Goa 2022 - Last Evening at Netravali

Saturday 12 November 2022

Common Indian Tree Frog Polypedates maculatus - Tanshikar Spice Farm 

Our final night was at Tanshikar Spice Farm (website), which had decent food (as might be expected!) and an interesting range of guest accommodation. Our room was in a building designed to replicate a traditional local dwelling. Even better, there were Common Indian Tree Frogs in the shower room (above). This one was sitting on the shower feed. It wasn't just us: not long after we checked in, the occupant of the room next door stuck his head out of the door and asked me “Have you got a frog in your bedroom? We’ve got five!” 

Tanshikar Farm Shop

Approach to Tanshikar

Tanshikar lunch

After the obligatory small cup of extremely hot tea we were out again at 3.45pm.  First stop was just around the corner, the Budbud Tali temple and bubbling pond.  A few people were gazing at the pond (the idea is that you clap to produce the bubbles; they are fact natural) but we were there because Omkar was looking for White-bellied Blue Flycatcher on the adjoining stream. None were there, but we did see a Malabar Pied Hornbill and five Nilgiri Imperial Pigeons (two pictured below) in a Fishtail Palm.

Nilgiri Imperial Pigeons (one hiding at the back) - Netravali

The road from Budbud Tali temple entered Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary at the Mangal Gate. We passed through the forest quickly, noting two Malabar Grey Hornbills on the way, before leaving the protected area again at the Ambe Ghat checkpoint, which was perched on a forested pass through the hills. The road dropped down to the valley floor, where we were back in the land of paddyfields and scattered settlements. This was Gaondongrim, our final daylight birding location of the trip ... and that daylight was starting to fade away.

As expected, Gaondongrim gave a good boost to the day's bird list (adding about 25 further species), which isn't surprising as it was a very different habitat to the forests of the morning. And there was one species in particular that we were keen to add to the trip list - Black-throated Munia (below).

Black-throated Munia - Gaondongrim

Black-throated Munia has a restricted distribution, being limited to three populations – Western Ghats, east India and Sri Lanka. Several were perched on a wire, with others eating seeds in a nearby rice paddy. Paddyfields attract munias: there were also plenty of White-rumped Munias around. And some larger birds, too: a Crested Serpent Eagle (below) caused a stir when it flew in and vanished into the foliage of a tree.

Crested Serpent Eagle (record photo) - Gaondongrim

An Ashy Woodswallow (below) sat obligingly on one of the electricity wires; you can just about see the contrast between its pinkish-grey underparts and darker grey head. Other birds here were: Long-tailed Shrike; Pied Bushchat; Brahminy Starling; Wire-tailed, Red-rumped and Barn Swallows; Oriental Turtle-dove; Indian Cormorant; Malabar Lark; Little Swift; Common and Jungle Mynas; Yellow Wagtail; Little Egret; Tree Pipit; Indian Pond Heron; Black-headed Bunting (another first for the trip); Indian Roller; Coppersmith Barbet; and a Shikra.

Ashy Woodswallow (record photo) - Gaondongrim

It was now getting dark; Omkar drove us back up to the sanctuary checkpoint for a wander up and down the road in the gloom. We could just make out a Blue-capped Rock Thrush, while a langur monkey jumped from tree to tree above us. Omkar had stopped here for a reason. He managed to lure in an Indian Scops Owl, giving us close views of this lovely bird, which flew in to a nearby branch looking a bit irritated. No photo unfortunately. We walked back up to the checkpoint; Omkar swept his flashlight along the muddy bank above the road and found this sensational White-banded Ground Gecko (below), another Western Ghats endemic (and indeed local only to Goa and nearby parts of Karnataka and Maharashtra). 

White-banded Ground Gecko Cyrtodactylus albofasciatus - Netravali

Back at Tanshikar Spice Farm it was time for our last evening meal of the trip, but not my last Goan curry, as I was able to take a range of spices from the Tanshikar shop back home to the UK. My last wildlife sighting was of a magnificent moth that had arrived in the bedroom - Eudocima aurantia (below), a fruit-sucking moth in the Erebidae family (which includes familiar UK species such as the tiger and footman moths). This species ranges from India east to Australia. (Thanks to Phil Sterling for nudging me in the direction of this identification.)

Fruit-sucking moth Eudocima aurantia - Netravali

An early start on the Sunday morning (it was still dark when we left the spice farm), was followed by a drive to the airport at Dabolim, where we had to talk our way into the terminal past an armed guard who had no knowledge of our flight back to London.  (“No international flights today!”) This was not a good moment, and was indicative of the chaos that Covid-19 pandemic had caused to the Goan tourist industry. But the flight was indeed scheduled, and some scouting around the terminal eventually yielded the location of a check-in desk. As soon as we were queueing up to check in there was a technology failure which caused a long delay – solved by the airline staff issuing handwritten boarding cards and baggage labels.  

Empty (almost) flight back to London

It was a 9½ hour flight back to Gatwick, picking up a tail wind over Europe. I have never been on such an empty plane (above); it was perhaps an eighth full, as it only contained the people on our outbound flight who had stayed for just a week. That meant that there was plenty of room to stretch out, get some sleep and think about what had been an excellent trip. 

 

Goa 2022 - Netravali: Endemic Birds, Vine Snake and Leeches!

Saturday 12 November 2022

Common Vine Snake - Netravali

Day 7 - the final day of the trip

Another early start: we were up and packed for 0545, to be greeted by Omkar and the usual flask of hot milky tea provided by the Nature's Nest staff. The aim was to do most of the driving before sunrise, so that we could start birding early at Netravali. As light dawned, we started to see birds from the car: a Greater Coucal on a post and three flying Asian Openbill Storks. Just before the entrance to the wildlife sanctuary, Omkar pulled off the road and stopped by an open area next to the forest.  

First stop - Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary

Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary - Mattoni Gate

There was a lot of bird activity here: Forest Wagtail, Asian Koel, Brown Shrike, Ashy Drongo (eating a dragonfly), Blyth’s Reed Warbler, Oriental Green Bee-eater and a flock of Chestnut-headed Bee-eaters, Yellow-browed Bulbul, Purple Sunbird, four Plum-headed Parakeets, Greater Racquet-tailed Drongo, Indian Golden Oriole, two Malabar Pied Hornbills and an Indian Blackbird.  None of these were new species for us, which was a measure of how much we had already seen in just six days.  However, two new species did turn up. The first was a flying Rufous-bellied Eagle (below).

Rufous-bellied Eagle (record photo) - Netravali

At first glance, my photos of this raptor were simply black silhouettes, giving very little away. However, editing reveals the dark hood as well as the rufous colour of the underwing coverts. although it may not be obvious here! This is another one of those species that ranges over a lot of south east Asia and Indonesia, but has a fairly restricted distribution on the sub-continent, essentially the Western Ghats and north east India. We also tracked down a Black-naped Oriole which is a winter visitor to India, breeding in Indonesia and south China, but not common. 

From the Mattoni Gate the road climbed steeply into the sanctuary; this was the first time that we were to gain some height in the Western Ghats. We passed through what looked like a fantastically diverse forest before stopping near to an outlook which gave us a view over the forested mountains. Birds here included Oriental White-eye, Nilgiri Flowerpecker and Orange-headed Thrush. 

Western Ghats panorama - Netravali

Back in the car, the road descended for a bit before passing through a village, one of a few lying within the protected area. On the far side of the settlement we stopped under a large fig which Omkar identified as a Mysore Fig Ficus drupacea.  The tree attracted a range of avian visitors, including a Malabar Barbet (below) that was stuffing its bill with the ripe orange fruit.  

Malabar Barbet on Mysore Fig - Netravali

Malabar Barbets may be messy eaters, but these beautifully patterned birds are a real local speciality, being Western Ghats endemics. Several other birds visited the tree while we watched from below: White-cheeked Barbets, a male Crimson-rumped Sunbird and White-browed Bulbul.

We drove a bit further up the hill before stopping again. There was movement in the trees above the road, and we were able to pick out a pair of Orange (aka Scarlet) Minivets. A walk along a contour-level track produced three new species in succession, the first of which was a group of Rufous Babblers in a small cashew plantation.  (We were still not far from the village, so this wasn’t pristine forest.)

Rufous Babbler - Netravali

The Rufous Babblers were making a bit of a racket, as babblers do. We had excellent views, which was unusual as it is apparently rare to see one out in the open. This is yet another Western Ghats endemic species. The field guide points out the contrasting colours of the two mandibles as an identification feature, but it doesn't mention Omkar’s favourite feature – their ‘yellow lipstick’!  

I wasn’t able to get decent images of the other two new species. Golden-fronted Leafbird represented another new bird family for me (the Chloroseidae), while an elusive Indian Scimitar Babbler finally appeared through a gap in the vegetation showing its striped head and curved bill. Also here was a Loten’s Sunbird and another new butterfly – the Common Sailor Neptis hylas (below).

Common Sailor Neptis hylas - Netravali

The road climbed higher into the forest. We parked at a lay-by, just as a Malabar Whistling Thrush broke with its usual skulking habits and flew right across the road in a flash of blue. It is a more common species than I had initially realised. We walked down a path through semi-evergreen forest, now feeling quite humid and sticky, and stopped by a stream at the bottom of the valley. Sitting on a leaf, and looking very like a butterfly, was an attractive day-flying moth: Dysphania nelera (below).

Dysphania nelera having a drink - Netravali

The moth doesn’t seem to have a common name, but is in the same family (Geometridae) and genus as the more common Blue Tiger Moth D. percota that we had seen the previous day at Tambdi Surla. The yellow edging to the hindwings is the diagnostic feature for D. nelera; some authorities group this with D. palmyra – although that lacks the distinctive marginal yellow spotting. (Information from the useful Moths of India website.)

The stream was quiet for birds, the highlights being a small group of Western Crowned Warblers and a Black-naped Monarch. Two small Leaping Frogs Indirana sp. (below) hid in a crevice between the boulders. Their long jumps when escaping from trouble are the source of the name. Some 14 species are described, all Western Ghats endemics. It’s difficult to identify them to species level; indeed, a new species (the Netravali Leaping Frog I. salelkari) was discovered as recently as 2015.

Leaping Frogs Indirana sp. - Netravali

Just after taking the above photo, I felt something moving above my right sock. I lifted my trouser leg and was startled to find a leech. I instantly pulled it off; it fell on a nearby rock and began to make a bid for freedom.  I was able to take a quick, but blurry phone photo (below). There are a lot of leech species (hooray), but one possibility is the Indian Leech Haemadipsa sylvestris. I warned the others: Richard checked and found that he’d also been bitten. 

Leech - Netravali

I congratulated myself for having spotted it before it could do any damage. But pride comes before a fall, so I will briefly fast forward to lunch time when I spotted an ominous dark patch on the outside of my right trouser leg. Investigating further I was horrified to discover that I had indeed been bitten by a leech, and it was still bleeding. Worse still, my left sock was caked with blood as a result of two more bites just above my ankle. The sock went in the bin. It took me a while to clean up all of the blood, apply some antiseptic cream and also plasters – the only way of stemming the bleeding. I was simultaneously shocked and fascinated; it looked nicely gory, but I hadn’t felt a thing.  And the culprits were long gone, leaving neat, circular bite mark and a great deal of blood. (I haven't included my photo of the wound for fear that it will breach some blogging guideline on the inclusion of shocking images!) I warned Richard; he discovered bites as well.

With hindsight, it seems barely believable that I’d been losing blood for four hours. I suppose that it’s possible that I (we) had picked up more leeches at a later stop. But the stream was the prime candidate; it was a damp environment, and we had been sitting on moist boulders. And our attention had been diverted by the frogs.  Anyway, it’s all part of the jungle experience and it makes a good tale to tell.  People enjoy hearing about personal discomfort much more than tales of epic wildlife, tropical sunsets and memorable curries. 

We walked back to the car and continued along the road, which turned into an unsurfaced track, and stopped by a waterfall. We could hear the call of a woodpecker in the mature trees nearby, and finally tracked down this female Greater Flameback (below), a species of wet tropical and subtropical forests across the Indian subcontinent and south east Asia.

Greater Flameback (female) - Netravali

We also got a good view of a male Crimson-backed Sunbird (below), another Western Ghats endemic. Spectacular, even if the colours clash with each other a bit (to my eyes anyway).

Crimson-backed Sunbird (male) - Netravali

A couple of butterflies were also showing well.  This Chocolate Pansy Junonia iphita (below), was the third species in this genus that we’d seen on the trip.

Chocolate Pansy Junonia iphita - Netravali

The skipper (Hesperiidae) below is I think Dark Palm-Dart Telicota bambusae; the markings look better for this than for the similar Pale Palm-Dart T. colon, although there isn’t much in it. Skippers can be tricky!

Dark Palm-Dart Telicota bambusae - Netravali

With that, we returned to the car and retraced our route through the sanctuary. Passing through the village we stopped to look at this Hoopoe (below), which at times was so close to the vehicle that I couldn't get the camera lens focussed on it.

Hoopoe - Netravali

Re-entering the forest after passing through the village, we had the best snake encounter of the trip.  This beautiful Common Vine Snake (below) was crossing the tarmac ahead of us. We stopped, blocking the road in case any other vehicles flattened it, and got out to take photographs.  

Common Vine Snake - Netravali

Unusually, the snake didn’t make a quick dash for freedom. Instead, it froze. Or rather it almost froze, because if you looked carefully its head continued to sway slightly from side to side. This looked like a really neat camouflage strategy, as the snake would be almost invisible in the canopy leaves where it normally lives and hunts. Unfortunately, this method was considerably less effective on a strip of black tarmac!  After we took some photos, Omkar gently touched the snake’s tail. It wriggled with alacrity into the roadside vegetation, and vanished from sight instantly.

Common Vine Snakes have been the subject of some taxonomic confusion. Grewal et al (2022) give the scientific name as Ahaetulla nasuta.  According to GBIF, this species ranges across India (mostly in the Western Ghats), Myanmar and south east Asia. All well and good. However, there has been some recent splitting going on (Malik et al., 2020); the taxon A. nasuta is now restricted to an endemic species from Sri Lanka. From that paper, the best match for our snake is now Ahaetulla borealis – both in terms of appearance and location. Wikipedia gives this the snappy vernacular name of the Northern Western Ghats Vine Snake.  Anyway, whatever it’s called, it was a lovely thing. The snake is mildly venomous, but being rear-fanged it is less likely to give you a nasty bite. Grewal et al say that the diet is varied, and “includes tadpoles, lizards, birds, small mammals and even leeches”. Good.

Common Vine Snake (detail) - Netravali

 

We left the sanctuary and stopped for lunch at the nearby Tanshikar Spice Farm, which was to be our base for the final night of our Goa trip.

To be continued ...

References

Grewal, B., Mathur, M. & Sood, T. (2022) Wildlife of India. Princeton: Princeton University Press

 

Mallik, A.K., Srikanthan, A.N., Pal, S.P., D’Souza, P.M., Shanker, K. and Ganesh, S.R. (2020). ‘Disentangling vines: a study of morphological crypsis and genetic divergence in vine snakes (Squamata: Colubridae: Ahaetulla) with the description of five new species from Peninsular India.’ Zootaxa, 4874(1), pp.1-62.