Some Birding at Kopar

Dombivali a distant suburb of Mumbai has few birding spots abutting Ulhas river. One of them is Kopar. It is a mixture of grassland and swamp habitat. The suburb is slowly encroaching in to this area. But it is still a birding hot spot. We went to see Pin Tailed Snipe but we were not that lucky. Postings some of my good, bad and horrible photographs of the birds seen there.

Alexandrine Parakeet

Black Tailed Godwit

There was a couple of Bar Tailed Godwit feeding on the shores of Ulhas river unmindful of onlookers, giving me an opportunity to take these photographs.

Citrine Wagtail

While we were watching a snipe at the far end this one came and perched in front of us.

Clamorous Reed Warbler

There were many Clamororus Reed Warblers in that location.

Common Snipe

Jungle Myna

Jungle Mynas are not that common in Mumbai.

Little Cormorant

Paddy field Pipit

Paddy Field Pipit was foraging in a dump area.

Pied Bushchat

Western Yellow Wagtail

I have not  come across very many Pied Bush Chats in Mumbai. 













This one was giving company to the Paddy Field  Pipit.

The Thela Train

I have come across rail engine hauling long line of compartments. I have also heard about trucks with trailers. But few years back I had an experience of watching Thela train with a guard when I went out for an early morning walk in a Central India city.

This happened at a place called Bhopal, which is also called city of lakes. Bhopal is a peaceful and beautiful city to live in. Though it is a state capital, it is a bit of slow and sleepy city, a pensioner's paradise, as it is not the commercial capital of that state.

According to Wikipedia, the modern Bhopal city was established by Dost Mohammad Khan (1672–1728), a Pashtun soldier in the Mughal army. After the death of the emperor Aurangzeb, Khan started providing mercenary services to local chieftains in the politically unstable Malwa region.

In 1709, he took on the lease of Berasia estate and later annexed several territories in the region to establish the Bhopal State. Khan received the territory of Bhopal from the Gond queen Kamlapati in lieu of payment for mercenary services and usurped her kingdom after her death.

Bhopal became a princely state after signing a treaty with the British East India Company in 1818. Between 1819 and 1926, the state was ruled by four women, Begums — unique in the royalty of those days — under British suzerainty.

In 1926, Begum abdicated in favor of her son, Hamidullah Khan, who ruled until 1947, and was the last of the sovereign Nawabs. The rule of Begums gave the city its waterworks, railways, a postal system, and a municipality constituted in 1907.

The Nawab signed the agreement for Bhopal's merger with the Union of India on 30 April 1949.The Bhopal state was taken over by the Union Government of India on 1 June 1949.

In early December 1984, a Union Carbide India Limited pesticide plant in Bhopal leaked around 32 tons of toxic gases, including methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas which led to the worst industrial disaster in the world to date.

Coming back to Thela, the Thela is nothing but a cart that hawkers use to keep and display their ware for sale. This Thela Train seems to be unique to Bhopal, as I have not seen it elsewhere so far.

The hawkers need to push their Thelas to different market on different days. They have found the solution to take the Thelas to different markets on different days through this jugad.

The Thela train goes to different market each day for a small fee from the hawker. It is pulled by a tractor. Generally one can see it early in the morning between 730 am to 830 am. One can see guard sitting on the last Thela.

One of the old Bhopal old timer told me that in the olden days bullock cart use to pull such Thela trains.

In search of ODKF

Monsoon rejuvenates life in this part of the country after a hot, humid and sultry summer season. It initiates breeding season for many bird species that are mostly resident.

The ODKF , which may not be resident, makes the most of this season from finding a partner to mate, building its nest, waiting for the eggs to hatch, indulging in a frenzy to feed its hatchling for 14 days till the hatchlings become adult and fly away to unknown destination hoping to return during the next monsoon season to repeat the same process.

During this time the bird photographers in this part of the country obsessively stake out this bird for a Wah Wha photo session . This bug caught on to me too and finally I got my chance, albeit bit late in the season. I made quite a few attempt but none of them were very fruitful. Ultimately came across a place near Karnala and ventured out recently on a rainy day to fulfill my wish.

The guide who was managing it, told me to come to a spot few miles after the national park entrance gate. Then took me through the slush and mud on a half an hour trek , crossing a small stream couple of times to his spot. There he had constructed his green hide to facilitate crazy bird photographers to quench their thirst for Wah Wha photos. His makeshift hide accommodated about five persons. All of them looking out eagerly for that elusive bird.

The bird did not disappoint us. It gave me a darshan 30 minutes after  I sat down with my  equipment and gear. It had come quietly and sat on a perch in front of the hide with a skink in its beak while I was watching crabs on the forest floor. The camera rattle from other photographers diverted my focus from crabs to this star attraction of the day enabling me to click a photograph which is shown second in this blog.

The ODKF had built its nest further away from our hide. The nest was basically a hole into the steep bank near a stream in a forest understorey. The male and female birds would come separately but regularly in a frequency of 20 to 30 minutes. The male would directly fly to the nest, discharge its cargo into the eager beak of its hatchlings and fly back without perching any where in this whole process.

But the female on her way to the nest would land on the perch for a minute or so probably to catch breath and then fly over to the nest to discharge the cargo and then fly out non stop. This activity goes on for several hours.These birds, whose size probably smaller than our palm, would fly low , zip across very fast, often carrying a prey quite big for their size in their beak.

I observed that each time these birds bring something for their hatchlings without fail. I saw it bringing skink, crab, spider, frog etc. It seems that its hatchlings have a voracious appetite and gorge. It is said that the ODKF hatchlings grow very fast due to this feeding frenzy very fast and leave the nest after 14 days .

So far I have not come across its sighting in this part of the country after the end of monsoon season till the end of summer. As a result I guess it is migrating to some far off place.

The Oriental Magpie Robin and Gecko

During my childhood in an apartment building in Mumbai suburb, I have very often seen Sparrows, Feral Pigeons and House Crows in my building compound but do not remember having seen any other species of birds. 

 

But during the last eight to nine months, I found an Oriental Magpie Robin very often inside my building compound. It seems to have taken up residence in an Indian Almond Tree (Terminalia catappa) that has grown inside the compound of one of the buildings in our neighbourhood.

This bird renders a delightful and melodiously varied song. Early in the morning it would perch itself on the tallest available structure and merrily sing its heart out.

Today morning I found this bird out side my residence window trying to pick up some thing lying on the concreted floor inside the compound. I thought it must be picking up some grains or insect or nesting material. 

But on closer scrutiny I found that it had caught a House Lizard/Gecko. The Gecko had dropped off its tail to distract the bird and save its life. The bird did get confused. Some times it took up the tail and some times the Gecko. Eventually it chose to take up the Gecko instead of its tail and flew away.

I tried to track the bird and found it perched on a wire overlooking a hallow in that Indian Almond Tree. An Oriental Magpie Robin female too was perched near it.

So I guess that the pair may be building a nest in that hollow of the tree as summer is generally the breeding season for most of the residential birds such as Oriental Magpie Robin in India.

So far I thought that the diet of Oriental Magpie Robin includes mainly insects and other invertebrates. Therefore House Lizard too forms its diet is a learning for me