Alibag - Top to Bottom

Hi all,

After reading almost daily emails about quality birding in Alibag from Dr. Vaibhav Deshmukh, we all were anxious to do some birding there. Opportunity came when Dr. Vaibhav posted mail for Raptor Watch at Ramdharaneshwar on Sunday 23rd October 2005. We reached Mandwa Jetty by boat from Gateway of India and from Mandwa to Maniphata by bus. The boat ticket is inclusive of bus travel from Mandwa to Alibag.

Just when we* started climbing up the Ramadharaneshwar hill, saw a raptor hovering, which was Short Toed Snake Eagle. Also flying above him was Booted Eagle & Shikra. Later on Short Toed Snake Eagle gave us a very good view by soaring at very low level. So the raptor watch was on… Climbing up the hill gave us some very good sightings of various raptors including, Eurasian Hobby, Oriental Honey Buzzard, Common Kestrel & a pair of White Bellied Sea Eagle.

After lunch break we went to Akshi beach. Here, Dr. Vaibhav & his Alibag birding team had seen a large flock of Gulls previously.
A small flock of Chestnust Tailed Starlings welcomed us to Akshi Beach. Moved some distance ahead, saw Lesser Sand Plovers, playing with the tide. But the main attraction was a huge flock of Gulls & Terns, must be around 5000. We could identify 6 Gulls species & 3 Tern species from that flock. (Thanks to Adesh Nikon & Dr. Vaibhav Swarovski). The most interesting were Sandwitch Terns, Lesser Crested Terns & Slender Billed Gulls. When we were busy in photographing the Gulls & Terns someone went very close to them & within the second the sky was full of Gulls & Terns. We all were thrilled to see this. That was really an amazing sight!!!

Thanks to Dr. Vaibhav Deshmukh for arranging the wonderful birding trip. I Would request all to visit Alibag, who missed out on Sunday, as Alibag is full of various birds from Top (hills) to Bottom (sea shore)

* Alka Vaidya, Dr. Vaibhav Deshmukh (Swarovski), Adesh Shivkar (Nikon), Shashank Dalvi, Ritesh Bagul, Srinivas, Rajeev Bhatkar & Mandar Khadilkar

Enjoy Birding
Mandar Khadilkar

Birds Seen & Heard:
Lesser Whistling Duck
Common Kingfisher, White Breated Kingfisher
Small Green Bee-eater
House Swift, Alpine Swift
Laughing Dove, Spotted Dove - heard
Whimbrel, Common Sandpiper
Bronze Winged Jacana
Kentish Plover, Lesser Sand Plover
Red Wattled Lapwing
Yellow Legged Gulls, Huglin's Gulls, Brown Headed Gulls, Black Headed Gulls, Palla's Gulls, Slender Billed Gulls
Gull Billed Tern, Lesser Crested Tern, Sandwitch Tern
Black Kite, Btahminey Kite, White Bellied Sea Eagle, Short Toed Snake Eagle, Shikra, Oriental Honey Buzzard, Booted Eagle, Common Kestrel, Eurasian Hobby,
Little Cormorant
Little Egret, Western Reef Egret
Pond Heron
Glossy Ibis
Long Tailed Shrike
House Crow, Large Billed Crow
Black Drongo, Ashy Drongo
Indian Robin
Chestnut Tailed Starling
Dusky Craig Martin
Barn Swallow, Streak Throated Swallow, Red Rumped Swallow
Red Vented Bulbul, Red Whiskered Bulbul
Greenish Leaf Warbler, Tailor Bird
Tawny Bellied Babbler, Jungle Babbler - heard, Yellow Eyed Babbler
Malabar Crested Lark, Ashy Crowned Sparrow Lark
Thick Billed Flowerpecker
House Sparrow

URAN As Usual. . .

October starts birding season in Uran, as the visiting birds start to pour down. But since Uran is quite a distance away from Mumbai & due to present road conditions it becomes very hectic for the mumbaities to go there frequently. So we* tried a different option on Sunday 09th October 2005. We went to Ferry-Wharf (Bhaucha Dhakka) on bike & carried the bike in boat till Mora Bunder. So we were quite fresh when we reached Uran. (Otherwise reaching Uran itself is quite hectic.) Uran is 8kms from Mora.

Birding in Uran was as usual excellent, saw 92 species. We started the birding from Phunde village & ended at JNPT tower.

The sighting of the day was Sanderling. We saw them at pond near Phunde village. http://www.giffbeaton.com/Shorebirds/Sanderling%202_2002-12-13.jpg

Other interesting sightings were Pied Bushchat - 2 males[http://www.camacdonald.com/birding/PiedBushchat(RS).jpg] &

Greater Sand Plover [http://www.alsirhan.com/images/Greater_sand_plover_sc3.jpg.]

* Adesh Shivkar & Mandar Khadilkar

Birds Seen & Heard:

Lesser Whistling Teal, Cotton Pygmy Goose, Spot Billed Duck, Common Teal, Gargeney.
Small Blue Kingfisher – heard, White Breasted Kingfisher.
Small Green Bee-eater, Blue Tailed Bee-eater.
Alexandrine Parakeet – heard.
House Swift, Palm Swift.
Spotted Dove, Laughing Dove.
Purple Moorhen, Common Teal.
Black Tailed Godwit, Common Redshank, Marsh Sandpiper, Common Green Shank, Wood Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Sanderling, Little Stint, Temnick’s Stint, Curlew Sandpiper, Ruff, Black Winged Stilt, Pied Avocet.
Bronze Winged Jacana, Pheasant Tailed Jacana.
Kentish Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Red Wattled Lapwing.
Yellow Legged Gulls, Heuglin’s Gulls, Black Headed Gulls.
Gull Billed Tern, Whiskered Tern, Little Tern.
Black Shouldered Kite, Black Kite, Brahminey Kite, Eurasian Marsh Harrier, Shikra, Peregrine Falcon.
Little Cormorant, Little Egret, Large Egret, Intermediate Egret, Cattle Egret, Western Reef Egret, Indian Pond Heron, Gray Heron.
Glossy Ibis, Oriental White Ibis, Eurasian Spoonbills, Painted Stork, Asian Openbill Stork. Brown Shrike, Long Tailed Shrike.
House Crow, Large Billed Crow.
Black Drongo, Common Iora – heard, Indian Robin – heard, Oriental Magpie Robin – heard. Pied Bushchat, Common Stonechat.
Asian Pied Starling, Common Myna.
Wire Tailed Swallow, Barn Swallow.
Red Vented Bulbul, Red Whiskered Bulbul.
Ashy Prinia, Plain Prinia.
Zitting Ciscticola, Booted Leaf Warbler.
Ashy Crowned Sparrow Lark, Rufous Tailed Lark, Malabar Crested Lark, Oriental Sky Lark. Purple Rumped Sunbird.
House Sparrow.
Citrine Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail.
Paddy Field Pipit.
Baya Weaver.
Red Avadvat, Indian Silverbill, Scaly Breasted Munia