Assam Day 6 & 7 - The wonderland that is Kaziranga

16th January 2020

Continued from here.

Kaziranga!  A dream visit for me, for the last fifteen years, and I was actually here.  Wishing Sekar was here, and of course Raji, my dear friend, how I missed her on the trip.  

It is a UNESCO world heritage site.

“Criterion (ix): River fluctuations by the Brahmaputra river system result in spectacular examples of riverine and fluvial processes. River bank erosion, sedimentation and formation of new lands as well as new water-bodies, plus succession between grasslands and woodlands represents outstanding examples of significant and ongoing, dynamic ecological and biological processes. Wet alluvial grasslands occupy nearly two-thirds of the park area and are maintained by annual flooding and burning. These natural processes create complexes of habitats which are also responsible for a diverse range of predator/prey relationships.

Criterion (x): Kaziranga was inscribed for being the world’s major stronghold of the Indian one-horned rhino, having the single largest population of this species, currently estimated at over 2,000 animals. The property also provides habitat for a number of globally threatened species including tiger, Asian elephant, wild water buffalo, gaur, eastern swamp deer, Sambar deer, hog deer, capped langur, hoolock gibbon and sloth bear. The park has recorded one of the highest density of tiger in the country and has been declared a Tiger Reserve since 2007. The park’s location at the junction of the Australasia and Indo-Asian flyway means that the park’s wetlands play a crucial role for the conservation of globally threatened migratory bird species. The Endangered Ganges dolphin is also found in some of the closed oxbow lakes.”

Highway 37 cuts through and the Karbi Anglong hills are the highlands needed during the high monsoon floods as highlands for the animals from the Bramhaputra flood plains.  Now this migration land is cut by the highway.

A lot happened on the road even before we entered the sanctuary gates.  

We started our Kaziranga exploration at the eastern gate - Agaratoli.  These Owlets were at the gate, as we registered to enter the Gates.

A grey-headed fishing eagle surveyed the plains,  sitting harmoniously with the parakeets!

.

Wild buffaloes eyed us.

I would never tire of the river, the grasslands and the swamp deer.

The rhinos were there everywhere.

What a lovely sight of the northern lapwing.

The news of Kaziranga was that a “lesser white fronted goose had been spotted!  And Gudung knew exactly where to take us   - to see this “foreigner”, who was hanging around with the bar-headed geese, who didn’t seem to mind its presence, and all continued to forage in an amicable fashion.  Its white face and barred chest made it stand out among the bar-headed geese.

The LWFG (Anser erythropus)was most unbothered at this paparazzi status, as the shutter bugs clicked away. What was it doing here?  In 1968, an Englishman McKenzie had recorded it in Kaziranga in a different range.  The bird is a native of Scandinavia and Siberia.  It was a vagrant.  And endangered vagrant.  

Gudung was excited at having showed us this rare sighting.

He took us to the house of his mentor Manoj Gogoi. These are the experiences on MNS trips that are amazing, humbling and something that has opened my mind time and again.

He narrated the story of his meeting with a man from BNHS and then growing and rescuing snakes and birds, and now working in tandem with the forest dept.  Recounting stories of Kaziranga then and now, over a feast of local delicacies.

 

A quick lunch stop at Dubori, wash, battery charge and it was off to the western range with Gudung.  Bagori.

Hornbill sightings

A satisfied soul inside a tired body, as we headed back.  Dinner and chatter - always fun - sitting with Yuvan trying to make a list - jaggery ginger candy from Mr NS.  A throat thats feeling super raspy and painful.

So much to learn still, so little do I know.  

17th January 2020. Off to the Bura Pahad range - Hoolock Gibbon morning it was.

On the road, even before entering the Bura Pahad range, we stopped by some fig trees as Gudung spotted the gibbons, and this was my first sight!  What lovely eyebrows!

There was something so contented and peaceful about the way the gibbon took a fruit at a time, and ate with deliberation and “mindfulness”?  

One of Kaziranga’s signature primate, India’s only ape. As I watched the male’s long arm go out and pick a fruit, I learnt that they can brachiate at high speeds - close to 50kmph, and in one swing, something like 6m!  

They live in small family groups and are monogamous we heard their calls within the forest later as well.  Their calls - haunting and amazing and a lifetime experience as it echoes through the forests.  

For a creature that never comes down to the forest floor, the need for a contiguous canopy is so crucial.  How would it cross a road, if the canopy was broken for more than 6m?

“Populations of western hoolock gibbons have declined by almost 90% over the last 30 years, and it is now considered to be one of the most endangered 25 primate species in the world. In India, it is listed on Schedule 1 of the Indian (Wildlife) Protection Act 1972. Enhancing protection for the species, the Government of Assam upgraded the status of the Hoollongapar Reserve Forest in the Jorhat District of Assam to a Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary in 1997, making this the first Protected Area ever named after a primate species.”  (WWF)

A skirmish and movement in the tree and we thought it was another family, but no it was a Giant Malayan Squirrel also feeding and going up and down the tree.  What a tail!  And it did one spectacular jump from one tree to the next.  (Ratufa bicolor).  I thought the malabar squirrel is more good looking, but this one is just large and dramatic.  (Suresh's photo)

Lovely drive in the forest.  Beautiful trees, lianas, a water monitor lizard and whistling ducks in flight.  A group of black capped monkeys above.

A patch of water, and we saw more bar-headed geese.  There were egrets, cormorants, OBS all cheek by jowl, minding their own business.  

A watchtower close to the river.  We got off the vehicles and took a walk along the river Diphlu.  The stories that silting would tell.  Many feet deep.  There were a couple of ruddy shelducks on the bank. that caught the sun so beautifully, they were like burnished copper..

The squelchy mud revealed tiger pug marks!  It was a long and hot walk, and we came back quite hungry.  Dried fruits and kakhra to the rescue in our backpacks - and  Suresh discovered a love for kakhra hitherto unknown.  Pritam had some interesting fruit bars - mango and guava…I preferred the guava I remember.

As we drove back and out of the sanctuary, we saw swamp deer - unique to Kaziranga.  Eastern swamp deer.    Rucervus duvaucelii ranjitsinhi.  Dolhorina in Assamese

 

 Even better was the sunbathing otters we saw!  What a delightful sight that was.  We were the lone jeep on that path - and in a blink of an eye, they were all off the bank and into the water.  Showing how easy it us to disturb wildlife, how sensitive to human activity.  Shantharam got a great picture, I remember.

An adjutant flew overhead, stiff and stern.  And suddenly there was a rhino eyeballing us from behind the grass.  And vultures overhead!

Back for lunch and a short rest

Afternoon ride was to Kohora - the gate closest to us.  We were in the last jeep.  Sudar and his camera seemed to be magnets for the unexpected.  A whole host of wagtails later, we saw a fishing eagle and most importantly a night jar.  Spotted by Sudar.  Even our jeep driver was awestruck at the spotting!

We went over this bridge I don’t think was meant for jeeps - it protested loudly. But the driver was cheery and confident.

And that evening, we waited for the tiger, whom the guides and driver felt were in the vicinity.  I didn't mind.  It was such a beautiful magic spot.

Instead we saw a baby elephants in the swamp - it waddled across, stumbling and moving quite clumsily and endearingly - the mother gently nudging him/her with her trunk.

As we watched, the rains stuck to a path they make.  We saw a rhino midden as well.

Another beautiful Kaziranga sunset.

That evening, we went into the markets.  I picked up two wooden rhinos as souvenirs.  It was good fun to hang around with Bhuvanya as she looked for some kind of local Assamese knife, which she didn’t find, but she found a kutty little dish made from some alloy, which was a big hit with the other ladies - so much so that we had to return and buy some more!  So many things I came to know - that Bhuvanya loves to paint, is a cheerful chatterbox and has a wonderful joie de vivre. 

We would depart for Pobitara the next day.  

Kaziranga - I could go back again and again.  (I did go back, with Sekar, and I would be happy to revisit.)  The flood plains, the grasslands, the vastness, the magnificent rhinos and elephants in such plenty, the gibbons, langurs, squirrels and all those birds.

Illalur morning

March 10th 2024

Hello said the sunbird!

The sun rose over Illalur lake, and we watched.

The magical shimmer of gold across the water, 

the silhouetted trees, 

Cormorants skidded across the surface,

Dew on the grasses, 

Dragonflies  hovering over the reeds

And I listened, to the

Gurgling chuckle of the White-browed bulbuls

Familiar francolins' call

Coucal hoot

Kingfisher's rattling cry

and the caw caw of the crows.

What's not to love in my morning meander

with others on a similar journey, together

Yet separate,

Enjoying our solitary discoveries 

Sharing our delights, 

and sandwiches!

Later at Mudayathur lake, the Thandri under water, unlike my last visit.

The Yellow Wattled Lapwings - an unexpected delight

An Osprey afar!

Cormorants aplenty

A brain fever bird after ages!

Oriental Skylark shot up from the grass, calling and hovering before descending

Smart and perky Indian Robins 

And a new discovery this time - the hillock near Vembedu Lake.  A lovely scrub area which we visited a little too late - next time we need to catch dawn here.

Returning via Nemmeli, and the flamingoes danced in the salt pans, on their amazingly long legs while the Spoonbills wagged their beaks and bodies, almost in time.  And what were the Northern Shovelers doing dabbling in the saltpans I wondered.  Aren't they freshwater, wetland ducks?

81 species for the morning - by Sagarika, Ramanan, Ramraj and me.  

My Visit of 2023 here.

Andamans Day 2 - Garacharma Wetland - waders

11th Feb 2024 - afternoon.  Continued from here.

A short post-lunch snooze later, we were headed out again.  We picked up Jabili along the way from Bathi Bastu.

A twenty minute ride down south from the hotel, through little colonies interspersed with vacant plots, small patches of marsh and we were at an unimpressive mudflat/water body with a lot of humdrum human activity all around.

Garacharma wetlands - further under threat than even Pallikaranai it seems.  

"White birds" were scattered here and there - no large flocks, just a smattering of solitary waders here and there.

Binoculars and cameras emerged, and the search was on, and before you know it, we had a dozen species!

As I scanned, all the 3 egrets I could see, plus what I call the usual Pallikaranai residents - Swamp hens, moorhens and waterhens.  Then we spotted the sandpipers and the wagtails, redshanks and plovers.

We walked around the periphery to another part, sat down on some construction stones on the sides, and now the lifers (for me) began - winter migrants.

Long-toed Stints - with their pale legs and mottled bodies.  I was happy to identify one - after much instructions - "left of the small yellow bucket, behind that plastic bag, walking to the left", and such like.  Finally we had a tally of 11 of them.  

Five Red-necked stints were shown to me - no red necks or anything, just a grey little wader, with a stocky bill, smaller stint size of course but with dark legs unlike the LT cousins.  (The red necks are in breeding season up north.)

Scurrying about in the grass were Red-throated pipits - their usual upright Pipit stance, quite heavily streaked.

A White-bellied Sea Eagle glided lazily above, and then moved out of view.

Click for a video view of the wetlands here.

We moved to a more scrubby part, away from the water's edge, and a bittern flew quite literally past my nose! It vanished into the undergrowth, but we did track it, and what a lovely sight it was.  A yellow bittern, absolutely still, trying hard not to be seen, and staring at us.  It was hard to point out to the others, so well camouflaged was it, even though we had a clear line of sight.

An Andaman cow came up to say hello in the meantime.

Desigan flushed a Snipe which went shooting off, and then another and then yet another!  Five Pintailed Snipes in all.

A bunch of Rosy Starlings came to roost on a tree as the sun sank low in the horizon.

I was sad to see this dump - as usual wetlands and marshes considered wastelands, and unprotected.

We stopped at a Tamil diner, for a dosai (which was pretty ordinary - it flattered to deceive) and some even more ordinary chai.  But our waiter was a master of hyperbole and provided much amusement.

eBird Checklist - 11 Feb 2024 - Garacharma Wetland - 44 species

We were off to Rangat the next morning - it was a 4 am departure!

Andamans Day 2 - Kalatang - birds and butterflies

11th Feb 2024

Continued from here.

Up at 4am for a 5am departure to Shoal Bay. I had assumed we were going to the bay/beach.  Turns out I was mistaken and we were headed for Kalatng RV which is in the Shoal Bay Area, via a ferry ride from Chatham Jetty to Bamboo Flat jetty.

The ferry ride across the Port Blair bay saves a lot of time, when compared to taking an all-land route. The plan was to take the 530 am (first ferry) to the other side.  

Chatham jetty is actually on the little island of Chatham, which is reached by a short 100m bridge from Haddo in Port Blair.  The jetty was abuzz with activity.

The island houses the Saw Mill. The British set it up in 1883 to systematically denude the Andamans - it was a different time and ethos.  The Mill continues to work.  There is a Forest Museum within it full of wood artefacts - a kind of cruel reminder of  deforestation I would think.  We did not visit.

We drove onto the ferry.  The fisherwomen were already there, all waiting in an orderly fashion to take their fish to market.  Men on bikes, heading to work, traders with wares to sell, and a bunch of tourists like us. I loved the island vibe - everything was so calm and relaxed, but everything seemed to run on time - except the service at Shreesh!

Chatham island receded, and as I looked back I saw the hilly nature of the island, the tip of a volcanic upheaval.  

Twenty minutes later, we were at the Bamboo Flat jetty, and ready to move on to Kalatang.  Mount Harriet  National Park was somewhere on our right.  I was very fascinated by the ferry on/off as you can see in the video below.

    

Drives through the Andamans are always scenic - water bodies here and there, turn a bend and all of a sudden, the sea may be in front of you, and of course the forest trees.  But increasing pressures of human habitation and agriculture are here as well.

Wimberlygunj is on the way - and our drivers stopped at Fathima stores for much needed morning chai.

Such delight on Ravi's face on spying Pazhampozhi at Fatima stores!! The group fell upon them as if there was no tomorrow, and everyone was immediately awake, cheerful, alert and garrulous.  Bring the birds on!

The mist was still hanging in the air.

A few large bungalows lined the road, before we reached the mangroves of Wright Myo Creek.

Tall Stilt Mangroves grew besides the road, probably the end of the creek.  Low tide left a lot of mud and silt, and sadly, plastic too.

Click here to see the drive besides the Wright Myo creek mangroves.  We drove slowly looking for the ruddy kingfisher, but all was quiet, not a single bird call did I hear in this stretch.  

We arrived at our destination - a bus stop, a culvert over some water run off, a mud track going to the right past a dump yard, and a graveyard!  As we alighted, we could hear bird calls from all sides.  

The mud track along which we birded.

The forest path was lined with these shrubs, which I identified upon return as Malabar Melastome, commonly called Indian rhododendrons though no relation of the actual Rhodos.  You can see the 3 main veins, the red stems and the beautiful pink/violet flowers. 

The shrubs were probably planted/brought in by the British - flowersofindia.net notes that 

"In Southeast Asia and elsewhere it is a widespread weed of industrial forest plantation crops (such as rubber and mahogany), orchards, and rice fields."

As we walked, every few steps Jabili would point to something - Long Tailed Parakeets, Minivets, Glossy Starlings and Black-naped Orioles - high up in the canopy.  The birds were all catching the morning sun.  

Somewhere up there was a Violet Cukooo too.  It was backlit and looked like a black cuckoo to me.  With a name like that I expected a nice brightly coloured bird that matched those flowers above!  So, this was most unsatisfactory.

The Green Imperial Pigeons were well behaved.  They sat still and long enough for me to get a good look, though the dull day did not do justice to their colours, as also those of the Asian Emerald Doves.  They were too high and too far away and we did not bother taking pictures - the others did.  

It was nice to see an older English birdwatching couple too, on the road.  

 

The doctor "twins" Ravi and Gasper chose this beautiful spot to just sit and watch the birds in the Ficus tree opposite - there were Ornate sunbirds, White Eyes, Andaman bulbuls, Andaman Flowerpeckers, Red Whiskered bulbuls, mynas and doves flitting through the tree.  They would not sit still and it was a great game trying to spy what I knew was definitely there but still could not be seen.

Jabili heard a Mangrove Whistler too, but I did not, sadly.  

Chestnut-headed bee eaters hawked and swooped over the gravestones, and kingfishers sat on the wire watching.

White Bellied Sea Eagles soared above - we were not far from the bay, after all.

We halted for breakfast at around 815, using the bus stop as our picnic spot.  No bus came, no passengers alighted, and it was all very peaceful.  breakfast was heavy - 4 idlies and sambar!

More wandering after breakfast - the doctors and Sekar decided to have a short snooze in the car (the idlies were asking for a post prandial siesta), while I chased butterflies.  

The dump yard - of which I refused to take a picture - was a favourite for the Andaman Crake I believe.  Jabili waited patiently for it, as did some others.  I think it made a fleeting and hurried scoot across the road - and I did not see it.  Desigan gave a vivid and animated description of its scoot across in the blink of an eye.  He managed a picture, if I'm not mistaken.

The Andaman Glassy Tigers flitted about in the undergrowth, and this one sat still for a minute.

Parantica aglea ssp. melanoleuca

The endemic Andaman Clippers were also quite common, and  delightful to watch.  They were polite and gracious enough to allow me to photograph them.

There were a lot of Common Ceruleans around - this one sat on a Hyptis (bush mint) plant

I thought this was a Common Leopard, but on return I learnt it was Phalanta alcippe, the Small Leopard.  The markings at the edge are different. 

A grey Pansy rested in the shrubbery.

We took the 1130 ferry back to Port Blair, via Chatham island.  But there was still one more treat.  Jabili asked us to watch the mango trees on the shore at the Chatham jetty.  This was the tree where the Pied Imperial Pigeon hung around. 

As we approached the shore, I scanned the tree with my binoculars, whilst Umesh, Desigan and Srinivas looked through their cameras.  We spotted a head here, a rump there, some movement from one branch to the other.  As we neared the shore, I finally did manage a glimpse of the whole bird.  How magnificent it was!  A lifer for me - this large white and black pigeon.  What a regal beauty I thought!  I learnt that it mainly seen in small islands and in coastal areas.  How fascinating - why would a tree-dwelling pigeon choose to/need to live close to the coast?  I came back and checked the call - and this was deep and magnificent too!

Photo by Desigan of the Pied Imperial pigeon in the mango tree.

We returned to high tide, and I marvelled at the brilliance of Phoenix Bay, shimmering blue and silver.

Back to Shreesh, and the comical struggle for some fresh lime soda refreshments.

Umesh requested a newbie waiter for 8 Fresh Lime sodas, and the chap looked distinctly unhappy.  First he said "No English", then when Umesh lapsed into Hindi, he desperately said "No Hindi" and then even there "no soda, soda finished" at Umesh.  Umesh was quite indignant at this, and seeing his ire, the said waiter disappeared!

Shreesh has a strange system where the dining room has a pantry attached, but the kitchen was one level down... so food came up from below.  So while we waited for our dal roti sabzi, we investigated the pantry, but found no signs of any human nor of the fresh-lime drinks...After a while, the "senior" waiter sauntered in.  Umesh repeated the order to him and said we had ordered but it had not showed up and neither had lunch. This waiter looked pityingly at us, and asked "whom did you order from?"  And then said airily, "Oh he doesn't know anything, I will get you."  it was all very Fawlty Towers and Manuelesque.

The fresh lime eventually did come - but after we finished our lunch!   An oh yes, the rice would come before the rotis, making Umesh even more grumpy - since he wanted the rotis and not the rice...we all merrily chowed whatever came first!

eBird Checklist - 11 Feb 2024 - Kalatang - 40 species

 

Garacharma wetlands awaited us, in the evening.