10th March ’07— Rockin … Down the Highway…( Doobie Brothers Song)
We were packed and rolling by 0420H and strangely uplifted enough at the thought of the vacation that we decided not to put on music in the car till much later! Stopped for some sheera and some tea at Lonavala. Lonavala was warm and we really did not need the fleece jackets we had brought along. I was still very fresh and we hit Pune by 7 AM and had crossed Pune on to the new Pune Bangalore highway by 0800. We rolled on to Satara, Kohlapur and then on to Belgaum. What a great rod this is. Superb tarmac and such a pleasure to drive! A really good decision to do this road trip! Just short of Belgaum, we stopped for a quick bite of upma and tea again. A steady 100-120 Kmph, and Belgaum rolled in by 11 AM. Top up time and, we filled in fuel. I calculated that I had got a cool 16.666 km per litre of petrol on the Baleno.. Woohoo!! Baleno rocks!!!
The ride from Belgaum to Ganeshgudi was thru rather narrow roads with oncoming traffic and kind of slowed us down a tad. But, just the same, we made it to Bison River Resort where we had stayed last year by 1230 PM. Thas a total of just eight and a half hours from Bombay to Dandeli and I was still very fresh, thanks to the glorious highway ! We met up Rajesh Shet who was our guide on our last trip and since we were booked at Jungle Lodges and Resorts, Dandeli we moved on to Dandeli which is about 22 kms ahead of Bison Resort.
By now we were pretty hungry and the lunch at JLR was quite welcome. At the reception we ran into Mr Kamat and Shashidhar the naturalist. When I mentioned to Shashi that I wanted to do some bird photography and that I knew about the District Forest Office yard having a few nests..I got that ‘yeah..another dude” kinda look from Kamat 🙂 and at that instant I decide I didnt like him that much ..not that it mattered one bit!
Evening 4 PM and I was itching to get out wit my camera and Manju was knackered out solid and slept. While I stood on the jetty, Kamath trooped in with three couples for the coracle ride. I wished them and stood around looking for any photo ops. The river bank was flush with floating yellow leaves and that caught my interest.
I sneaked out with my camera with the 105VR lens to the coracle jetty by the river. When I pulled out the lens I realised I had forgotten the lens hood..grrr. There were these very pretty leaves on the water , all golden in the sweet evening light and I decided to do some arty stuff here. Leaves in water are a weakness of mine somehow! I also suddenly realised that I needed a Circular Polariser (CPL) for this kinda work. Though I did have a 77mm CPL I didnt have 77mm to 62mm converter to use on the 105 lens. Something I need to remember to get when I get back to Bombay.
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I grabbed some tea and then walked back to the room to wake up Manju. We sat down by the river to watch flights of Egrets flypast to their roosts. One Malabar Grey Hornbill flew in from across the river to roost in the trees on the JLR property itself. The light was dipping and I tried some slow shutter speed shots on the egrets flying past low over the water….hmm something I can do here I guess..so planned to think about how to execute tonight. The doc group returned from their coracle ride and it was here we got introduced over a nice cup of “chai”.
Day 2 — Of woodpeckers and Hornbills
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6 A. M we were ready and waiting to go to the District Forest Office Timber Yard . The Timber yard is home to whole bunch of birdies. I knew there was a Malabar Grey Hornbill nest for sure and we eagerly looked forward to see it. A short jeep ride into Dandeli town is where this timber yard is situated. Shashidhar our naturalist first got us to the Hornbill nest. Right next to this tree was another tree with a Barbets Nest and we had great views of the bird. We waited a while and then the Malabar Grey flew in, quickly fed the female inside the nest and flew away. After this, we decided to do a small walk around. Just as we turned into the trail behind the office we saw the Malabar Grey Hornbill again. Chase as I might..I just couldnt get a clean shot. So we walked on to some dilapidated buildings ( ex British Railway or Forest training buildings) which made good photography subjects in the glorious morning light.
As we came back to the road we crossed over to the otherside and discovered a Yellow Crowned Woodpeckers Nest. My day was made. I camped out here and tried to get a shot of both the male and the female. The nest was high up above and even with the 500mm the reach was lacking. Wish I had the 600 and I could use a TC too… Well..in any case I did get a few nice shots where I also used the flash with the better beamer as fill in. But, in the excitement of shooting at some point I lost concentration and did not use the flash as well as I should have. ..Grrr…something I must watch out for the next time !
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no images were found
Back at JLR we grabbed a quick breakfast and then headed out towards the waterbody to do some raptor watch. We had glorious views of the Scarlet Minivet, Grey Headed Fishing Eagle, Changable Hawk Eagle and a hovering Osprey. We also saw a forest wagtail, a real cutie of a bird. The gearhead that I am, the Camelbak Hydration pack we carried came in extremely handy during the walk and the all the docs were curious how we were able to wash it ! Now that was a very valid but, really funny question we thought !!! Of course you wash it like you wud wash any bottle ! Finally tired and thirsty we, returned to JLR in time for lunch.
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4 P.M we rolled in the jeep again to Ganeshgudi. The JLR Ganeshgudi is supposed to have good sightings of the Paradise Flycatcher and other birds. Rakesh Dhareshwar had caught a Blue Rock Thrush here and hence, it was a place we were looking forward to. We did see a whole bunch of birds but, including the hill mynah but, for me they were too far off to photograph.
By five we decided to hit the bridge across the river just downstream of the Supa dam. The Malabar Pied Hornbills were now flying upstream their roosting sites. I setup on the bridge to try some flight shots. Lots of hornbills flying upstream in batches and the light was just right ( from behind and the setting sun in the five ‘o’ clock position). The docs spotted a high flying raptor and yelled “Shaheen Falcon” . Unmistakable raptor with a black head and mustache. Since it was flying very high, and flew past rather quickly, all I got were a couple of blurry shots.
Dandeli, on the Ganeshgudi bridge. Great place in the evening where the Hornbills overfly to get to their roosting site. I got pretty bored of plain hornbill flight shots and, decided to wait for one guy to fly past some foliage. In the hurry when Manju my spotter, called out an approaching birdie, at that instant I was raked back at 190 mm trying to get a full roosting tree shot . While quickly lining up with the approaching target, I missed to extend the zoom back to full 500mm. I accquired early, tracked, (hornbills are great for AF systems cause of high contrast and size), shot a few off just before the guy dipped into the canopy and then when the target had got into the canopy zone, I gently squeezed of the shot and maintained the follow thru. 1/60, F8, ISO 400 with fill in flash and a Better Beamer attached, plus external Quantum 2×2 batt pack for the flash. The external batt pack gets really quick flash recycle times. I think the flash with the better beamer here has really helped to exposed the bird well, especially given the time of the day and, the low ambient light against the foliage. I think this is THE shot of the trip 🙂 Wish I got more of these, a little more often !!!
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no images were found
Two of the six docs, had to be at work the next day and left for Pune after dinner.
Day 3 — Dang cute ‘Peckers Peckers n More Peckers!
Six thirty we rolled out of JLR along with Shashidhar the naturalist to Kulgi village. Kulgi timber yard is a treasure trove of birdies especially them cute woodies. Right behind the timber yard is a watch tower by a water hole. We were able too see White rumped Munias, Paradise flycatchers, Blossom headed parakeets and a whole bunch of other birdies there. Try as I might, it was tough photographing the white rumped Munias. For all my effort I think I got just one passable shot of this bird. We sat it out in the watrr hone for a bit and then moved to the timber yard to spot a few woodies. The flameback woodpeckers were in action but, I was not able to shoot a good shot since for most parts these were against the light.
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no images were found
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no images were found
Soon, Shashi spotted a Pygmy Woodie in the compound next to the “statues”. The tiny birdie was high up and not still for a micro second. All the same, I managed to get a couple clicks of this birdie too.
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A leisurely breakfast and I started to download my pics on to the computer when we were called to quickly come out to see a Greater Flameback up real close scouting a nesting site. I hooked up the 70-200 with the TC 17 and was able to get a few nice shots of this birdie. I also tapped in a little flash since the bird was in dark shadow. A 500mm would have been better but, by the time I went back to the room to get it, the woodie had moved on. We waited patiently to photograph the resplendent male but, while the docs were able to spot him, we missed the sighting. Now I do need to plan for two bodies and two lenses and did I miss mentioning a sherpa to help carry the gear !!!
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no images were found
Evening at four, Manju and I got into the coracle for a ride downstream. Nothing special to watch here perhaps because, we were a little too early I guess. All we saw was a river crocodile sunning itself on an island.
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no images were found
Back at the resort, I tried some slow speed blur shots of egrets flying low over the water in very low light. Sitting on the banks of the Kali at JLR Dandeli we watched batches of egrets fly low over the water to their roosts. I made a few low shutter speed flash images which I thought were not bad.
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Day 4 — Gone on Trogon !…..Da “Trogon Effect”
The plan for the day was to snag the Malabar Grey hornbill on its nest and hence we headed back to the Timber Yard at the DCF office Dandeli. We waiteed for a while and then the male Malabar Grey Hornbill flew in with a lizard in its beak. I got just two shots off and one of them was passable since the focus is off just a tad. Very bad performance on my part here. This should have been a piece of cake. But hey, no worries I know what to do the next time ! While waiting for the Hornbill, an Indian Roller gave us super views. We then tried to snag a flight shot of this beauty but, the foliage prevented a clean shoty every time. The chase was very enjoyable and a little later we came across a “Shikra” and I got a few nice shots of this raptor. We also saw an Iguana in a hole in a tree. All in all a very productive morning.
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no images were found
Afternoon 2.30 PM we decided to leave early to catch some Paradise flycatchers at Ganeshgudi. On the way Shashi decide to take a quick look at a small stream bed kind of a gully at Bhurchi village. I just put on the 70-200 with the TC 17 and the flash on the camera without the better beamer since we were not expecting much…baad mistake as can be it was!
Shashi stumbled on the Blue bearded bee-eater a rare sighting. I treid to chase it but it was way too far. Then Shashi yelped Malabar Trogon ! Gawwd ..there was a pair sitting in great view. But by the time I got to Shashi and clicked , the male had flown away and I got the female trogon. One click and the female too ran into the bushes. Then began the desperate stalk and hunt in the gully. In two minutes I was pouring sweat and my breath was comin up short. But finally I did manage a few shots of the male trogon too. I ramped up the ISO to 800 since the bird was in complete shade and I wanteed to avoid camera shake. In retrospect I should have bracketed a few shots at lower ISO..but..well its a learning here and a had one at that! Although I had the flash, the batteries were a tad weak and did not light up the bird at that distance much. So I did get a few shots but, nothing great but all the same an extremely enjoyable and educative chase it was. We got lucky and also sighted a male and female paradise flycatcher. Maan..wish I had my 500 I would have got them both ! What pretty birds they were. Shashi said that he is sighting the Trogon after a span of two years! Ah..but then a good trogon and a good paradise flycatcher shot had to be some other time….
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no images were found
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Lesson: Be always prepared and with well charged batteries!
We then hit the Supa dam bridge at Ganeshgudi and went down to the rafting point. I got a few Malabar Pied Hornbill flight shots and we returned to the resort.
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At the resort, I tried the low shutter speed egrets over the water shots again with very pleasing results ! I imagined a slow speed painting like shot in my mind and set up a low low shutter speed along with a pan and a little flash too. It was 18.44 PM when I took this shot and well past dusk and into last light. Shot at 1/4th of a sec F8, ISO 800, panned with a tad of flash thrown in. I guess I am happy with the results !
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Day 5 — Off to Karwar….White Bellied Sea Eagles Beckon!
Early morning we went to another village close by and I got very good pics from a very co-operative Black Drongo.
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On the way back we also checked out the Dandeli Timber yard and snagged a Indian Roller shot with my knee as a bean bag, from the jeep. The electric cables that run parallel to the bridge over the Kali River next to the resort had a few Wire tailed swallows. I got a few good shots again with the 500mm and my knee as a support while sitting in the jeep.
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A hearty breakfast and I bid farewell to Shashi and headed the car towards Devbagh, Karwar.Karwar is just an hour and a half to two hour drive from Dandeli. We drove thru the Anshi National park but, being afternoon, not much bird activite was noticible. The road is pretty bad at places so had a rather bumpy ride into Karwar. At Karwar, I parked at the Forest Office and we transfered via a boat to the JLR Devbagh Resort.
A nice lunch and we were pleasantly surprised with a talk on birds by Karthik the chief naturalist of JLR. We also watched a super slide show with some class images by some of the top bird photographers in the region. I got chatting with Karthik and we decided to do the nature trail the next morning. For this evening Manju and I decided to explore the beach side. While walking north on the beach towards the village we spotted some White Bellied Sea Eagles on the tallest casurina trees. I marked the time and spot to get back the next day. Glorious light at 5 PM..hmm something to note.
Very Nice Collation and some great clicks.