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