The Dona Paula Plateau Region - Not just an abode for Larks

Map

This is the my first winter visit to the area and the sightings just keep on getting better and better. So much that we also saw an Isabelline Wheater(still not got confirmation of the ID but I'm pretty sure it an Isabelline.)Varun and me also spotted other scrub land birds like the Pallid Harrier, Common Hoopoe, Brown Shrike and the Tawny Pipit.
Our day started well with a Shikra perched on a coconut tree.We both stopped and took a few photos of it.

Shikra

We then entered through the small entrance and hoopoe whose photo is above was. As soon we entered it flew of from there. We didnt know what it was then. So we walked three or four steps forward and saw the hoopoe call from under a bush and there it was. Probing the ground for insects. We watch it for sometime and then when it came out in the open we clicked a few shots. The morning light made this photo even more beautiful.

Hoopoe on the ground

As we walked further Varun spotted a Long-Tailed Shrike on a bush. We waited at a distance to see how it hunts. It tried to get something that looked like a frog, but it didn't get it. Then suddenly we stated hearing Lark calls, so we decided to click few pictures to the Shrike and go to see the larks. We could have waited for more time but it sounded like there were many larks ahead.

Long-Tailed Shrike

Now I really think whether it was a good decision to follow those calls because as soon as we got up the larks flew off. They looked like the Indian Bush-Lark but I don't know for sure. The next moment itself the Shrike had caught an insect and flew with it on the bush which was right where we were before. I didn't want to disturb it so we moved on. We then spotted some Cattle Egrets in their non-breeding plumage and a few Jungle Mynas and immature Rosy Starlings.

Jungle Myna

I heard some squeaking calls from some distance away so we went to see what it was. The bird making the call turned out to be a Scaly-Breasted Munia. There were two adults and an juvenile. I was able to get some good pictures of this "Family".

immature

Adult

We then walked toward the straight road to see whether the larks had flown there. As we were walking I saw a brown bird of prey just circling above. I couldn't believe but it was a Pallid Harrier. This one was a female. I could get some very good photos of it.

Pallid Harrier

We clicked few shots and went ahead. We didn't spot anything in the area for about half an hour. We decided to go towards the football field and try our luck there. As we were walking we saw White-Browed Wagtails, Grey-Breasted Prinias and Tailorbirds. When we reached the football field Varun saw a bird that was like a lark but it was very white and plain. He clicked a photo and showed it to me. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was a WHEATER. No wheater had ever been spotted in Goa so we were very excited. We suppressed it though, and slowly homed in on the bird.

It flew off but we stayed in the vicinity, just in case it showed up again. When we were siting down in the grass there 5 Sykes Larks flew down. They were fearless and so we could get some really good photos of them.

Sykes Lark

Sykes Lark

Sykes Larks

Like we had predicted the wheater returned and Varun got up and clicked two really good photos of the bird.

Isaballine Wheater

The village of Khoodi, Jaisalmer.

The village of  Khuri is about 50 kilometers from the princely city of Jaisalmer, nestled in the huge sand dunes of the Thar Desert. It was winter time and one one of the best time to spot the migratory birds which come here during this season, especially the buzzards, harriers, griffon vultures and the wheaters and also the the other local birds like the doves, shikras and bee-eaters.

The view of Khuri from the dunes

This beautiful scene is from the dunes at sunset time. The Acacia groves were home to Harriers, Wheaters, Bushchats, Wagtails and off-course the most adaptable Indian Peafowl. The mountainous region with the windmills is part of the desert national park. Sadly, we couldn't go there. The Desert National Park is one of the only strongholds of the Great Indian Bustard. It is also houses a diversity of other avifauna like Sandgrouses, Floricans, Eagles, Vultures, Falcons, Francolins, Quails, Harriers, Bee-Eaters and other open country birdlife. Beyond that is the princely city of Jaisalmer. Even though we didn't go officially to desert national park we spotted rare birds(quite common in these parts but extremely rare in Goa)like Vultures and Buzzards, namely the Long-legged Buzzard.

Long-legged Buzzard 

Long-Billed Vultures

The Long-Legged Buzzard is a stocky kite-sized bird of prey. It migrates to parts of Western and South-Western India in the winter. It mostly prefers dry deciduous, semi-desert and scrub habitat. Most of the times when I observed this buzzard, it was usually perched on  a low bush and fled at the slightest sign of disturbance. I mostly sighted it at late mornings and afternoon. Vultures were often found soaring above the land searching for a carcass. Many Long-Billed and Egyptian Vultures were sighted in this region. I also spotted an immature Egyptian Vulture and an adult feeding on a carcass of a cow. They had slit open the belly of the animal and were eating parts of the front foot. They too abandoned their prey after 2-3 minutes of observation.

Egyptian Vultures

We also found other passerines like Wheaters, Wagtails, Munias and Sparrows. The hotel which we were staying at also boasted a large amount of birdlife. Every morning the peafowls used to wake us up at about 6:30 with their calls. By about eight o'clock in the morning bird movement in the area would be maximum. For our 2 day stay at the hotel I could spot the Variable, Pied and Desert Wheater, Green Bee-Eater, White and White-Browed Wagtail, House Sparrows, Tawny Eagle, Long-Billed and Egyptian Vulture, Eurasian Griffon, Shikra, White-Eyed and Long-legged Buzzard, Laughing, Red and Eurasian Collared Dove, Indian Peafowl, Indian Roller, Pallid Harrier, Yellow-footed Green Pigeon(on the outskirts of a forest near Jaisalmer.) and the Grey Francolin. 

Green Bee-Eater

Indian Peafowl

Desert Wheater

Red-Collared Dove

White Wagtail

White-Eared Bulbul

Variable Wheater

Variable Wheater

Pallid-Harrier

Surprisingly, I also spotted Purple Sunbirds here. There were not many flowering trees in the vicinity too. I even spotted many White-Eared Bulbuls.

Purple Sunbird in its eclipse plumage

The Yellow-Footed Green Pigeon I mentioned about before were spotted were on a fruit-laden tree on the outskirts of Jaisalmer. I was surprised to see them so far away from forest.

Yellow-Footed Green Pigeons

Indian Roller

Indian Silverbill

Grey Francolins

 PILERN BEHIND LANDSCAPE CITY

Landscape city is on chogum road, behind landscape city there is a back road there will be two roads.
The one on the left will go to a very nice dense forest and the right one goes to pilern you will pass a big open ground.

The open ground
You can see many birds like red wattled lapwing, yellow wattled lapwing, grey wagtail, white browed wagtail, Indian robin, pied  bush chat, racket tailed drongo, bronze/black drongo. sometimes you may see black eagle or steppe eagle.

The forest
if you keep going down the left road you will come across a very thick forest on both sides. The birds you get here are pied/gray bellied/bay bellied cuckoo, leafbirds, racket tallied/black/ashy/white bellied/bronzed drongo, rufous/jungle/puff throted babbler, tickell's blue/Asian paradise flycatcher, great/black lored tit, etc. You may see Indian pitta or flame backs.

                                                                      white bellied drongo
                     

                                                         racket tailed drongo

                                                 golden-fronted leafbird

                                                                  Grey bellied cuckoo

The Dona Paula Plateau region-Abode of the larks

Indian Robin

                                                                   
This beautiful place is located a kilometer north-west of hotel Cidade de Goa, bordering the Ravi Raj and Nagali Hills Colonies. It is spread across a distance of 2-3 square kilometers. This place has typical scrub and dry deciduous habitat sprinkled with some tall trees.

Before Monsoons

                                                               TRANSFORMATION

After 10-15 days of rain

At this time of the year the area is green and slippery, with half-foot deep puddles. These puddles are one of the best places in the plateau region if the weather is hot. I have observed Swallows, Pipits and Lapwing drinking water from here but never Larks. The Paddyfield Pipits also perform their wonderful displays at this time of the year. First they start with their song and then fly almost vertically in the sky. Red-Rumped and Barn Swallows are found in plenty here. Three species of Larks are said to be found here, although I have only seen 2, which are the Skye's Lark and the Oriental Skylark, he third one being the Ashy-Crowned  Sparrow Lark. Other open country birds like the Bush-Quails, Babblers,Wagtails,  Drongos, Kites, Shrikes, Munias, Warblers, Prinias, Lapwings, Robins, Bulbuls, Owlets and the Barn Owl are spotted here. Other birds like the Barbets, Orioles and Koels are found occasionally. I have observed a White-Bellied Sea Eagle here once.

Red-Rumped Swallow

Barn Swallow

We had a beautiful time when we went to this place last. Our walk started off well with the Spotted Dove which is found quite commonly here. Then we heard a short whistle like call. It didn't sound like a Magpie Robin call so we headed towards the sound of the call. As we approached the calling bird we saw 6 small, orangish bird with a white throat and a crimson forehead. To our surprise it was a Tawny-Billed Babbler.
On all of my visits here I had never seen his bird. We stopped and observed them for about 10 minutes. They were hopping around from bush to bush and continuously calling to keep each other in contact.

Tawny-Billed Babbler

Tawny-Billed Babbler

As we walked further we saw Large Grey and Jungle Babblers hopping about on the ground. About 15 minutes of fruitless walking on the wet and slippery ground we saw 2-3 brown birds hopping about on the ground. A closer look showed that they were Paddyfield Pipits. But I still had a doubt because their wings were less streaked. But when this bird started its display all my doubts were cleared. Now for sure I could conclude that it was a Paddyfield Pipit.

After watching these two birds for 15 to 20 minutes we continued our walk. We heard and saw a couple of Indian Robins, Ashy Prinias, Tailorbirds and Red-Wattled Lapwings. Two Red-Wattled Lapwings showed us their territorial display. Then suddenly in the commotion we heard a long, plaintive kiii. I knew this call was of the Yellow-Wattled Lapwing. There is a pair of this birds residing in this part of the plateau region for a long time now. After 2 minutes we were able to spot the bird flying over our head. An Ashy Prinia was posing well for us and we got some reasonable shots of the common but elusive bird. As we were walking  we saw a Lark coloured, bulky bird fly off from the ground. As we approached near it I came to know that it was a Rock Bush-Quail. It was impossible to chase this bird and I couldn't get a single shot. I have seen this bird once, in the winter. Spotting this bird in this season means that it breeds here and that it must be having chicks, which almost fledge at this time. After a few minutes waiting at the same place for about 15 minutes we saw what we came for. A lark! Finally! Four of them! I couldn't identify the species' name until I clicked their photo. They were the Sykes Lark. I could get some beautiful photos of them too.

Sykes Lark

Sykes Lark

Sykes Lark

Well, we found what we came for and decided to head back home. On the way we could click more good photos of common but exciting birds. First we spotted a juvenile koel. We spotted a crow feeding it but couldn't capture it on the camera.

Juvenile Asian Koel 

Suddenly as we were passing by a small park we heard another common but extremely beautiful warbler-The Common Tailorbird on the swing.

Common Tailorbird

About five minutes later we heard the typical characteristic call of the White-Browed Bulbul. It came really close to us and I could get some amazing photos of it calling.

 Well, after clicking the photo of the White-Browed Bulbul it started pouring and we couldn't make any further observation so we returned back home.