The Heronry near Athani

Whilst we were going to the village of Badami in North Karnataka we were driving by lush green  fields about 5-10 kilometers from Athani I saw thousands of heronary birds about 300 meters from the roadside and a couple of Grey Herons standing in the foot-deep water. We did not stop because we had to reach Badami as quickly as possible.So, we decided to stop at that spot on the way back. While coming back we stopped at that place and saw that all those egret like birds in the distance were all Painted Storks. Not 20-30, but about 100. And those couple of grey herons which I saw were not even 1/100th of the amount of them I saw today.

Painted Storks and Grey Heron 

Then I saw that out of those 100 Grey Herons most of them had made nests. Some were sitting on it, maybe to incubate the eggs, some were feeding their and some of the chicks had already fledged and were already foraging on their own. 

Roosting Grey Herons

Grey Herons 

There were many other waders too. There were Spot-billed Ducks,a lone Chestnut or Cinnamon Bittern, Cattle, Intermediate and Little Egrets, Pond Herons, Purple Heron, Black-Crowned Night Heron, Black-Tailed Godwits, Common Green Shank, Little-Ringed Plover, White-Throated, Common and Pied Kingfishers, Lesser-Whistling Ducks, Little and Indian Cormorants, Purple Swamphen, White-Breasted Waterhen, Red-Wattled Lapwing, Eurasian Coot, Oriental White Ibis, Black-Winged Stilt and Common Moorhens.

Pied Kingfisher

Spot-billed Ducks, Purple Swamphen with Chick and Black Tailed Godwit

Purple Heron

Chestnut Bittern

Grey Heron building nest 

The view

Wagtails

Even though this blog is only about the Birds of Goa, some posts are also going to be of my trips in other states. This one is going to be about the migratory wagtails I saw in my maternal hometown, Sangli. This is a beautiful district in South Maharashtra. Thousand of Grey, White and Yellow Wagtails migrate to one spot every year. The banks of R.Krishna are loaded with migratory wagtails from late September-early October to late March-early April. Yellow Wagtails tend to stay on till the 3rd week of April.

Yellow Wagtail-race 'Thunbergi'

   

Yellow Wagtail-race 'Beema'

These wagtails are hard to identify when it comes to their race. Like in the two photos above there is a significant amount of difference between the heads of the to birds. Race 'Beema' has a light grey crown and forehead with a white eyebrow, while race 'Thunbergi' has a Blackish Grey crown and forehead. If, studied properly one can also find difference between the calls of each race of the species. 

Fellow birdwatcher and teacher, Sharad Apte, a native to the city of Sangli records calls and studies them. Wagtails are on of his favourite species and he has come to the conclusion that calls differ between the different races.

White Wagtail-race 'Personata'

White Wagtail-race 'Personata' first win. 

 The first winter plumages of these birds differ a lot compared to when they are fully mature. Most of our wintering Wagtails like the White, Grey and Yellow are found in or near the vegitation near fast flowing river.

Very places have habitat like this in Goa. Wagtails are mostly insectivorous and feed on worms and other small insects on the ground.

Other birds found near or in the river

Grey Heron

Black Ibis

Brahminy Duck and Black-Winged Stilt

Common Hoopoe

Paddyfield Pipit

Southern Cucal

Pied Bushchat-female

Pied Bushchat-male

Laughing Dove

Mugger Crocodile(centre) and Intermediate Egret 

Red-Rumped Swallow