Bhimashankar - those years ago?

 

“A bird does not sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.” — Maya Angelou

The temple and the wires that bind it ...

Leave the temple behind and slowly one comes into the forest, a short walk in this thick jungle and one reaches the pools at the Bhima River. The forest is dense, calm and soothing, home to many birds and the huge shekru, (Indian Giant Squirrel).

The dense jungle leading to the pools on the Bhima River

I had been to Bhimashankar in April 2017 and again in February 2019, and it had changed in the space of these two years, (don’t all places?), Both times I had stayed at the Blue Mormon Holiday Resort, named for the massed butterflies that swarm here once a year prior to migration. 

A pair of butterflies ...

The resort is about 10 km from Bhimashankar Temple but there are many trails and a water-body here and I went on most of them on my two trips here.

Murhe village, it was all I could do to make it appear rustic...

Villages Murhe, Kondhwal and others are in and around the resort, these make for pleasant walks. 

There are many trails near near the resort...

Sunbirds abound on these trails...

In various morphs.

The people were photogenic and so apart from birds I took pics of the villages and the locals.  They stay still and are obliging enough to move into the correct light… 

The locals are very obliging

Time stands still for this herder lady, she was in no hurry to go anywhere

Gupt Bhimashanker is where the pools are and so is the birding. I just sat behind a rock and waited, almost as if on cue, the birds come to drink and bathe. 

Common Rosefinch come to bathe...

Since I was concealed and didn’t move the birds came quite close, I sat there for about an hour and a half each time. 

Paradise Flycatcher in white.... 

Paradise Flycatcher in brown

The light is not all that good early in the morning, and the contrast between light and shade later in the day make for challenging conditions in photography, but then excuses, excuses….  I could make out the difference in my own images from 2017 to 2019.

A Common Emerald Dove too came to the pools

There are many little temples in the forest and this one caught my eye...

Sakshai Ganesh Mandir in the forest.

In the forest on the way back I saw the Shekru, it makes a lot of noise, the call is loud, and I could not help but notice it.

Shekru on the tree tops

 Busy as ever, the Shekru is always feeding, or seeming to, but at tree-top level, the animal was again challenging to photograph, particularly with the lens I had then (will the excuses never cease?).

A night trail showed many bats (of which kind I do not know), there was tree nearby that served as a roost and after dusk they were busy.  

On the track an Indian Red Scorpion

There was an Indian Red Scorpion in the middle of the road, maybe soaking up the cool-th or heat? The Indian Red Scorpion has very potent venom, life-threatening some say.

A huge spider too

Both my trips there have been wonderful and I strongly recommend going there for a brief sojourn.

The sun sets on two gorgeous trips

I cannot resist quoting this passage from P.G. Wodehouse in his book, Aunts Aren't Gentlemen

“I had forgotten you were a bird-watcher till you reminded me just now. … It isn’t a thing I would care to do myself. Not,” I hastened to add, “that I’ve anything against bird-watching. Must be most interesting, besides keeping you … “out in the open air”.

“What’s the procedure?” I went on. “I suppose you lurk in a bush till a bird comes along, and then you out with the glasses and watch it.”