Kille Gaothan July 2008

Kille Gaothan is a a small village at Belapur on the palm beach road.
To get there Belapur station is a nearby station connected by harbour line to CST.
From Belapur station you get autorikshaws till the palm beach from where it is just a 2 min walk.

Now there are lot of new complexes that have come up though the remanants of the old the fort.


But the road leading from here to the CIDCO guest house is full of bird activities.

At the palm beach road itself there are tall grasses in which most of the grassland birds could be seen. Reaching there immediately we got the view of the scaly breasted munias and a baya weaver pair.


Soon after a flock of Red Munia came a settled in the grasses at the back.
Few birders also saw a white breasted water hen.

A juvenile White Breasted Kingfisher was sitting on a fence. It was posing very nicely and giving us ample opportunity to photograph this.
Note the yellow at the tip of the beak and the black beak as compared to the red of the adult.



There were also Jezebel and Common Eggfly flying around.
We had 2 very good bird experts and very keen observers from whom there are lot of things to learn, Mr Julius and Adesh.

Saw the nests of
Pied startling which is like a very shabby collection of twigs and grass and other one which was of a shape of a honey bee comb.

Crimson sunbird nest which is like just a few grass blades hanging at the edge of a branch and

A beautifully stitched leaf of a tailor bird.

Indian robin could be seen hoping on the ground.


The common birds seen were the red vented bulbul, red whiskered bulbul, tailor bird, Fantail flycatcher.
On the way to MIDC guest house we also came across a group a Jungle Babblers.


Also saw a Night heron with very good plumes.

At the end of the road before the guest house is a college building whose other end wall looks over the grassland below and the creek on the other side.
There we could witness the acrobatics of the Brahminy kite.


A garden lizard crossed the road and climbed over a tree and gave a good pose.


On the way back the white breasted Kingfisher was still there and got some good snaps.