Ganeshgudi - A Land Of Birds

 

Malabar Pied Hornbill

Someone sent me a bird call of a tiny bird that is supposed to reduce BP, lower cholesterol, release endorphins… and do everything that is good for humans.  Be that as it may, it also prompted me to write this blog about a birding trip I had recently been on with a friend.

Brahminy Kite

We had gone to Ganeshgudi, and before you ask where that is, if you don’t know you don’t need to know. A twelve-hour car ride from here, coz we got stuck in traffic jams, and a ten-hour drive back coz we didn’t. We spent two days there, doing serious birding the first from about 7 am till about 9 pm.

Black Drongo

Though we were invited to go birding on the second day, we decided to go on our own. After a half a**** attempt at bird-watching we just chilled, sleeping our way through the day and a large part of the night, remember that we had to get up early the next morning and drive back.

Green Bee-eater with a moth

On Day One we started birding at the Timber Depot, under an able guide called Rajni Rao. She seemed to have all the available species buttoned down, “look, there is a Blue-bottomed Bunting” she would say and there it would be, just where she indicated.

A brace of Imperial Pigeon

 In the Timber Depot a family, two kids, the elder all of about four, the younger, an infant, would begin crying on cue just when we saw that Blue… the mama and papa; and husband and wife joined us.  The only cameras were with the husband and wife. After a while they were shooed off by Rajni saying that the kids frightened the birds.

Hill Myna

And so we went from place to place, including a water-body where the waders, and birds staying close to water were. Then we went to a mud embankment where we saw a Tarantula spider, as big as my hand with fingers; a pair of Scops Owls a little further on and so it went, a full circle.

Malabar Pied Hornbill

We went to river (being the Christmas week) where the Great Indian Tourist was out at his destructive best and the resultant traffic jams.

Malabar Grey Hornbill

One couldn’t get in edge-wise into the homestay where we were staying, the car-park was full of cars, and many people were in a hurry to go somewhere, the cars and buses were fast.

Tarantula spider

In fact, there were many who stayed one day in Ganeshgudi, one day elsewhere, and so on. We met a couple with a little kid who having arrived that evening said that they’d go rafting in the morning and drive on the to the next place in the afternoon, and the next place wasn’t close.

Ashy Drongo

The birding with Rajni as guide was, of course, the highlight of the trip; the chilling came next!

A pair of Scops Owls