Goa 2022 - Socorro Plateau

 Monday 7 November 2022

Hoopoe - Socorro Plateau 

Day 2. We had arranged an early pick-up from the hotel, but Prakash didn’t turn up until seven o’clock.  The delay gave us the chance for a quick birdwatch while it was getting light, and we soon located a male Purple-rumped Sunbird (below), one of a pair busily feeding on the flowers of roadside bushes.  This is a species of South and Central India, as well as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.  Nearby was our first Green Warbler, a common but (I’m afraid) undistinguished Phylloscopus warbler that overwinters down India’s western coastal strip.  It’s very similar to the Greenish, Large-billed Leaf and Western Crowned Warblers that we saw later in the trip - a group posing some identification problems.

Purple-rumped Sunbird (male) - Arpora

I was also able to (just) snatch a photo of a Three-striped Palm Squirrel (also known as the Common Palm Squirrel), one of two that were moving through the trees and shrubs.  This is the common urban squirrel of peninsular India, and has a shrill call that could perhaps be confused for a bird.  In Northern India this species is replaced by the Five-striped Palm Squirrel which has two additional stripes along its flanks.

Three-striped Palm Squirrel (record pic) - Arpora

Prakash eventually appeared, looking suitably apologetic, and we headed off quickly, catching a speed bump that catapulted my head against the the roof of the taxi.  I was still grumbling when we collected Omkar from a lay-by near national route 66.  After a few turnings we found ourselves bumping up a dead-end track that climbed through thick woodland before emerging at the edge of an open prairie. Thin, tinder-dry yellow grass dominated the view, broken up by flat outcrops of red laterite rock.  This was the Socorro Plateau, one of several higher areas in coastal Goa where the soil is too thin, and the ground too dry, to enable either woodlands to establish or farming to take place.  Instead, it acts as a communally-owned open space.  And it was surprisingly good for birds.

View across the Socorro Plateau

For sheer star quality in the Indian bird world, it’s hard to look further than the Small Minvet (below), a pair of which flew into a fruiting tree near where Prakash had parked.  They are common birds of the subcontinent and SE Asia, but none the worse for that. Taxonomically, they sit in the Camephagidae family – the cuckoo-shrikes, which are not related to either cuckoos or shrikes.  But their hooked bill is reminiscent of the shrikes, and their diet is mainly arthropod-based, especially caterpillars.  The male Small Minivet is a simply stunning bird.  

Small Minivet male - Socorro Plateau

On a more distant tree sat two White-bellied Drongos (below), the only ones that we were to encounter on the trip.  This species is endemic to India and Sri Lanka.  An Indian Golden Oriole flew past; these cropped up at regular intervals during the rest of the trip, but proved hard to photograph.  A small but noisy group of Jungle Babblers were on the move between trees, bushes and grass thickets. India is a good place to find babblers, and Jungle Babblers are some of the most common, widespread and characterful.  There will be more in a later blog post. 

White-bellied Drongos (record pic) - Socorro Plateau

We had hardly moved from Prakash’s taxi, but new species kept in appearing in the surrounding trees.  I saw, but got no decent photos of, Oriental Magpie-robin, Grey-headed Bulbul, Purple Sunbird (more of those later), Blyth’s Reed Warbler, Black-headed Oriole, Indian Robin, Common Woodshrike and Black-headed Cuckoo-shrike, the last of these looking more like the monochrome cuckoo-shrikes that I have seen in Australia than the gaudy minivets.  My first Black Drongo (below) perched up nicely, giving good views of its white rictal spot, rictal bristles and shiny black plumage.  Unlike Ashy Drongo, which is a winter visitor to Goa, Black Drongo is a year-round resident across much of the Indian subcontinent.  Its range extends east to China and Java. 

Black Drongo - Socorro Plateau

Omkar is a keen herpetologist, and was keen to point out a number of small frogs ranged around the edge of a temporary pond in a rocky dip nearby.  These were Skittering Frogs (below), which blended so well with the pond margins that they only became visible when they dashed (or skittered) into the water.  Dragonflies were also attracted to this rare water source, including Globe Skimmers Pantala flavescens – a reddish migratory species with an wide world distribution.  

Skittering Frog - Socorro Plateau

It was time to set off across the plateau; the dried up grassland didn’t look very promising for birds, but we’d seen enough already to know different.  Oriental Skylark was added to the day list, looking and behaving much like its Eurasian cousin.  Also the attractive Red-whiskered Bulbul (below), a commonplace bird of India, and indeed southern Asia generally.  Other bulbuls seen on the plateau were Red-vented and White-browed.

Red-whiskered Bulbul - Socorro Plateau

A Long-tailed Shrike (below) was also perched conspicuously.  This is a widespread resident across much of the subcontinent and is is also found in China, south east Asia and Indonesia.  It is noticeably larger than the (sadly declining) Red-backed Shrike of Europe.

Long-tailed Shrike - Socorro Plateau

The sight of our first Indian Peafowl (below), a female, making her way through the grass caused some excitement, as it was another of my target species for the trip.  Peacocks are such a common sight in various stately properties of the UK that it's easy to forget that somewhere in the world they are wild birds.  Well, that somewhere is here.  It is a mainly Indian species, its range only extending into Sri Lanka and a small part of Pakistan.  Being wild birds, and subject to hunting, they don’t hang around. Obviously, the male is one of the most extraordinary birds of the world – if rather taken for granted. We saw one later further inland.  But at least they are not threatened, being listed as ‘least concern’ by the IUCN.  The Peahen paused briefly, as if to allow photos, and then stalked off into the long grass.

Indian Peafowl - Socorro Plateau

The next birds were rather more familiar.  A female Common Kestrel perched in a tree, while a Common Cuckoo flew past – they overwinter down here.  The first pipit of the trip turned out to be Tree Pipit - we were later to see Blyth's and Tawny.  A flying Hoopoe obligingly sat in a bush right in front of us (see the photo at the start of the blog). These lovely birds are year-round residents in Goa.  

The European theme continued with an exciting fly-past of a Pallid Harrier (below).  Not a good photo – it was moving fast – but it does show some of the key field marks, notably the black wing tips and the absence of the black band across the secondaries that would denote Montagu’s.  Pallid Harrier is the commonest of the ‘grey’ harriers in Goa.

Pallid Harrier - Socorro Plateau

Lurking at the bottom of an Indian Charcoal Tree was a male Tickell’s Blue Flycatcher (below).  This beautifully-coloured flycatcher is endemic to India and Sri Lanka, and was probably the commonest of the blue flycatchers that we were to see on the trip.  They never gave a good view, though.

Tickell's Blue Flycatcher - Socorro Plateau

I was surprised when an Indian Pond Heron and White-bellied Sea Eagle flew over the arid landscape.  However, there is a large wetland nearby, which was to be our next destination of the morning.  This may have explained the presence of a Brahminy Kite (below) one of three perching on a dead tree.  I never tired of seeing these magnificent raptors.

Brahminy Kite - Socorro Plateau

We had already been buzzed by a Peregrine Falcon, which we finally tracked down (below). It has an impressively rufous breast, looking very different to those back here in the UK.  This is the subspecies peregrinator, which ranges from the Indian subcontinent east to China - one of 19 subspecies of Peregrine Falcon that are recognised by the HBW/Birdlife Checklist. 

Peregrine Falcon - Socorro Plateau

By now, we had completed our circuit of the plateau and had returned to the pond.  After a look at some Ground Skimmer dragonflies Diplacodes trivialis, we walked down the track through the forest to a clearing.  This was next to the local crematorium - birding certainly takes you off the usual tourist track!  Flowering bushes on the way down were being visited by plenty of butterflies: we picked out Common Baron Euthalia aconthea and Southern Birdwing Troides minos, the latter a vivid yellow and black papilionid that is apparently India's largest butterfly species. 

Southern Birdwing Troides minos (photo from later in the trip)

The clearing was excellent for birds … but not for photography.  Blue-tailed Bee-eaters whirled overhead and a black Asian Koel retreated into a bush, which seems a characteristic behavioural pattern. A Coppersmith Barbet provided a vivid dot of colour in a large fig, while a Nilgiri Flowerpecker flew over us and landed in a tree up the slope before vanishing into the foliage.  Two more butterflies turned up here: the brilliant blue Malabar Banded Peacock Papilio buddha (another swallowtail) and, bustling around flowers on the verge, several Common Grass Yellows Eurema hecabe.  And with that, Prakash’s taxi came bumping down the track to collect us for the short drive to our next destination of the morning.

To be continued ...