Kanha Birding

There is a Silk Cotton Tree near the Hotel Krishan at Mocha in Kanha National Park Buffer. Last time I visited Kanha around this time of the year and found the Gold Mantled Chloropsis a regular visitor. Other birds that I found were Coppersmith Barbet, Spangled Drongo, Chestnut Tailed Starling and Black Drongo.

Down by the riverside we came across temminck's stint, green sandpiper, white browed wagtail, little green bee-eater, black headed oriole, white, eye, black naped monarch, common tailorbird, black redstart, shikra, honey buzzard, common myna, Hume's warbler, greenish warbler, common chiff chaff, racket tailed dromgo, white bellied drongo, greater coucal, common grey hornbill, black rumped flameback, Tickell's Blue flycatcher, ashy prinia, plain prinia, barred jungle owlet and large billed crow.

This was a short trip as my guests from UK were more involved in tiger safari and wildlife photography.

Birding at Kanha is underplayed due to the magnificent beast that enthralls one all all here - The Tiger. The pure Sal forest may not harbor many species but the mixed forest zones and bamboo belts offer exciting birding opportunity and these are in plenty. The altitude variation also provides excellent bird habitat. Most exciting feature is confirmation of fire capped tit and Siberian Ruby Throat at Kanha (Nakti Ghati). Other Northern India visitors include grey bushchat, ultramarine flycatcher, grey headed fish eagle, Pallas's Fish Eagle seen by me. There may other such catch with birders frequented this park.  

All the tiger reserves are good for bird watching tours in MP but less known. There are many birding destination in the State of Madhya Pradesh which are less known.    

Core Zone at Kanha is excellent for forest birds and grassland birds. For birding at open fields, and scrub one needs to score the area outside the park. See earlier Kanha Birding Trip Report.  

Bird Photographs

Pond Heron

Neeraj Vegad

 

 

By Neeraj Vegad

Birding trip report Muchmucha Bandhavgarh

Bandhavgarh National Park

Madhya Pradesh, India

I choose Muchmucha because of diverse habitat that Old Hunting Lodge offers in the vicinity.  The Lodge is situated about forty km from Tala main gate at Bandhavgarh. The surroundings are the periphery of Bandhavgarh And dense forest tracts near the lodge, scrub and fields.   Two small water bodies are situated at a walking distance which offer wetlands birds to see but mostly residents. River Mahanadi flows through forests here. Larger water bodies are situated at a distance of ten to fourteen km from the accommodation.

Checklist: Dated 11/2/2012 - 14-2-2012

Brown Shrike

Long Tailed Shrike
Bay Backed Shrike
Common Iora
Rufous Treepie
Tree Pipit
Olive Backed Pipit
Black Headed Oriole
Golden Oriole
Lesser White Throat
Bronze Winged Jacana
Lesser Whistling Teal
Paddy Field Pipit
Richard's Pipit
Tawny Pipit
Barn Swallow
Red Rumped Swallow
Asian Palm Swift
Wire Tailed Swallow
Crested Tree Swift
Ashy Crowned Sparrow Lark
Rufous Tailed Lark
Indian Bushlark
Magpie Robin
Indian Robin
Little Cormorant
Black Redstart
Little Grebe
Black Rumped Flameback
White Naped Woodpecker
Yellow Crowned Woodpecker
Chestnut Shouldered Petronia
Plum Headed Parakeet
Rose Ringed Parakeet
Alexandrine Parakeet
Black Ibis
Wooly Necked Stork
Indian Moorhen
Common Woodshrike
White Breasted Water Hen
King Vulture
Long Billed Vulture
White Backed Vulture
Egyptian Vulture
Honey Buzzard
Crested Serpent Eagle
Crested Hawk Eagle
Common Kestral
White Eyed Buzzard
Shikra
Black Shouldered Kite
White Browed Fantail Flycatcher
Little Green Bee Eater
Red Vented Bulbul
Jungle Myna
Bank Myna
Common Myna
Pied Starling
Barhminy Starling
Pond Heron
Ashy Prinia
Plain Prinia
Common Tailor Bird
Common Stone Chat
Pied Buchchat
Hoopoe
Red Wattled Lapwing
Yellow Wattled Lapwing
Gold Fronted Chloropsis
Tickell's Blue Flycatcher
Indian Roller
Eurasian Collared Dove
Spotted Dove
Laughing Dove
Oriental Turtle Dove
Red Turtle Dove
Jungle Babbler
Large Gray Babbler
Jungle Bush Quail
Barred Button Quail
Gray Francolin
Peacock
Red Jungle Fowl 
Blue Rock Pigeon
Pale Billed Flowerpecker
Thick Billed Flowerpecker
Greater Coucal
Purple Sunbird
Common Hawk Cuckoo
Indian Hawk Cuckoo
Purple Sunbird
Yellow Footed Green Pigeon
Emerald Dove
Asian Paradise Flycatcher
Indian Scops Owl
Black Drongo
Racket Tailed Drongo
White Bellied Drongo
Little Egret
Cattle Egret
Great Egret
Coppersmith Barbet
Cotton Pygmy Goose
Grey Lag Geese (Rare)
Sarus Crane
Grey Hornbill
Hume's Warbler
Greenish Warbler
Common Chiff Chaff
Brown Fish Owl
Spotted Owlet
Barred Jungle Owlet
Mottled Wood Owl (Calls)
Comb Duck
Brahminy Duck
Common Sandpiper
Wood Sandpiper
Green Sandpiper
Temminck's Stint
White Throated Kingfisher
Pied Kingfisher
Common Kingfisher
Black Naped Monarch
Verditor Flycatcher
Short Eared Owl
Eurasian Thicknee
Savanna Nightjar
Grey Headed Barbet Barn Owl
Rufous Faced Warbler* 

*Clearly seen the Rufus on face but need to check it out again.  

Animals that can bee seen at Muchmucha Forests

Tiger
Leopard
Fox
Chinkara
Spotted Deer
Nilgai (Blue Bull)
Ruddy Mongoose
Porcupine
Toddy Cat
Small Indian Civet
Large Indian Civet
Jackal
Sambar
Jungle Cat
Ratel
Barking Deer
Wild Boar
Rhesus Macaque
Gray or Hanuman Langur


Most of the animal presence here is nocturnal but animals like Chinkara, Barking Deer, Nilgai, Wild Boar and smaller mammals can be encountered on road while driving towards Muchmucha from Kuan Village.   



Muchmucha Old Hunting Lodge is situated on Barhi Khitauli Road four km from Kuan Village. The road turns in and goes through a forest tract. The Tala Gate is about forty plus km while Khituali (Marzad Garh Forests), Magdhi Gates in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve are at a shorter distance.

The stay at the Muchumcha accommodation in Bandhavgarh was comfortable with lavish hospitality of Mr. Avinash Pathak the lodge owner. The hunting lodge is an old Kothi built in 1935. During the shikar days it was accommodation for top notch hunters. The Kothi used to house high profile guests, Sumant Mulgaonkar of TELCO and his family were frequent visitors.     




 

Bird photographs by Teerath Singh

Brahminy Myna

Brahminy Duck

Crested Hawk Eagle

Crested Serpent Eagle

Open Billed Stork

There can be anything more enchanting than looking at winged wonders of India. Bird photography acts as tool for understanding our feathered friends and admiring the nature's creation. 

Teerath Singh from Madhya Pradesh is a tiger safari tour operator in India. He gets  lots of opportunity to photographs animals, birds and majestic tigers. Here is his collection amazing bird photographs taken in Bandhavgarh National Park in Central India.

Long Tailed Shrike

Long Tailed Shrike by Navneet Maheshwari