The Karnala Chronicles: A deep dive into our resident birds

 

Note: This was a day trip and we had 0 lifers. Unlike my ‘Namdapha, Mishmi, Dihing’ trip blogs I am mentioning every bird, not only lifers. I have been to Karnala 16 times before so I am experienced with the hotspot and know the bird micro-hotspots.

The Early Birds

As our car arrived at karnala we took the tickets and entered the sanctuary. We went in and immediately saw the Brown Cheeked Fulvetta even before we could glance a Bulbul on the Hariyal Trail. We took a few steps further and saw a White Bellied Drongo on a tree. While we were observing the Drongo an Indian Grey Hornbill flew overhead while calling relentlessly. While looking at the Fulvettas we saw a Black Naped Monarch female in the mix. Then after some walking we realized that there was a White Rumped Shama and we saw it while it tried to hide in the bushes right next to a dried stream. We then saw an Oriental Magpie Robin on the rocks of the dried stream.

The Deciduous Forests

As we entered Karnala’s pristine deciduous forest we were welcomed by the Southern Plains Grey Langur. They are relatively calm in comparison to Rhesus Macaques which you see around the entrance. In terms of birds, we first saw an Asian Green Bee Eater on a far-away perch. And after some walking we found an Orange Headed Thrush on a bare tree. Then after a bit more walking we found a Bronzed Drongo flying around on a tree. We decided to head towards Mortaka Trail and found nothing but a few Yellow Throated Sparrows (Chestnut Shouldered Petronias) on some bare branches and a few Red Vented Bulbuls along with multiple Red Whiskered Bulbuls.

The Watch Tower Trail

We started trekking downwards towards the Watch Tower but saw nothing on the way. While standing below the tower, at first glance there was nothing but after some looking, we found 4 Small Minivets (2 male, 2 female) rapidly moving around. we moved down until the mini dam and it was dried up. We still saw 2 Brown Headed Barbets darting through the canopy in flight. We also saw a Pale Billed Flowerpecker moving around. We saw nothing else and hiked back up. We entered a deciduous region of the trail and found a Southern Red Muntjac before encountering flock Golden Fronted Leafbirds and a Blandford’s Rock Agama. We then went on to see my only Karnala lifer of the trip (a bird I have not seen in Karnala) the Yellow Crowned Woodpecker (Maratha Woodpecker). Then in the same area we saw a Common Iora. Then we went to the pond and saw an Indian Pond Heron and noticed that a Crested Serpent Eagle was sitting on a bare tree trunk. We then saw a Black Hooded Oriole in flight. we noticed a raptor was flying over our head and we identified it as the Shikra.

On the way out, we had vada pav at the restaurant within the sanctuary. After that we exited the sanctuary and closed the list.

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