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