A visit to Sultanpur - Sep 2010

Found my self pleasantly surprised at my mother's enthusiasm in making a trip to Sultanpur. Sultanpur is about 15 kms from Gurgaon and hosts a bird sanctuary we hadn't ever paid a visit to. Many plans for the same had turned to dust largely owing to my mortal fear of having to move through Gurgaon, but with my parents excitement  so palpable dilly-dallying was not an option i considered.

Brace yourselves - would be my warning for anyone trying to get to Sultanpur cause post Gurgaon , the ride gets terribly bumpy. But getting to the sanctuary is worth the effort. We reached close to eight in the morning and had to stop for breakfast for fear that our growling stomachs might causing the a retreat of the migrants. In hour or so we were inside the gates and merrily walking down the paths.

As is evident my attempts at photography took quite a lashing. The sun was up and brightly shining down on the lake making it close to impossible for this amateur to click anything worthwhile.  I remember similar disastrous attempts at the Palak lake.  Honestly? (and no its not just a case of sour grapes) i had a greater time discussing the Malayalam names for the birds in sight with my folks. Of al the birds around the Indian Roller caught their fancy as it darted around quite close, with its blues catching the bright light.   

Needless to say birds were plentiful and my skills at identification limited. Painted Storks , Black Crowned Night Herons, Black Winged Stilts, Eurasian Spoonbills and the egrets were the only concrete identifications i could make based on the images we had.

Neelgais were close at hand but what led to a whoop of of excitement was a sprinting  alert  earred rabbit. I went chasing in the direction that it disappeared in ,  feeling pretty much Alice like and laughing all the way

Preeti , tells me that she read about the blooming of some lilies in Sultanpur after about two decades! I wonder if these were the ones. And yes the images have been edited to black and white so that appear presentable!

A walk around the campus - III

I was at Delhi yet again and the weather was lovely (many would disagree). It made up for my gloomy feverish self. It had been pouring cats and dogs and  the Yamuna was swirling around and threatening to flow over. Between bouts of fever and the almost incessant rains I managed to do some scouting around the campus to get some images of the avian residents. 

A surprise was in store, for right outside our home in the car parking i saw Lapwings strutting around in the little puddles. I had heard them calling during the day and had just assumed that they were flying over the campus towards the barrage like the egrets (they never stop by). But the Lapwing couple was in the sparsely populated parking each day and they seemed not to mind much my intrusive gawking.         

The Tawny Eagle, or thats what we figured these are, are more numerous than the crows I can safely say. Their eerie calls can be heard through the day and a look skyward (especially close to the laundry would definitely reveal a couple of them. However , this is the only remotely presentable image i have from this visit.

Of all the joys of re-discovering the campus , the one held most precious is the growing familiarity with the whereabouts of some of these birds. The owlets on the laundry clothes lines post 9 at night , the Yellow Footed Green Pigeons in the almost deserted lane beside the herbarium etc. I've learnt that this flameback can usually be spotted between 7-8 in the morning or close to 5 in the evening on this leafless tree each day.

It calls out loud and clear during its perch and just once have I seen it in the company of another of its kind. Frequently  it has been a red vented bulbul or laughing dove or collared dove for company. The sight of this Flameback (though now familiar) thrills me , the colours are rich and bright , just the kind of company a hospital campus needs!    

A brief stop at Umreth July 2010 - some images

The tussle of the two Asian Open Bills

and the retreat

We were drawn to a halt at a roadside village pond in Umreth  by its generous peppering of the blacks and whites of cormorants , openbills and herons. There were about 150-200 of them around and we could watch them and a group of children enjoying the cool waters. The landscape was making the most of the stingy monsoons it received and goading on the shy sprouting greens into its varied hues. Lapwings and Egrets (Cattle, Intermediate and Great) were plentiful in  most fields along the road. But this gathering was nothing like the other sights. 

  

We also caught a glimpse of some beautiful fishing attempts of two Pied Kingfishers who settled at distance just long enough to get this image.

A walk around the campus - II

Found myself at home once again and enjoyed the brief walks around the campus. 

The Spotted Owlets

Grey Hornbill

Golden Oriole

Am reminded of my last trip where my nieces caught a bit of the birding fever with us. Mansi and Mahi  accompanied us on some walks around the campus. The herbarium of the hospital seemed like a little treasure chest for them with a couple of white mice, white pigeons and parakeets as pets and whole lot of others free. The sight of their jaws dropping on seeing the dance of peacock on the terrace of a water works building was priceless. They squatted pretty on the boundary wall of the herbarium and watched some sparrows play in a puddle. Thats probably the longest happy silence I've seen the two in.

Very soon, we had Mansi shrieking ...."Maasi ....woh dekho Kauwe  jaisa hai"  sending an unsuspecting coucal into a startled flight! The younger of the two had us rolling with laughter while she tried to quieten the elder one's banter with ssh's sharper than our pressure cooker whistle!  For some reason , they felt that the paths we were walking were also frequented by snakes and that pretty much put a temporary halt to our watching for the day. 

The campus where our home is offers such bounty and I say this with a tinge of regret that I never got around to exploring much of it during my college days. Well, better late than never here's starting with a bird list 

In our visits between March 2010 to July 2010 we were able to identify these birds inside the Holy family Hospital Campus in Delhi. There are plenty more that we have not seen yet or identified and hopefully in the time to come we'll get to see more

1. Black Drongo
2. Brown Headed Barbet
3. Common Hoppoe
4. Common Maina
5. Eurasian Golden Oriole
6. Greater Coucal
7. Green Bee eater
8. Grey Hornbill
9. House Crow
10. Indian Cuckoo
11. Indian Koel
12. Laughing Dove
13. Oriental Magpie Robin
14. Peacocks
15. Purple Sunbird
16. Red Vented Bulbul
17. Rock Pigeons
18. Rose ringed Parakeet
19. Spotted Owlet
20. Tawny Eagle
21. White Breasted Kingfisher
22. Yellow Footed Green Pigeon

..... to be continued

A walk around the campus- I

Some images from around the campus

Laughing doves- serene but ironically humourless presence

Parakeets- Raiders of our Guava tree

Peacocks are by far the easiest to spot on the campus , considering everyone knows where to find them and what time of the day. Starting about sunrise they troop into the compound males and females strutting around and giving out their haunting cries.  Our last walk out at daybreak had us staring in surprise to about 7 of them walking past out kitchen door!!  The laundry area is a favourite haunt of theirs and you find them doing a lil dance on the roof when the weather is favorable or just a group of them taking in the morning sights. Very often your walk will be interrupted by the unsightly and strenuous looking flight of one, either to or from the herbarium.

By the time the hospital kicks into action they just about disappear from vision but their call can still reach you. .

Yellow Footed Green Pigeons- I saw them for the first time in this trip

Purple Sunbird

I have no idea who this is...but i like this image

A peacock playground at dawn and clothesline by day

Green Bee Eater

Red vented bulbul

hmmm...which ones mine?

??

Brown headed Barbert

These are my personal favourites- they're all around the place and very relaxing to watch

On my last trip , I thought I saw a bird that resembled a hornbill, but was quick to chide myself into disbelieving my eyes. A hornbill in middle of Delhi? But this time round I had many second the sighting and finally managed a picture ( a rather poor one) of it. I understand that apart from the twosome that I saw, there are two young ones too!

The Indian Grey Hornbill

 Indian Koel

Looking closer home

I write about Saiha on the blog a place i've come to feel at home in. Our travel here, encounters with people and experiencing the forests and the lives that are sustained by it. 

Back at my home in Delhi too, there is a whole lot to see especially where Amma and pappa are , thought I must put some of it up too. 

We’ve been living in the Holy Family Hospital Campus for over 10 years now. Fortunately or otherwise the largest stretch of time I spent here has been my troublesome teens. It didn’t leave me with much desire to look beyond myself and my immediate concerns into the what this campus had to offer. 

However there were stories (there always are) that found their way into my almost indifferent ears, hostel girls and parakeets raiding the orchards for guava(I’d put my money on the parakeets) The theft of mangoes by little boys, the hovering eagles known for plucking out the eyeballs of children who dare to stare (i think this is an earlier horror tale that stuck to my amused mind all these years)  and many of the like. However apart from the attention seekers like the crows and parakeets the other birds just wandered in and out of my line of vision without really holding my attention to any consequence.

2002 onwards I’ve lived here in patches owing to my declining fondness for Delhi in general but drawn to home nonetheless.  The last year has been different , for one I’ve started living in Saiha and am in a better place both geographically and in my head and as a consequence I’ve learnt to appreciate better the seemingly smaller  pleasures of life (they only seem small). And my visits home have added dimensions. Sharing some of the experiences of the past year in the posts that follow.

Our visit to Phura and Palak

Waiting for daybreak, the roosters were literally ruling the roost. When we stepped out, visibility or rather the lack of it was quite surprising. The heavy misty dew was settling around us. While we fumbled along the path to our tea stall, my orange Ayappa lungi was the only element spottable from a distance. My embarrassment at having ditched the less conspicuous alternative was long lived,  but never owing to rude stares. We could  feel a drizzle around and Nimesh patiently explained to a sleepy eyed me that it was the falling dew....the rains were still a couple of months away.

Where we stayed

This was my first stay at any part of Saiha and I was completely humbled by the sensitivity and hospitality extended by the people around. From the old chowkidar uncle who cooked for us and brought in an assortment of chutneys to an old lady who brought Raddish and Antrum (mustard leaves) from her field for us (refusing to let us buy it off her). The woman running the tea stall also was most disarmingly warm.

The village has about 200 plus households and seems almost picture perfect, with its houses of wood planks and thatched roofs, a large field , a small market place , 2 huge churches a small post office and handfull of shops excluding the make shift hawking of Burmese goods (huge lighters, blankets , shoes etc). We stayed at the forest department's guest house and were generously taken care of the by the aged but agile chowkidar uncle (pic on left).

 The homes like their Saiha counterparts bear the name of the head of the household along with his designation professionally or in the youth groups, church and other such associations. Usually blue and green boards are painted with white/black announcing the various positions/designations of the head of the household.

Along with the name/designation boards most homes also display remains of the animals they’ve caught. Tails of squirrels and feathers of various birds are very common. We also saw the skulls of something akin to a gaur , tails of civets hornbill casques etc. When I’d initially heard about hunting in these parts I’d wondered how much hunting can possibly be going on? This visit proved to be an eye opener. Wherever we went, on foot or in a vehicle we saw young men with catapults and guns. We heard a minimum of three gunshots a day and of course saw the range of trophies on the doors of homes. Infact the younger kids are often playing with beautifully put together bamboo toy guns. After visiting Palak and seeing the lively tree hopping squirrels it was a tad depressing to see three of them being roasted over the fire at our regular morning tea haunt in the marketplace.

A toy gun made of bamboo

  Late evenings were accompanied by the sounds of drums and songs. The rhythmic sounds and the excitement of our companions to join the evening song and dance at church was a regular feature once the sun was down and animated breakfast conversat

Towards Palak Dil

We visited Palak twice during our stay at Phura and I still haven’t had enough. The lake itself is mesmerizing in its simplicity added to it the long walk to get there from phura is nothing short of being the same. It’s a tad tiring 6 kilometers from the forest guest house, but worth every step of the way. Through the first 3 kilometers we have the valley on our left with its rice fields. We were four, and each was busy doing spotting of their choice, one peered at butterflies, another strained some neck muscles to sight birds and chased after the falling leaves. Nimesh has been here multiple times and was enjoying this walk after the long gap. Yours truly looks for birds and squirrels and they did reveal themselves generously to this novice. While crossing the fields at the very beginning of our walk we amongst many others saw some splendidly blue green rollers and a very clumsy descent of a coucal down some bushes.

Gradually the fields give way to slopes that have been left to their own device for some time, and then the final downhill descent which is marked by the beginning of a forest growing thicker by the step. Dense- the word now has an image association. I felt like quite the city idiot because I did spend some time wondering what the thick vines and creepers were. Were they going up or coming down? Eventually I just decided to enjoy the sight and leave deciphering for later.

A lone black trunk bearing witness to some previous Jhum

Numerous calls which most of us could not trace –to- source accompanied us throughout the way. At the descent we are also joined by the cool moist wisps of breeze. The noise made by a falling leaf is not something that I gave any thought to, till this walk. But it is something that takes me by surprise here. The forest thick green, contains within it various stages of decay and growth. Leaves -tumbling, falling, gliding towards the ground as they break their last contact with the tree. Almost each brush against a branch or trunk till the final landing can be heard. I could almost hear the wisps even when it was just floating mid air I think!

I had seen a shadow of a squirrel on our first visit and was thirsting after a better opportunity. No sooner had I expressed this desire that Nimesh glanced up and there was one on a large not very leafy tree. Here one second and scurrying on to the next branch the next. I saw it leap from one giant trunk to the neighboring one in its entire bushy splendor and had to stifle a whoop of pure delight. The second trip was dotted with many sightings of these. Small ones, large ones, playfull ones and calm ones, later looking them up in the field guides I realized they are called, the Hoary Bellied Himalayan Squirrel, Stripped Himalayan Squirrel and the Orange Bellied Himalyan Squirrel.

At Palak

Finally we pass a gate which must be there for some ornamental value as it really does not close the entry into anything nor open up to anything. Two pillars and a gate on it and open space all around, a bit amusing I must say. The sun was bright and harsh so the amateur’s (that’s us) camera’s and binoculars weren’t given the most conducive environment. From a small clearing on the bank aided by these we watched the pond herons, egrets and the moorhens in action.

The viewpoints (mini watch tower like huts) were not accessible so I spent the better part of my second visit on a larger clearing on the bank, while the trio trained their binoculars from a smaller better covered patch. I’d had enough of binoculars and guides for the day and was looking forward to some quiet time. Like a lazy birdwatcher cum reiki practioner (which I’m not) I fancied myself sending out non threatening vibes to all the bird and animal life around , hoping that the vibes would be read as friendly and some would come to have a dekho at me while I get a glimpse of them. Looks like my fancy was turning true, for in a while I had some spotted doves pecking in the leaf litter some meters way, followed by a gorgeous emerald dove, I kept straining to hear the flap of the wings of the hornbills, with no luck. Two egrets headed straight to the banks where I was planted. I think they spotted me too and changed course just before landing. The moore hens also wandered around not too far.

On our way back my perfect content was slightly punctured by the fact that I had missed the hornbills. No sooner had I said this out loud that Nimesh pointed out to the clear expanse in front of us and there……about 5- 7 of them were gliding across the lake into a thicket on the bank. One after the other large black wings passed my vision and I was stunned into silence (a rare occasion Nimesh would say!!).

My content was finally perfect I walked back sighing and smiling to myself.