing bar once in a while and the two birds glare at each other � it is a funny sight.  Since two days two other herons have been on the lawn and our heron has chased after them, round the garden, until they left.  Today we watched the rain clouds move towards the house.  Then all the birds came out to dry their feathers.  There were the white-bellied sea eagles, the garudas, the barbets, the bulbuls, the orioles, and even a shikra.  There were many bee-eaters in the sky � in fact, the bee-eaters have begun frequenting the garden and sit atop the tree in front. The swallows have been gliding instead of flitting so they have been easier to watch.  The sunbirds are back in force.

            This month saw three forest fires, and the last one (19^th Dec) has completely burnt out the part near the wetland. I�m sure a lot of bird homes have been destroyed and I have seen the Indian roller sitting around quite forlorn.

December 2001

            I�ve been away, and other than the sparrow-hawk who is a regular, there don�t seem to be too many birds.  There are a pair of black-headed bulbuls, ashy-bellied drongos, barbets, chloropsis,  the occasional sunbird too.  The coucal is briefly there.  On holidays, the monitor lizard suns himself on our lawn � but I haven�t been able to photograph him.

            The sparrow hawk has taken to chasing people away from his air-space so not many birds come.  However, the kingfisher is back and sits a little distance away.  Orioles and sunbirds and drongos move around occasionally.  It is hot and dry weather.

December 2002

            Not much of birdwatching this month.  I went to Delhi and then Deep was over.  There is the observation that the sparrow hawk holds sway over the garden, and only the very tiny birds dare venture � the sunbirds and the plain flowerpecker!

            A female peahen in the colony has 6 chicks!  We see her once in a while walking through the forest with her brood.  This means we should have 16 peafowl in Zuarinagar!  They are probably eating the snakes and the millipedes.