Birding in Mumbai

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Phansad Wildlife Sanctuary

COMING SOON

by Dr. Vaibhav Deshmukh

Till then heres a few things about Phansad WS. Also check these old Trip Reports from

Habitat: Forest

Rating: 5

You can reach Phansad Wildlife Sanctuary (Raigad District) through two routes from Mumbai. Either you can travel south on the Mumbai-Goa National Highway and turn right at Nagothane towards Roha, continue further till Telekhar and turn left to get to the main entrance of the park near the Village of Supegaon; OR you could get to Alibaug and travel South along the coast through the beautiful Revdanda Fort and close to the Korlai Fort and along one of the most beautiful coastal roads around Mumbai on the road to Murud, a little after the famous Kashid beach turn left at Nandgaon to reach the Main Entrance.

Phansad is an extremely interesting for all nature lovers through out the year (though it might be quiet difficult in the rainy season). The forest is probably the only one where a lot of Western Ghat species can be seen so close to the coast.

Once at the Phansad Wildlife Sanctuary one has many options of sites within this great Sanctuary. I shall try and list a few of them below:

1. The Sacred Grove near Supegaon - a great place to see some birds that like to inhabit the fringe of the forest.

2. Chikhalgan and Phansadgan - these are perennial water sources and are also filled with life. Great places to observe Phansad's great Insect-Life (Also don't forget to watch out for the Malabar Giant Squirrels)

3. The Open Grasslands or Mals -the forest suddenly gives way to open grasslands in small pockets through most of the Sanctuary, these make great spots for seeing good fly-pasts and viewing Mammals (though mainly at night).

However, almost every spot in Phansad could reveal amazing species of Birds, Butterflies, Insects and Snakes so keep your eyes and hears constantly open.

Contributed by Sahil Latheef

Monday, January 31, 2005

TUNGARESHWAR Wildlife Sanctuary

COMING SOON
by Adesh Shivkar

Till then check his blog (http://addithebirde.blogspot.com) for trip reports from Tungareshwar @ the following links:

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Also check a trip report from Tungareshwar by Ashiwini Vaidya @ :

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Saturday, January 22, 2005

Birding Paradise - Uran

COMING SOON

by Adesh Shivkar

Till then check his blog (http://addithebirde.blogspot.com) for trip reports from Uran @ the following links:

And here's a few snaps of sites in Uran.

One of the most Productive birding spots in Uran is at this lake in front of the JNPT Police Station behind the JNPT Colony

Another view of the pond.

View from the Training Centre of the pond below and the beautiful coast.

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

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

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

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.