More than just birds at republic day bird count

What a bird count it has been. We started at 6am and trekked till 6pm with an hour’s break in the middle. We managed to count about 2100 birds and 150 unique species. If you are interested, you can grab the republic day bird count list (xls file). I got to learn a great deal from other expert birders and now I can identify lot more birds very easily.

Since it was a trek through the jungle, we had an amazing time and got to see lot more then birds. To start off, Bandipur is an elephant infested forest. So we took an armed guard with us who kept his ear out for any signs of elephants and we altered our routes at various points so we don’t bump into them. We managed to see 70% of the birds before 9am and after that, it started to get hot and we were seeing less and less of the birds. After late lunch, things started to cool down and we were spending lot of time at water holes to spot some water birds and animals etc.

At about 5pm, we heard lot of alarm calls at a lake and we ran towards it to see if can spot any predator. Once we got there, the alarm calls changed direction and we were not sure in which direction the animal was going. We split and I headed towards a spotted deer which was making the alarm call. The deer saw me and ran off, but I noticed the deer looking in one direction before it dashed off. I ran towards the place and from the spot where the deer was, I could see a big open area in front of me. The alarm calls stopped and I was just about to turn back when I saw some animal walk to the open area from the left. At first I thought it was a spotted deer since it was yellow and then I noticed the signature tail. It was a large leopard walking in front of me. I just froze and every hair on my body stood up. It’s one hell of an experience to see a big cat on foot in the forest. I really have no words to describe the experience. You really have to be there to feel the adrenaline rush. It walked for a while and then sat down in the middle of the clearing. I called out for rest of the folks and they all came running towards me and had a good look at the leopard. My camera was in the bag, so I decided to give up shooting and just enjoy the sight with by binocs. We started to walk towards the leopard to have a close look, but the leopard spotted us and it immediately dashed off in the other direction. We ran to catch up with it, but he was gone. I could not count any more birds for a while, as I was so excited about the whole thing.

We continued the trek and at one of these waterholes, we spotted this large rock python resting on the side of the lake. It had few leeches on it and was not at all happy to see us. Eventually it went into the water after we got lot of good shots of the guy.


Rock python with leeches

And then it rained. Since this was the first rain of the year, every drop was releasing this amazing smell from the ground. We threw our bags and sat down on a rock to enjoy the rain and the smell. Luckly the rain was not too heavy and we managed to reach the checkpoint where a jeep was waiting for us. Then we spent time till 11pm, trying to make sense of all the count and by midnight, we had the fully compiled list with us.

I drove back to Bangalore from there yesterday. I should be here till next weekend ( with 3 days in Hyderabad in between ) and then will be heading back to BR hills.

39 Comments

  1. Anonymous · January 27, 2005 Reply

    You are one lucky guy…I ve been to all the game reserves in Karnataka but couldnt once spot anything beyond the pug marks!
    Sudarshan
    http://www.footloosesudu.blogspot.com

  2. tariquesani · January 27, 2005 Reply

    Any more pics of the Python?

  3. fox2mike · January 27, 2005 Reply

    Super python shot!

  4. admin · January 27, 2005 Reply

    http://kalyanvarma.net/images/rock_python2.jpg

    I have few more.. will process them and post them later.

  5. admin · January 27, 2005 Reply

    Give some time and you will find it. Yesterday I met a guy who had to spend 2 continues months in the forest to actually see a Tiger. So you are actually better off 🙂

  6. cyberscorpion · January 27, 2005 Reply

    Nice Pic Man !! Way to go !!

  7. tariquesani · January 27, 2005 Reply

    I like the second pic much more 🙂

  8. admin · January 28, 2005 Reply

    Heh.. I guess its more clear. Linking it from the main picture. 🙂

  9. aivalli · January 28, 2005 Reply

    I’d love to be in your shoes ! For now I am a networking guy ! 😉

    -nerdy

  10. deepsan · January 28, 2005 Reply

    A wonderful experience! The python pics look very good. Guess even the python cannot escape from the leeches(I have experienced >40 leech bites in Kodachadri last Oct).
    The Red-vented bulbul seems to be most visible of the birds, any pictures of the birds?

  11. mekin · January 28, 2005 Reply

    awesome snaps …

    i like the 1st 1 better ( and even though u have changed the landing url u havent changed the src image 🙂 )
    the kallu we know 😉 …

    good that i got to see both ..

  12. mekin · January 28, 2005 Reply

    oh .. looks like the linking was intentional 🙂 … sorry sir .. but its so normal to expect thes tiny errs from u 🙂

  13. sidcarter · January 28, 2005 Reply

    Second one, nice shot. Like the DOF on that one.

  14. dianaparadise · January 28, 2005 Reply

    Just went thru the bird list, awesome! And you saw Vultures and the Hoopoe, how cool.

  15. krishi · January 28, 2005 Reply

    Didn’t the leopard try to attack when it spotted you?

  16. yathin · January 28, 2005 Reply

    Vultures are common in Bandipur, see them all the time. And the Hoopoe is seen very often as well in bangalore. Here’s one I shot recently. 🙂

    The interesting ones for me on the list are the Grey headed fish eagle and the scaly thrush – very rare for that area I should say.

  17. rohandsa · January 28, 2005 Reply

    Even some of my colleagues at work are keeping abreast with your activities 😉

  18. admin · January 28, 2005 Reply

    heh. One of the other person who was with me, tried to lift it by its tail. The snake got annoyed and went into the water. Besides the leeches look fat. So they will leave the snake any time I guess

  19. admin · January 28, 2005 Reply

    I was suprised at the hoopoe’s too. They were just way too many of them that day.

  20. admin · January 28, 2005 Reply

    None of the cats really attack people. Infact they are more scared of us, then we are of them. People have even seen the tiger at a distance for 3 -4 m and nothing happened. It’s the elephants and goars that are scary in the forest. They do not hesitate to attack you.

  21. dianaparadise · January 28, 2005 Reply

    I have a soft spot for Hoopoes because my very first sighting of one was rather spectacular. Truth is I’m crazy about all kinds of birds and even a purple sunbird in my garden takes my breath away every single time.

    BTW nice pic.

  22. drkishoremurthy · January 28, 2005 Reply

    Leopards are my favorite 🙂 dude I am speechless … wtg

    The second snap cleary shows the leeches while I loved the first snap for it has the snake kinda up u’r face looking at ya, though a little crop of the emptiness at top of the frame should make it look more awesome …

  23. admin · January 28, 2005 Reply

    I have already cropped a bit on the top. I want part of the body of the snake to show up, though it’s very blur. Anyway when I print it, I do intent to print it without any crop 🙂

  24. drkishoremurthy · January 28, 2005 Reply

    haha … which is why I said a little … I want to see the print, the brown in this snap is real neat 🙂

  25. drkishoremurthy · January 28, 2005 Reply

    u got the head fully … so the blur adds flavor to the snap …

  26. noelladsa · January 29, 2005 Reply

    Its only in his language 😉

  27. swatisani · January 29, 2005 Reply

    Really? I thought only my husband(he too had one) and son where wierd creatures

  28. coreid · January 29, 2005 Reply

    I am thoroughly enjoying reading about your experiences! Have you put up the photographs of this adventures somewhere as a web album?

  29. admin · January 29, 2005 Reply

    Will do that soon. Haven;t had time to clean all the pics yet. I am also getting a nice zoom lens this week. So Should have better pics soon 🙂

  30. bijoyv · February 1, 2005 Reply

    On Bandipur

    Kalyan,

    You have a very interesting blog and a life mission to die for. I wandered here courtesy Anita Bora.

    You seem to have had a great experience at Bandipur, which was not the case when I visited in early Jan.

    I was appalled to see that parthenium had taken over the jungle undergrowth, that there was no proper information desk, that there is no speed limit enforcement on the highway that runs through the reserve, and that there is no guidance on etiquette and do’s and don’ts on the safari. For company, I had a bunch of college kids who scared away every living animal in view. They were accompanied by teachers who were blasting music on their headphones — which in the jungle quiet resounds way beyond one’s personal space. It would have helped make their experience more enjoyable had there been a forest guard to explain what we saw. No such luck.

    While I am aware that our forests are not showpieces, I believe that creating positive experiences for visitors help them take back with them positive impressions and information about our wildlife and natural resources. A first step is to have a user-friendly information system in our wildlife reserves for the common man.

    These are just my commments. Let me know what you think.

  31. admin · February 2, 2005 Reply

    Re: On Bandipur

    You have raised some very important issues.

    Bandipur unfortunately has this disadvantage. The Mysore-Ooty highway goes right thought the forest and this has had drastic impact on the forest. There’s lot of junk thrown around the roads, you can hear the lorries all across the forest and the people have no sense for nature. But what’s funny is that the animals still thrive with all this pollution. Kabini and BR hills do not have highways though the forest, so they are lot more peaceful.

    You should try to stay at Jungle lodges. They take care of things well and actually help in the local conservation. The forest guesthouse is a big joke and I just hate the place.

    One of the most important job that I do is to leave the people will a sense for nature and make them think about conservation issues etc. Infact I don’t know if you have read my previous posts, but I ended up screaming at lot of s/w engineers who come to forests to party and drink. Am not againt drinking and having fun, but I do have a issue when they do it right in the middle of the forest, driving away all the animals and also the local tribes.

    COme visit BR hills one of these days. It’s a lot different from bandipur. Very untouched. However we do not have as many wild sightings as bandipur 🙂

  32. bijoyv · February 3, 2005 Reply

    Re: On Bandipur

    Hmmm… the forest guest house may be a joke but it’s the forest services that are accessed by most people who can’t afford higher tariffs. There has to be a program to make them more communicative, and more forthcoming and people-friendly. Only then does Bandipur have any hope.

  33. deponti · February 6, 2005 Reply

    mmk told me that the tiger carcass just rotted away, the cat didn’t return to it….will keep in touch with your blog. We visited Bheemeshwari (we came with shortindiangirl and chaibacca) too on our way back from BRT; the road, truly less travelled, from Bheemeshwari to Kanakapura is so scenic..we had peafowl and deer crossing the road too!

  34. fursatkeraatdin · February 7, 2005 Reply

    Kalyan, Your work is great. Ashwinb introduced me to your work when he visited us. Keep it up.

    Regards, Piyush

  35. Anonymous · February 17, 2005 Reply

    The Rock Python snap

    Phew….What a chilling snap that is!!
    You have a career to die for!!

    rEEna chEngaPPa

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