Restart with B-P-P

 

restart with B-P-P

Hello friends, wish you a happy Friendship Day, you all are true friends who help me to reach milestones in the journey of blogging and photography. For this, I wish everyone....

Tum jaise wildlifer ka sahara hai dosto
Tum jaise wildlifer ka sahara hai doston,
Yeh dil tumhare pyar ka maara hai dosto,
Yeh dil tumhare pyar ka maara hai dosto,
100 baar Shukriya, 1000 baar Shukriya. 

Now let me tell you why the title is restart and the meaning of B-P-P, restart because of restarting blogging after a long gap, and restart because restarting at the same place but with an upgraded camera. 

Now let me tell you the meaning of B-P-P, this means Bhigwan-Parinche-Panvel, the place is not new for all of us, but as I said, experience and quality are different due to a new member in the kitty, my Canon R5. Hope you will enjoy the restart pictures and blog too. So let us start with the Story of BPP one by one.

Bhigwan the big one

This time, the whole trip happened without any planning. The actual plan was to visit near Chiplun, but for some reason, it could not materialize. I was excited to use the new camera, but due to the cancellation of Chiplun had no choice but to wait. But suddenly Jogi called and informed that Bhigwan is rocking and let’s go for the same, with Bhigwan we also added Parinche, which is one of the P, the difference is not far from Bhigwan, hence it makes sense to do both places together.

Let me update on how both places rocked. Firstly, update on Bhigwan. This place is God’s gift to mankind, such a beautiful place with greenery all around with offering all through the year. I have been to lots of places, but most of the places are seasonal, based on migration, but the same is not applicable to Bhigwan. All through the year, you can visit to take advantage of the different varieties.

The Monsoon magic is all about the variety of Quails, painted sandgrouse, Foxes, Wolves, hyenas, and many more. Apart from wildlife, it also offers food life, which means a typical homemade Maharashtra special meal with best of the best taste, visit BT’s world for pictures.

Parinche  

This place is primarily famous for for Vernal Hanging Parrot, but you can also find Baya, Bunting, Munias as add-ons, but as I said, prime time is parrot. Let me also clarify that parrots are different from parakeets; what you see within the city is not a parrot, but is parakeet. People are not aware of parrots and use the term " Parrot" for all parakeets. So, please see the picture of a Vernal hanging parrot to understand that parrots and parakeets are different birds. This place is located near Saswad and just two hours from Bhigwan, hence it is better to combine both places to get unique birding in one go.   

The parrots are visiting the Bajri season, which matches with monsoon, to capture parrots hanging on Bajri, even if it is windy with rain, which is amazing. Because of this hanging behaviour, the name is Vernal Hanging Parrot. 

Panvel  

Now let me update you on Panvel, though it happened after a week of Bhigwan/Parinche, but again an unplanned visit to meet the King of monsoon, OD King Fisher. Friday evening got a call from Jogi. The question was What are you doing tomorrow morning? Let’s meet early morning to join Panvel for ODFK. Within the city, plus learning about using a new camera with Jogi, it became an excellent opportunity.

The only regret of the wrong choice was that we decided to stop over at Shree Datta Snacks, the quality was not at all enjoyable. 

Now, at the end, please look at the BT’s World section to see exciting pictures of the tour, do share your feedback with me on btwildart@gmail.com

Vote of Thanks

Nature Explorer Team – Many thanks, team NEI (Vrunda and Tushar), for managing the tour so smoothly. You people are rocking, keep it up.

Agni Pankh Flamingo point for a memorable time at Bhigwan, special thanks to the Nagre family for the lovely food.

Gaurav for Parinche, keep it up, do upgrade and promote the place more and more, so that more people can visit. 

BT’s World

Fox

Fox

Wolf

Owlet

Chinkara

Painted Sandgrouse

Red Avadavat

Courser

Short-toed Snake Eagle

Barred button Quail

Rain Quail

Scaly-breasted Munia

Vernal Hanging parrot

Baya Weaver

Oriental Dwarf Kingfisher (ODKF)

Hoopoe

Tadoba a family Trip

 

Kya Bhool toh nahi gaye hame 😊

My apologies to all of you for taking a little more time to post something, this time it took around a year. Nevertheless, I am back with a bang, the reason for saying back with a bang is the Debut of my family to the wilderness, especially the Alpha Gen Z.

Since it was a debut trip, I had a lot of thoughts to finalize the place, the number of safaris to be done, whether early morning safaris to be done or not, whether 6-year-old kidos will be able to manage or not and many more thoughts.

So let me narrate the whole story which includes the "Action and Reaction" of a family, the trip report, and lovely memories captured during the trip. 

THE ACTION AND REACTION

ACTION

The title is Action and Reaction because “Action” is I forced the action on the family (place, number of safaris, early wake up to rush to safari, etc.), and “Reaction” is how they reacted, whether they enjoyed or not. So let's see both aspects

Firstly on the Action part, introducing the family to the forest was long pending, I was always doubtful that at the age of 6, they would tolerate a tight schedule of safaris or not. I wanted Moneeth (son) and Pranavi (niece) to get exposure to the forest so I checked with them about going to the forest instead of going to random places, surprisingly both kids got so excited and pushed me to plan the trip as soon as possible.  

It was clear that all were ready for the forest visit but the question was what place to finalize, which place to decide from the perspective of sighting, comfort, stay, food, etc, and especially sighting because both kids were crazy and excited to see the tiger. My mantra is when in doubt call Saurabh/Jogi from Nature Explorer, I had a couple of options in mind with Tadoba being the first, Jogi seconds the same, and then Tadoba I finalized.  

REACTION

The reaction was unexpected and way beyond my expectations, the reaction from elders I was aware but about kids, I was worried especially about the morning safari. For a morning safari, you need to wake up around 5.15 am and that is too with a back-to-back schedule, I thought after two safaris kids would give up and would not come for other visits, but the kids proved me wrong.

Let me tell you I am still not able to digest that both kids were super energetic throughout the 4 safaris and at no point they hinted discomfort. A couple of times I asked kiddos if they were tired and wanted to skip the morning safari, and the answer I used to get was “We will go alone if you don't want to come” 😕. This is the reaction I got, Pranavi was equally energetic, and her pet name is now “Tiggy the Tiger” 

Now both kids are asking me when we are going again. Let me give credit to elders also, other debutants were also very happy with the trip and ready for the next one.

So let us understand the reason for such a reaction, what happened that all are so happy with the trip, and who all played the role in making this trip a great success. 

Family meets family

Now let me update you on all the drama that happened during safaris, our journey started with Nimdhela zone. Last year this zone was completely dry for me so I entered the zone with very little expectation and hence was checking about probabilities in this particular zone. The guide and driver said don’t worry we will surely get something. After searching for one hour we got the information about tiger movement, we reached the spot and got a big surprise, it was none other than the King of Tadoba “Chota Matka”. The king because this Big cat is ruling the Tadoba as a king, currently holding the largest area of around 100 km and not allowing any other male tigers to enter the territory. Chota Matka is defending the territory very aggressively, in the last year it terminated 2 tigers, and the message is clear that Matka is the King. 

We saw this handsome hulk very closely, at one point I was unable to click this tiger as a full frame, it was too close for my camera to capture fully. After Chota Matka, we also got lucky with the sighting of Bala the sub-adult cub of Chota  Matka.

Now it was the 1st-morning safari for debutants, I thought kids would sleep during the safari but they proved me wrong. Now Shirkheda rocked with Kankazhari Male tiger, one the oldest and huge one, this was a lucky find because this tiger was not visible for a long time. After this Chotti Rani gave a glimpse while we were coming out from the forest.

Now third safari in the Alizanzha zone, after four tigers what all you expect, but Alizanzha zone said why I will stay behind, it surprised us with Kalva again a family member of Matak, another sub-adult of Chota Matka.  When I said we saw Matka very close, the definition of close changed when we got Kalva, it was even more closure than Matka. These tigers are very much used to vehicles and don’t bother about visitors and vehicle noise, they walk like a king and move ahead. Kalva compared to Bala looked more healthy and heavyweight and looked like he would be the next Chotta Matka. The reason I said family meets family is because my family meets Matka's family.

The last was Bellara, it was dry with no sighting but the zone is beautiful and really good to visit. When I visited last year to this zone Veera’s cubs were rocking but this time we could not find anything.

The overall trip went very well; we all enjoyed it like anything and now waiting for the next jungle trip. It was a dream come true type of trip. The big role played by Nature Explorer (NEI) in making this trip a great success. The team NEI planned this so well that everything went very smoothly. Let me also acknowledge that Chimur Tiger Resort also added a flavor of enjoyment to our trip, the food and stay were very comfortable

Now at the end please look at the DSLR section to see exciting pictures of the tour, do share your feedback with me at btwildart@gmail.com

Vote of Thanks

Nature Explorer Team – Many thanks team NEI for managing the tour so smoothly, you people are rocking, keep it up.

Drivers and guides – Many thanks for such a memorable time

Chimur Tiger Resort and Staff -  Many thanks for the lovely food and stay arrangements. 

BT Wild Art

Dils se DSLR  

Passage Migration GRK Trip report

 
Lovely readers, hope you all are rocking and ready for festival season, get set to go for a Diwali vacation to explore our own nature.

So, you will be thinking what’s there in the bucket today, is it Tiger/Lion what else. Let me tell you this time no animals for sure but a different place with a unique offering.

You must have noticed the title of the blog, it is about migratory birds and that is too from the land of Bhuj. The first time I got an opportunity to visit Gujarat side to evaluate different types of species. Let me take you to Bhuj directly to know more details. 

BHUJ THE EPICENTER

Long awaited trip to Gujarat, I always wanted to visit Run of Kutch but somehow the timing needed to match. This time Prathamesh (from Nature Explorer) updated me with this wonderful opportunity somewhere in May month, without taking more time I immediately confirmed my booking in advance for the September end trip.

The main reason to visit here in this season is to see passage migration, which means some birds while migrating from Africa or European countries take a halt at Bhuj for a couple of months and they continue their journey ahead. So this is the short time we get an opportunity to capture them plus some of these birds are found only at Bhuj so all the more reason to visit this place. 

Now you would be thinking what is Epicenter. So the place where we stayed (Bharat Bhai Kapdi’s owned Home Stay) is known as Epicenter, the name is Epicenter because Bhuj was the Epicenter of one of the most deadly earth quacks a couple of decades ago. In other words, you can also say this place is the Epicenter of passage migration.

Now you are aware of what is special about the place, let us move to the next step to see the virtual world through the lens of this blog.

 

Birds, food, and dhokha

Birds

This tour is the 3D tour, I mean 3 dimensions to it, or you can say 3 parts to it, I am sure with the title you got some hint. Let’s talk about each dimension one by one.

Firstly, let’s start with Birds, as I explained this place becomes special due to the arrival of special birds. We the gang of 13 including Abir (7-year-old Kido) who is equivalent to all of us started the journey together from Dadar, with discussion on what would be the target, what we would get, etc.

Though this was the first time experienced going to the field directly from the time of arrival, upon arrival first went to the hotel/homestay and the Safari starts at around 3pm, but here due to harping on an opportunity for morning time, we did not want to let go the chance. We reached out immediately and started evaluating the field. You will not believe within 15/20 minutes the first target was achieved, we got Rufous-tailed scrub Robin and many other species in the next couple of hours. 

We managed to get these things thanks to the efforts of Bharat Bhai, all the groundwork he had kept ready, daily monitoring, and tracking helped us to find birds easily. 

The activity to find other targets continued in two slots, morning and evening without any feeling of tiredness. The time came to search for the most awaited bird "Eurasian nightjar". We were trying to find this lovely rare species but had no luck; even we tried at night and spent 45 minutes but remained without luck. 

Now we had the last chance with a lot of hope, Hope means “Ummid” Baba BT ne bola hai “Ummid pe Duniya Kayam hai warna Kayam Churan hai” so what do you think what we had?. Finally, with an expert on roll, we managed to find the key species of this land “Eurasian nightjar” It was like hitting 6 on the last ball so Kayam Churan's plan got canceled 😜

During the last visit the plan was to visit sun temple to get mouse tailed Bat (Munni Badnam hui COVID tere liye) Bechara BAT badnam hai COVID ke liye after the Bat, we got some glimpse of Weaver bird and come back to homestay to bag pack return to the origin 

Food

We just cannot ignore the food part of this trip, to find a bird you need a lot of energy which comes from food, if you get the best then your tempo goes high. 

The food trail started on day 1 morning when we had breakfast in the vehicle (the style we followed throughout the trip), A variety like Upma, Handvo, Poha, Thepla with Thecha and fruits were amazing, we just loved it.

After breakfast, the Kuchhi lunch and dinner had their own charm, Bajri Rotla with Onion Papdi sabzi, buttermilk (Kucchi Beer) Khichdi Kadhi, and many more were just outstanding, and the last Bharat Bhai ended the food trail at Bhuj with Kutchi Dabeli, what more you can ask for

The trail continued on the train as well, if you have BT Food Art with you how can you miss Surti specialties, we had Mejbani of Surti Locha, Sev Khamni, Samosa, Gathiya, and Kadhi and added with Start fruits, this is how birding trip changed to food trip

Now you would be thinking yeh Dhokha hai ya Dhokla confusion hai na?

Dhoka

Certainly, it is Dhoka, my camera body gave me Dhokha, though it was my fault for mishandling it but on day 1 it stopped working so I had to borrow point in shoot camera from Bharat Bhai so somehow could manage to get snaps. So now the question is where is the Dhoka, it is Dhoka because it started working on the last day of the trip without doing anything to it. Dhoke Baaz's last day ko at the end of the trip started working fine but lost the moments, hope it will not give Dhokha again.

Special mention

This blog need to have this special mention, let me tell both these species need special mention their name is Abir Sharma and Bharat Kapdi

Abir is special because, at the age of 7, his command over identifying birds that is too during bird flight is just god's gift and his efforts of reading and getting into the depth of it. Without a Camera and with Binocular the champion rocked. At this age normally Kidos take time to adapt to hot weather and the comfort of their food habits but little Champ never gave any discomfort to his father and enjoyed the trip most. Load of wishes and blessings to the little champ.

Bharat Bhai owner of Epicenter Homestay, a person who is a businessman who got into wildlife and took himself to such a level with in-depth knowledge of the field and detailing of species is commendable. His personal attention during the trip in sighting plus giving comfort to travelers at all stages is much appreciated and deserves special mention.   

So at the end please visit the DSLR section to see exciting pictures of the tour, do share your feedback with me at btwildart@gmail.com

Vote of Thanks

Nature Explorer (erstwhile Mumbai Travellers) and Team – Many thanks Prathamesh team lead the tour, your knowledge of the field is truly amazing, keep it up

Co-Travelers - Many thanks for such a great time

BT Wild Art

Dils se DSLR  

Ashy Crowned Sparowlark

Eurasian Nightjar

Europian roller

Europian roller

Hoopoe

Blue-cheeked bee-eater

Green Bee Eater

Bay backed shrike

 Long legged Buzzard

 Mouse Tail Bat

Red Backed Shrike

 Rufous-tailed scrub robin

Variable Wheatear

 white-tailed Iora

 Baya Weaver

Europian roller

Europian roller

Isabelline shrike

 Isabelline wheatear

Laughing Dove

Red Backed Shrike

Mouse Tail Bat

 Pratincole

Streaked Weaver