---------------------------------------------------------- ***** CHRISTMAS PARTIES 2002 *****
Dec 21 - GOA-LA, Los Angeles, +1 (714) 821-6168 Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a free party announcement Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/goa-net/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Goanet2003/ ---------------------------------------------------------- Wild Goa update Oct-Nov 2002 29th Sept. Snake call at Cortalim. Harvey and I reach the house to find that the Cobra has followed a rat into a hole in a mud wall of the house. Digging it out proves futile as each hole in the wall leads to more holes; the cobra could be anywhere in the network. We resort to plan B. Smoke it out. Two long hours and plenty smoke later, the angry but breathless cobra emerges from a hole near the roof only to be pulled out and bagged. We get home late and Harvey misses a birthday party. 2nd Oct The Inter-Hashers get a dose of wildlife and crocodiles on board our boat trip and The Wildgoa club go birding to Miramar where they see over 400 lesser and greater sand plovers, Kentish plover, stone chats and whimbrel. 4th Oct We introduce students from Mary Immaculate school to the birds at the Carambolim lake. The pheasant tailed jacana can be seen in breeding plumage. A marsh harrier glides gracefully over the lake, terrifying the smaller birds as it passes. I hear a mewing sound like that of a kitten in distress. Thinking it is a kitten drowning I go closer to the reeds to check-- and find a ‘Dogfaced water snake’ holding on to a large squealing frog. 12th Oct The Wildgoans are going crocodile watching on the Cumbarjua river. There are birds and crocodiles everywhere. We spot 8 crocodiles,a great variety of birds , including a flock of white ibis perched on a tree, Asian openbill storks, and thirteen white collared kingfisher! (which also happens to be our record count for collared kingfisher!)... 16th Oct The long awaited Ornithology camp organised by the Bombay Natural History Society in collaboration with the Goa Forest Department and Southern Birdwing is finally underway. For the whole of the 16th and 17th we listen to Asad Rahmani, the director of the Bombay Natural History Society. As he shares his immense knowledge with us, explaining things like the value of a bird census, census techniques, importance of monitoring and a lot more, he keeps the fourteen of us captivated for the entire duration of the camp. The Forest Department take a lot of extra efforts to make the camp a successs. 19th Oct I head off to do a snake talk for the N.S.S.unit of Peoples college camp in Valpoi. Reach there only to find that the electricity has failed and won’t be back till the next morning. So that’s the end of the slide show for the day. Later that night Peoples’enthusiastic teacher Jude Mascarenhas and I get excellent sightings of nightjars. We get close enough to touch one before it flies away. 20th Oct An early round of birding with the NSS students. The area we are in is a fantastic forest. There are hornbills everywhere ; the birdlife is quite amazing. There are some enthusiastic students who take the trouble to write down all the sightings. On the way back we need to stop the car as millions of small jungle crabs weave their way in front of us on the road. 27th Oct Harvey and I set off to do a talk for the Dempo NSS camp. Its one of those days when we should have stayed at home. At Ponda the bike tire blows, leaving us to push the bike for half an hour. We fix it and head off to do the talk. When the talk is done we mount the bike only to find the tire has gone flat again. We borrow a nervous student’s bike to get home and return the next day. 4th Nov I take Pugmarks, a group from Poona to see the Dudhsagar falls. On the same day, Harvey and Claudio take the Saligao youth hiking up Siddinath hill. (The Saligao spring itself is one of our favourite birding spots-- but they would rather travel elsewhere!). Recently, a large area of the dense growth opposite the spring has now been cleared to make room for a construction. And the birds have spent no time in moving away. 8th Nov We catch a 2.7 meter python in Captain Leo Lobo’s swimming pool at Dona Paula. It is not a very large python, simply really healthy and fat. As we put her into a sack-it is a female python-, she lets out a secretion from her mouth. Interestingly enough, the next day we get a call from Captain Lobo saying that another python came visiting, and the day after that two pythons were seen wandering around ! 9th Nov We head off to Bondla to help out with a WWF camp. After dinner, we leave the noisy group and scout around for nightjars. By now their conversation has reached a cresendo and it’s pointless telling them to ease the buzz. We can hear them laughing even a kilometre away. We see one night jar that starts and flies away. 17th Nov It’s a wonderful morning. The Wildgoans are birding in Arpora. Amongst the sightings are Grey nightjar out in the open, Mahratta woodpecker and a whitebellied sea eagle sitting in her nest. As we sat in the shade watching the nest, we see the other eagle come in and perch alongside the first one. In the evening Terence comes over. Apparently his sister Clare has seen a Cobra in her room in Betim. In a little while Harvey and I are poking around looking for it. I suddenly hear a hiss as I remove one of the shoes from the rack. It’s a small, but really hot-tempered cobra. Later that night, Harvey gets a call from Captain Leo Lobo’s house again. This time it is a Russell’s Viper. The snake is bagged, but unfortunately not before it fatally bites one of his Labrador dogs. 20 Nov Bird ringing with Scottish friends Steve and Joyce Moyes. We never thought this would actually materialize, but finally after much running around and nail-biting, we secure the necessary permits from the Forest Department. An early “practice session” of setting up mist nets had been conducted earlier this year, but this time it is the real thing! The BNHS rush us the rings, the forest department officers also participate in the exciting project, making our three sessions of bird ringing seem woefully inadequate. We ring about 30 passerines, (more details later). We hope this is one step further into serious ornithology… 24th Nov The Wildgoa club gets a dose of birdlife at the Carambolim lake. The Group leader is noted artist and birder Mr. Carl D’Silva. Carl, who has illustrated the popular Salim Ali’s Book of Indian Birds and the newer Inskipps bird guide, makes birding seem as easy as a morning walk. Among the star sightings are birds like the Spot billed duck, Hoopoe, Glossy Ibis, Wigeon, Openbills and a couple of Marsh Harriers. 25th Nov I’m asleep and having a nightmare. There’s a cobra biting me as I’m holding it. I wake up with a start. It’s 4.45 in the morning and there’s a car tooting its horn outside my house. I go downstairs only to be told that there’s a cobra in someone’s house in Nerul. I’ve never been more nervous while bagging a snake, and I am still trembling a little even after it is securely put by me into the bag. The cobra is set free the same morning. 30th Nov Some of our friends are having a night out at the Cotigao Sanctuary. After a great dinner and some soft guitar playing we take a late drive and a walk down a mud path. And just to make a statement : there's not always a tiger lurking behind every bush, or a snake under every leaf , or a host of animals moving around in the cold cover of silhouetted trees. Mother nature shows us absolutely nothing. Harvey and I head off on the eighty-kilometer ride back home, late at night. Tomorrow is another day, there’s birding to be done, there’s more to see -and to borrow a line from a great poet… Miles to go before I sleep. --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now ------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================================== Ongoing: Exhibition of paintings, Art Chamber, Calangute www.goa-art.com Dec 14 onwards: Shireen Mody's Goa 2002 exhibition, Arpora. Tel 2276759 Dec 17, 18, 20: Indo-Portuguese furniture, lectures Fundacao Ph 2230728 Jan 19-22: Gauri Divan's studio pottery, Rust, Aguada Rd Ph 2479340 Dec 23-Jan 7: Dayanita Singh's photo exhibition, Art House Tel 2276123 Jan 18-19: International kite carnival at Morgim beach, Pernem ========================================================================
