26th Jan 2016 found me heading towards Sinhagad Valley for the birds and to make the most of my brother's telephoto lens that I had borrowed. With winter upon us, this is the peak time for birding as many Migratory birds from the Himalayan region as well as Europe come to the Indian subcontinent to escape the harsh winter.
Most birders from Pune visit Sinhagad for the elusive Asian Paradise Flycatcher (APF) Male with its prisitine white long tail. It is the prize catch for any self respecting birder in Pune. In my past two birding trips to Sinhagad I had only got a glimpse of the female and did not carry much hopes.
As I walked towards the narrow dried up stream the place was occupied by a lot of birders positioned with their tripods waiting for sunlight to hit the water puddle area where some twigs and man made perches had been setup. I preferred walking around and planned to go into the valley and check the interiors before coming to this spot. Immediately spotted the Long tailed shrike and a Black Drongo. A white breasted King Fisher had a frog in its beak and was about to devour it for a sumptuous breakfast. The light was not enough for capturing the moment. A Paddy field Pipit was flitting around tempting me to take its picture while an Ashy Prinia foraged in the shrubs below. A male Indian Robin had plumped itself up and seemed different at first glance, made its way across the bushes into the fields. Yellow throated Sparrows (Chestnut shouldered Petronia) were aplenty and flew together away when I made my way across the fields. A local was coming across with a group of buffaloes and their bells tinkling added to the singing of the birds all around. I let them pass and made my way around, back to the birding studio. The Verditer Flycatcher was already posing for the photographers while I spotted a Female APF as well. It seemed to be a lucky day as this female APF, Oriental White Eyes and Bulbuls made their way to take a water sip from the puddle in the dried up stream. The clicks from the cameras around me were firing away like AK-47's.
A Rufous APF Male was also spotted but did not bless us on the perch. This indeed seemed to be a lucky day. It was almost 9:30 and some of the crowd dispersed. Some persisted and I made my way to an empty spot. And guess what - the White Male APF decided to gift us a special republic day. In all its glory there he was about 12 feet away from me in the shadows. The air was filled with the collective gasp of all the birders and then the familiar gunshots of the shutter. I joined the trigger happy crowd and prayed that I get a sharp shot. The bird shook itself with the long 30 inch tail waving like a ribbon it was Paradise in Sinhagad as we stood ground and waited for more. He took a dip in the pool and went back to another perch.
A full minute of his presence and he had enough. He went into the foliage never to come back again. The female was still around and a few Brahminy Mynas came down as well.
I decided to take a walk back into the Valley and saw the White browed Fantail. This is a very hyper active bird and difficult to shoot as I attempted some shots. A Pied Buschat was perched atop a hay stack and posed for me. As I made my way back a Rufous Male APF flew past me. Luck could not have got any better. I followed him but the Male is always very elusive and I managed to get a record shot of him. I was now thirsty and hungry as well it was past 10 am and getting hotter. There was a small bird behind a leaf I gambled with a long shot of this bird which turned out to be a Male Red breasted fly catcher. Another Lifer for me as I made my way back to the eating shacks where my car was parked. I glanced up in the sky and saw two Crested Serpent Eagles riding the thermals and soaring higher and higher. Too far to get a good shot and I started the drive back.
Birding was far from over as a stop at Khadakvasla lake gave me a nice shot of the White breasted Kingfisher and some Indian Spot Billed Ducks. A horde of River Terns with these ducks were Roosting on a shallow island in the middle of the water while Common Coots were swimming effortlessly. With the Binoculars, I also spotted a Male Northern Shoveller and a few Red Wattled Lapwings in the middle of the crowd. Some Egrets were meditating in the groves near the shore while a White Breasted Water Hen hurried for cover as I walked along the mud track back to the car into the traffic to get me home. I made the count of birds, it was just around 27 birds close to the special date of 26th Jan. A very satisfying birding day out !
Directions to reach there - Walk till the start of the Trek point at the base of Sinhagad fort. Take left before the last eating shack, where two wheelers are parked and the concrete road ends. On this trail look out to your left and see a dried up stream below and lot of tripods with humans waiting for the birds. This is the bird studio :-). One can keep walking on the trail into the inside of the valley. The sun starts lighting up the valley and gives ample photo-ops for bird photographers.
The bird list below and some more photos at this link
Plum headed Parakeet (Male and Female)
Ashy Prinia
Black Drongo
Pied Buschat
Red breasted Fly Catcher (Male and female)
Oriental White Eye
Purple Sunbird
Yellow Throated Sparrow
Asian Paradise Flycatcher Male / Rufous Male / Female
Verditer Fly Catcher (Male and female)
Fantail -White Browed
Paddyfield Pipit
Red Vented Bulbul
Red Whiskered Bulbul
Crested Serpent Eagle
Indian Robin (Male and female)
oriental Magpie robin
White Breasted Kingfisher
Yellow Spot Billed duck
Commom Coot
Northern Shoveller Male
Intermediate Egret
Cattle Egret
Cormorant (Indian or Little ? )
White Breasted Water Hen
River Terns
Brahminy Myna
Common Iora
Red Wattled Lapwing
Long Tailed Shrike
Most birders from Pune visit Sinhagad for the elusive Asian Paradise Flycatcher (APF) Male with its prisitine white long tail. It is the prize catch for any self respecting birder in Pune. In my past two birding trips to Sinhagad I had only got a glimpse of the female and did not carry much hopes.
As I walked towards the narrow dried up stream the place was occupied by a lot of birders positioned with their tripods waiting for sunlight to hit the water puddle area where some twigs and man made perches had been setup. I preferred walking around and planned to go into the valley and check the interiors before coming to this spot. Immediately spotted the Long tailed shrike and a Black Drongo. A white breasted King Fisher had a frog in its beak and was about to devour it for a sumptuous breakfast. The light was not enough for capturing the moment. A Paddy field Pipit was flitting around tempting me to take its picture while an Ashy Prinia foraged in the shrubs below. A male Indian Robin had plumped itself up and seemed different at first glance, made its way across the bushes into the fields. Yellow throated Sparrows (Chestnut shouldered Petronia) were aplenty and flew together away when I made my way across the fields. A local was coming across with a group of buffaloes and their bells tinkling added to the singing of the birds all around. I let them pass and made my way around, back to the birding studio. The Verditer Flycatcher was already posing for the photographers while I spotted a Female APF as well. It seemed to be a lucky day as this female APF, Oriental White Eyes and Bulbuls made their way to take a water sip from the puddle in the dried up stream. The clicks from the cameras around me were firing away like AK-47's.
 |
| APF Male |
A full minute of his presence and he had enough. He went into the foliage never to come back again. The female was still around and a few Brahminy Mynas came down as well.
 |
| APF Rufous Male |
 |
| Red Breasted Flycatcher (Male) |
Directions to reach there - Walk till the start of the Trek point at the base of Sinhagad fort. Take left before the last eating shack, where two wheelers are parked and the concrete road ends. On this trail look out to your left and see a dried up stream below and lot of tripods with humans waiting for the birds. This is the bird studio :-). One can keep walking on the trail into the inside of the valley. The sun starts lighting up the valley and gives ample photo-ops for bird photographers.
The bird list below and some more photos at this link
Plum headed Parakeet (Male and Female)
Ashy Prinia
Black Drongo
Pied Buschat
Red breasted Fly Catcher (Male and female)
Oriental White Eye
Purple Sunbird
Yellow Throated Sparrow
Asian Paradise Flycatcher Male / Rufous Male / Female
Verditer Fly Catcher (Male and female)
Fantail -White Browed
Paddyfield Pipit
Red Vented Bulbul
Red Whiskered Bulbul
Crested Serpent Eagle
Indian Robin (Male and female)
oriental Magpie robin
White Breasted Kingfisher
Yellow Spot Billed duck
Commom Coot
Northern Shoveller Male
Intermediate Egret
Cattle Egret
Cormorant (Indian or Little ? )
White Breasted Water Hen
River Terns
Brahminy Myna
Common Iora
Red Wattled Lapwing
Long Tailed Shrike
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