Sahil's Nature Blog: Flora

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Nature watching @ Sundarbans

Just back from an amazing two day trip to the Sundarbans tiger reserve in West Bengal, India organized by a local NGO - Help tourism.

We were based at the Jungle camp on the Bali island. The camp is conveniently located at the river bank bang opposite the massive tidal forest. It is soo close to the actual forest that they often have tigers swimming across the river and entering their property!

The trip included multiple boat rides at the edge of the forest and into its buffer zone.

We were able to spot over 60 species of birds thanks to our very knowledgeable guide - Jayanta Manna.

Mangrove Whistler Pachycephala cinerea

- the highlight of the trip being a clear sighting of the elusive Mangrove Whistler Pachycephala grisola -

White-collared Kingfisher Todiramphus chloris

Sundarbans is the worlds largest tidal forest and a heaven for kingfisher. We were able to get good views of 6 of the 10 kingfisher.

Black-capped Kingfisher Halcyon pileata

Brown-winged Kingfisher Pelargopsis amauroptera

Pied Kingfisher Ceryle rudis

Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis

White-throated Kingfisher Halcyon smyrnensis

However, the apex predator of this unique mangrove forest - the Royal Bengal Tiger - eluded us

(we were only able to see its footprints)

One of the other highlights of the trip was seeing a group of 5 Irrawaddy dolphins Orcaella brevirostris playing in one of the wider rivers cutting across the Mangroves.

Here's a few more photos I clicked during my stay there..

And listed below is a complete list of birds we saw:

1	Shikra	Accipiter badius
2	Eurasian (or Northern) Sparrowhawk	Accipiter nisus
3	Common Myna	Acridotheres tristis
4	Common Sandpiper	Actitis hypoleucos
5	Common Iora	Aegithina tiphia
6	Common Kingfisher	Alcedo atthis
7	Olive-backed Pipit	Anthus hodgsoni
8	Great Egret	Ardea alba
9	Pond Heron	Ardeola grayii
10	Ashy Woodswallow	Artamus fuscus
11	Spotted Owlet	Athene brama
12	Cattle Egret	Bubulcus ibis
13	Little (or Striated) Heron	Butorides striata
14	Large-tailed Nightjar	Caprimulgus macrurus
15	Greater Coucal	Centropus sinensis
16	Pied Kingfisher	Ceryle rudis
17	Lesser Sand Plover	Charadrius mongolus
18	Brown-headed Gull	Chroicocephalus brunnicephalus
19	Greater Flameback	Chrysocolaptes lucidus
20	Oriental Magpie-Robin	Copsychus saularis
21	Eastern Jungle Crow	Corvus macrorhynchos levaillantii
22	Rufous Treepie	Dendrocitta vagabunda
23	Lesser Whistling Duck	Dendrocygna javanica
24	Forest Wagtail	Dendronanthus indicus
25	Scarlet-backed Flowerpecker	Dicaeum cruentatum
26	Bronzed Drongo	Dicrurus aeneus
27	Black-rumped Flameback	Dinopium benghalense
28	Little Egret	Egretta garzetta
29	Asian Koel	Eudynamys scolopaceus
30	Red Junglefowl	Gallus gallus
31	Black-capped Kingfisher	Halcyon pileata
32	White-throated Kingfisher	Halcyon smyrnensis
33	Brahminy kite	Haliastur indus
34	Barn Swallow	Hirundo rustica
35	Pheasant-tailed Jacana	Hydrophasianus chirurgus
36	Brown Shrike	Lanius cristatus
37	Lesser Adjutant stork	Leptoptilos javanicus
38	Scaly-breasted Munia	Lonchura punctulata
39	Small Green Bee-eater	Merops orientalis
40	Little Cormorant	Microcarbo niger
41	White Wagtail	Motacilla alba
42	Yellow Wagtail	Motacilla flava
43	Eurasian Curlew	Numenius arquata
44	Whimbrel	Numenius phaeopus
45	Eurasian Golden Oriole	Oriolus oriolus
46	Black-hooded Oriole	Oriolus xanthornus
47	Mangrove Whistler	Pachycephala cinerea
48	House Sparrow	Passer domesticus
49	Brown-winged Kingfisher	Pelargopsis amauroptera
50	Small Minivet	Pericrocotus cinnamomeus
51	Pacific Golden Plover	Pluvialis fulva
52	Rose-ringed Parakeet	Psittacula krameri
53	Red-vented Bulbul	Pycnonotus cafer
54	White-throated Fantail	Rhipidura albicollis
55	Spotted Dove	Spilopelia chinensis
56	Eurasian Collared Dove	Streptopelia decaocto
57	White-collared Kingfisher	Todiramphus chloris
58	Common Redshank	Tringa totanus
59	Jungle Babbler	Turdoides striata
60	Terek Sandpiper	Xenus cinereus
61	Oriental White-eye	Zosterops palpebrosus

And lastly, here's a couple of reference websites that should help you plan a Birding trip to Sundarbans:

I would strongly recommend a visit to the unique habitat of the Sundarbans to all those who are interested in any aspect of nature but I feel you really need to spend at least 2 nights and 3 days to do some justice to this tremendous habitat!

Below is a slideshow of a larger selection of photos from this trip:

Thanks Jayanta for an amazing trip!

Jayanta is an expert on the Sundarbans and also a great photographer, check some of his excellent photos HERE.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Three days in Scotland

Just got done with an amazing two weeks travelling in Europe - and I couldn't have asked for a better ending... after five blissful days in Switzerland I headed for yet another amazing landscape - Scotland for the last three days!

Starting with snaps from Edinburgh :

It was probably the best time of the year for wild flowers and since I know very little about it I will share a few photos but no ids for them...

And as expected all these flowers were attracting all sorts of insects and bugs

The rest of the snaps from Edinburgh were clicked along the road side behind the Scottish Parliament below Arthur's Seat.....

started with a Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)....

....this here is the national flower of scotland - the Thistle

And this is the weirdest butterfly I have come across so far.. It seems to be a Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) . ..

and all three images are of the same individual - what is most puzzling is that in the UP side photo (above) one of its wings are coloured like a male - while the other has a female wing pattern!!!

(Apparently this does happen although quiet rarely and is called - gynandromorph)

Then A few Common House Martins (Delichon urbicum) caught my attention for a while

And while I was busy clicking more wild flowers and butterflies I saw the only wild mammal of this trip -

and what was better was the fact that it was a lifer. A Least Weasel (Mustela nivalis) - of course at the time I thought it was a Stoat I had seen some on TV and they looked exactly the same.

But a little bit of internet research told me that it was in fact a Least weasel. Which is distinguished from the Stoat because it lacks the black tip to the tail - this one had rich chocolate brown tail like the rest of its body.

After a brief few minutes of checking what I was up to the small fellow made a dash into the thicket and didn't reappear....

So I went back to more butterflies

a Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)

and an unided Satyrid butterfly...

and lastly a Carrion Crow (Corvus corone)

On the next day I went to Loch Lomond,

a Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)

A few insects snapped on various halts -

an unided frog

Similar to Switzerland the landscape here too is extremely pristine and mind blowing at times..

On a small lunch break I came across these Common House Martins (Delichon urbicum) nesting below the roof of a roadside cafe..

and not far from the Martins this - Common gull (Larus canus) flew by..

and so did this Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)

and above the nest site this White Wagtail (Motacilla alba) did what he does best - wag his tail!!

And some more great landscape

these Highland cattle or Kyloe (an ancient Scottish breed of beef cattle with long horns) are quiet a common sight in the Scottish highlands

and after some more amazing landscape I got to Fort William where I halted..

Only to be back on the road early next day heading for Loch Ness

At this particular part of the journey I was reminded a lot of a trip I had done a few years back to Shillong (Meghalaya) in the North-East of India... and I realized why the British had named that part of India the Scotland of the East!