Memories can be sweet and tantalizing, I was chasing them in the decision to visit Nandur Madhmeshwar again as we awoke from the paralyzing grip of the dreadful lock-down imposed due to the outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic in March 2020.
We had a very smooth drive, admiring salmon coloured flowers of Bombax that we saw only while climbing Kasara Ghat. Here I would be failing if I did not add that the number of birds on wire lines along the highway seemed meager. The situation improved as we left the Nasik-Aurangabad highway. We were happy to come upon a colony of streak-Throated swallows that had taken up residence on the center span at the side of a bridge crossing the Godavari at Saikheda.
It was at some point between Bhuse and Manjerwadi that google maps decided to take us for a painful ride over bad roads, lost for over an hour we tried the time old technique of asking for directions, this brought us to a place which is now officially the sanctuary entry a couple of kilometers away from the dam. As we turned into the side road that leads to the gate our spirits were elevated by a pair of Rock Bush Quails.
Much has changed from my last visit approximately twenty five years ago when we wandered about the area. Nandur- Madhmeshwar is now a Ramsar site (https://ramsar.org/). I remember it being a relatively dry year and we could walk into the bed upstream to the dam. Trudging over patches of slush covered with vegetation our shoes heavy with a stubborn load of muck. Our goal then was a large pool of water where plenty of waterfowl were peacefully going about the days business. Somewhere mid morning appeared a pair of Luggar falcons. This caused much excitement among the denizens of the pond and us. A memory that has been etched in my mind is that of the Luggar's climbing high into the sky before diving at the could be quarry, they repeated this again and again to no success as we spent more than an hour watching this battle between predator and prey.
Prior to that I had the opportunity of visiting this place in 1985 through a college field trip, we had stayed at the water works rest house which offered easy access. That year the area had good amount of water and birdlife was good.
The viewing gallery now has its entry point manned by the forest department through a regulated ticketing complex that has a little bit of accommodation and some snack places, a garden area with exotic trees that seems out of place.
In the footsteps of the Grand old man.
This entry point leads to a set of extensive pathways at the edge of this backwater formed by a dam on the Godavari at its confluence with one of its tributaries, the Darna. Watchtowers have been built at several places as observation points, these at the moment were engulfed by reed beds of Typha angustifolia ( Narrow leaf Cat-tail.). Stands of Acacia species line the pathways. Beyond this tiny ecosystem is a vast expanse of agricultural fields that at the moment were planted with Sugarcane, wheat, onion, vegetables. The sanctuary area is controlled by the forest department and an effort is being made for local participation with the people who have lost land to the sanctuary. The local boys have come together putting in effort to learn about the birds and present themselves as guides. They are actively wanting to involve other youngsters who had in the past spent time trying to bag a few birds with catapults.
The Machans overlook the vast expanse of water with small islands, floating reed beds and also artificially created stumps. We spent two sessions here. On the first day we decided to spend our time exclusively here though we were exhausted by the journey.We were rewarded by sightings of Paddy field warblers, Stone chats, and Red Munias in the reeds along the pathways, Little green bee-eaters were hawking insects. The watchtower elevated our spirits as we watched many species of Duck, cormorants, Teals, Egrets, swamp hens.
As we saw it!
While at the extreme right watchtower I recognized two ducks in flight as Pochard's which on looking at images turned out to be Red crested Pochard's. The habitat is ideal to catch Rails and crakes but being a weekend the noisy crowds did not help the cause. We did see many Marsh harriers both male and female and a lone Montagu's Harrier. An Osprey carrying a fish, most coincidentally happened to fly over at the point where a sign board along the path dispensed a note about the Ospreys habit of holding its prey with both talons head first, parallel along the path of its flight, making it easier for it to carry it.
The next morning we woke up at the basic accommodation provided by the forest department to the honking sounds of Common cranes as they made their way to the fields. We were told that Demoiselle cranes too were seen but we did not encounter any. The place overlooks a rocky area with pools of water where a Green sandpiper and a marsh sandpiper were feeding. A little while later three pied Kingfishers were out on the hunt and a few River terns flew by. Around the guest house Tailors, Blyths reed warblers, Purple sunbirds and common Chiffchaff flitted about. A squirrel had made a nest in a Acacia tree ( Introduced species).
We made our way towards the Madhmeshwar temple, in front of the temple on a rocky outcrop is a colony of Streak throated swallows, this was a spectacle I remembered from past visits and was extremely eager to catch. As we approached the area the sky was full of the little birds twittering as they flew, the electrical wires in the vicinity were full, scores of them would take to wing in unison, circle around and settle back. Below the temple in the rocky landscape of the river bed they have their nesting colonies, pottered mud structures like water flasks with open bottoms. The lowest only a few feet above the water. the swallows swoop in and out of them in tandem, like a well orchestrated show. We watched as scores of swallows descended onto the rocky shelf where small shallow pools of water had formed. Sitting at the edge of the pools they bathed and drank. Sights like these can keep one mesmerized but it was time for the birds to disperse for the days foraging and for us to move on till we could come back to witness this spectacle again.
Next we visited the canal and the dam itself, overlooking the confluence of the Godavari and the Darna. Flights of Ducks and cormorants were seen, some Yellow eyed babbler, shrikes, Blyths reed warbler moved about in the bushes as a Little blue kingfisher practiced his craft.
Thereon we visited a wooded area that lay in front of the waterworks guesthouse ( This is where I had stayed on earlier occasions). The place is full of old Vad trees and we were treated to sightings of orioles, drongoes, a female black headed redstart, white-eyes, Ioras, wagtails, Shrikes, Grey Tit, fantail flycatcher, common chiffchaff, Brahminy Mynah.
We then went back to the sanctuary viewing area with the hope of going to an area where we could avoid the crowds but did not succeed as the rains had inundated some areas of the path. We stuck around at one of the watchtowers and were rewarded with a few ferruginous duck, what surprised us was the numbers of Wigeon, these are beautiful birds where the male has a reddish head with a bright pink stripe climbing from beak to the crown of the head. Great numbers of Whistling teals were seen resting on the reed platforms.
Around five in the evening we decided to go around the sanctuary into the agricultural field area through a village called Chapadgaon ( The village where all the guides reside.) En route we bumped into three tortured Grey francolin who were desperately trying to cross the road to greener pastures on the other side. As we drove along mud roads between fields we were forced to stop a few times for trucks being loaded with sugarcane. We had some interesting conversations with some farmers about their crops ( there was a guy who had come to get his field cut and was working with Ford motors in Ahmedabad). At a place where a field was being watered we noticed some birds and to our surprise they turned out to be Ruffs! At another waiting point we were treated to a flight of Common cranes , few white necked storks and a Peregrine falcon that swiftly flew by.
Evening drew in swiftly and darkness descended, we had turned back when we suddenly saw the reflection of eyes in our headlights, a patient wait revealed two jackals that crossed and then backtracked trotting past us at a distance as they disappeared into the night.
Quite happy at the end of the day we dug into nice meal at a place at the entry of the sanctuary, we had lunched there earlier and found it pretty good.
Our plans for the next morning were messed up, we missed the show of the streaked swallows, pottered around and left back for Mumbai.
A point of disappointment was we did not encounter many butterflies neither species nor numbers.
A List of Birds Seen:
Grey Francolin
Rock Bush Quail
Indian Peafowl
Lesser Whistling Teal
Ruddy Shelduck
Cotton Teal
Gadwall
Eurasian Wigeon
Indian Spot-billed duck
Northern Shoveller
Garganey
Red Crested Pochard
Ferruginous Duck
Little Grebe
Painted Stork
Asian Openbill ( Not at Nandur)
White necked Stork
Black -Headed Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Eurasian Spoonbill
Black Crowned Night Heron
Indian Pond Heron
Grey Heron
Purple Heron
Cattle Egret
Great Egret
Intermediate Egret
Little Egret
Little Cormorant
Indian cormorant
Great Cormorant
Peregrine Falcon
Black Winged Kite
Black Kite
Osprey
Eurasian Marsh Harrier
Montagu's Harrier
Shikra
Purple Swamphen
Eurasian Coot
Common Crane
Pheasant Tailed jacana
Black Winged Stilt
Red Wattled Lapwing
Ruff
Marsh Sandpiper
Green Sandpiper
Common Sandpiper
River Tern
Whiskered Tern
Common Pigeon
Spotted Dove
Rose ringed Parakeet
Koel
Southern Coucal
Spotted Owlet
Palm Swift
Hoopoe
Indian Roller
White Throated Kingfisher
Little Blue kingfisher
Pied Kingfisher
Little Green Bee-eater
Coppersmith
Common Iora
Long Tailed Shrike
Ashy Drongo
Golden Oriole
White spotted fantail flycatcher
House crow
Jungle Crow
Great Tit
Wire Tailed swallow
Streak Throated swallow
Red rumped swallow
Ashy Crowned Finch Lark
Red Whiskered Bulbul
Red Vented Bulbul
Ashy prinia
Tailor Bird
Paddy Field Warbler
Blyths Reed Warbler
Common Chiffchaff
Greenish Warbler
Lesser Whitethroat
Common Mynah
Brahminy Starling
Magpie Robin
Indian Robin
Black Redstart
Brown Rock Chat
Common Stonechat
Pied Bushchat
Red Breasted Flycatcher
Pale Billed Flycatcher
Purple-rumped Sunbird
Purple Sunbird
House Sparrow
Baya Weaver
. Indian Silverbill
. Red Avadavat
Yellow Wagtail
.Citrine Wagtail
. White Wagtail
. White browed wagtail
. Tawny Pipit
Badruddin Ali Shagufta Ali Mohina Macker
Guides: Roshan, Pankaj, Omkar and others. ( mobile: 8806728883/8459801119)
With Omkar in the field.
We would be happy to recommend their services as we found them helpful at every level and quite knowledgeable.
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