Belated Post - Goa, Nov '07 Part 1

Whilst rummaging around in a drawer at home, I came across 2 CD's full of photos from Goa from 2007, when I spent 2 weeks there in November with the Fray and Mental Dave.

Indian Pitta

Black Eagle

Black-shouldered Kite

Blue-tailed Bee-eater

Cinnamon Bittern

 

Collared Kingfisher

Chestnut-shouldered Petronia

Grey Nightjar

Heart-spotted Woodpecker

Jungle Owlet

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lava - The Pipeline Trail

I did start off to do the lower Jeep trail, but to get down to it involved a one mile 45 degree path and if I climbed down that way I would only have to come up again later in the day, and I’m not sure that I could have made it! I did go down the first few hundred steps and then I came across the pipeline trail so took that instead.
Birding was pretty slow but steady with a perched up Black Eagle, 2 Little Pied Flycatchers, a sizeable flock of around 140 Himalayan Swiftlets, 6 Short-billed Minivets, 2 Blue-fronted Redstarts, 2 Red-billed Leiothrix, a huge feeding party of 400+ Whiskered and Rufous-vented Yuhinas, 2 Blue Whistling Thrushes, 14 Striated Bulbuls, 10 White-throated Laughingthrush, 1 Verditer Flycatcher, 1 Fire-tailed Sunbird and a Red-flanked Bluetail. But 'bird of the day' must go to a White-gorgeted Flycatcher that was doing it's thing in some really dense undergrowth, it was fly catching like a typical Flycatcher, but it all took place less than a foot off the ground and it's catching jaunts were sometimes just a matter of inches.
The only other thing of note was a single Indian Muntjac.



Black Eagle

Indian Muntjac

Little Pied Flycatcher

Short-billed Minivet

Whiskered Yuhina

The Pipeline Trail

Lava Lava

Arrived in Lava just after lunch and settled into the New Yankee Resort – it sounds more elegant than it is, it's basically 3 posh sheds stuck to the hillside. I know that birding on the Lava-Kalimpong road is supposed to be best in the morning, but I thought I would give it a go anyway and got a taxi up to the 4km post. I did a nice slow walk back down the road into Lava, picking up 2 Black Eagles, 40 Chestnut-crowned Warblers, 60 Whiskered Yuhina, 20 Rufous Sibia and 2 Fire-tailed Sunbirds on the way. It looks like there is a road widening scheme going on at the moment and all the spoil has been dumped in the 4km gully – this is the gully that all the trip reports say contains Blue-fronted Robin – it doesn't look like it will now!

Black Eagle

Rufous Sibia

Whiskered Yuhina

A couple of views from Lava