Karnala and TS Chanakya: Birding in a Lively Forest vs Birding in a City Wetland

 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 17 times and TS Chanakya 9 times before so I am experienced with the hotspots and know the bird micro-hotspots. In TS Chanakya we only tried to scan through flocks of waders and did not try to find other birds like both the species of Crake.

Karnala Bird Sanctuary

As it was raining in Mumbai and we had a plan to go to TS Chanakya for the waders in full breeding plumage. But because of the rain we decided it was a better option to go to Karnala first and then go to TS Chanakya in the afternoon because most waders stay during the afternoon. At Karnala, we first went to the Hariyal trail where we were immediately greeted by Southern Plains Grey Langurs and went on a bit further. We stuck around for some time where flocks of Brown Cheeked Fulvettas cross and eventually found some along with a Common Iora. We continued on the trail to eventually hear barking noises. We were in utter confusion as there are no dogs in the sanctuary but it turned out to be a Southern Red Muntjac which we identified as we saw the animal running away. We later heard an Indian Pitta which we were not able to see and saw a Greater Coucal. We then headed to the sanctuary’s only water source and immediately found an Indian Pond Heron and Red Wattled Lapwing. Then while looking at a tree we found an Asian Green Bee Eater and we saw it in TS Chanakya too. Then we saw a few Black Drongos on a dry branch. We then looked at the pond again and saw a White Breasted Waterhen slowly walking out of the reeds which was a surprise as this is the first time that I have seen a Waterhen at Karnala. we then ended up hearing a Crow like call but it was repetitive. We then looked up towards a dry tree stump and saw a Rufous Treepie trying to scare a Crested Serpent Eagle away. Maybe because the Treepie had a nest and evaluated that the Serpent Eagle was a threat. After looking at the Treepie-Eagle drama we found a Black Naped Monarch flying around and taking dips in the pond. We found a Bronzed Drongo and then we then felt it: the rain. Over the period of the monsoon Karnala’s dry forest will get rejuvenated and make the dry streams wet again. We see ourselves fortunate to have witnessed Karnala’s first rains. We then decided to go to TS Chanakya which is half an hour away. 

TS Chanakya

We immediately noticed a Red Whiskered Bulbul. We moved on to the water bodies and saw the Little and Great White Egrets along with some Black Winged Stilts. We were able to see the Thousands of waders which gathered around the water body and saw how many came. But they were so far away that even are 55X zoom scope was not able to see them properly. When they came close they were usually giving us in-flight glimpses and we saw something: it was a small sandpiper with a curved bill, it was either a Curlew Sandpiper or a Dunlin (I have seen Curlew Sandpiper but I haven’t seen a Dunlin) when the waders sat down close enough, I was only able to make out some Tibetan and Greater Sand Plovers and while turning to look behind, we saw 2 Plain Prinias. We were not satisfied with this location so we moved to another spot and found a Small Blue Kingfisher and River Tern on the way. We saw the Waders, but they were too far away again, with our scope we were still only able to make out 5-10 Eurasian Curlews because they are large and distinct. We shifted our focus a bit closer and saw a Painted Stork’s day-roost and a few Slender Billed Gulls in the Water. We looked on land and saw a White Eared Bulbul and a Little Cormorant flying overhead. We then saw an Ashy Prinia while it was Calling and a flock of Lesser Flamingoes flying in the back. We then saw a Caspian Tern Flying and we shifted our location to see the Lesser and Greater Flamingoes, majority of the population were Lesser Flamingoes and there were only a few Greater Flamingoes. We saw an Oriental Magpie Robin on the way there.