2014-12-25 Kavdi

I had not been to a long birding trip for almost 6months as was stuck in some office work.
So when Ritesh suggested a trip to Bhigwan I immediately caught the opportunity.

We sketched out a plan to do some more birding spots on the way.

The plan was for 2 days.

Day1 (25th Dec 2014)

• Early morning Mumbai to Kavdi (10km from Hadapsar very near pune)
• Then proceed to bhigwan for second part of the session

Day2 (26th Dec 2014)

• Early morning session in Bhigwan
• Afternoon session at Mayureshwar wildlife sanctuary

25th Dec 2014 - Mumbai to Kavdi (160km)
We started at 4:30am from Mumbai (near Mankhurd) and reached Kavdi at 7am.
The sun had not yet come out but there was enough light to start birding.

Immediately we started seeing the regulars.
Pied bushchat pairs 2-3, Red Munias - 10+, Red vented bulbul - 10+.

At the village where there is a cow shade we were searching for the bank mynas.
While doing so we saw many other birds.
Eurasian Wryneck
Fantail flycathcer
Green beeeater
Greater Coucal
Red whiskered bulbul
Jungle myna
Ashy Prinia
Rosefinch
Blyths reed warbler

Ashy Prinia

Greater Coucal

Red Whiskered Bulbul

Near the river just besides the temple there was black drongo sitting on a pole fishing out insects from a cow dung pile near by. It seemed it was so used to humans that someone could take a picture using his mobile camera from 2feet away from the drongo.

Black Drongo

Black Drongo

Also there were white and yellow wagtails fishing for insects.

Yellow Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail

White Wagtail

White Wagtail

White Wagtail

While photographing these a maginficient bird came flying and sat on the tree nearby us.
It was the Hooppoe with its crested fluffed. It then started foraging on the ground.

Common Hooppoe

On the far side near the fence were a chiffchaff, ashy prinia, green beeeater and red breated flycatcher.

Ashy Prinia

Green Beeeater

Green Beeeater

Green Beeater

After having our heart full of photographing these we went down to the river and got some more shots of the white wagtail. Among these were also a little ringed plover, common sandpiper and a paddy field pipit.

Little Ringed Plover	Common Sandpiper
Paddyfield Pipit

At the center of the river on the islands there were plenty of water birds
River terns 25+
Brahminy shelduck 5+ pairs
Common Snipes 10+
Norther shoveller
Spot billed ducks
Gargeney duck
Common Teal
Little grebe
Little cormorant

River tern, Northern Shoveller, Black winged Stilt and Red Wattled Lapwing

Little Grebe

Common Teal (Female)

Northern Shoveller (Male)

2 marsh harriers were distrurbing these birds time and again.

Overall it was a fantastic birding session along with some photography.

It was already 11am when we started back. So we decided not to do bhuleshwar but instead have a brunch and move towards Bhigwan.

Read about Session at Bhigwan here