Nick Bonds Birding

Trip Report compsed by : Andrew Pearson

Photo's by : Garry Messenbird

Typed and edited by : Nick Bond

Sunday 18th November 2007

A three hour delay at Gatwick meant a loss of birding time on the ground in Goa and added to a gruelling nine and a half hour flight, it was only first day adrenalin that got us out birding. Our first Indian tick was a Brahminy Kite at the airport. We took a taxi to the Beira Mar Hotel in Baga and even with having to sort out unfamiliar species and calls we were soon getting lifers sych as Asian Koel, Red-whiskered Bulbul, Common Tailorbird and Brown Shrike. A bit of a suprise was a Red-headed Bunting, still with substantial amounts of red in the hood.

With the afternoon heat cooling a little, we moved to the swimming pool terrace overlooking the fields at the back of the hotel. In recent years trip reports have had mixed views about how good this area still is, but we found it first rate, with different species recorded on each of our three visits. We soon picked the more expected species like White-rumped and Scaly Breasted Munias, Jungle Myna, Siberian Stonechat, Long-tailed Shrike and raptors like Marsh Harrier and both of the commoner kite species were constantly on show. I had thought that there would be more wet areas here given that the monsoon had only just ended, but this worked in our favour as the main marshy area was right underneath the swimming pool terrace. As dusk fell, shyer species such as White-breasted Waterhen appeared and concentrated scanning eventually produced a beautifully marked female Painted Snipe and three males. Having missed this species in Egypt and the Gambia, this was a real 'get-back' bird and a great way to end our first day in Goa. Asian-palm Swifts were flying over distantly with several seen.

Red-whiskered Bulbul

Monday 19th November

For various reasons, I had been unable to get a guide before we arrived in Goa, but a telephone call the previous night had got us talking to Neresh, one of the more knowledgeable taxi drivers. Unfortunatley he was busy and unable to drive us to Carambolin Lake(but he did agree to take us out on the Tuesday to Morjim), so we had to settle for a non-birding driver called Attu, who at least knew the well known Brown Hawk Owl roosting site. Carambolim Lake is a beautiful place and easy to bird : high water levels meant that there were more ducks such as Garganey and Pintail present, which I Hadn't expected. Bronze-winged Jacanas and Purple Swamphens were very tame and could be seen down to a few yards from the road. Pheasant-tailed Jacanas were rather shyer but still quite common, although none were in breeding plumage. Family parties of Fulvous Whistling Duck were dotted all over the lake and diminuitive Cotton Teal were also present. A flyover Black-headed Ibis was a bonus here. A huge flock of Indian Baya Weavers was present in the fields oppositethe lake and several Asian Openbills showed distantly. A drive round the far end of the lake produced Red-wattled Lapwing and Southern Coucal.

Bronze-winged Jacana

Fulvous Whistling Duck

Purple Swamphens

We moved on to nearby woodland, picking up species like Malabar Lark and Plain Prinia in fields along the way. Here we were on our own, but all things considered we did pretty well, scoring with such species as Greater Flameback, Indian Oriole, Spotted Owlet, Western Crowned Warbler and Indian Yellow Tit. Raptors were starting to get up on the late morning thermals, we counted three immature Greater Spotted Eagles and a Booted Eagle. On the drive back, we encountered our first Indian Rollers of this trip.

After a siesta in the heat of the day, we again headed for the Beira Mar Hotel. At first there seemed very little happening, but then a small flock of Alexandrine Parakeets appeared in the palms at the other side of the fields. A couple of small raptors appeared and proved to be Amur Falcons, a species which migrates through Goa in November and one which I hadn;t really expected to get. An immature female perched on one of the pylons and gave good views. Only male Painted Snipe showed tonight, but this time they had young with them. The day finished with a waiter pointing out a Spotted Owlet on wires above our heads as we ate dinner at the hotel.

Tuesday 20th November

Another early start, this time for waders and seabirds at Morjim beach. First stop was a site that Neresh knew held Yellow-wattled Lapwing ; we located six birds in this one field. There must easilly have been in excess off 200 Lesser Sand Plover scattered along the length of Morjim beach and it was possible to get quite close to them, although there was constant disturbance from tourists and dog walkers. The slightly larger Greater Sand Plover were much scarcer, but on a couple of occassions we were able to get size comparison as the two species stood next to each other. Brown-headed Gull's were constantly flying up and down the beach, but it wasn't until the tide began to ebb that a sizeable gull flock began to gather on the beach(the main roosting site was a mudbank way out in the estuary mouth that must have held thousands of gulls and terns). We identified six species of gull in what was a larid ID test - Heuglin's, Steppe, Great Black-headed, Black-headed, Brown-headed and Slender-billed. The terns were also pretty impressive, with five species recorded - Great and Lesser Crested, Gull-billed, Sandwich and Common. Raptors were good value here, with an Oriental Honey Buzzard over our heads, an adult White-bellied Sea Eagle distantly out at sea and a Black Kite taking a fish from the surface of the water.

In the afternoon, Neresh picked us up from the hotel and we headed for Saligao. This was our first major dip, as we failed to locate the normally reliable roosting Brown Wood Owl here. Some compensation was had in the form of Malabar Whistling Thrush(whose song is reminiscent of a slightly discordant, rather manic human whistler), a beautiful 'white' adult male Asian Paradise Flycatcher, Common Hawk Cuckoo and suprisingly, the only Striated Heron of the trip. This site was also mosquito heaven(and hell for us), so we weren't unhappy to leave at dusk.

Wednesday 21st November - Friday 23rd November

Backwoods camp certainly lived up to its reputation and we added massively to the trip list here. The most impressive sighting for me was the Great Pied Hornbill, a massive bird that looked completely prehistoric in flight. Our guide, Lovan Pereira, was excellent; he knew the terrain like the back of his hand and was able to put a name to virtually everything that moved or called. His knowledge and persistence in tracking down birds meant we eventually got decent views of such difficult species as Black-backed Dwarf Kingfisher and the two nightjars - Jerdon's and Indian Jungle. Lovan relocated the roosting site of the Ceylon Frogmouths - another highlight of the trip - but was less successful with a roosting Brown Fish Owl. We nearly cleaned up with the eagles, getting Black, Crested Serpent, Mountain Hawk, and Crested Hawk (the Crested Hawk Eagle was watched perched out in the open at Bondia, where its 'porcupine quill' head crest showed to good effect). It was a bonus to connect with several unfamiliar Western Palaearctic species such as Red-headed and Grey-necked Bunting's, and Red Throated(Taiga) Flycatcher.

The only real downside of these three days was the sheer number of birders in the party. With eight people it's just not possible to always keep close to the guide on narrow, jungle trails, something you need to do if you want to connect with the shyer species and mixed parties feeding high in the canopy. Inevitably birds get missed, which is incredibly frustarting. The tour party members were a bit put out taht they didn't have Lovan all to themselves, and were stand-offish. Not that I cared. I was suffering from an upset stomach and had to focus on not missing any of the birding and resting up when I could. I particularly enjoyed Bondia on the last morning, as the forest was less dense here and birding was easier. We also had some good species here - Indian Black Robin, White-rumped Sharma, Blue-headed Rock Thrush, Orange-headed Thrush and Forest Wagtail in the same field of view. Mammals were also good here, with Spotted Deer and Malabar Giant Squirrel.

We made our final visit to the Beira Mar Hotel on Friday evening and were again in luck. We finally nailed Pintail Snipe - smaller and darker than Common Snipe, which was also present and with no white trailing edge. A large raptor sitting in a tree in the middle of the fields proved to be an immature Indian Spotted Eagle and at last light an adult male Chestnut Bittern flew out from beneath our vantage point on the terrace. 2 male Greater Painted Snipe showed 1 with 3 young.

Saturday 24th November

Our last day in Goa was a bit of an anticlimax and should have been much more productive. We got stuck with Attu again rather than Neresh, which meant no additional guiding. We got dropped off at Maem Lake, where nearly every bush seemed to hold a Blyth's Reed Warbler. We finally got to grips with Indian Shag and Little Cormorant, as both species were perched close together on a branch, along with an Oriental Darter(a real bonus bird). An immature White-bellied Sea Eagle gave great views as it circled over the lake, but an encounter with a Spectacled Cobra slithering past my feet was way too close for comfort, although it was at least as frightened of me as I was of it!

We got the timing completley wrong for Choroa Island and with the canoe trip into th mangroves at high tide and in the midday heat was frankly a waste of time. All the kingfishers were resting up in the cool of the interior, so we dipped Black capped and Collared. The only saving grace was the sighting of several Lesser Adjutants in flight and in nearby fields we found Black-headed Ibis and Ruddy Shelduck. 

Green Bee-Eater

Indian Pond Heron

Long-tailed Shrike

Red-wattled Lapwing

 Oriental Darter

Siberian Stonechat