Karnala Bird Sanctuary

COMING SOON

by Venkat

Till then heres a few things about Karnala

Habitat type: Forest

Rating: 5

You can find this Bird Sanctuary while driving on the Mumbai-Goa Highway, almost half away between Panvel and Pen. At the peak of the Sanctuary is the Karnala Fort with its characteristic thumbs up look.

At this amazing Sanctuary you can expect a lot of birds especially forest species (check the list of some of the stars of Karnala below to get a good idea), However Karnala showed be done early in the morning before the highway passing through the sanctuary starts making too much noise and disturbing the birds. Karnala is also a good place for all those interested in Butterflies, Flora, Insects and (especially) Snakes. And besides being a great place for mild trekking it has another highlight in Rock-Climbing which happens at the pinnacle of the fort (But don�t try this if you don�t have proper equipments or knowledge of Rock-Climbing, a wrong move could be fatal) there are usually well trained teams who conduct this activity especially on Sundays and holidays during the good season.

There are two main trails/treks in the Sanctuary both starting at where used to be the caged birds (today mostly empty cages occupy this spot) -
1. Straight to the top and to the fort;
2. The other trail sticks to the lower portion of Hill and moves parallel to the Highway towards Pen.

View from the top of the hill

The following are some of the interesting species that have been spotted here - Peregrine Falco (Falco peregrinus), Red Spurfowl (Galloperdix spadicea), Pompadour Green Pigeon (Treron pompadora), Yellow-footed Green Pigeon (Treron phoenicoptera), Nilgiri Wood Pigeon (Columba elphinstonii), Malabar Parakeet (Psittacula columboides), Vernal Hanging Parrot (Loriculus vernalis), Blue-faced Malkoha (Phaenicophaeus viridirostris),Alpine Swift (Tachymarptis melba), Chestnut-headed Bee-eater (Merops leschenaultia), Common Hoopoe (Upupa epops), Malabar Grey Hornbill (Ocyceros griseus) -recorded in 1970s, Brown-capped Pygmy Woodpecker (Dendrocopos nanus), Hearts-spotted Woodpecker (Hemicircus canente), White-naped Woodpecker (Chrysocolaptes festivus), Eurasian Crag Martin (Hirundo rupestris), Black-naped Oriole (Oriolus chinensis), White-bellied Drongo (Dicrurus caerulescens), Bronzed Drongo (Dicrurus aeneus), Spangled Drongo (Dicrurus hottentottus), Greater Racket-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus paradiseus), Jungle Myna (Acridotheres fuscus), Large Cuckooshrike (Coracina macei), Ashy Minivet (Pericrocotus divaricatus), Puff-throated Babbler (Pellorneum ruficeps), Tickell�s Blue Flycatcher (Cyornis tickelliae), Verditer Flycatcher (Eumyias thalassina), White-browed Fantail (Rhipidura aureola), Asian Paradise-flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradise), Black-naped Monarch (Hypothymis azurea), White-rumped Shama (Copsychus malabaricus), Blue Rock Thrush (Monticola solitarius), Malabar Whistling Thrush (Myophonus horsfieldii), Eurasian Blackbird (Turdus merula Nigropileus).

Contributed by Sahil Latheef

Conservation Education Centre

COMING SOON

by Adesh Shivkar

Till then check his blog (http://addithebirde.blogspot.com) for trip reports from different parts of Mumbai.

Meanwhile heres a few things about CEC, Goregaon

Mumbai is very lucky to have the first* CEC of the country. Nestled in the BNHS Reserve Forest (which is a part of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park) it can be easily accessed from Mumbai's Film City in Goregaon.

[* - BNHS hopes to open such centres all over the country and is working towards this. The CEC in Delhi is the only other one that is already open, it is in the Asola Wildlife Sanctaury (Check one photo from there - HERE).]

CEC is a place were Nature Conservation is taken very Seriously. A dedicated team of Volunteers from all walks of life put in a lot of time and energy to explain to thousands of visitors every year the different aspect of our beloved forest - SGNP.

The main bulk of Visitors here comprise of School Children. The CEC also hosts other events and courses for those interested in making a contribution to Nature.

The building itself is a great design (especially looking at it from an environment point of view). Besides being very well lit and ventilated naturally it is also designed at different levels so as to maintain the actual contours of its surroundings.

CEC sits in what is known as the BNHS Reserve Forest. A portion of SGNP was donated to BNHS (for a fixed period of time) to conduct various studies to set up a Nature Awareness and Conservation Centre.

This patch of Forest offers many different trails and changes drastically with the seasons, making it one of the favourite spots of most experienced bird watchers in the city.

And lastly (for the time being) here's one more pic of the whole building.

Sanjay Gandhi National Park

COMING SOON

by Adesh Shivkar

Till then check his blog (http://addithebirde.blogspot.com) for trip reports from different parts of Mumbai.

Meanwhile heres a few photos from trails inside the Sanjay Gandhi National Park

The environment inside the park offers great relief to a lot of people from the fast paced draining life of this great Metropolis.

These photos were taken along one of the main roads inside the park.

Silonda Trail, SGNP

COMING SOON

by Adesh Shivkar

Till then check his blog (http://addithebirde.blogspot.com) for trip reports from different parts of Mumbai.

Meanwhile heres a few photos from Silonda trail

This has to be one of the best trails of the Park.

Silonda is absolutely enchanting during the Monsoons.

Vihar Lake, SGNP

COMING SOON

by Adesh Shivkar

Till then check his blog (http://addithebirde.blogspot.com) for trip reports from different parts of Mumbai.

Meanwhile heres a few photos of Vihar Lake.

Vihar is the biggest of the three lakes in and around SGNP.

A view of Vihar from a high point in Film City (outside SGNP).

En route to the Vihar Lake from CEC.

Nagla Block, SGNP

COMING SOON

by Amol Patwardhan

Till then heres a few photos from Nagla Block.


The forests of Nagla -north of the Vasai Creek- has a very different feel to those of the main SGNP Forest.

Near the Marine Interpretation Centre at the Vasai Creek, deep inside Nagla.

En route to the Marine Interpretation Centre

Kanheri Caves, SGNP

COMING SOON

by Adesh Shivkar

Till then check his blog (http://addithebirde.blogspot.com) for trip reports from different parts of Mumbai.

Meanwhile heres a few photos from trails near the famous Kanheri Caves

Image from top of the beautiful Rock-cut Kanheri Caves.

En route to the Highest Point

View from the highest point in SGNP, on a clear day all three lakes are visible.

The threats to this beautiful National Park because of Mumbai's sprawling Urbanity are clearly visible as one gains height within this forest.

Contributors

This website would not have been possible without the Contributions of these dedicated Nature Lovers of Mumbai.

• Adesh Shivkar (adeshshivkar@yahoo.com)
• Amol Patwardhan (amolppatwardhan@yahoo.com)
• Ashwini Vaidya (ashwini.vaidya@gmail.com)
• Shashank Dalvi (shashank_bmrb58@yahoo.com)
• Dr. Tarin Mithel (tarinmithel@yahoo.co.uk)
• Dr. Vaibhav Deshmukh (drvaibhav@gmail.com)
• Venkat (Vk_venkat@yahoo.com)
• Vidya Rao (naturelovervidya@yahoo.com)

Links to Blogs/Albums

With the explosion of Digital Cameras and Internet it has become very easy for people to share the experience of the wild all over the world. And we in Mumbai have not been left far behind. Here are some links to some of the interesting Blogs and Online Photo Albums.

Nature Blogs/Photos (Mumbai Related):

• Addi the Birdie's Birding Blog
• Vidya Rao - Links to her Blogs
• Alka Vaidya's Nature Page
• Mandar Khadilkar's Birding Blog
• Dr.Sangeeta Dhanuka's Albums
• Ravi Vaidya's Albums
  
• Sahil's Online Album of BNHS Trails
• Nature Watching with Sahil

If you would like to add your blog/ Online Album to this list please send an mail to sahil.latheef@gmail.com

And here's some from other parts of India:

• Kousik.blogspot
• Raj shekar's Blog
  

Nature Links - INDIA

Here's some interesting links on Nature India

• Wild India
• Bird Spot 3.5 (A software to keep track of your bird sightings)
  
• An amazing website of Indian Birds
• A website on Indian Butterflies
• Another website on Indian Butterflies
• A website on Indian Dragonflies
• The Jungle Look
  

And here's some region specific websites on Nature India:

• Birds of Kolkata
• Delhi Birds
• Nagpur Birds
  
• Birds of Kerala
• Birds of Kashmir