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Goa: the Best of South India

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Goa: the Best of South India Goa: The best of south India Custom Tour 21-27 November 2010 The amazing Ceylon Frogmouth on a day roost. This is definitely one of the great highlights of a birding trip to Goa. www.tropicalbirding.com Tour Leader: Keith Barnes Introduction: This was a quickfire seven-day junket through south India for a few participants that wanted to add to their time in India after joining our set departure tour to North India. Goa is a South Indian state that hosts a series of laidback coastal beach towns, offering a great introduction to Asian birds and the fascinating culture of the Indian subcontinent. The town of Baga is an excellent base from which to see a ton of birds in a relaxed atmosphere. It is littered with western-style resorts, and restaurants with delicious prawn and fish curries. However, before we spent time at our base in Baga, we headed into the cooler hills of the western Ghats, located near the eastern border of the province. Here we lapped up the many South Indian endemics and the fragile beauty of these sub-montane forests. Because this trip was customized, we were not chasing a big list, and we specifically ignored the many waterbird-rich sites in Goa, as we would be targeting these species on our main tour in North India. Instead, we chased the many forest-based lifebirds that were new for the participants. As a result we saw few ducks, waders and shorbirds, but were focused on the forest specialties at Backwoods and coastal specialties at Baga that would be new, and specifically those that would not be picked up in N. India. Western Ghats endemics, and interior forest species, like this Malabar Grey Hornbill, were to be the focus of this custom tour. www.tropicalbirding.com Some of the highlights included excellent views of Malabar Pied, Malabar Gray and Great Hornbills. Woodpeckers were a feature also, with Greater Flameback, Heart-spotted and White- bellied Woodpeckers all seen very well. Kingfishers are another family we feasted upon, with great looks at seven species including Stork-billed, Black-capped, Blue-eared and Black-backed Dwarf Kingfishers as well as the more common ones! We also maximized on the Ghats endemics scoring good views of Gray Junglefowl, the dainty and shy Malabar Trogon, elegant Malabar Parakeet, electric Crimson-fronted Barbet and Orange Minivets, subdued Malabar Lark, noisy Grey-headed, Flame-throated and Yellow-browed Bulbuls, and superb views of the strange Ceylon Frogmouth. Other southern specialties included Nilgiri Flowerpecker, Blue-faced Malkoha and a bevy of sunbirds. Some excellent mammals came in the form of the Red-and- white Indian Giant Squirrel and the Greater False Vampire Bat! The final tally for the week of 202 bird species and seven mammal species was respectable. However, what was more impressive was the fact that we saw 106 species of bird and 5 species of mammal that would not be seen on our N.India trip in a little over 5 days of birding, giving a grand total of exactly 501 birds and 19 mammals including Tiger, Leopard, Indian Wild Dog (Dhole), Indian Elephant, and Ganges River Dolphin recorded on our four week India Megafari, a tidy little sum indeed. Itinerary: Nov 21 Arrival in Baga, Goa, drive to Backwoods Nov 22-24 Full days Backwoods Nov 25 Backwoods, PM Carambolim Lake/Beira Mar Nov 26 Morjim Beach, Baga Hill Nov 27 Arpora Ridge + Carambolim, Fly to Delhi Main Tour 21 Nov: Dabolim to Western Ghats (Backwoods). After a late arrival in Dabolim we only had time to drive straight up to Backwoods Camp. En-route we picked up the elegant Brahminy Kite soaring overhead. An unexpected roadside stop revealed a party of noisy Malabar Pied Hornbills, and we also saw some Indian Pond Heron’s on the wing and White-throated Kingfishers sitting sentinel on roadside poles. Upon our late arrival at the camp we fortuitously met with an amazing Grey Junglefowl male that was parading down the main road, a delightful start to our time at Backwoods. Other birds near the camp included Grey-headed Starling and the distinct Malabar White-headed Starling, Ashy Drongo and Nilgiri Blackbird. Unfortunately, all too soon our day was over and we retreated to our camp in the mountains. www.tropicalbirding.com The Brahminy Kite is a common, but elegant resident of coastal India. 22 – 24 Nov: Western Ghats. We spent three full days walking the many exciting trails on offer in the Backwoods area, finding many western Ghats endemics as well as other special forest birds occurring in the vicinity of the camp. The pattern was pretty similar most days. We started with a pre-dawn tea and coffee with biscuits and then birded hard for 3-4 hours before returning for a really nice Indian breakfast, with Masala eggs, and then we birded a little more around the camp before lunch, a short rest and then an afternoon of birding with a few short nocturnal forays looking for the great night birds that are found here. Over our three days we ended up netting a great selection of South Indian specialty birds. Starting before dawn, we were serenaded by the resident Malabar Whistling Thrush with its variety of melancholy calls. As first light approached we started working the network of forest trails seeking out the roaming flocks. The clicks and buzzy calls of a drongo gave away our first flock, and we locate the flock sentinels, Black, Ashy and White-bellied Drongos working the forest. Later on we also located the slightly more reclusive Bronzed, and Great Racket-tailed Drongos. With a flurry we began to encounter a bunch of other species including electric Small and Orange Minivets, stunning Rufous and Heart-spotted Woodpeckers, Large and Common Woodshrikes, Black-naped Monarch, Flame- throated, White-browed, and Yellow-browed Bulbuls. The understory flocks brought the dapper www.tropicalbirding.com Dark-fronted Babbler and melancholic Brown-cheeked Fulvetta. Some residents needed more specific attention and during our stay we tracked down the elusive Malabar Trogon, skittish Black-backed Dwarf Kingfisher and Blue-eared Kingfisher, as well as the vocal but shy White- rumped Shama and Indian Blue Robin. We were fortunate with the area supporting many flowering trees and we saw several nectar-loving species including Thick-billed, Pale-billed, and Nilgiri Flowerpeckers, and Purple-rumped, and Small Sunbirds. Some trees had already set fruit and staked these out for frugivores, seeing gems such as Asian Fairy Bluebird, Malabar Gray Hornbill, and a group of Great Pied Hornbills, White-cheeked, and Crimson-fronted Barbets, and Jerdon’s Leafbirds. As is typical of India, we had some luck seeing owls during the day, including the cute malabarica race of Jungle Owlet. The local and regularly staked-out Ceylon Frogmouth performed on que and we were able to sup up scopefuls of these birds. We were also lucky with raptors, encountering the staunch Crested (Changeable) Hawk Eagle, Indian Black Eagle and Shikra. We also spent one evening in an open area where we were lucky to find Malabar Lark, Green, Blue-tailed and Chestnut-headed Bee-eaters, Mountain Imperial Pigeon, Vernal Hanging Parrot, and Malabar Parakeet. We also got lucky with a few rarities including a single Nilgiri Wood Pigeon, White-bellied Woodpecker and Fork-tailed Drongo Cuckoo. A few late night forays revealed the stunning Jerdon’s Nightjar, Brown Hawk-Owl and Spotted Owlets and a calling Indian Pitta that frustratingly always became vocal only once it was too dark to see him! Sunbirds, like this Purple-rumped Sunbird, and flowerpeckers, were common at the flowering trees and the Indian Giant Squirrel joined the hornbills in feasting on the amazing fruiting trees in the area. 25 Nov: Molem to Baga. After spending our final morning at Molem, where we added a few cool bids to our list including Blue-faced Malkoha and Golden-fronted Leafbird, we headed to the coast and straight for the marshes at Lake Carambolim where we saw many waterbirds including Asian Openbill, and a single Lesser Adjutant, Pheasant-tailed and Bronze-winged Jacana and hoardes of ducks. Some Whiskered Terns patrolled over the marshes. As it wended www.tropicalbirding.com towards the evening we made for the Beira Mar Hotel. This was rather disappointing as the grasses and marshes have grown tall, obscuring any views of rails and crakes that may lurk there. 26 Nov: Morjim Beach / Arpora Hill and Carambolim Lake. The morning started fantastically with a bevy of sand plovers along the beach including great side-by-side views of Greater and Lesser Sandplover. The highlight though was several Small Pratincole that were scattered along the beach. There was some severe frustration however as the main gull flock wheeled around and wouldn’t settle for long. However, when they did, we were able to quickly identify Heuglin’s Gull, Great Black-headed Gull, Brown-headed Gull, Common Black-headed Gull and eventually a single Slender-billed Gull. Some terns included Gull-billed Tern and Lesser Crested Tern. The afternoon was spent on Baga Hill. As we left the hotel we were surprised by a Black-capped Kingfisher that was foraging right next to the hotel. Baga was hot and activity low, but we managed to add a handful of birds and again heard a calling Pitta when it was too dark to find it. The high-pitched screechy whistles of a Malabar Whistling-Thrush are a sure sign that they are around. 27 Dec: Lake Carambolim + Goa – Delhi. We started off on Arpora Ridge where one of the main targets was the nesting White-bellied Sea-Eagles which showed easily.
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