Waterfoul Census_Chandaka 13'

13.01.13

Last year had been twice lucky to participate in the waterfowl census for Odisha. This year too, out of the office schedule, I got involved in two census places. Chandaka and Nandankanan. 

For friends who want more idea on what I am talking about please go through the following two links:

Chandaka Bird Census and Chilika Bird Census

This was also a nice and different experience, considering the new places one visits, birds you search and the company of like-minded senior birding people. Its all a goody feeling. The initial plan was with Udayan, but as he was in New Delhi I tried connecting to other folks. :) Next time lets not miss the fun!

Got ready at 4.30 am. Got picked by Manoo di along with sanjib bhai. (It was very kind of them to pick me up for the trip, even though my place was in such an opposite direction.) We reached the place by 6 and after some tea, group discussion and grouping we were ready to move on to our respective places for annual water bird counting.
I got into Shakti bhai and Sanjib bhai's group and the journey began. I do not have much bird photos but there are more of travel photos. 

Rest let the pictures talk :) 

The Entry Gate to Chandaka 

All gearing up for the census

Nanda, an elephant was nearby - of course tied up :P

We off to the destination

Guptapada

It was all foggy. The feeling was beautiful there.

The Forest official, Shakti Bhai and Sanjib Bhai looking out for the birds.

Caught the sunrise

Some beautiful reflections

Grey Francolin

The clear water and clean environment 

Long-Tailed Shrike

Lesser-Whistling Ducks

Manupur

Pretty water lily

Little Grebe

Inside Chandaka 

Liked this path made with vehicle tyres

Some beautiful ladies working there

A crocodile in sight

A little bird, I could not recognise

Ambilo watch tower area - Chandaka

Elephant foot marks near the water body

Soura Billa

Deras - Most common place for the city picnickers

Shakti bhai and Sanjib Bhai

Me

The places we visited,  Guptapada, Kajalabanda/ Manupur, Dhalaswar, Languri, Ambilo and Saura Billa. 

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The Birds listed were:

• Little Cormorant
• Lesser Whistling Duck
• Pintail Snipe
• Common Snipe
• Little Grebe
• Purple Moorhen
• White-Throated Kingfisher
• Small-Blue Kingfisher
• White-breasted Waterhen
• Bronze-Winged Jacana
• Pond Heron
• Yellow Wagtail
• White Wagtail
• Grey Wagtail
• Red-Wattled Lapwing
• Yellow-Wattled Lapwing
• Cattle Egret
• Little Egret
• Intermediate Egret 

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Unlike the previous Chandaka trip, this was a little dry in terms of the birds there. I hardly have any bird photo clicked because either they were only visible for recognition or too common to click. But the experience overall was good and surely looking forward to again visit the beautiful place.



Love <3>

Tanuja :)

Bird Census of Chandaka Dampara Sanctuary

The Entrance

Waterfowl Census of Chandaka Dampara Sanctuary_13.01.12

One Friday, we again got the opportunity with the Wild lifers and Naturalists to count birds in the Chandaka Sanctuary Region. The first venture was to Chilika and this would be the second one. For this one day trip, I started with Udayan, early morning around 5 to Chandaka. The morning bike ride till there was super chilly and almost killed us :( Reached there and met Shakti bhai, Dipti Ranjan and Partha who was also our team leader. Started the journey in the Bolero for the Range Office, inside Dampadra Range. The distance was pretty good but with beautiful sights it didn't matter. Full of green big trees, pre-set path, shrubs, bushes, birds everywhere, sharp shrill chirping and cold cozy weather. At the office we got our kits and met other birders who had bird counting in the nearby region. We met the most senior members like Biswajit Sir and Babu bhai. It was a great pleasure to be associated with them and know them. :) 

7.10 am: From there we reached Mahanadi shores where Biswajit Sir and Babu bhai took a boat for their journey.There on the river bed we saw so so many Small Pratincoles and River Lapwings. I saw Pratincoles first time and found them so cutie :)

Small Pratincoles

8.05 am: We then turned towards our designated places :) Jaria, Charigharia and Upara-pathapur towards north-eastern part of the sanctuary. With our young guru and TL Partha, me and Udayan too jumped off to view the place, alongwith Shri.P.C.Nayak (RO) geared up with full excitement. In the start I could hardly see anything but heard beautiful voices. Even of peacocks :) 

Haduapatta

The Fisherman setting the nets

Then we started spotting Purple Moorhens, Sandpipers, Redshanks, Common Snipes and the Spot billed ducks. :) Ofcourse accompanied by pond herons, cormorants and Egrets. Also saw spotted dove, Hoopoe and white throated kingfisher. We moved closer to the lake sides, walking and stopping by, keeping an eye on the birds :) the view was amazing. I could have never imagined a place coming through Chandaka :) Again the mountains, fields, water, chilly air, marshy land, walking inside fields...hmmmm :) There at a place a fisherman was setting his nets for fishes :/ which disturbed the birds and they mostly flew away.

Red-Wattled Lapwing

8.40 am: We kept walking on the shores of the lake and the edgy fields. With Partha's guiding we could see and collect most of the bird information. :) Mr. P.C. got irritated with us as were weren't walking up to his pace. He preferred more safe places and didn't land into marshy fields. So obviously he reached places fast and we didn't :D He clapped for the birds to fly away and count. We continued watching and spotting the birds. Missed clicking a spotted owl though. The photography helped in recognising birds more closely.
We then reached near villages where people were fishing by, washing clothes and lining up to bath and all of a sudden they realized we are there :P They started asking in loud tones if we are from OTV and shooting :P  After a little more of roaming there we were off for other places.

Lesser Whistling Ducks

Partha made the vehicle stop at a place with lake view sighting many birds. All dropped down and saw birds flying by in large number of flock. Partha made us recognise them as Lesser Whistling Ducks.  Yes I too could here the whistling :)

The Mahanadi banks

9.45 am: We then got back into bolero and reached at a Mahanadi reservoir area where we picked up Biswajit sir and Babu bhai and were all off to have tea nearby. All snacked up, breakfast plus yummy bara-tarkari (Vada-curry) at the local Dhabha. There all got into conversations on the birds one found and related information. After having a light talk time all got divided again to continue our respective journeys.

The next place was almost empty of birds except one man bathing making bear sounds :P we were scared. :D We stopped at various places on the way. One marshy place was full of Egrets and Herons, Cormorants and Purple moorhens. Asian Open billed storks and one Oriental Darter too. I saw one Citrine wagtail nearby :) The following place was superb with avid flora and fauna. The water source was even more blue and beautiful with Cotton teals and couples of spot-billed ducks swimming by. 

The great Banyan tree

There was one typical huge Banyan tree, very tall and very pleasing underneath it. Again we missed an owl that just flew away from us. Other birds spotted were Brahminy Ruddy Shelduck, River terns, River lapwings and lots and lots of Purple Moorhens. 

Common Redshanks

Cotton teals & Spot Billed Ducks

Spot-Billed Duck, Purple Moorhen, Citrine Wagtail, Wood Sandpiper, Large-pied Wagtail

1.00 pm: All were packed back in Bolero and dropped at the Range Office. There lists of birds were marked, counted and added in the pre-defined lists provided. Discussions and questions in air were shot in different species one found and on their recognition with the help of descriptions and photographs. Took lunch break in between and then finished the listings. 

2.50 pm: Partha was ready with the listings and submitted it to the DFO. After everybody's submission all started off to the main gate.


4.00 pm: Reached to the starting point i.e. the entrance gate. All got together with the conversations on their places and sightings. :) We bid goodbye to other members and were off from there. Yet another memorable and priceless trip. :) Looking forward for more, but this time to add more value to the census :)




list if birds spotted: In the order of final listing

1. Little grebe
2. Little cormorant
3. Oriental Darter
4. Indian Pond Heron
5. Cattle Egret
6. Little Egret
7. Intermediate Egret
8. Purple Heron
9. Grey Heron
10. Asian Openbill
11. Lesser Whistling Duck
12. Brahminy Ruddy Shelduck
13. Indian Cotton Teal
14. Spot-Billed Duck
15. White-breasted Water hen
16. Purple Swamphen
17. Little Pranticole
18. River lapwing
19. Red-wattled lapwing
20. Redshank
21. Marsh Sandpiper
22. Greenshank
23. Common Sandpiper
24. Common snipe
25. Indian river tern
26. Citrine wagtail
27. Large Pied wagtail
28. White wagtail
29. Pied Kingfisher
30. White breasted Kingfisher

 Few more photos:
 

With the Bolero

Inside the fields

 The team walk :P

On the way...

The beautiful Marigold fields on the way

'A priceless learning experience for me'

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"Chandka Elephant Sanctuary is a wildlife reserve located in north western fringe of Bhubaneswar in the Indian state of Orissa. Nestled on Khurdha uplands of 'Eastern Ghats' biotic region, Chandaka forest spread over 175.79 km² of rolling table land and small sprawling hillocks of Khurdha and Cuttack Districts."

 Source: Wikipedia

A trip to Chilika, Bird Census_7-8 Jan 2012 :)

An amazing weekend trip to Chilika (Odisha), for the Annual Bird census.

It’s quite a time, I have been a member of a virtual group called ‘Birds of Orissa’ on facebook. Fellow members informed about the Bird Census program which happens yearly for study & research on migratory birds and for developmental purposes of the wetland eco-system. Me and Udayan jumped out for it and planned a bike tour to Chilika.

07.01.12

N.H. 5

7.30 am: Started our bike journey towards Chilika. The weather was perfect for a ride. Foggy and pleasing with cold air. To re-energise, we snacked up on the highway, tea with hot aloo-chops (potato chops) and Baras (Vada) with green chilli :D. We then continued our journey towards Chilika passing through Balugaon. The meeting was supposed to start at 10.00am.

The briefing by Dr.U.N.Dev

10.00 am: We reached the venue at Chandraput almost at the right time. The place was beautiful from the very start. The lake, the heavy cool breeze...simply wow :) We entered our names and got seated inside. More people came in. People we recognise and senior members which followed namastes, waves and smiles :) The room was full with Ornithologists, wildlife activists, bird lovers, forest officials and enthusiasts. Introduction started on Chilika, the wet-land and how we are going to help protect it. Our Chief guests there followed the briefings in addition to presentations and guidelines on recognizing and counting birds of the wetland. Finally the time came when all were to be divided into groups with assigned places for bird counting. We waited and waited and then we were grouped for the place 'Rambha'. I had never heard of this place, but all along was very excited to explore ^_^ Our team leader was Akash Rath, guide Purna Ch. Guru (F.R.O) and fellow members were Umakant Biswal the expert in this, S.K. Mohapatra (ICZM), Me, Udayan and Aditya. We had lunch and were off  to our destination 'Rambha'. Other birders I know Satya bhai, Shakti bhai, Sanjib bhai also were off to their designated places with their teams. :)

2.30 pm: We were in the Bolero with the associate members, discussing and talking by. We reached at the place and took our assigned rooms. After getting freshened up and little rest all decided to look around the near by places. :) I was super excited to look up more of the place and specially the water. 

4.15 pm: Rambha, of what we saw was a beautiful place. It comes under the famous District Ganjam in the Indian state of Odisha. We traveled along the lake side with the forest official and also went through beautiful villages. There were mountains and greenery everywhere, with boats and humpy roads, cool wind and people looking at us strangely. We halted at a place to view and click some birds, then proceeded to more interior places. Mountains all had round smooth stones, that looked as if they'll just make a fall. We reached at a place which looked like greasy water. There the forest official Mr. Jena spotted a small turtle in the fishing nets. He called the fishermen, rescued and carried it to drop him to better water resource. The turtle was super cute and its head and body went inside the cover when turned upside down. :D :)

The beautiful 'Rambha'

Went more alongside the lake, inside villages, visited some ponds, photographed, watched various birds and at a place even saw and clicked a peacock roaming inside the fields. What a beautiful sight. I had never seen a peacock like this :) Mr. Jena dropped the turtle in a fresh water pond there. By evening all were back to the guest house at Rambha and chilled out :P We had little discussion over the birds findings and then roamed in the village markets for some snacks. I was little tired and wanted to rest for tomorrow. 

10.00 pm: Having dinner at the forest official place, I was knocked out for the main day aka Tomorrow.

08.01.12

5.00am: Early morning we were ready to be packed in the Bolero and reach the Chilika Lake. It was super cold and chilly. We waited ....

The Dramatic Dawn

6.20am: The Jeep came and took us to the venue of bird counting. The view of the magnificent lake just before the sunrise stupefied me. It was so so beautiful, the weather, the redness in the sky, the silhouettes of the boats and the little birds feeding and flying by. Our bird counting started with little pond patches full of Egrets, Bronze winged Jacanas and Pond Herons. Mr. Mohapatra wrote down the names, as experts (few by us too) called out the names and numbers. We also spotted Small Blue Kingfisher and Pied Kingfisher. :)

All got into the boat, except Aditya who hadn't accompanied the team. The journey towards the deep, red-dish, blueish water and sky started... All got seated with notebooks, cameras, binoculars and breakfast. We started our journey of bird counting by getting deep inside the lake...water and water all around. In comparison to my visit to Mangalajodi, wet-land birds were less here. Expecting to spot some interesting species, we got deeper and started spotting birds like Black Winged Stilts, Tufted Ducks and Brahminy kites. 

Black Winged Stilts

We spotted birds, some in a group of three to four and some in such large numbers that we only could estimate the numbers. The experts examined the species and counted and it was written down. Akash bhai had a good 70-300 Nikor lens to capture the beauty as well as Udayan. I clicked with my Canon SX10IS :) With Akash bhai's and Udayan's photography, it went easy in recognizing the species and counting. The Forest officials Mr. Purna Chandra and Jena also spotted on birds. To some extent and areas there was nothing, just water and water far far away. But then we saw birds in between in large flocks and nearby some Islands. 

The place was such a beauty. I was mesmerized by the beauty of the vast lake...nothing but water...everywhere...flocks of birds flying by, staying by, posing by.....

Then came places where we were near the mighty mountains. What a view! The mountains, all full of round sloppy stones, beautiful brown shiny bushes, trees of green and red and gold...the feeling was simply amazing. There were beautiful fields also marking human habitation. Found Brown Headed Gulls, Cormorants and so on.. nearby the mountain places. Hoping for some decent photos :) The boat was a power driven one and didnt actually stay to view the bird flocks when asked to..as a result of which the the birds flew away making the bird counting task difficult. We even saw one lighthouse, made by the Raja of there, followed an island with a life size sculpture of a dinosaur :P

Brown Headed Gulls

The singing cold air, heavy water ripples, splashes, the weather sometimes cloudy, sometimes gloomy and sometimes just sunny. The weather was in some mood, showing us its many colors but never did it hurt. Even the bright sun was pleasing.

Birds...so many. Tern and Ducks, Kites, Cormorants, Kites, Gulls, Kingfishers and who not :) And of so many varied colors, whites, greys, glossy blacks, bushy browns, spotted, printed and with the primary colors too :) I shall include a list of birds in the end...

and Hey did I forget to mention we saw Dolphins too ? yeah, we sighted some Dolphins. They played hide and seek, yet we spotted them when they jumped outta the water.

The moody weather

10.30 am: Till now we covered across places 'Gaurangapatana' and 'Kumarpur'. We had our breakfast. Bread, jam, bananas, eggs, oranges & apples. Hmmm....I was full...yum :) After some more of traveling in water, we stoped by on an Island 'Talatalanasi.' Everybody got outta their shoes and roamed the Island. The Island was typically green, with fields, marshy land and ponds. Mr. Mohapatra and Uma bhai roamed around to recognize and discuss on birds there. Akash bhai went a little deeper to click birds and Me and Udayan roamed near the fields. He spotted some good birds to click and I went near the bushes to click some beautiful Butterflies. Few bushes were just full of Plain Tigers and Common Crows. :) I also spotted some wetland birds also plus the hoopoes :) A little later all gathered. The boaters who accompanied us and local villagers made us coffee in the near by huts and also offered smoked fresh fishes to snack on.

We left the Island and then again the tour on water started. Again the routine of spotting, recognizing and counting birds started with the same excitement. A little later tiredness gripped us and I started feeling sleepy in between. I guess others silently slept too :D After around 6 hours of ride on the boat we landed on land. :D

Tufted Ducks flying by...

As we had carried all our luggage, we were directly exported to Chandraput from where we had started. There we had our lunch and everybody sat down in circles for counting. Uma and Akash bhai started on the given list of birds and Mr. Mohapatra held his written down list to mark it. One by one, species by species all got counted. Birds who couldn't been recognized were dealt with the help of photos. Other troupes also started arriving and after lunch started counting. :)

Counting was done, copied to various sheets with list of birds, team information and the task was done, of course majorly by the senior members,we were just a little help. :) We bid goodbye to bhai manes, other senior members and the DFO and started out journey back to Bhubaneswar, Our home. I reached by 7.20 pm. :)

Counting over

Special thanx to Sanjib bhai for getting permissions for us :) Satya bhai & Shakti bhai plus Bird of Orissa group for inspiring us in the field. It was a great learning opportunity, exploring the b'ful place of our amazing Odisha and participating in a noble cause of Bird Counting. :) Feeling lucky. ^_^

List of Birds spotted: As per the final census record

1. Little Grebe
2. Little Cormorant
3. Cattle Egrets
4. Little Egrets
5. Intermediate Egrets
6. Grey Heron
7. Gadwall
8. Gargeney
9. Tufted Duck
10. Water Rail
11. White-Breasted Water Hen
12. Bronze-Winged Jacana
13. Black Winged Stilt
14. Little Pratincole
15. Yellow-Wattled Lapwing
16. Kentish Plover
17. Marsh Sandpiper
18. Wood Sandpiper
19. Common Sandpiper
20. Little Stint
21. Brown-Headed Gull
22. Whiskered Tern
23. Little Tern
24. Small Bee Eater
25. House Crow
26. Jungle Crow
27. Black Drongo
28. Brahminy Kite
29. Common Hoopoe
30. Lesser Pied Kingfisher
31. Small Blue Kingfisher
32. White Breasted Kingfisher
33. Osprey 

Few more photos from the trip. My camera couldn't capture many birds :( 

Flickr link :)  
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8727037@N06/sets/72157628992916281/detail/

P.S.

With my obvious and old interest in Birds, I have always loved watching and capturing them whenever I could. In fact taking out time for them. :) I hope we create a good living place for them with our any little effort.