Goa 2022 - Birding around Bondla

Thursday 10 November 2022

Temple outside Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary

Day 5 continued ...

I've already introduced Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary in a previous blog post (here) and have already talked about some of its mammals (here) and spiders (here). But our time in and around this fantastic reserve was devoted mainly to birdwatching. With some success: the species total at the end of the day (96 birds) was the highest of our trip to Goa. 

The bridge at Ganjem

Our first stop was the Mahadayi River bridge by the village of Ganjem (or Ganjim) just north of Bondla. We were low on  drinking water, but local shops were still shut at this early hour and there were birds to be found. The place didn't look too special, but we had learned to trust Omkar's judgement. With reason; our short walk here netted me 14 life species!  (Annoyingly, it would have been 15 if I had located the Rufous Woodpecker that Omkar and Richard managed to spot.)

Jungle Babblers in a huddle - Ganjem

Jungle Babbler - Ganjem

Below the bridge approach, four Jungle Babblers (above) were huddled in a bush. They like to stick together, but one showed itself rather better later on.  Jungle Babblers are confined to the Indian subcontinent.  The HBW/Birdlife Checklist recognises four subspecies; ours were ssp. malabarica, which is restricted to the Western Ghats. Jungle Babblers are popularly known as the “Seven Brothers” due to their gregarious habits.  Also here were White-naped Woodpecker, Verditer Flycatcher, a Thick-billed Flowerpecker and a pair of Crimson-backed Sunbirds (all four of these were new species for me), as well as Nilgiri Flowerpecker, Oriental Magpie Robin, Common Iora, Green Warbler, White-throated Kingfisher (as ever!) and Little Egret.  Five Little Cormorants flew past the bridge, heading up river.

Crossing the bridge, Omkar was paying particular attention to a large fruiting fig tree on the opposite bank. The tree was worth a look: it contained two much sought-after regional endemics.  First was a group of four Malabar Grey Hornbills (two pictured below), busily gorging themselves on the plentiful figs and staying annoyingly hidden by the intervening vegetation. This species replaces the Indian Grey Hornbill down the western coastal strip.  Characterful birds that were fun to watch.

Malabar Grey Hornbill - Ganjem

... and again.

Sitting at the top of the tree, and trying its hardest to blend in with the surrounding leaves, was a Grey-fronted Green-pigeon (below). Eight green-pigeon species are found in India and one in Sri Lanka.  The Grey-fronted Green-pigeon has a similar distribution to the Malabar Grey Hornbill, being restricted to India's western coastal strip. This is a female: the male has a maroon mantle. It was hard not to be reminded of the African Green-pigeon – and for that matter the hornbill was not unlike the African Grey Hornbill.  The relationships are clear: the bird faunas of India and Africa share many similarities.

Grey-fronted Green-pigeon - Ganjem

We crossed the bridge and walked up the lane on the other side. A scatter of houses were set in woodland clearings, with plenty of mature trees around.  A Rufous Treepie flew past and a tiny parrot made its first appearance for us.  The Vernal Hanging Parrot (below) is an impossibly cute little thing - only 14cm long, almost a third of the size of your average parakeet (such as the Plum-headed Parakeet that we saw in a nearby tree - photo too awful to display in this post!). There are 13 species of hanging parrots, all I think of similar dimensions; most are found in the islands of Indonesia. Vernal Hanging Parrots mainly range across south east Asia, but there are populations in north east India and, as we saw, the Western Ghats.

Vernal Hanging Parrot - Ganjem

Birds can deceive you.  This Drongo Cuckoo (below) looks remarkably like a Black Drongo (see a previous blog post here). The key ID feature is that the cuckoo has a fine, downcurved bill instead of the chunkier drongo bill. Strictly, this is the Fork-tailed Drongo Cuckoo: there are three other drongo cuckoo species.  I had assumed that this is a brood parasite of drongos, but this is not the case. Evolution works in mysterious ways. Drongo Cuckoos actually lay in the nests of small babblers (Praveen and Lowther, 2020), although not Jungle Babblers. Why they mimic drongos is unclear, but it must have some adaptive significance. This is a tendency of other cuckoo species of course; we were to see a Common Hawk Cuckoo later on, which does have a hawk-like look to it (as do Common Cuckoos in the UK, it could be argued). Common Hawk Cuckoos do parasitise Jungle Babblers, as it happens.  

Fork-tailed Drongo Cuckoo - Ganjem

There were a number of other 'first' for me at Ganjem: Little Spiderhunter (which we will meet in a later blog post), Black-lored Tit (also known as Indian Yellow Tit), Brown-headed Barbet, Malabar Pied Hornbill (another one for later) and Dusky Crag Martin. We also got a better view of a Black-rumped Woodpecker (below), a species that we had seen on our first day at Siolim Fields.  I found the Indian woodpeckers quite difficult to get into, both in terms of identification and finding the damn things!  Richard seemed much better at spotting them.  India has a diverse woodpecker fauna.  In addition to the more usual (to European eyes) black and white Dendrocopos and green(ish) Picus species, there is a group of ‘goldenbacks’ that to me at least look very similar.  All are variations on a theme of gold, red and black.  It doesn’t help that there are alternative names for quite a few of them.  For example, Black-rumped Flameback (the HBW/Birdlife Checklist’s name) appears as Lesser Goldenback in Grimmett and Inskipp.

Black-rumped Flameback - Gangem

It was time to move on. We stopped at the Bondla road turning (below) and restocked our drinking water supplies at a small shop. This wasn't the start of the reserve, but the area between here and the entrance gate turned out to be almost as good for birds as the sanctuary itself.

The road to Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary

Top species here was this Chestnut-tailed Starling (below). Its white head and breast identify it as subspecies blythii, which Grimmett and Inskipp treat as a full species (Blyth’s Starling). The subspecies is endemic to the Western Ghats, and a smart bird to boot. The Western Ghats mountains (along with Sri Lanka) have been identified as a biodiversity 'hotspot' with a high number of endemic plant and animal species (Myers et al, 2000) - including over 20 endemic birds. This is a special place in terms of global biodiversity.

Chestnut-tailed Starling (ssp. blythii) - near Bondla

Also here were Grey-capped Emerald Dove, the delightful Velvet-fronted Nuthatch, a bush full of Tawny-bellied Babblers, an Asian Brown Flycatcher and another Purple-rumped Sunbird (below), which perched on the car's wing mirror, taking an active interest in its own reflection. I’ve seen other sunbirds act in a similar manner, including a positively enraged Dusky Sunbird in Namibia. Other birds here included a Flame-throated Bulbul (another Western Ghats endemic), a well-hidden Malabar Whistling Thrush and a small group of Dark-fronted Babblers.   

Purple-rumped Sunbird - near Bondla

Purple-rumped Sunbird on the car - near Bondla

We stopped at the Bondla entrance, where Omkar handled the fees and paperwork, and had a quick look for birds before passing through the gate.  First up was a Yellow-browed Bulbul (below): a species that is endemic to both India and Sri Lanka, but most easily seen in the Western Ghats.  Also a Large-billed Leaf Warbler.  It was time for a further drive up the road, which followed a valley passing through thick and mature moist evergreen forest.  A few car-loads of visitors drove by, as well as a group of birdwatchers.

Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary entrance

Yellow-browed Bulbul - Bondla

A short walk into the forest produced an Orange Minivet (below) – even more stunning than the Small Minivet that we’d seen down by the coast.  This is the male; the female has a yellow underside. Strictly (according to the Checklist) this is a subspecies of the Scarlet Minivet, which is found right across Indonesia and south-east Asia. However, Grimmett and Inskipp suggest that it's a distinct species. But whether a full or sub-species, Orange Minivet is endemic to the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka. Lovely to see.  

Scarlet (Orange) Miniver - Bondla

Further down the road, a Grey Junglefowl was pecking around on the forest floor.  On seeing us, the bird moved with considerable speed – hence the terrible picture – crossing a stream and vanishing from view.  But the image is good enough to show the red crest and the spotted ‘shawl’ covering the neck of the male bird.  Although clearly looking like one, this is not the main species that gave rise to the domestic chicken; that was the Red Junglefowl, which is found in north east India.  Red Junglefowl is replaced by the Grey Junglefowl in Southern India, where Grey Junglefowl is an endemic species.  However, the two species do hybridise, and, moreover, it has been found that at least one of the genes in domestic chickens (the one that gives rise to yellow skin) originates from Grey Junglefowl.  Down by the stream we also saw Forest Wagtail and Brown-breasted Flycatcher.

Grey Junglefowl (record photo) - Bondla

I was loving Bondla. We had finally got into what felt like a wild and extensive tropical forest, with an excellent range of birds into the bargain. Simply by walking up and down the reserve’s main road, which ran parallel to the stream, we were able to pick up a few more species - including a Greenish Warbler.  It’s another typical Phylloscopus warbler, in the Greenish/Green/Large-billed/Western Crowned quartet that are so tricky to separate in the field.  Omkar confirmed the ID from this photo, which helps.  All four winter in the Western Ghats and breed much further north.  The key ID features that separate Greenish Warbler from the other three are the pale single wing-bar (Green Warbler has two that are stronger and yellower), uniform crown (Western Crowned has a crown stripe) and smaller size (Large-billed is a bit bigger). 

Greenish Warbler - Bondla

We had now reached a section of road that ran slightly apart from, and above, the stream.  Looking down into the forest that separated us from the watercourse, we saw Indian Paradise Flycatcher, Puff-throated Babbler (below), White-rumped Shama, Indian Blue Robin and Blue-capped Rock-thrush. Overhead soared an Oriental Honey Buzzard, with a similar head shape to its European cousin. Up at the lake, an Asian Woolly-necked Stork sat on its nest, looking very like its African equivalent species - our final bird of an epic morning.

Puff-throated Babbler (record photo) - Bondla 

It was time to head to our base for the next couple of days - Nature's Nest.

To be continued ...

References

Grimmett, R., Inskipp, C. and Inskipp, T. (2020) Birds of the Indian Subcontinent. London: Helm.

Myers, N., Mittermeier, R.A., Mittermeier, C.G., Da Fonseca, G.A. and Kent, J. (2000). ‘Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities’. Nature, 403(6772), pp. 853-858.

Praveen, J. and Lowther, P. (2020). 'Avian brood parasitism in South Asia.' Indian Birds, 16(4), pp.103-119.