Goa 2022 - Arrival at Arpora

Sunday 6 November 2022

White-breasted Kingfisher - Arpora

The Goa trip was the latest in a series of overseas trips undertaken with my long-suffering birding friend Richard.  All have followed a similar model; we have booked the flights, and sometimes some of the accommodation, and agreed an itinerary with a locally based birder (or birding tour company) who has guided us and arranged local transport and places to stay.  In the case of Goa, our local expert was Omkar Dharwadkar  https://www.mrugayaxpeditions.com/ - a sharp-eyed birder and excellent all-round naturalist, with the right amount of patience to cope with our inexperience of Indian birdwatching.  We booked the flights and hotel through The Goa Experience; however, Omkar arranged the accommodation for the last three nights of our week-long stay.  

Rather than a single trip report, I have prepared a series of blog posts focussing on a single day or, more often, a part of a day. A full list of birds and other wildlife seen is set out in a final post (here).

Preparation for the trip was surrounded with uncertainty: post-Covid 19 travel from the UK to India was limited by the requirement for British nationals to apply for a paper visa rather than the procedurally easier and cheaper eVisa.  Getting a paper visa needed either a visit to an Indian consulate in the UK (Richard's plan) or the use of a booking agent (my course of action).  Neither method turned out to be straightforward, but we both arrived at London Gatwick on the day of departure with our paper visas secured.  

I awoke over the Arabian Sea; a small breakfast was served as the plane travelled south, following the west coast of India.  There was very little obvious settlement (we were over Maharashtra state), but this changed nearer to Goa, where the coastal strip is more built-up.  Landing at Dabolim airport, the sky had a smoggy, slightly yellow tinge.  From the aircraft window we saw our first Indian birds: Indian Roller and House Crow, both perched on the terminal building.  By the end of the trip my bird list had grown to 236 species, of which 162 were new for me.  I will post the full list in a later blog.

Approach to Dabolim airport, Goa

Passage through the airport was surprisingly swift and painless after all that we had heard from other travellers.  ‘Welcome back’, said one airport worker; this seemed slightly inappropriate for our first visit to India, but underlined the fact that our Tui flight was the first one from the UK (and possibly from Western Europe) into Goa airport since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Indeed, its arrival was celebrated by a band playing outside the terminal building, from which public entry is barred by the military – as we were to discover when returning there a week later.

Next to the band was a crowd of people, and I quickly picked out the welcome sight of a sign reading “Mr Michael. Mr Richard”.  This was the rep from The Goa Experience, who welcomed us, took us to our taxi and provided bottles of drinking water.  We were the only people heading to our particular hotel – and, indeed, as we were to discover, we were some of only a handful of Europeans staying at the hotel itself.  Our flight’s arrival seemed to mark the start of Goa’s foreign tourist season, although the post Covid-19 difficulties in obtaining an Indian visa for UK citizens were to remain for a few more months. 

Bridges over the Zuari River

The drive to Arpora followed what was to become a familiar route: the new dual carriageway north over the rivers (past the Zuari River bridge still being built) then a maze of roads to Arpora and our hotel: the Marinha Dourada.  On the way, we added a few more birds to the trip list: White-breasted Kingfisher (see photo at the top of this blog), Brahminy and Black Kites, Cattle and Great Egrets.  The first four of these were to be ‘ever-present’ species that we saw on all seven days in Goa. (The others being House Crow, Spotted Dove and Indian Pond Heron).  An Indian Cormorant flew over the hotel: this has a patchy distribution in the subcontinent and SE Asia.

Nick's Place, Arpora

Our initial priorities were to change money and have lunch.  The first of these proved more of a problem that we’d expected.  We knew that there a local money-changer (Mr Veen) was based next door to the hotel, but we couldn’t find him.  It turned out later that he hadn’t opened up due to the lack of foreign tourists.  So we tried our nearest restaurant – Nick’s Place (over the road) – and explained the problem.  No worries, said Nick, he would take payment in sterling.  Cheered and relieved, we sat down to our first curry of the trip – Goan Fish Curry and Rice with soft drinks. Sitting by the open window watching India career past, it felt as though we had really arrived.

On the short walk back to the hotel, I was distracted by butterflies visiting flowers on a roadside bush.  The most striking was Tailed Jay Graphium agamemnon, a member of the Papilionidae.  Graphium is a big genus, with over a hundred species across the Old World tropics.  On a nearby lagoon, an Oriental Darter was sunning itself at the top of a mangrove tree, its white throat indicating immature plumage. This was my fourth and last of the snake-headed darter family (Anhingidae): Oriental Darters are found from India east to Sulawesi.

Tailed Jay Graphium agamemnon

Oriental Darter sunbathing on a mangrove

Our next exploration was a stroll round the hotel's lake. This yielded our first White-browed Wagtail, a species that is restricted to the sub-continent, with habits very similar to Pied/White Wagtail. An Oriental Great Eggfly Hypolimnas bolina butterfly was resting on a nearby palm trunk.  This Nymphalid has a wide range from Madagascar to Australia.

Marinha Dourada - hotel lake

White-browed Wagtail

Oriental Great Eggfly Hypolimnas bolina

Parakeets were providing a colourful and noisy animation to the generally quiet skies above the hotel’s lakes.  I was expecting to see Rose-ringed Parakeets here, but every time that we got a decent look at one it had the characteristically heavy upper bill of an Alexandrine Parakeet (below).  These mainly occur in central and eastern India, but are also found down the western coastal strip as far south as Sri Lanka. These ones seemed to especially like the holes in dead palm trees, probably roosting rather than nesting, and seemed reluctant to come out and show themselves properly.

Alexandrine Parakeet in palm tree by the hotel lake

I followed the walk up with a blissful swim in the outdoor pool, a nice change from the previous week’s chilly lake at home, had a shower, got changed and then was able to Facetime the family from the hotel reception.  This had wi-fi, a service that was not available in the rooms.  An Asian House Gecko popped out from behind the mirror.  Later on, we found one in the bedroom as well.  It’s always good to see geckos, although as a moth enthusiast I have mixed feelings about their appetites!  This species ranges from India to Australia, where I first encountered one.

Asian House Gecko

Just after two o'clock, our guide Omkar arrived in reception and outlined his plans for the afternoon - a visit to the estuary and tidal sandbar at Morjim, followed by our first Goan wetland at Siolim Fields.

To be continued ...