Rendezvous With The Blue Tailed Bee Eaters

As the summer started to set in, there were numerous reports of the Blue Tailed Bee Eaters flocking on the outskirts of Mysore for their annual nesting period. These birds make their nesting holes in the soft sand found alongside the banks  of the Cauvery and can be found in large numbers from March to July. It's a pleasure to watch their courtship displays and feeding rituals. The season starts with the males trying to impress the females with their catch and tossing it around - an exchange of prey would mean acceptance. What follows is the nesting period ie. laying eggs and hatching, followed by feeding the young until they take their first flight and start hunting for themselves.



In the colony, there are always fights for dominance amongst the males, first to get a partner, then to get the best nesting spots, or even to get a specific perch etc. So it's quite entertaining to just sit around and watch the bird behavior and possibly document some of that on camera. The nesting grounds are now informally protected against human destruction, but there is a lot more than can be done. You can see how these birds are jostling for space amongst growing human encroachment, its a pity. There is cattle and donkeys wandering nearby the nesting sites, and there are laundry guys washing and drying stuff just 40-50m away from these birds.



From a birding standpoint, this is another one of those arm-chair birding spots where all you need to do is maintain sufficient distance from the nesting pits, setup a tripod and wait for the action. All you need is patience and perseverance along with some pre-visualization of what kind of image you'd want to capture. There is a lot of story-telling images that can be captured here showcasing the social behaviors of these birds. One should take care to maintain silence at all times and avoid too much of movement so as to not disturb the birds.



I actually made a couple of trips this season, and each time, there was enough drama and action that I could capture. Next season I would want to go a bit early and witness the courtship displays as well. 

Catching up with 2014!

Time flies! It’s been a crazy year so far, one of those kinds where I haven’t taken any vacation since it started. Seriously, come to think of it, the trip to Gujarat and Rajasthan in December 2013 was the last long vacation we’ve had. Since then, it’s been just so difficult to take time off and just go somewhere….anywhere!



It was supposed to be a trip to the North Eastern Himalayas in December 2013, covering parts of Sikkim and a tour of Bhutan, returning through Assam and West Bengal. But there were budget constraints that hit us, both monetary as well as time needed to complete the circuit. Gozu had some work related travel in December that made it difficult to plan a 3 week trip and we had to drop the idea eventually.

It was already November and we hadn’t finalized where we were going. Then one fine day, it just happened! We were going to be accompanied by the Kumars and the Singhs, in their virgin Ecosport and Terrano, both cars barely run 500-600 kms. So at 2 months old, the Fortuner was going to be the oldest car in the group for this trip. Plans were made and we managed to get the bookings done. Those days the weekend discussions used to be only about what we’re going to through the trip. It was going to be a 10 day trip, covering only Jaisalmer, Dholavira and Zainabad with some stopovers at Ahmedabad.



When the d-day arrived, everyone was in a super charged mood. First halt was at Mumbai where we were stopping over at a friends place and then headed to Ahmedabad on the next day. The following two days were dedicated to some birding around Ahmedabad while the other two guys spent time with family in Mumbai and joined us at Ahmedabad on day three.



During the two days at Ahmedabad, we visited the Thol Sanctuary and Nalsarovar Lake. Honestly, Thol was a bit of a disappointment since I couldn’t get closer to the birds at all. The lake is very big and even after walking around for an hour, we hadn’t even walked halfway around its circumference. We roamed around for about 3 hours and then finally decided to try our luck with Nalsarovar. Once at Nalsarovar, it was a very different experience altogether. We hired a boat for the remainder of the day and the whole of the next day which was quite good. The bird population was dispersed through various parts of the lake. The water levels were still high and the flamingos hadn’t arrived yet, but a lot of other waders were seen.



Covering an area of 120 sq. kms, the lake is covered with grass reeds and the shallow waters allow for a lot of aquatic plants to thrive. The weather was quite good too, and on the second day we were on that boat starting 7AM until 6PM.





On Day 3, we were joined by the rest of the group and then it was shopping time for the ladies at the night market in Ahmedabad. The next day we were scheduled to begin our trip officially and head towards Jaisalmer.



While shortlisting places in Rajasthan, I was very particular of not wanting to do any of the touristy places where one has to walk with a thousand people through those palace corridors. Rajasthan for me was about the dunes in the desert and its uninhabited vastness. May be someday I will go back to visit the palaces, but not in the peak tourist season. On choosing the dunes near Jaisalmer, there were two main spots, Sam and Khuri. The Khuri (khoodi) dunes were apparently less crowded and cheaper than staying at Sam. And fortunately, we managed to get bookings at Mama’s resort and Camp at Khuri given that everything else was pretty much full.

The resort seemed a bit smaller than what we anticipated and what the pictures depicted, but the rooms were good and they had some tented accommodation that looked nice as well. The food was quite good but that didn’t surprise us. Although most places are predominantly vegetarian, I actually think that getting bad food is a bit difficult in Gujarat and Rajasthan.


The first day we went out for a short ride on the dunes to watch the sun settle behind the horizon. Everybody’s first experience on the sand, and we all loved it. So much that we asked the guys to take us for a full-day safari on the following day.



In the full-day safari, you basically travel about an hour on the camels and then settle down under an acacia tree while the guys cook a hearty meal on the dunes. No gas and no stove, only some twigs and a make shift “chulha”. And then post the afternoon siesta, you are good to return back to civilization. There are overnight versions of such expeditions as well, where you get to sleep on the dunes under the star lit night sky, but given that we had a 1 year old, we chose not to be too adventurous. The night temperatures can drop significantly and one has to be prepared for it.

I wanted to get the Fortuner for some dune bashing and experience its capabilities on the sand. Post the siesta, the next stop was going to be the sunset point that we had visited on the previous day. So while the guys packed up and moved towards that place, I decided to go get the car and drive it to the sunset point. On the way to the car, as the camel was getting down a steep slope, one of the belts securing the seat snapped out. The young lad, about 13 years old, didn’t know what to do next and called his brother for advice. His brother assured me that it shouldn’t be a problem at all and that his camel also runs the same setup with one broken strap. So off we went again, and at the next descent, I could see the camels head coming closer and closer to mine. Finally, I had to grab the camels neck and do an emergency dismount maneuver, landing in the soft sand. The seat had almost come off its back, throwing me off to roll in the sands. Thankfully, nobody was hurt, neither me and nor the camel had suffered any injuries. The little guy was a bit embarrassed over the incident, but I laughed it off to make him comfortable. It was then that he told me that I was fortunate that the camel didn’t react to me grabbing it’s neck, if it were a smaller camel, it may have kicked me and definitely caused some pain. I thanked my stars and the camel too, brave animal I must say. Anyway, the seat was fixed by another camel guy who made sure it was secured properly and he swore on his own life that there was no risk for me to sit on it again. I offered to walk instead, but he insisted and I gave in, but not without asking for pardon for all my sins...it worked!

Soon we were back at the car and it was time for me to show the little guy on how good the Fortuner could do camel duty. He handed the camel to his brother and joined me along with another friend. The first step was to climb the dune, straight to the top and then drive on the ridges to get to sunset point. I slotted into 4HL and it climbed up like no man’s business, at 40kmph! Both guys were surprised at the ease at which the Fortuner was managing through the dunes and soon we were at the designated spot.



The next day we roamed around Jaisalmer and visited the fort. It was a nice experience and the ladies got an opportunity to shop around until it was dark.



Our first trip to Jaisalmer and we were all determined to come back for more, but for now we had to head towards Dholavira which was our next destination. Most importantly, we had to make sure our bookings were still available since I hadn’t been able to pay the advance. I called them again to check, the guys were kind enough and hadn’t given away my bookings.


Dholavira had been on our travel schedule for the past 2 years when we’ve visited the Little Rann of Kutch, but it had never materialized. So this time it was finally going to happen, and my wife was excited about it. The only place to stay at Dholavira is at Toran which is operated by Gujarat Tourism so its always a good thing to get place and have your bookings confirmed.

We hired a guide to show us around and that was indeed a good move since we would have never realized how well planned the humans were 5000 years ago.

Next day, we left towards Zainabad (Little Rann of Kutch) in the morning after breakfast. It was a quick and short drive of about 4 hours through small villages until we reached the main highway. But it was not a problem since the roads throughout Gujarat have been fantastic all the time.



Zainabad had now become like our second home given that this was the third consecutive year we were visiting. Dhanraj and his guys made every attempt to make our stay comfortable as ever, hats off. We did the customary wildlife viewing safari and everyone got to witness the critically endangered wild asses and a few other LRK specialties.



Next day we got our permits and decided to drive in ourselves. Although we made a few wrong turns, overall we successfully navigated through the open flats (with some help from GPS and Google Maps). It was time for a quick photo shoot with the three cars.







On the following day we went exploring around Zainabad to Modhera and Patan. The Sun Temple and Rani ki Vaav are some really interesting places to visit if you get a guide and listen to all their stories.



Before we realized, it was already the end of our week long vacation and with a heavy heart we bade goodbye to Gujarat. It was time to catch up with some more family members and then head back home.

Given that we are so used to traveling on our own, this was definitely a different experience for us. But again, the good thing was that we were with a very close group of friends and that’s what made it fun and entertaining all through. Overall, it was a fun vacation and everyone enjoyed it thoroughly.

A Sequel to Dec 2011 - A Rewarding Experience At Jamnagar!

Today was the day we were leaving for Jamnagar to participate in the Bird-A-Thon. Pozu had skipped dinner last night and thus it was decided that I’ll go for the morning safari while Gozu and Pozu will finish all morning activities and be ready for departure by the time I come back. A futile search for the Short Eared Owl delayed our morning jeep ride and by the time I was back at the resort, the mother-daughter duo was all set for us to leave. We made a quick departure from Desert Coursers after all the customary bye-byes and were on our way to Jamnagar. There is no major highway connectivity between Zainabad and Jamnagar and a good part of the road is through smaller towns and villages. Though the roads were decent, the average speed wasn’t all that great since we had to slow down every now and then for the slow moving vehicles and pedestrians. We reached Jamnagar at about 4PM and caught some rest before joining the team for the briefing and dinner party.

With the rules understood and the team introduced, we were told to be ready to leave at 6AM on the following morning. Each team was of 5 participants and had a good mix of novice to expert bird enthusiasts. There was a local Jamnagar participant in every team who was pretty much an expert at birding. Gozu and me were in the same team and we had one person from Mumbai and another one from Ahmedabad and last but not the least a young “veteran” bird watcher Chiku (Chirag Solanki) from Jamnagar.

It was going to be a bit challenging with having Pozu ready at 6AM since usually on all our trips we let her sleep till her usual time even though we leave at unearthly hours. However, going out on a mission meant that she had to be ready with all her morning rituals completed by 6AM. She also hadn’t had her dinner last night so we needed to make sure that she would eat a good breakfast meal. This is the part where I can’t stop admiring my daughter, at just about 3years of age her adaptability is unmatched. Not only did she wake up at 5AM and finished all her stuff, she was wide awake as we started and was really enjoying the whole kickoff event. The organizers had arranged for packed breakfast for all participants and that really helped in ensuring that she had proper meals through the day.

I had been reading up on the birding scene in Jamnagar to prepare myself for the event and I was amazed to see how blessed the port city has been blessed with a vast bio-diversity of residential as well as migratory birds. The whole city is pretty much like a huge bird sanctuary and one can easily see a lot of bird species without making too much of an effort. Our plan was finalized based on discussions with Chiku and it was going to be the Khijadiya Bird Sanctuary – Narara beach – Lakhota lake – Valasura salt pans and if possible we’d go to the area near the railway station.

The late sun rise at 7.20AM meant that we’d not be seeing much activity until the light comes in and the birds take to the sky. We utilized this time to reach Khijadiya and spot the elusive Indian Nightjar which was the first species to be recorded in our books for the day. The next 2 hours were spent at Khijadiya which yielded us 75-80 species on the list and that was a pretty good start for the day. We had some of the packed breakfast at one of the watch towers and then started towards Narara which was a little more than an hour away. The Narara Marine National Park was a very pleasing experience and I could potentially spend a full day in a place like that without feeling hungry or thirsty. Given that we reached there pretty much as the tide started moving in and water level was increasing fast, we could spot the Crab Plovers and who’re the stars of the area and an Osprey making attempts to find its food amongst the various other waders that thrive in this place.

With two major birding locations covered and more than 130 species on our list, we were now focused on finding specific species that weren’t covered yet. The cab guy we had was moving at a very slow pace and keeping the needle at a max of 50-55kmph even on open roads, he said he had gotten some work done on the engine and was running it in. While that cost us time to move between places, the fun thing about birding is that it can be done anywhere since birds are not restricted by boundary walls. The slow speed was a blessing in disguise as it helped in keeping a lookout and spotting several species that weren’t seen inside the sanctuary. On the way back from Narara we made a brief diversion to the Ranjitsagar dam where we found some of the common birds like the purple moorhen, the coppersmith barbet etc. By the end of the afternoon, we were comfortably sitting at a total of 150 odd species count and a quick visit to the Lakhota lake helped in adding a few more. It was still 5PM and we had an hour more to report back at the hotel so we decided to go towards Valasura and see if we can find some more and we did add 2-3 more to the list.

The rough list had a little over 160 odd names and we were sure there will be some duplicates, we had started filling out the log book while on our way to Valasura and were glad that the duplicates weren’t too many. At the end of the day we submitted a total of 157 species recorded from all the places we visited. Now, I must admit that I’m a casual birder and even though I know most of the bird names and can identify the parent species of most birds, identifying a specific species and its sub-species is a difficult task. This is where our champion Chiku proved his mettle, an avid birder and a very cheerful person, he’s been an active bird-watcher in Jamnagar for over 12 years and was able to describe the differences between sub-species very clearly. Moreover, he seemed to be an expert with the waders which was a definite plus as there were quite a few waders that we could spot and identify with his help.

The contest required us to photograph as many birds as we could so that there is photographic evidence available if required in case of any questions etc. There was a special prize for the day’s best picture based on the jury discretion as well. Each team had to submit 5 photographs before 6.45PM to be qualified for the contest. Now, I had been lugging around my 600mm all through the day handheld to get record shots of most species that we saw. However, given that we were always rushing from one place to the other, there was absolutely no time where I could sit and photograph thinking about the picture contest. A monopod would have been best suited for this kind of jobs but sadly all I had was the tripod which was pretty difficult to carry and setup everytime. At the end of the day, we were scrambling to find suitable pictures for the submission and all I could manage was some marginally decent shots that I’d not be “happy happy” with. Anyways, the single-minded focus of the team was to make sure we put up the best count and we were proud of that, so this was nothing to be worked up about.

The award ceremony and closing out dinner was arranged at the Rotary Club hall nearby and we were all sitting exhausted from the day’s work hoping that we’d win something. One by one, all the awards got announced and everybody at our table was pretty much sitting quiet. Then came the announcement for last award which was the most important one too, the winners of the Bird-A-Thon with the most number of species count from the day. We had heard totals of 140 odd numbers so we knew that we weren’t too far off from others, but we didn’t know if someone had more than us. Then came the biggest surprise, everyone suddenly turned to our rather quiet table as the winning team was announced. We had won the first ever Bird-A-Thon and that too by a good margin!

Everybody shook hands and hugged each other in glee and boy were we glad that the trip turned out to be so successful. They even announced that they’ll be sending a special prize for Pozu as the youngest birder of the event, she really deserved that mention coz she had been such a good sporting kid all through the day.

While sitting through the event, Gozu had a sudden urge to see if we can get some bookings at Gir and drive down on the next day. Now, that’s not something that I’d like to turn down and I immediately turned to my newly found friends in Jamnagar who got me in touch with a reliable source in Gir. Being a Sunday and the 30th of December, I knew the chances were bleak but my contact was determined to try his best and promised to give me a final update in the morning based on which I could decide to drive down to Gir or go back home.

After a sumptuous dinner which was infact the first proper meal of the day, the happy day ended with bidding farewell to our wonderful hosts and to our super-efficient team members.

That night we slept like logs and the only thing that woke me up in the morning was the alarm I had set to call my contact in Gir about the possibility of getting a safari booking for the evening. He had already told me that staying will not be an issue, but getting a slot in the safari will be a matter of chance. Unfortunately, that Sunday morning was swarmed with people at Gir and he was very polite in telling me that it may not work out to my satisfaction even if I take a chance. Well, you can’t always get what you want and Gir wasn’t even remotely connected to our original plan so there was no heartburn. We promised ourselves to return to the land of the Asiatic Lions pretty soon and started our return journey to Mumbai in the morning after breakfast.

The roads were pretty good till Limbdi post which we took the right turn to follow the path shown by Google Maps and that 150 kms stretch until Karjan slowed us down considerably. We passed through some small villages and the road wasn’t wide enough in most places, plus it was patchy in some places. Overall, we must have lost an hour or a little more doing this stretch. Once at Karjan, we joined back to the main wester express highway and continued our drive until we stopped at my parents’ house for a quick 4 hour rest before leaving for the final leg of our journey to Bangalore. We were back home by evening time and had managed to avoid the new year mad rush that would have begun a couple of hours later. We enjoyed the new year party hosted by a friend here with some nice barbeque and I was found mostly dozing on the sofa while the others danced and made merry.

Here’s wishing all the readers a very happy and prosperous 2013!

A Sequel to Dec 2011 - Exploring the Little Rann Of Kutch

The 2012 monsoon hasn’t been great across the country and one can easily make out the impact of it in LRK. The water bodies that were full last year and had a lot of ducks and other waders had just ankle deep water and were now flooded with flamingos who prefer that habitat. The ducks had to move to the creek side which had some water but not as much as the last time. There was some water released from the Narmada which had an impact on some of the access roads and the only option to go the creek side was from Bajana which is 20kms from Zainabad whereas last year there was another road midway. 

The number of birds this year were less as compared to the previous year and what I got to know was that the flamingos on the way to Dholavira were no longer there in this season. Last year, I was told that there was a huge gathering of 1.5 to 2 lakh flamingos on that side of the Rann. We missed it because we thought we’ll go to Dholavira from the GRK side and unfortunately that road access was closed when we went there. Now Dholavira is about 5 hours from Zainabad and is one of the sites where you can see the remnants of the Harappan civilization, but my main aim was to also go there for the Greater Flamingos which are not found in LRK otherwise. We made plans and we dropped the plans, that’s pretty much what we did and end of the trip, we didn’t really take off for Dholavira. May be someday when I visit the place again, I’ll keep this on the itinerary. 

 

We did go to the Modhera Sun temple which is quite a brilliant depiction of how ancestral Indian man was knowledgeable about subjects ranging from history, geography, science, mathematics to sex education. The temple is no longer a place of worship since it was desecrated and is now a well maintained archaeological site. Our guide kept telling us intriguing stories about how Mahabharata was depicted in the sculptures and how the temple was built based on the sun calendar etc. Overall, a nice visit and there’s always something you learn from such places. 

During the course of the 4 days at Desert Coursers, we made friends with a lot of people and surprisingly one of them was a family from Bangalore who stay just about 7-8 kms from our place. Their son and Pozu immediately took off and what followed was a couple of days of sheer playing madness between the duo. Given that LRK isn’t really a place that has too much to offer for a general tourist, usually the people who visit the place are wildlife enthusiasts and that has helped keep the crowds limited but the overall region can definitely be kept a lot cleaner than what it is today. Plastic trash is seen almost everywhere and can easily be avoided through proper regulations and education. 

My favorite photographic subject in LRK has been the Lesser Flamingos and even this time I spent most of the time sitting at the edge of Nawa Talav waiting for these beautiful creatures to accept me and close in for a nice shot. Finally, persistence paid off and I was able to get a few shots that were satisfying enough to call it a successful day. 

While I was busy photographing the flamingos, Pozu was keeping her Mom busy with her insistence to use my other camera. She also wanted to try her hand at some shots of the flamingos and finally managed to work her way out.

A Greylag Geese couple also happened to pose nicely for the camera, though they maintained safe distance at all times. No amount of hiding helped in getting close to them and they’d take to the sky at the slightest hesitance from anyone in the group.

  

The LRK special for this visit was the encounter with the nightjars, we spotted both the Sykes as well as the Indian nightjars after sundown. The only challenge was to get a nice picture of these supremely camouflaged birds, the search light surely helped in spotting these beauties, but the harsh light didn’t make it easy to get a pleasing picture. Still after fiddling around with the exposure and dialing it down to soften the light, I was able to get a couple of pictures that are worth posting here. 

The Eurasian cranes were found almost everywhere but I was glad to document some aggressive behavioral shots in a siege. I couldn’t make out whether the two males were either fighting for dominance or it was mock ritual, but it went on for about 10 minutes while the other cranes were seen cheering the fight. 

The Demoiselle cranes were missing last year during our trip, but this time they made a good special appearance and during the evening golden light hour and it more than made up for their absence. 

The sunrise and sunset are the two most beautiful events in the Rann where you can see the big orange ball of fire just rising from or sinking into the perfectly flat horizon. One of the evenings we were lucky to witness a really beautiful orange glow reflecting off the shallow waters, introducing a magical effect into the whole landscape. We positioned our jeep to get a classic silhouette shot of the curlew sandpiper in the orange waters and after a couple of tries, I was happy with what I had gotten. 

A day before we were supposed to leave for Jamnagar, I called the Saevus organizers to check on my stay arrangements since I had asked for a separate booking. I was told that they have blocked the room for me separately, but since there was a cancellation they offered my wife to join the event as a participant if she was willing. Given that there was basically nothing that she was going to do except babysitting Pozu, she was ready to join but we wanted to make sure that it was okay to have our daughter along with us all the while. We were happy to know that there wasn’t any issue in having Pozu with us if we were okay with it and so now all three of us were going to participate in the bird race which was quite exciting.