VARCA BEACH & SURROUNDINGS: A BIODIVERSITY HOTSPOT

Trip Summary

Brown Noddy


This goa trip was a family vacation, nothing to do with wildlife, but we saw a lot of things from large lizards to rare pelagic vagrants and even high camouflage crabs! This blog will tell you about the biodiversity of Goa’s beaches which we were able to photograph between 10th July 2026 and 12th July 2026 (As birders we saw a lot more and we will cover that as well). After you read this blog, you will never see Goan beaches the same way ever again!!

Reptiles

We saw 3 species of reptiles and got photos of all 3. I am a birder but herpetology is my second subject and I even have a mission, Mission Snakes, Frogs and Lizards in which I have to find a combined total of 30 species of Snakes Frogs and Lizards as quickly as I can. 

Oriental Garden Lizard 


Bengal Monitor 


Common House Gecko 


Crabs 

We photographed 2 species of crabs along the beach and were not able to photograph the hermit crab (it is not a real crab)
 
Mottled Shore Crab
 

Smooth Handed Ghost Crab 


Birds 

As a birder I am extremely satisfied as we got a lot of bird species. We photographed around 9-10 including a pelagic rarity which had only one record in Goa before us, the key highlight birds that we were not able to photograph were Bridled Tern, Wire Tailed Swallow, Asian Openbill, Skua sp and Purple Heron.

White Bellied Sea Eagle
 

Brahminy Kite



Red Whiskered Bulbul 


Tricolored Munia


Jungle Babbler


White Browed Wagtail

Ashy Prinia (Prinia {Socialis}Socialis) 


Brown Noddy 
Photo with the lore (forehead) visible

Photo with strong bill visible

Photo with the true colours of the wings and body visible


The bird of the trip was Brown Noddy, without a doubt. The sighting is special not only for the rarity but also how we came to spot and ID it. This pristine seabird is found across the tropical and subtropical parts of the open ocean. This bird is extremely rarely seen at the sea itself: imagine how rare it is from mainland. There has only been one record of the Brown Noddy from Goa before. The story starts on the first day when we went to the beach. While we were busy with a White Bellied Sea Eagle and a few Brahminy kites, the Noddy flew right next to us, chased by crows. We were not ready with the camera and as the bird started moving away from us we ran on the beach to chase it. In the excitement, I fell and sand got into the camera so we were not able to get a good pic. After that, we thought that it was a Lesser Noddy juvenile because we had only seen an adult before and that is the only Noddy that we have seen. We got a phone video, posted it and Mayuresh, an expert birder, who has recently seen Brown Noddy in Mumbai already started questioning if it was a Brown Noddy given the size, but we were unsuspecting of the reality. On the second day morning, we got a few good record shots (Despite that we were still reluctant to accept the reality of it being a Brown Noddy because we thought it will be too rare). Hence we posted our sighting as Lesser Noddy on birding groups along with some pictures. This caught the attention of local birders. Thankfully, the bird decided to stay overnight and a few local birders including Anvay and Sanjay with a better camera decided to come for the evening session. When the birders arrived, we immediately saw the Noddy because of a few key giveaways; The Noddy was constantly getting mobbed by Crows or Kites and It was always trying to fly back to the open ocean but the wind was stopping it. 

The birders were able to get a good set of pics and from there it went wild, it was soon confirmed by several expert birders that it was a Brown Noddy. A few personal records with this one; this has been the rarest bird that we have seen on our own/discovered presence on our own, the rarest bird that we have photographed and/or videographed and the first pelagic lifer that we have seen on our own. We even found this Noddy the day 3 and it looked like it had made itself at home on Varca. If you are a Goan birder wanting to know exact location, we put the checklist location under Fatrade Beach, South Goa, Goa, India.

Ebird lists
https://ebird.org/checklist/S370165728
https://ebird.org/checklist/S370428039
https://ebird.org/checklist/S370631981
https://ebird.org/checklist/S370946847

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