Killer collared falconet

Hello readers, I hope you are enjoying beautiful weather, especially in Mumbai. Let me tell you that this is the best season to enjoy birding all over India. Birds from all various places migrate to India in this season hence try to grab this opportunity to experience the best time of the year. You can visit Bharatpur, Velavdar, Little run of kutch, Dandeli etc and if you wish to visit within Mumbai city then visit Bhandup Pumping Station, Seawoods, Karnala, SGNP.

Since this is a birding season let me talk about the bird, which you may have not heard of a killer bird with unique habits that will surely instigate you to explore birding places in this season. Let us move to the next section to see the qualities of this unique bird. 

Smallest bird of prey

The first time we were lucky to sight this bird at Jim Corbett where we saw a couple of them sitting on a tree branch with a kill, let us see some of its unique habits of killing prey

The specialty of the bird is killer behavior with its size, normally we can see raptors as large or huge in size like eagles, vultures, Owls, Osprey, Falcon, etc., but here Falconet is smallest amongst the raptors but equally well versed to attack the prey

The Collared Falconet hunts from perch, searching actively from prey by turning the head rapidly. It performs several foraging sallies, and the prey is usually caught up to 50 meters from the perch. However, insects are often caught in the air

It forages by short flights from perches, often dead branches, and returns to the perch to eat the prey. It hunts like a flycatcher or a small shrike rather than a falcon

The Collared Falconet may sometimes hunt in small groups of 1-7 individuals, but usually close to the nighttime roosts. It is often more active at dusk when it can catch moths

The preys include large insects such as butterflies, dragonflies, grasshoppers, beetles, and cicadas, but it also takes small birds, lizards, and small mammals

After knowing its attacking behavior let us see many more facts of this lovely colorful raptor in the next section

Colorful facts

The collared falconet (Microhierax caerulescens) is a species of bird of prey in the Falconidae family. It is 18 cm long. Rapid wing beats are interspersed with long glides. When perched, "rather shrike-like"

The collared falconet is a very small falcon, shrike-like in shape, mainly pied and having bold white super cilia and collar, with a relatively heavy double-toothed bill. On the head, crown, nape, and ear-covert patch are black. Forehead, eyebrow, and malar stripe are white

The “toothed” bill is blackish with pale grey cere. The eyes are dark brown, surrounded by pale grey eyering. Legs and feet are dark greys to blackish

The female is slightly larger than the male. She has more white on the wings and less prominent nuchal collar

It has short wings, a medium-length tail, strong half-feathered legs, and powerful feet

It perches conspicuously on top or edge of tree or bush, often on a dead twig, frequently bobbing head and slowly moving tail up and down; wing-tips less than halfway down the tail

It roosts and nests in cavities, usually abandoned by other bird species, Falconet is often seen alone or in pairs and in small groups

The Collared Falconet uses a hole made by a woodpecker or a barbet, usually placed between 7 and 12 meters above the ground. It may occasionally use hollows in buildings or natural holes in trees. The hole is half-filled with a layer of dried leaves and insect parts

Do let me know if you need any help to visit any of these places, get in touch with me on btwildart@gmail.com

Learning of the day

State Bird of Bihar

House sparrow- The house sparrow (Passer domesticus) is a bird of the sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the world

BT Wild Art

DSLR Section 

Lovely lesser Florican

To start with, let me wish everyone a very happy new year, hope 20-20 would bring a lot of smile and prosperity in your life. I am sure everyone must have taken a new resolution for the year 20-20, one of them should be saving/improving the quality of the environment near our area. Please take an effort to save our mother nature by not using plastic, ensuring cleanliness near our area and not throwing garbage or any such material in wetland/ocean.

Today to welcome 20-20 I am coming with something very special, the beginning should be grand to start with year’s first blog hence I have picked up the species which is on verge of extinction and need urgent attention for conservation. The bird is a lovely bird with unique habits but sadly it is hardly left in numbers. I know you are eager to know about this lovely bird, so let us move to the next section and meet this lovely creature. 

Jumping jack florican

Florican is known for the leaping breeding displays made by the males during the Monsoon season. In fact, the Lesser Florican is best known for its aerial courtship display, where the male makes a series of spectacular jumps to a height of 1.5m to 2m, around 500 times a day. 

During the breeding season, males leap suddenly from the grass with a peculiar croaking or knocking call, flutter their wings and fall back with slightly open wings. At the apogee of the leap, the neck is arched backward and the legs folded as if in a sitting posture. These jumps are repeated after intervals of about three or more minutes. The displays are made mainly in the early mornings and late evenings. 

The main attraction is to see jumping display, it continues to jump for a long period to attract female, it is like jumping jack, just visit DSLR section to see the dancing step of this bird so as you will realize why this bird is so attractive.

Now you know the reason for the main attraction so let's move to the next section to know many more facts of florican in detail.

Colorful Facts 

The lesser florican (Sypheotides indicus) also known as the Likh or Kharmore, is the smallest in the bustard family and the only member of the genus Sypheotides

The male has a contrasting black and white breeding plumage and distinctive elongated head feathers that extend behind the neck

The species is highly endangered and has been extirpated in some parts of its range such as Pakistan; it is threatened by both hunting and habitat degradation. The only similar species is the Bengal florican which is larger and lacks the white throat, collar and elongated plumes

The female is slightly larger than the male. The females and males in non-breeding plumage are buffs with black streaks with darker markings on the head and neck

The back is mottled and barred in black. The neck and upper breast are buffs with the streaks decreasing towards the belly. The outer primaries of the males are thin and notched on the inner-web

It breeds mainly in the central and western parts of India. The preferred habitat is grasslands but it sometimes occurs in fields such as those of cotton and lentils. Breeding areas are today restricted mainly to Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, some areas in southern Nepal and parts of Andhra Pradesh

Lesser floricans feed on a wide variety of small vertebrates and invertebrates that include worms, centipedes, lizards, frogs, and insects such as locusts, flying ants and hairy caterpillars. They are also known to feed on shoots and seeds, herbs and berries

Females have a defensive display at the nest, which involves spreading their wings, tail and neck feathers. The females are said to produce a whistling call that attracts males. Males are aggressive towards other males in the neighborhood

Do visit the DSLR section to experience the jumping dance of this lovely species. Ending the blog with a hope that concern authorities will take appropriate action to conserve this one of the most unique birds we have in our kitty. 

Learning of the day

State Bird of Andhra Pradesh

Rose-ringed parakeet

The rose-ringed parakeet (Psittacula krameri), also known as the ring-necked parakeet, is a medium-sized parrot in the genus Psittacula, of the family Psittacidae.

BT Wild Art

DSLR Section 

GIR Trip Report part 2

Thanks you so much lovely readers for the overwhelming response to part 1, now I am more charged up for part 2. We have gone through the beginning that means we started with birding and ended up with some great sighting of big cats with some extraordinary stories so it’s time to get into the climax part, the theory of  how/why/what (beautifully explained by Saurabh and religiously understood by Sagar 😂)

Part two – the beginning of the end

It was day 2 where we had 2 safaris together, many of us were beginners and we were driving on their luck. The search started for the king immediately because considering the nature of lions it will be difficult to find them once it starts warming up and the sun shines heavily. Even if you sight them at that time, you may find them sleepy and not very active. Therefore, we decided that we will first target the king sighting and once we get success we will get into evaluating the rest of the forest.

This time beginner’s luck was so strong that within 30 minutes we land up at the place where two sub-adult male lions were feasting on big buffalo. It was like God is just listing to us and fulfilling our wish in real-time. Two together feasting on big buffalo is just like dream come true sighting, both these lions were on the job, they gave us every single pose for capture. They were crossing road, sitting in the middle of the road, harping on the kill in between, again royal walk towards river and coming back head-on any many more expressions in between, it was crazy for the team to see such activities in very quick time. No one was ready to believe their luck and asking each other is this true? You will understand our feeling when you will see the DSLR section.

We enjoyed the complete sighting for around 40 minutes and move ahead to see what more we can find, the luck continued as favorable because we got one more Lion within a distance of 3 km. He was in a sleepy mood and was giving us the messages that please don’t disturb and let me sleep. We were on 7^th heaven after sighting 3 lions on the same day. What more you can demand when you see 3 in a quick time with a variety of expressions. We ended the day with a lot of memories and excitement and a lot of hope for the rest of the trip. Ab age dekhte hai ki kya team or lions/leopards dekh payegi? Toh milte hai next safari me HUM LOG 😂😅😆

The lion fight story 

We saw 3 lions in first two safaris so excitement was on high to find a leopard, so we started evening safari but it was dry with hardly few sighting of birds but no big cats, so now all hopes transferred to the last visit. It is normal human behavior that even you get everything in previous visits but still hunger will not satisfy if you don’t see anything in the last visit, this is how pressure got built on the last visit. with high hope, the last safari begins and see what all drama happened.

The moment we stared with the last safari we got the news that one lion got injured in a territorial fight, this was the same lion which we had seen during the first safari. The fight happened between 3 of them which we had sighted yesterday, they had clashed for territory as well for buffalo kill ownership. The story was very dramatic and we could relate to it because we had seen all of them yesterday. We wanted to visit the same place but it was closed for the day for security reasons and to see how many injuries suffered by lions and if they need medical support. The story gave the kick and discussions started because of curiosity, with these things in mind we moved ahead to find something either lion or leopard to finish the journey on a very high note. Let us see what happened next.

The real climax is Bhaji pala story

Now after hearing the fight-story and closure of zone, even with low scope Hitesh Bhai and Saurabh were sure that they will focus and find out something. Both of them were together to plan the last safari and decided that our 3 vehicles will stay together. Therefore, with this instruction we started evaluating the forest for the last time, the journey started and started with the key role of Bhaji Pala. 

Now the Bhaji Pala starts, our captain decided to move slowly to ensure we get some hint for the sighting because just blindly running will not help. Here the co-ordination of guides was crucial, Hitesh Bhi was very clear with his thoughts but our guide, Bhaji Pala had different views, rather you can say no views. Bhaji Pala wanted to run fast blindly with some stupid thoughts such as “you can win only if you reach first so you need to be fast” Bhaji Pala wanted us to move fast and wanted us to move away from captain’s vehicle to prove his point. 

He was testing our calmness but Sagar challenged his stupidity with his Siddhu type laughter 😂😂. Finally, I lost my temper and decided to give this joker freedom to break convoy and move fast wherever he thinks fit to move. However, the moment I gave him go ahead he got fear that what if he fails, he was not confident in his own stupidity then how Sagar can control his laughter😎 During all this drama Sagar with his one-liners was keeping the situation on a lighter side.  This continued for an hour and we were reaching the closing time, now shoulders started coming down with the end of hope as we were reaching the gate.

Now Bhaji Pala sir also realized that he has done Bhaji Pala because he was thinking that other groups must have seen a lion but we are blank. His stupid arguments still continued because of which I gave up and was angry with my own decision that why I took such a call, I shut down the camera and gave up for the first time before even coming out. 

Now the real climax came when Ankur started shouting “Leopard” even Bhaji Pala did not see as he was busy calling Hitesh Bhai to check if he had a sighting or not. We all suddenly got charged up, Ashwin was quick with camera and managed a few clicks and Mahesh as well to record it. It was lucky and nothing else no effort from anyone and leopard gave us a glimpse, now I was relaxed and happy that finally, my group turned out to be super lucky to sight a leopard and three Jackals as well to complete the journey. Picture Abhi Baki hai mere dost, let's finish what happened with the other 2 groups. 

And it’s four

Now you all must be thinking what happened with the other two groups, did the captain managed to win? Our Captain Saurabh is like Dhoni he will start slowly if it is need of the hour and will hit a four at the end. Yes, the captain turned the game and managed to see the fourth lion of the trip for the other two groups. Meanwhile, we managed a leopard they saw a lion, all three groups had the last laugh and ended the tips on an extremely high note. We all celebrated the trip with a lot of shopping at Rajkot and finally reached home with memories of our life. 

This is how we had a dramatic end of the trip, that is why the trip report is split into two parts so as you can enjoy each moment and feel to be part of the journey yourself. 

Thanks Ashwin for Leopard pic

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

GIR Forest department - Well organized forest, the journey was smooth, thanks for taking care of our wildlife

The Team –

Amish, Sarang, Sanjay, Ashwini, Preeti, Ratan, Mahesh, KC Subbu, Abhishek, Reshma, Hitesh, Milan, Ashwin, Ankur, Sagar (Wild card entry – star of the trip), Saurabh (wildlife expert) Vishnu (favorite of all) and Bhavesh (BT Wild Art)

Expert

Saurabh and Team Mumbai Traveler – everyone is very happy with the knowledge you shared and helped with such flawless arrangements. Cheers!

Expert Guide

Hitesh Bhai – Your knowledge and efforts are commendable, your love and passion for wildlife is just unmatched, thank you so much 

Stay and Food – GIR Jungle Lodge

Special thanks to Shree Thaker Bhojnalya for delicious Undhiyu and Thali 

A Message of the Day –

No life without Wildlife – Preserve it – Respect it – Enjoy itWildlife is Mother Nature’s greatest treasure; to protect it we must take every measure 

BT Wild Art

DSLR Section 

GIR Trip Report part 1

Lovely readers, I hope you are doing great and ready for an upcoming vacation, may Santa gives surprise full of joy to everyone. Santa's surprise will take time but I got surprised well in advance, you must be thinking how/why/what 😂. The answer is the most successful trip of 2019 with a lot of surprise sightings. 

If you remember I had promised that I will give surprise very soon, the indication was to the GIR national park trip. The trip rewarded us with a lot of surprises and turnout as the most successful trip of 2019. Hope 2020 will be more rewarding. So now let us get into the details of the trip in the next section.

Before we start let me tell you that trip report is split into two parts, the beginning of the trip and the end of the trip, both has its own excitement and uniqueness which cannot be completed in one blog hence I am starting with part 1 - the beginning.

Part 1 – the beginning

Before we get into the trip report it is important for you to know is how the trip was planned, it will certainly help you to benchmark the same for your trip planning. After the success of the Pench trip in 2018, we all wanted to repeat the experience once again with other national parks. This is how we started thinking of a place, after various discussions within the team we finalized GIR to meet Lion king This was the first step, decide the place, the next step was to ensure various bookings/permissions for an overall trip; here we handed over the matter to an expert (Saurabh and his team – Mumbai Travelers). Booking was done well in advance; it was closed around four months in advance. The third step was to be on time to travel and enjoy the trip to the fullest. Now let us move to the next section to see what happen when we reached the third step of the plan.

The execution – journey begins

I explained the 3-step theory for planning but when it comes to execution, you just need to forget everything and enjoy every moment thereon. Normally the journey starts with everyone gathering in train but I always tweak it with the addition of madness of food. Since the trip was planned to Gujarat and being Gujarati I wanted to start the journey with "Undhiyu" with this madness in mind some of us reached a special place “Shree Thaker Bhojnalay” for attacking Undhiyu to kick start the trip in true sense.

After having such a fantastic dinner we reached the station to catch the train, we spread the virus of food madness to people who could not manage to join us. So now demand came to target Rajkot station for having typical Gujju food so as they can also enjoy the flavor of Gujarat. The madness of 18 was on high, the food, the laughter, jokes, leg-pulling, etc were an indicator of the successful trip ahead.

With full Dhamal time, we reached Junagadh and then to GIR after having typical Thali and Paan. In normal cases, people prefer to take rest after a long journey of around 16 hours but we are not normal so we had planned a small birding trail to get the feel of wilderness on day 1 itself. The arrangements were in place we just need to get ready in quick time to reach before sunset so as we can get some lights to capture images. The enthusiasm of each one was on high so all were ready to reach the place quickly without keeping in mind the tiredness of train travel. I know you keen to know the experience so let us move to the next section to understand the kind of rewards we had during this trip. 

The beautiful birding heaven

As I said, we opted to start with bird trail on day 1 itself without bothering of rest because the mission was to evaluate wilderness and not the leisure trip. Hitesh Bhai our guide took us to a nearby wetland where we can enjoy and feel it as if we are in heaven. The moment we reached the Mother Nature started showering us with rewards/surprises with some great birds sighting. The list includes – Pied Kingfisher, common kingfisher, green bee-eater, Yellow Bittern (super lucky to get), Swamphen, Jungle babbler, Plum-headed Parakeet, Stonechat and above all the Water King Crocodile (5 in total)

The mood was set with the super sighting of these birds and tempo continued to see more and more birds during the safari as well. With this tempo, we could sight raptors as well. 

The lists of birds sighted during the safari are – 

Spotted owlet (my favorite), Indian scoops owl, a killer look of crested hawk-eagle, Shikra (Saurabh managed kill shots for his gypsy), Ring plover, common iora, Black Redstart female, Grey Wagtail, Grey francolin, rose-ringed parakeet, Tree-pie, Indian paradise flycatcher, peacocks, peahen and many more. We were lucky to sight somewhere around 50-60 birds, leaving you with some pictures in the DSLR section so as you can feel part of our journey.

As I said this is just the beginning of the journey, part II will be shared shortly with the King and its kingdom, so keep following the space for stories that is even more rewarding with fantastic experience, a lot of laughter, exciting stories and 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.

The Team –

Amish, Sarang, Sanjay, Ashwini, Preeti, Ratan, Mahesh, KC Subbu, Abhishek, Reshma, Hitesh, Milan, Ashwin, Ankur, Sagar (Wild card entry – star of the trip), Saurabh (wildlife expert) Vishnu (favorite of all) and Bhavesh (BT Wild Art)

Expert

Saurabh and Team Mumbai Traveler – everyone is very happy with the knowledge you shared and helped us with such flawless arrangements. Cheers!

Expert Guide

Hitesh Bhai – Your knowledge and efforts are commendable, your love and passion for wildlife is just unmatched, thank you so much  

Stay and Food – GIR Jungle Lodge

Special thanks to Shree Thaker Bhojnalya for delicious "Undhiyu" and Thali 

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

BT Wild Art

DSLR Section 

Spotted Owlet

Yellow Bittern 

Shikra

Crested Hawk-Eagle

Crested Hawk-Eagle

Indian Scoops Owl

Green Bee-Eater

Pied Kingfisher

Pied Kingfisher

Common Kingfisher

The flying machine  - Common kingfisher

Swamphen

The Water King - Crocodile

Ring Plover

Parakeets 

Grey Wagtail

Female Black Red-Start

Common Iora

Stonechat 

Khoon Bhari Mang wala Croco 😂

Teeter- Grey Francolin 

Yummy "Undhiyu" from Shree Thaker 

Thali  - Shree Thaker

Rajkot local Tava Chai

Jalebi Gathiya Rajkot specialty 

Team GIR 2019