Wednesday 9 November 2022
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| Greater Spotted Eagle - Cansaulim |
Day 4 continued ...
From the Zuari River (see previous blog post), it was a short drive up to to the Verna plateau (below)
. The terrain here was similar to the Socorro
plateau a couple of days previously – thin soils and exposed rock – although more open with less tree cover. Verna has a huge industrial estate (my Sprite was apparently made here) which comes
right up to the base of the plateau. The
long straight track that we were walking down (see photo) suggested plans for future development, so its
days as a birding site are likely to be numbered. The Goan plateaus seem to be attractive
locations for new building – a pity, as they are excellent for birds and
other wildlife.
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| Birding the Verna Plateau |
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| Indian Garden Lizard - Verna |
Omkar’s sharp eyes
quickly homed in on a Indian Garden Lizard (above) basking in the sun
on a concrete post. A small group
of Grey-breasted Prinias were sitting nearby in a scrubby tree. We walked along the wide track
which crested a low rise and then arrowed straight down a shallow slope. A
fencepost on the left produced the distinctive profile of our first Malabar
Lark (below).
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| Malabar Lark in silhouette - Verna |
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| A better view of a Malabar Lark - Verna |
The lower image shows the plumage slightly better.
Malabar Lark resembles Crested Lark, albeit smaller, and only occurs down India's western coastal strip. (Crested Lark is widespread in
Pakistan and northern India, but is not found south of Mumbai.) It is always good to see a restricted range
species, although as a common bird of open country in Goa it is odd that we hadn't already met it at Socorro. No fenceposts there, perhaps! Or, more likely, too much tree cover.
By now it was
mid-morning, and the temperature had risen significantly. It was the time for raptors to take to the
skies, and the open plateau was the perfect place to watch them. First up was an Amur Falcon, which is a widespread passage migrant in
India, often in large numbers. They
breed in China and winter in South Africa, resulting in a bizarre migration
route. Rather larger were a Short-toed Snake Eagle, its dark head and breast easily
seen, and a Booted Eagle, with its distinct black and white
underside. Booted Eagles are winter
visitors to peninsular India, whereas Short-toed Snake Eagles are year-round
residents. Back on the ground, this male
Pied Bushchat (below) sat up nicely (as chats often do) on a barbed wire
fence. His glossy black upperside is smarter than the brown female; the white wing marks and white rump are visible in this image.
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| Pied Bushchat (male) - Verna |
Growing next to the
track was a small shrub with a strikingly complex flower – Milkweed (or Crown
Flower) Calotropis gigantea (below). It is found across India, its range extending
from Iran to China, favouring wasteland (which is a fair
description of its roadside location here). It has medicinal uses, while its leaves
produce a rubber-like latex – hence the vernacular name (although there are a number of Milkweeds around the world, including the larval plants of the Monarch butterfly). This Milkweed is in the Apocynaceae family,
which is largely tropical but includes the genus Vinca (Periwinkle).
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| Milkweed Calotropis gigantea - Verna |
Omkar summoned
Prakash by phone, and the taxi soon bumped down the track to pick us up. Driving off the plateau, we stopped to look at
an Indian Roller (below), but my attempts to compose a decent photo
were thwarted by a rapidly approaching lorry.
I had to dive back into the car and quickly slam the door as it thundered
past. The image below is my best effort, but it does show the main characteristics. To my eyes, Indian Rollers look like a cross between two
African roller species – Lilac-breasted and Purple.
They are found over most of the Indian sub-continent, and their
distribution also extends westwards up both sides of the Gulf and into Iraq. The rollers are a classy family of birds.
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| Indian Roller - Verna |
The road dropped down through some interesting-looking woodland before flattening out on the valley
floor where there was more built development.
We passed some House Sparrows; India is within their native range,
so (for once) this was an overseas trip where they hadn’t been introduced. We crossed the main route 66 and then the
railway.
Once again, we found
ourselves on a road crossing paddyfields in varying stages of harvest, which I
guess reflects the ownership patterns of this land – it’s not as if the whole
lot gets done at once. The resulting
variety of habitat must benefit the local wildlife, but it looks like hard work for the people concerned.
The road made for a convenient rice threshing floor, although this
didn’t discourage passing traffic.
The
harvest had attracted big flocks of small birds. There were a few White-rumped Munias, but the commonest (by a long way) were Eastern Short-toed Larks (below). The HBW/Birdlife Checklist splits this from Greater
Short-toed Lark. The Eastern Short-toed Lark breeds in China and
Mongolia and winters (but does not breed) down here in India. I’ve zoomed in on
one well-marked individual to show (albeit a bit blurry) more detail of the markings.
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| Eastern Short-toed Lark flock - Cansaulim |
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| Eastern Short-toed Lark (detail) - Cansaulim |
While watching the larks, we became aware of the presence of first one and then several large raptors in the sky. Their numbers increased, until least ten birds were circling overhead. Something was obviously
attracting them. Along the lane, some of the fields had been set on fire to burn off the stubble. The possibility of small mammals or frogs being displaced by the fire may have lured in the predators. Two raptor species were of particular interest: Greater Spotted
Eagle and Indian Spotted Eagle.
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| Greater Spotted Eagle - Cansaulim |
Separating the two eagles is not easy. Indian Spotted Eagle is generally smaller, but there is
a big size overlap. I'm happy that the photo above shows a Greater Spotted Eagle; the underwing coverts are clearly darker than the
flight feathers, which are grey/white with bars. They were artificially darkened by the
silhouette effect, but I’ve increased the brightness on the image. There is also a white patch at the ‘wrist’ of the underwing (on the lower wing at least); the presence of a pale 'carpal comma' is another feature of Greater Spotted Eagle.
In contrast, the
underwing coverts of Indian Spotted Eagle are paler or the same colour as the flight feathers - see the poor record photo below. This is showing much
less contrast on the underwings, and appears as a less ‘massive’
bird, but that could just be a factor of distance. The range
of Indian Spotted Eagle is mainly restricted to the subcontinent, although
breeding has been confirmed in Myanmar and Cambodia. It is classed as ‘vulnerable’ by IUCN, as
indeed is Greater Spotted Eagle. Both species have declining populations. Habitat destruction, degradation and
disturbance are common threat factors for both, while an added concern for Greater
Spotted Eagle is hybridisation with the more numerous Lesser Spotted Eagles in areas of overlap – mainly eastern Europe (eg Belarus &
Poland).
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| Indian Spotted Eagle (record pic) - Cansaulim |
Right, that’s enough
of confusing raptors.
We had almost finished at the wetlands; the day was getting very warm
and bird activity was starting to reduce. For completeness, I should mention other species that we saw at Cansaulim: Ashy
Prinia, a couple of Tree Pipits, Yellow Wagtails and various waders:
Red-wattled Lapwing, Little Stint, Little Ringed Plover, Wood and Green
Sandpipers – as well as Grey and Purple Herons. Prakash drove us back to the slipway at
Cortalim, where we said goodbye to Omkar, and then headed back to our hotel at Arpora, negotiating an exciting U turn onto the main highway. (I closed my eyes.) We had a rest, and I was able to enjoy my final dip in the hotel swimming pool. But by 4 o'clock we we ready to explore our local environs, with a wander up nearby Baga Hill.To be continued ...
