McMadd
You should see the other bloke...
As some will know I've been working in Kolkata since early February. Birding has been largely confined to weekends plus one trip to Manas National Park in N Central Assam over the easter weekend.
Due to poor planning on my part coupled with Manas-based drivers not knowing their way around Guwahati I managed not to see Greater Adjutant on that weekend...
Given I was still in Kolkata for another couple of weeks it seemed sensible to look at a filthy twitching hit 'n' run to Guwahati to pick this global threatened species up...far easier than investing time and money in coming all the way back from northern Europe...
As things turned out, it was a highly successful day-trip and I thought I'd write this short note for any other birders whose work brings them out this way.
Arriving in Guwahati the site for the storks is a rubbish dump adjacent to the Deepor Beel Bird Sanctuary, a protected wetland (or so they say...seems the story is more complicated as always and g**gl* (or any other search engine) is your friend investigating that...
Low-cost travel is plentiful and Kolkata airport has several carriers operating flights that suit the filthy twitcher. My itinerary was as follows:
0600: alarm, up, shower and pack bins, camera and snacks
0700: breakfast
0745: hotel car to Kolkata airport
0930: SpiceJet (with mandatory Spice Girls) flight to Guwahati
1030: arrival and buy car and driver for the day (buggers wouldn't do half day but at €20 I couldn't be bothered to bargain)
1200: Greater Adjutant (c.200 so 1/5 world population) safely ticked with bonus Lesser Whistling-duck tick and loads of egrets, Purple Herons, cracking Citrine Wagtails and some Whiskered Terns as back-up
1330: back at airport and earlier flight bought (for a modest €50....)
1510: leave Guwahai
1610: arrive Kolkata, call hotel from plane to send car and driver
1630: back "home"
1700: switch on WHU vs Spurs...c'mon Fat Sam...get your 'ammers to give us a win! (They did and then the red half of Manchester decided no european football needed next season plus a helping hand to former team-mates Utility O'Shea and Baked Bean Brown was in order...roll on the total football revolution...)
As with all Indian airports, only travellers even get inside the terminal so, showing my passport and a printed copy of my flights schedule (very necessary to have printed copies) I quickly checked in and passed through security. It's also a requirement that all cabin baggage is tagged at check-in desk and that tag is stamped by security along with your boarding pass. These are checked at the boarding gate and any bag with no tag doesn't get on the flight!
SpiceJet was on time, friendly and efficient. I landed at Guwhati slightly ahead of schedule and once inside the terminal building found myself the pre-paid taxi booth: it's one of several such offices inside the building most of the rest being assorted tour firms selling you a package. A short discussion ensued about where I wished to travel and they insisted I needed a full day hire due to time and destination. I'd be tempted to try negotiating a half-day cost but at 1600 INR (= €19 = £16) I wasn't about to waste birding time arguing the toss! Main thing was that the car driver knew where he was going, spoke some English and that the car had air-con and working seatbelts.
In reality, Deepor Beel is immediately adjacent to the airport so a very short journey brings you to this large wetland where local people work alongside a host of birdlife.
The site for the Greater Adjutant is the rubbish dump at Boragoan. It's worth stopping at the Deepor Beel Bird Sanctuary reserve building if you happen on a driver who isn't sure. From there looking east along the water you can see a box-girder railway bridge and the stork were visible in the air just beyond it...in fact the adjutants were adjacent to the lake!
My driver found a rough track leading to an organic vegetable farm of some description close to the railway bridge and we easily gained access to walk and drive closer to the dump. This was successful in that we didn't need to enter the dump to see the storks and avoided intruding on the people trying to eke a living from the rubbish deposited at the dump. That meant not getting “classic” photos of the “rag pickers” and storks alongside each other but I also didn't diminish their dignity any more than it must already be.
In this wetland area Eastern Cattle and Great Egret were common. One or two Purple Heron were visible; some close Lesser Adjutant stood around doing not much and good numbers of cracking Citrine Wagtails skittered around. The main attraction was a flock of c.100 Greater Adjutants loafing in the wetland. More were in the sky and more still on the roof of some buildings associated with the rubbish tip.
With rain in the air and having had my fill of a bird that even a mother would struggle to love on looks we drove back to the visitor centre where I added Lesser Whistling-duck as a lifer. They were visible in good numbers across the water. Also seen were more smart Citrine Wagtails and some dapper Whiskered Terns.
With the weather turning rainy I took the decision to curtail the days activities and we headed back to the airport where I was able to change my flight to the 1510 departure. This cost me an extra €50 or so but as a treat to myself I felt it worthwhile (and it neatly continued the Shanghai birders tradition of never travelling on the first-booked return flight whenever the opportunity for messing about offers itself!)
So, all in all, a comfortable day out easily achieved by a weekend birder based in Kolkata.
Species Seen
Little Grebe
Little Cormorant
Purple Heron
Great White Egret
Intermediate Egret
Cattle Egret
Indian Pond-heron
Asian Openbill
Lesser Adjutant
Greater Adjutant
Lesser Whistling-duck
Black Kite
White-breasted Waterhen
Pheasant-tailed Jacana
Red-wattled Lapwing
Whiskered Tern
Common Koel
Little Green Bee-eater
Barn Swallow
Paddyfield Pipit
Citrine Wagtail
Great Tit
Black Drongo
House Crow
Asian Pied Starling
Common Myna
House Sparrow
Black-breasted Weaver
Useful Links
Birdlife Factsheet: Greater Adjutant:
http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3842
Airline websites:
http://www.spicejet.com/?gclid=CIfArfa7kb4CFRCTjgodLmgAwg
https://book.goindigo.in/?gclid=CJvlz428kb4CFQ-TjgodkmUAmQ
http://www.jetairways.com/EN/IN/Home.aspx?gclid=CJ3A-5q8kb4CFUcqjgodxRIAvQ
Deepor Beel / Bil Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipor_Bil
Due to poor planning on my part coupled with Manas-based drivers not knowing their way around Guwahati I managed not to see Greater Adjutant on that weekend...
Given I was still in Kolkata for another couple of weeks it seemed sensible to look at a filthy twitching hit 'n' run to Guwahati to pick this global threatened species up...far easier than investing time and money in coming all the way back from northern Europe...
As things turned out, it was a highly successful day-trip and I thought I'd write this short note for any other birders whose work brings them out this way.
Arriving in Guwahati the site for the storks is a rubbish dump adjacent to the Deepor Beel Bird Sanctuary, a protected wetland (or so they say...seems the story is more complicated as always and g**gl* (or any other search engine) is your friend investigating that...
Low-cost travel is plentiful and Kolkata airport has several carriers operating flights that suit the filthy twitcher. My itinerary was as follows:
0600: alarm, up, shower and pack bins, camera and snacks
0700: breakfast
0745: hotel car to Kolkata airport
0930: SpiceJet (with mandatory Spice Girls) flight to Guwahati
1030: arrival and buy car and driver for the day (buggers wouldn't do half day but at €20 I couldn't be bothered to bargain)
1200: Greater Adjutant (c.200 so 1/5 world population) safely ticked with bonus Lesser Whistling-duck tick and loads of egrets, Purple Herons, cracking Citrine Wagtails and some Whiskered Terns as back-up
1330: back at airport and earlier flight bought (for a modest €50....)
1510: leave Guwahai
1610: arrive Kolkata, call hotel from plane to send car and driver
1630: back "home"
1700: switch on WHU vs Spurs...c'mon Fat Sam...get your 'ammers to give us a win! (They did and then the red half of Manchester decided no european football needed next season plus a helping hand to former team-mates Utility O'Shea and Baked Bean Brown was in order...roll on the total football revolution...)
As with all Indian airports, only travellers even get inside the terminal so, showing my passport and a printed copy of my flights schedule (very necessary to have printed copies) I quickly checked in and passed through security. It's also a requirement that all cabin baggage is tagged at check-in desk and that tag is stamped by security along with your boarding pass. These are checked at the boarding gate and any bag with no tag doesn't get on the flight!
SpiceJet was on time, friendly and efficient. I landed at Guwhati slightly ahead of schedule and once inside the terminal building found myself the pre-paid taxi booth: it's one of several such offices inside the building most of the rest being assorted tour firms selling you a package. A short discussion ensued about where I wished to travel and they insisted I needed a full day hire due to time and destination. I'd be tempted to try negotiating a half-day cost but at 1600 INR (= €19 = £16) I wasn't about to waste birding time arguing the toss! Main thing was that the car driver knew where he was going, spoke some English and that the car had air-con and working seatbelts.
In reality, Deepor Beel is immediately adjacent to the airport so a very short journey brings you to this large wetland where local people work alongside a host of birdlife.
The site for the Greater Adjutant is the rubbish dump at Boragoan. It's worth stopping at the Deepor Beel Bird Sanctuary reserve building if you happen on a driver who isn't sure. From there looking east along the water you can see a box-girder railway bridge and the stork were visible in the air just beyond it...in fact the adjutants were adjacent to the lake!
My driver found a rough track leading to an organic vegetable farm of some description close to the railway bridge and we easily gained access to walk and drive closer to the dump. This was successful in that we didn't need to enter the dump to see the storks and avoided intruding on the people trying to eke a living from the rubbish deposited at the dump. That meant not getting “classic” photos of the “rag pickers” and storks alongside each other but I also didn't diminish their dignity any more than it must already be.
In this wetland area Eastern Cattle and Great Egret were common. One or two Purple Heron were visible; some close Lesser Adjutant stood around doing not much and good numbers of cracking Citrine Wagtails skittered around. The main attraction was a flock of c.100 Greater Adjutants loafing in the wetland. More were in the sky and more still on the roof of some buildings associated with the rubbish tip.
With rain in the air and having had my fill of a bird that even a mother would struggle to love on looks we drove back to the visitor centre where I added Lesser Whistling-duck as a lifer. They were visible in good numbers across the water. Also seen were more smart Citrine Wagtails and some dapper Whiskered Terns.
With the weather turning rainy I took the decision to curtail the days activities and we headed back to the airport where I was able to change my flight to the 1510 departure. This cost me an extra €50 or so but as a treat to myself I felt it worthwhile (and it neatly continued the Shanghai birders tradition of never travelling on the first-booked return flight whenever the opportunity for messing about offers itself!)
So, all in all, a comfortable day out easily achieved by a weekend birder based in Kolkata.
Species Seen
Little Grebe
Little Cormorant
Purple Heron
Great White Egret
Intermediate Egret
Cattle Egret
Indian Pond-heron
Asian Openbill
Lesser Adjutant
Greater Adjutant
Lesser Whistling-duck
Black Kite
White-breasted Waterhen
Pheasant-tailed Jacana
Red-wattled Lapwing
Whiskered Tern
Common Koel
Little Green Bee-eater
Barn Swallow
Paddyfield Pipit
Citrine Wagtail
Great Tit
Black Drongo
House Crow
Asian Pied Starling
Common Myna
House Sparrow
Black-breasted Weaver
Useful Links
Birdlife Factsheet: Greater Adjutant:
http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3842
Airline websites:
http://www.spicejet.com/?gclid=CIfArfa7kb4CFRCTjgodLmgAwg
https://book.goindigo.in/?gclid=CJvlz428kb4CFQ-TjgodkmUAmQ
http://www.jetairways.com/EN/IN/Home.aspx?gclid=CJ3A-5q8kb4CFUcqjgodxRIAvQ
Deepor Beel / Bil Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipor_Bil
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