Haji Malang: Grassland birding near Mumbai

This is our 59th birding trail. We have been birding since Nov-2021. 

Recently, we registered for a birding trail to Haji Malang with Jungle Buddies, which is run by Prathamesh Desai, a veteran birder. Our trail was set for the morning of 11th Sep. 

We woke up at 5AM and took the local train to Dombivali which arrived at 6:30AM. We were met by rest of the group at the station. Our tour leader Rajesh Poojary had organized a vehicle to take the group to starting point. It was a small group of 5 birders+tour leader.

We are nearing the end of monsoons here and the weather prediction was hazy but without rain. End of monsoons is a good time to see resident birds as they are breeding. As we drove towards Haji Malang, it was indeed cloudy with lot of haze. It took us 45 minutes to reach our starting point, a temple in the village of Kharad.

Despite poor weather, we were not dissapointed. As soon as we reached, we could hear the shrill call of Painted Francolin from nearby. This time of the year is a good time to search for painted Francolin. Its a shy bird so it took us some effort to find it. Another interesting first for us was Zitting Cisticola, flying up and down, because it had a weak flight. A black winged kite caught our interest as it hovered to hunt. Unluckily for the bird, the hunt was unsuccesful this time.

During the trail, saw Baya Weaver, Zitting Cisticola, Painted Francolin, Red Avadavat, Scaly Breasted Munia, Black Breasted Weaver, Small Blue Kingfisher, Cinnamon Bittern and a few more birds. We also heard Spotted Owlet.

Haji Malang is a mixed habitat of grassland and farmland, surrounded by hills. The trails were muddy and we had to step through small streams of water criss-crossing the trails.

We spent a total of 2 hours birding in the area. Rajesh then took us for a short ride to see other birds in the area but we didn't find anything. We got back to Dombivali station by 1030AM and caught the local back to our home.

eBird list here

Abir Sharma

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