Bird Watching at Dumna

Brown Hawk Owl by Prayut Mandal

The recent discovery of Brown Hawk Owl by Prayut and Aishwarya Mandal coaxed us to visit the Dumane Nature Reserve in Jabalpur. Situated on Dumna Road to the Airport is the Khandari Reservoir home to mugger crocodiles, turtles and numerous fishes. In winters migratory birds flock from far and wide. The place is home to many spotted deer, wild boar, jackal, leopard, langur and rhesus macaque. Besides numerous nocturnal animals can be seen here in the night.    

Some of the bird species that arrive here are osprey, black redstart, wagtails, pipits, larks, greenish warbler, Hume's warbler, Sulfur Bellied warbler, Gray Lag Geese, Eurasian Wigeon, Common Pochard, Coot, Gadwall, Red Crested Pochard, Brahminy Duck, Gargany, Northern Pintail and Shovellor. The resident ducks seen here are the lesser whistling teal, comb duck, and cotton pygmy goose and sometimes the spot billed duck.

Some of the other interesting birds can be seen here. We have seen Golden oriole, black headed oriole, Jerdon's leaf bird, gold fronted leaf bird, barred button quail, jungle bush quail, Tickell's thrush, Long tailed shrike, plum headed parakeet, chestnut shouldered petronia, wire tailed swallow, gray headed and coppersmith barbett, black rumped flame back, white naped woodpecker, yellow crowned woodpecker, scaly breasted munia, large cuckoo shrike, honey buzzard and paddyfield pipit. The surroundings are habitat of Indian courser, ashy crowned finch lark, rufous tailed lark, southern gray shrike, tawny pipit, Indian bush lark, Syke's lark, blue rock thrush and many more.

The Dumna Road and Nature Reserve and nearby villages are the best plac ein Jabalpur for bird watching. Many birders visit Kanha, Bandhavgarh and Pench Tiger Reserve via Jabalpur. They usually stop to see the beautiful Marble Rocks, a visit to Dumna Nature Reserve will add much fun to travel in this city. The visit can be arranged by hotels in Jabalpur City which provide travel services. There are three rooms available at Dumna Nature Reserve. Plans are in process to set up three luxury tents as well for accommodation by MPTDC. 

In order to visit Dumna one has to drive or taxi down half way to the airport. The whole package can be arranged by the hotel you are staying at.                   

Birding in Central India - Some Exciting Finds

During our younger days we would often see the chestnut bittern over head along with a number of egrets. This is a rare sight now. The bitterns are highly dependent upon the reed beds and certain plant species hence susceptible to loss of habitat.   . 

Like any other big town in India Jabalpur to is being rapidly urbanized with large number of colonies springing up every where. Hence many avian species are loosing their habitats. We recently came across a group of yellow and chestnut bitterns breeding in Jabalpur in Central India or MP. 

Two young birding enthusiasts discovered this colony near a local medical college in midst of human habitation. We keenly observed the juveniles and adult bitterns interacting with each other. This was a great sight and heartening as well. We continued birding in and around the area and came across an Isabelline Shrike, Yellow Eyed Babblers, Bronze Winged Jacana feeding their young. The checklist goes as follows:

Isabelline Shrike
Temminck's Stint
Yellow Bottern

Chestnut Bittern
Yellow Eyed Babbler
Ashy Prinia
Plain Prinia
Black Kite
Bronze Winged Jacana
Black Drongo
Rose Ringed Parakeet
Paddyfield Pipit
Pied Bush Chat
Common Stonechat
Chestnut Tailed Starling
Bank Myna
Pied Starling
Common Myna
Purple Moorhen
Indian Moorhen



 

Juvenile Chestnut Bittern

Yellow Bittern

Both Images are by Prayut Mandal from Jabalpur

Prayut Mandal and his bother also discovered in Jabalpur:

Bar Headed Geese 
Whimbrel
Eurasian Curlew


Most of the natural habitats and eco niches are being converted into residential colonies hence the future for many species looks bleak in Jabalpur. Jabalpur was known to have hundred water bodies or small lakes the numbers have come down in recent times. 

Summer Birding at Kanha

Birding and Winters go hand in hand in most part of India. I have realized that summer birding at Central Indian Tiger Reserves is as fruitful. The reason is simply you see more birds with less eye strain because of the canopy that has thinned down. Another reason is that most of the passerine birds nest during the months of April May June and July.  

The lure of the tiger is best satiated during the summer months. 

Recently I was at Kanha National Park with clients from UK both avid birders and tiger lovers.  The land of the tiger Kanha National Park is situated in the State of Madhya Pradesh in India. The park is known precisely as just that.  But the tiger reserve is a fantastic birding paradise with more than

Me With Guest at Courtyard House Kanha

two hundred fifty avian species to checklist. Hence we set on a three day safari with eyes on the winged wonders. We could not indulge in roadside birding as my guests came seperately from Nagpur.

In the course of birding we also saw a huge male tiger named as Munna the loved one.

Our checklist is as follows:

Shama
Indian Scimitar Babbler
Scaly Breasted Munia
Black Headed Munia
Indian Silverbill
Painted Francolin
Grey Francolin
Magpie Robin
Indian Robin
Whitebreasted Waterhen
Red Jungle Fowl
Red Spurfowl
Black Naped Monarch
Chestnut Tailed Starling
Brahminy Starling
Pied Starling
Common Myna
Brown Cheeked Fulvetta
Tawny Babbler
Red Wattled Lapwing
Jungle Owlet
Spotted Owlet
Iora
Plum Headed Parakeet
Rose Ringed Parakeet
Alexandrine Parakeet
White Bellied Drongo
Black Drongo
Racket Tailed Drongo
Orange Headed Ground Thrush
Paddy Field Pipit
Oriental Honey Buzzard
Gray Headed Fishing Eagle
Crested Hawk Eagle
Crested Serpent Eagle
Peacock
Chestnut Shouldered Petronia
Black Rumped Flameback
Shikra
Little Green Beeater
Large Billed Crow
House Sparrow
Rufus Treepie
White Eye
Black Lored Tit
Chestnut Bellied Nuthatch
Little Cormorant
Cattle Egret
Large Egret
Open Billed Stork
Whitebreasted Kingfisher
Common Kingfisher
Lesser Whistling Teal
Cotton Pygmy Goose
Wooly Necked Stork
Great Tit
Greater Coucal
Indian Cuckoo
Hawk Cuckoo
Red Rumped Swallows
Pond Heron
Black Headed Oriole
Golden Oriole
Coppersmith Barbet
Brown Headed Barbet
Yellow Legged Green Pigeon
Puff Throated Babbler
Rain Quail (Calls)
Plain Prinia
Ashy Prinia
Gray Breasted Prinia
Common Tailorbird
Zitting Sisticola
Jungle Babbler
Large Gray Babbler
Large Cuckoo Shrike
Indian Pitta (Calls)
Yellow Crowned Woodpecker
Common Gray Hornbill
Common Hoopoe
Indian Roller
Pied Bushchat
Common Bushchat
Asian Koel
Crested Treeswifts
Indian Nightjar
Savanna Nightjar
Spotted Dove
Oriental Turtle Dove
Laughing Dove
Red Collared Dove
Eurasian Thicknee
Black Shouldered Kite
White Backed Vulture
White Eyed Buzzard
Little Grebe
Black Headed Ibis
Long Tailed Shrike
Small Minivet
Long Tailed Minivet
Tickell's Blue Flycatcher
Red Vented Bulbul
Yellow Eyed Babbler
Purple Sunbird

We visited the buffer zone besides the core area for bird watching. The six jeep safaris were quite rewarding as well.

The mammals we saw  

Tiger
Sambar
Barking Deer
Spotted Deer
Black Naped Hare
Jackal
Swamp Deer
Wild Boar
Langur
Bison

The jeep driver Santosh of Courtyard House Kanha had a sharp eyesight and added avian species to our tally.  The tour was well organized by the Coutryard House a wonderful accommodation at Kanha periphery.

Birding at Barha R.F in Jabalpur on 9/6/2013

Barha Reserve Forest is part of Mandla Division but practically is in confines of Jabalpur City. For us Jabalpur City offers good access to birding habitats all around. 

Barha R.F is on the road to Bargi Dam from Jabalpur Mandla Road. One has to take a right turn from Gaur crossroad and go on straight past TFRI and turn left a little before Rani Durgawati Statue. The jungle road leads to Narrai Nala an enchanting brook on the Narrai stream. The road leads to Udaipur on Mandla Road and another road that goes right into Mandla Forests of Bijadandi has lot of forest cover.    

We limit ourselves to in and around the Narrai Brook going right or left as mood suggests. On Sunday I was in company of Jagat Flora my regular birding companion, Ashok Sengupta a butterfly expert and Divanshu Phd. student at Zoological Survey of India, Jabalpur. 

Barha is an interesting place for birding and springs surprises now and then. Hence when we came across Shama or White Rumped Shama it was an exciting moment. Jagat had seen the bird few days before but nevertheless he was after it to get an image. We saw many interesting birds and the checklists comprised of  Indian Pitta, Stork Billed Kingfisher, Black Naped Monarch, Common Iora, Jungle Myna, Honey Buzzard, Common Hawk Cuckoo, Racket Tailed Drongo, Emerald Dove, Indian Cuckoo (Calls), Tickell's Flycatcher, Thick Billed Flowerpecker,  Asian Paradise Flycatcher (Rufus Male), Black Headed Oriole and Puff Throated Babblers.

Thanks to Ashok Sengupta and Divanshu we were enlightened on many butterflies that fluttered past us and bugs that Mr. Divanshu is expert on.    

Images of Birds Found At Barha R.F. Mandla/Jabalpur
Photo Credits Jagat Flora, Jabalpur

Great Tit

Greenish Warbler

Gray Headed Canary Flycatcher 

WhiteBrowedFantail

Banded Bay Cuckoo

Hawk Cuckoo

Crested Serpent Eagle (juv)

Plain Prinia

Stork Billed Kingfisher

Twany Babbler

Jagat Flora

Me Myself & Malcom

pur

          

Bird Photography By Jagat Flora

Jagat Flora is an accomplished Photographer with good knowledge of birds, butterflies and  wild plants. Most of his images are as an effort of intense bird watching sessions with me. Here are some of the images he has taken in Jabalpur which are not so common.

Black Eagle in Jabalpur

Oriental Turtle Dove

Tickells Thrush Female

Striated Heron

Sulphur Bellied Warbler

 The black eagle is the first time record in Jabalpur. This raptor is found in the foothills and higher reaches Himalayas. This bird descends down to hilly regions of Peninsular India during the winters. 

Summer Time Birding at Kanha

I find summer time birding most fruitful contrary to the popular belief. Due to thin canopy and breeding season birding watching is fun. I have also conducted tours at Kanha and Bandhavgarh in summer with great success.  

This is an ideal time for bird photography since many birds court, breed and nest in this period.Me and my friend have successfully filmed and photographed breeding biology of Asian Paradise Flycatcher in Jabalpur. Dr. Dilip Katiyar is an accomplished photographer.  

Incidentally summer is the best time for animal or tiger photography in Kanha National Park and other tiger reserves in MP. Due to scarcity of wetlands animals congregrate in the core zone of the park near water holes providing photographers with ideal photo opportunity.  

Summer birding is a rising concept. Bird photography and sightings are the best. Recently I was at accommodation in Kanha where I work as birding and nature guide. In two days time I could sight more than fifty species in the surrounding habitat of fields, forests and wetland. 

Thanks to a better infrastructure one can travel to Kanha or Bandhavgarh in summers. Flight or AC train travel, air conditioned taxi, air conditioned rooms all save one from the summer heat. The early morning safaris are cool and so are the late evening safaris.  

Images by Neeraj Vegad

Coppersmith Barbet

Egyptian Vulture

Long Tailed Shrike

Purple Heron

Shikra

Neeraj Vegad based in Jabalpur is an accomplished photographer. He accompanies me on many a birding trips for bird identification and photography.

Indian birds photographs By Tirath Singh Bandhavgarh

Verditor Flycatcher

Long Billed Vulture

Indian Roller

Hoopoe

Gold Mantled Chloropsis

Some exciting bird finds

My work as birding guide this year has been good. On my birding trip at Muchmucha near Bandhavgarh, I could locate a large herd of tufted duck. More than hundred flocked together in the water of Mahanadi Dam.

Muchmucha has been a good spot for birding with the added pleasure of locating the big cats. Situated right on the forests of Bandhavgarh the Muchmucha Lodge offers a unique experience of stay in the wild confines of Bandhavgarh National Park in Central India.  The reserve forests offers tiger safaris that are completely in isolation in undisturbed patches.  

The diverse habitats surrounding the Muchmucha Lodge offer a larger varieties of avian species to sight, photograph and film. 

The sighting and photography of  Black Eagle in Jabalpur has been a big surprise considering that this raptor frequents high reaches of Himalayas. That Bar Headed Geese were photographed at Pariat Lake in Jabalpur and the sightings of one lone Greater Flamingo has been heartening. 

It is still too early to understand the movements and spread of avian species in India. Well lot of work has been done by past ornithologists more is needed. The hope lies in a large number of young people taking to birding and photography. These are the hunter gatherers who will store evidence of  bird migration and perhaps the status.    

We had a good photography session at Muchmucha in Bandhavgarh in MP. The stay at the Muchmucha Lodge was a big treat. My client liked all that transpired, especially some lip smacking Indian Food. The accommodation is an ideal winter hideout for birders and wildlife photographers. Avinash Bhai the owner is an exceptional host and keeps the goodies flowing like in the old days whence big shots gathered here before the legislation for hunts.    

Birding at Bandhavgarh - Muchmucha

Gold Mantled Chloropsis

Crested Serpent Eagle

Black Shouldered Kite

Blue Bearded Bee Eater

Crested Serpent Eagle

Egyptian Vulture

Long Billed Vulture

Long Tailed Shrike

Open Billed Stork

White Eyed Buzzard

All the images are by Mr. Teerath Singh who owns MP Tiger Safari Company.

It was one of the finest birding trip this February thanks to keen interest shown by Mr. Uday Kumar from Baroda. Muchmucha Lodge is based in Muchmucha Village about 45 km from the Tala Range and about 25 km from Khitauli Range.   

Mr. Uday Kumar is also a keen photographer and during the trip we managed to photograph many interesting birds and animals. Some of the birds we saw are mentioned below. 

Bay Backed Shrike
Brown Shrike

Gold Mantled  Chloropisis

Common Gray Hornbill
Black Naped Monarch

Twany Pipit
Paddy Field Pipit

Blyth's Pipit
Hume's Warbler

Greenish Warbler
Gray Headed Canary Flycatcher

Verditor Flycatcher
Painted Spurfowl
Long Billed Vulture

White Backed Vulture
King Vulture

Black Headed Oriole

White Bellied Drongo
Rackted Tailed Drongo

Tickell's Blue Flycatcher
Black Headed Ibis

Tufted Duck
Brahminy Duck
Common Pochard
Spotbilled Duck
Greater Cormorant
Open Billed Stork
White Necked Stork
Green Sandpiper
Northern Pintail
Marsh Sandpiper
Common Red Shank
Green Shank
Common Sandpiper
Common Iora
Plum Headed Parakeet
Alexandrine Parakeet
Spotted Owlet
Barred Jungle Owlet
Brown Fish Owl
Ashy Crowned Finch Lark
Rufus Tailed Lark
Chestnut Shouldered Petronia
Bronze Winged Jacana
Yellow Wattled Lapwing
Red Wattled Lapwing
River Lapwing
River Tern
Yellow Crowned Woodpecker
Brown Headed Pygmy Woodpecker
Black Rumped Flameback
Indian Robin
Common Stonechat
Magpie Robin
Red Jungle Fowl
Indian Moorhen
White Breasted Waterhen
Indian Silverbill
Rose Ringed Parakeet
Large Cuckoo Shrike
Tree Pipit
Small Minivet
White Browed Fantail Flycatcher
Wire Tailed Swallow
Crested Tree Swift
Darter Bird
Stork Billed King Fisher
White Breasted Kingfisher
Common Blue Kingfisher
Pied Kingfisher
Great Tit
Black Lored Tit
Shikra
White Eyed Buzzard
Coppersmith Barbet
Brown Headed Barbet
Temminck's Stint
Red Wattled  Lapwing
Spotted Dove
Laughing Dove
Eurasian Collared Dove
Little Green Beeeater
Common Myna
Grey Breasted Prinia
Ashy Prinia
Plain Prinia
Red Throated Flycatcher
Honey Buzzard
Black Drongo
Jungle Babblers
Indian Roller
Hoopoe
Crested Hawk Eagle
Crested Serpent Eagle

Grey Wagtail
Common Tailor Bird
Purple Sunbird
Red Vented Bulbul

Yellow Wagtail

White Browed Wagtail

Common Chiffchaff
Grey Francolin
Black Redstart
Brahminy Myna

Besides more birds we saw Nilgai, Chinkara, Sambar Deer, Spotted Deer, Barking Deer, Jackal, Langur, Rhesus Macaque, Civet Cat and Black Naped Hare.  We missed the big cats several times as we were chasing the avian species and not tigers and leopards at Muchmucha.

The lodge is owned by Mr. Avinash Pathak who along with his wife Mrs.Anjali Pathak have converted the hunting lodge into a luxury accommodation in Bandhavgarh in the State of Madhya Pradesh. Both are avid conservationists and responsible persons who take good care of the local communities in and around the Muchmucha Village. 

The village Muchmucha is approached from Katni via Barhi township. Mr Avinash Pathak owns Indiana Safari Co. which organizes package tours in MP State for wildlife tourism. He has several others business but wildlife and birding is his prime interest. He does lot of charity work for the local people.