Mesmerizing World Jim Corbett

Hello everyone, I hope this vacation you are planning for a trip to nature trail if not, you should plan a small trip to explore the beauty of Mother Nature, to help you to select the place today’s trip report certainly will motivate you to finalize the nature trip. 

Today’s topic is a trip report of my recent visit to one of the best place rather I would say heaven on Earth. The place is close to my heart because of the kind of beauty and peace of mind it offers. In my word Jim Corbett is nothing less than heaven, one gets mesmerized easily and falls in love with it hence it is my favorite place, I wish I could spend my retirement life there. I know you are eager to know the report, so let me tell you that report will be shared in two parts, in today’s part I will take you to the journey of mesmerizing land and beautiful birds of Corbett (details of part 2 are a surprise, so keep waiting 😊)

The Dream place

To begin with, let me tell you about natural beauty and the sequence of events we explored in this mesmerizing land. After our Delhi visit (last blog) we moved ahead to Corbett, we 11 wild lifers stated the journey in the early morning to enter Dhikala. The gears were ready to accept whatever we get in our way. Apart from the tiger, the target also included lovely landscapes, sunset, and the forest canopy, beautiful birds in its habitat and wild animals. 

In my words, Corbett is a land of a dream because of the kind of landscapes, flora-fauna, forest canopies, grassland, the passing of Ram Ganga River, pebble stones each small piece of forest is like mesmerizing you with its quality. Magical colors of leaves, dense moist deciduous forest mainly consists of sal, haldu, peepal, Rohini and mango trees are the jewels of this forest. See the richness of this place it covers almost 73% of the park, 10% of the area consists of grasslands. It houses around 110 tree species, 50 species of mammals, 580 bird species and 25 reptile species.

In addition to the above when jewels crystallize with sunrise or sunset, the scene becomes just outstanding which will hypnotize you and attracts you to nature. For photographers, these are the best opportunity to create the world’s best frames. On Corbett, I can keep talking like this for hours and hours so let me stop here and move to the next section for beautiful birds else it will be an injustice to such lovely birds. During the journey we were lucky to sight around 80 birds to cut short the list will introduce some rare and special movements so as you can enjoy the uniqueness.

Red-breasted Parakeet

Slowly but steadily we started getting the gift of nature, Dhikala welcome us with monkey’s call at the entrance itself, this generated the excitement and gave the hint that forest will keep us busy. Immediately after calling, we saw the activity of Red-breasted Parakeet they were playing and picking small fruits and drinking water, though this was a very small activity it was full of fun to observe them.

Long-tailed broadbill – Helmet bird

A Himalayan bird, this bird visit Jim Corbett during the summer season to enjoys the balanced whether in Corbett, this is litter bird but colorful and so cute as well, it is also known as helmet bird as a black color pattern on the head gives an impression of a bird wearing helmet all the time. 

Collared Falconet

This was amongst the very special sighting as it is not common to sight this bird so easily, it is found in the Himalayan region, and this is special as well because it is the smallest bird of prey. Normally you can see birds are large such as Eagles, Buzzards, Osprey, Owls, Vultures and many more. Compared to these large or say huge birds the size is amongst the smallest. Apart from the size the color of Falconet is also attractive, we saw a couple of them enjoying a feast on its prey.

Specialty continues 

Every day we were getting one or the other spatiality on our way, during these three days Dhikala offered us framing opportunity with four types of Kingfishers (crested, White-throated pied and common), 4 types of eagles including Pallas fish eagle, changeable hawk eagle, Serpent Eagle, and lesser fish eagle. Further, we were lucky to see a wedge-tailed green pigeon, Scarlet Minivet, Plum-headed parakeets, woodpeckers (Slaty, lesser flam back, Grey-headed). The list includes Hoopoe, dancing peafowl, Long tail shrike, Himalayan Bulbul, Sunbird and many many more. Combination of scenic beautiful birds was unmatched plus staying right inside the forest was an outstanding experience, do let me know in case you need any help in planning the visit to Corbett, you can reach me at btwildart@gmail.com

Do experience the forest at your doorstep with a trip report and some lovely pictures. 

Vote of Thanks: The blog cannot end without a vote of thanks, the contribution of each one is crucial, without which the journey is incomplete

Experts: Saurabh and Team Mumbai Travlers

As always, Lovely Co-Travelers

Safari expert - Gypsy Drivers Ansar and Mashroor 

Stay and Food – Dhikala Forest management 

A Message of the Day - 

No life without Wildlife – Preserve it – Respect it – Enjoy it

Wildlife is Mother Nature’s greatest treasure; to protect it we must take every measure

Author:

BT Wild Art
Life is Safari. Enjoy it.

Dhinchak Dhikala with Deadly DSLR

Lovely time at Sunset

The Canopies

The Colorful tree

Morning Time

Shining at evening

The Roadies

Red breasted Parakeet

Red breasted Parakeet

Shikra

Collared falconet

Wedge-tailed green pigeon

Himalayan Bulbul

Long tail broadbill

Long tail broadbill - Helmet head on

Flameback woodpecker

Pallas Fish Eagle

Lesser Fish Eagle

Long Tailed Shrike

Scarlet Minivet

Purple Sunbird

Hoopoe

Changeable Hawk Eagle

Down the Delhi Lane

Dear followers hope you enjoyed back-to-back bank holidays as I did. You know whenever there is no post on Sunday that means something unique is on the way. Keeping in mind the expectations this time I decided to evaluate something interesting and different in addition to wildlife (wait for Big Surprise on wildlife)  so let me tell you how it happened first and then will update you on fantastic time we all had for a day.

After some discussion amongst 3 babblers (Poorva, Yogesh and Me), the masterstroke came from Poorva, she searched for a wonderful place to evaluate in Delhi and that is to just for a day, this was a surprise for us as well.  She updated us that we can visit two most important places which people are not aware but it is The Best place to give respect to our Jawans and to gain knowledge about our history. The place is none other than Rashtrapati Bhavan for change of Guard ceremony and Rashtrapati Bhavan Museum for historical knowledge. This sounds interesting to us and immediately we finalized the itinerary, I know you are curious to know what we did and what all-unique things are there for you, so let me now start with details of the Delhi lane.

The Change of Guard Ceremony – A unique military tradition

What a ceremony it was, I was ashamed of myself that I was not aware of such a unique tradition of our own military. The tradition is in place since the British era and is still in place for the President of India. Let me provide you little bit details of it so as you can understand and take your kids to see the wonderful tradition of our military.

The President's Bodyguard (PBG), raised in 1773, is the senior most Regiment of the Indian Army. It is a Regiment carrying out ceremonial duties for the President of India. The PBG personnel are excellent horsemen, capable tankmen and paratroopers.

At Rashtrapati Bhavan the Ceremonial Army Guard battalion is responsible for providing ceremonial guards and sentries for the President of India. The thirty-minute ceremony commences with the PBG troops, astride their caparisoned, powerful, and well-groomed steeds advancing from behind the Jaipur Column to the tunes played by the Army Brass Band.

Thereafter the Parade Commander marches in, on whose ‘word of command’ the guard of 8th Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry (Siachen), marches in. After inspection, the new guard takes position along with the old guard and both the guards exchange the national salute. Thereafter the new guard takes over the duties of guards and sentries. The ceremony ends with an equestrian display by the PBG and playing of the National Anthem.

Change of Guard Ceremony is held on every Saturday and Sunday at Rashtrapati Bhavan. A request to witness the Change of Guard Ceremony can be made online through a link on the website https://presidentofindia.gov.in/rbvisit/rbvisit_cog.aspx

A time with Legends – An excellent museum 

After the ceremony, it was time for another surprise that is part of Rashtrapati Bhavan. The museum inaugurated in the year 2016 by our PM and President, the detailing of the museum is just out of the world, we should appreciate the brain behind this museum because each small thing kept here is unique. It is consist of a combination of history as well as a glimpse of our Presidents. It starts with a statue of legends like Mahatma Gandhi, Shri Sardar Patel, Shri Ambedkar and many more along with different historical events displayed in an artistic manner, check out pictures to get more clarity. 

After historical events, it provides detailing of Presidents such as how many presidents we have seen till date, their personal belonging, unique pictures, their habits, and a recorded message from each one of them for us. It does not stop here, it adds a flavor of display of crockery used at Rashtrapati Bhavan, how the kitchen looks like, gifts received till date from all over the world, car used in past for President and many such meaningful and thoughtful stuff are kept open for display. We can actually feel we are in the President’s house and feel proud about it. 

The best part is yet to come, we also saw details of awards such as Bharat Ratna, Padmashree, Paramveer Chakra, etc, this was an amazing feeling, which is difficult to describe in words. The only request I am making here is that while you plan Delhi please take out a day especially with your kids and take them to these historical pride of our country, they will be able to relate to their studies and they will be able to value the kind of tradition our Country follows.

We could manage to get some lovely pics through mobiles as DSLR was not permitted inside. 

A Message of the Day - Jai Hind - Jai Jawan

I can only say that both the places are the pride of our Nation and we should visit at least once to understand our own culture and tradition. 

Vote of Thanks: Poorva deserves big thanks from Me and Yogesh for arranging this beautiful event. Thanks to Yogesh as well for nice company 

Author:

BT Wild Art
Life is Safari. Enjoy it.

A Journey of Pride

Rashtrapati Bhavan

The Ceremony on the way

The Marche

The PBG personnel are excellent horsemen

The Museum 

Satyamev Jayate

The Mahatma on the walk

Jalian Wala bag 

Dandi Yatra 

The Constitution

A camera of Shri R. Venkataraman

Queen Mary and King George V

the buggy for the President

The Car for the president

Angry Bird – Jungle Babbler

Dear followers hope you are doing great, vacation is round a corner for your kids and I am sure they must be demanding for a trip somewhere outside the city, give them a surprise by planning a trip to the forest. I have two reasons for suggesting a trip to the forest. The most important reason is we need to make aware our young generation about the importance of conservation of forest this will help us to save our forest for the bright future of our kids. The second reason is they are fond of animal and birds they can connect the experience with learning and yes they can enjoy the most, In case you need any help in planning the forest trip, you can reach me on btwildart@gmail.com

Forest and kids both are close to my hearts so I could not stop myself from recommending forest trip for kids. Now let us talk about today’s topic, today I am going to talk about a very common bird which is ignored by travelers most of the time but the bird is capable of giving superb frames if you notice them and devote little time, they surely deserve little attention at least. The bird is Jungle babbler, a commonly found in forest as well as city, let us learn more in the next section.  

The Angry Bird

We all know about angry bird cartoons and mobile game, try to relate the same with this bird, the looks are very similar to this bird, It looks that the cartoonist got the inspiration from Jungle babbler for few bird characters. 

Initially, when I started the wildlife photography, I was also ignorant of this sweet little bird, never used to take pictures one of the reasons is that keeps jumping from one place to other and it becomes difficult to capture. The friendship started from Bharatpur bird sanctuary where due to fog we had to wait for sunlight during the waiting time we saw some action from jungle babbler, they were playing in the group which was a treat to watch. The expression, the movement, communication with each other, the noise they were making, etc was absolutely funny and entertaining. This is where I realize that looks of jungle babblers are matching with an angry bird, you will also agree when you will see the pictures in My Canon World section, now let me tell you some facts about little one in the next section.

Seven Sisters

The scientific name of Jungle Babbler is Turdoides Striata. They are gregarious birds that forage in small groups of six to ten birds, a habit that has given them the popular name of Seven Sisters or Saat Bhai (Seven Brothers)

The jungle babbler's habitat is forest and cultivation. This species, like most babblers, is non-migratory and has short rounded wings and a weak flight

It is a noisy bird, and the presence of a flock may generally be known at some distance by the harsh mewing calls, continual chattering, squeaking, and chirping produced by its members

These birds are gregarious and very social, they feed mainly on insects, but also eats grains, nectar, and berries

Jungle Babbler sometimes forms the core of a mixed-species foraging flock, when foraging, some birds take up a high vantage point and act as sentinels. They are known to gather and mob potential predators such as snakes

Birds within a group often indulge in allopreening, play chases, and mock fights. When threatened by predators, they have been said to sometimes feign death (colloquially known as playing dead)

We can learn a few lessons of socialization from Jungle Babbler because they always stay in a group and never leave their group

Jungle Babbler always takes care of their kids very well. Mostly, Juvenile Jungle Babbler remains close to their parent

I have found a great ability in Jungle Babbler birds to communicate with you and you can do the same if you show some patience. I hope that with these pictures of Jungle Babbler and information, you can easily recognize this bird

A Message of the Day 

Save Life. Save Wildlife - The ones who have no voice need you to speak up

Author:

BT Wild Art

Life is Safari. Enjoy it.

My Canon World