Dear Rajesh, Sorry to not have replied to your sms.....was on continous travel offlate :-)
Very nice narration of your experiences in Rajmachi......this is the best time of the year to visit this wonderful place for all aspects of nature watching and trekking (A wonderful liesurely trek, good birding, excellent reptile watching, even better butterflying and wild flowers watching)....... The "White-naped Tit" (WNT) is an extremely habitat sensitive and is partial to dry srcubland interspered with Acacia trees (Infact it is almost always found in thorn acacia dominated srcubland) and is found in just a few pockets of Gujarat, Karnataka and Rajasthan. It is considered endangered due to its restricted range and is uncommon even in its distribution. The Great Tit (earlier called as Grey tit) might get confused with the WNT, since both show a white nape.....but apart from habitat, the best differentiator is the extensive black on WNT compared to Grey of Great Tit...... Click the links to see the differences ..... http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?p=41&action=searchresult&Bird_ID=1297&Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1 http://orientalbirdimages.org/search.php?p=41&action=searchresult&Bird_ID=1297&Bird_Family_ID=&pagesize=1 The Great Tit is found in Rajmachi ....... Also, please re-check your sightings of Common Flameback......this species is not recorded from here and it is often confused with Black-rumped Flameback which is a common woodpecker in our region :-) I hope this helps :-) Regards, Adesh On Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 2:27 PM, Rajesh Sachdev <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > Peooww…Peooww – The calls of Indian Peafowl were echoing in the valley > of Ulhas at Rajmachi ( the proposed Protected Area waiting for its > notification as Father Santapau Wildlife sanctuary from last few years). The > twin calls of this magnificent pheasant were attracting me and my > co-traveler Mane who traveled all the way from distant suburbs of Mumbai – > Kalyan to Lonavala. We both were looking forward for a sighting of stripped > hyeana at the Ulhas Valley. Re-collecting the sighting of this carnivore > just 2 years back made me more optimistic. > > > > This was worth leaving home at 05.30 AM in the early & mist morning of > Wednesday 24th September, 09. Through the doors of Indrayani Express, the > sightings of Karvi between Lonavala & Karjat were much beautiful. The hill > slopes of this Western Ghats zone ( Sahyadri) were painted purple ( Karwi > ) Yellow ( Graham's groundsell) and Magenta (Impatiens Balsamania). > > > > We finally reached at Tungarli Village, the base of Rajmachi Platue at 08.30 > AM. The shrikes (Long tailed Shrike) The Sunbirds (Purple Sunbird) and > Bulbuls (Red Vented & Whiskered) were much vocal near Tungarli dam. The base > of dam structure is parallel to the road (tar road) leading to Rajmachi via > Upperdeck resorts & Captain's resort. > > > > Before could I give the report of few of the best sightings, here I must > share that a new dam is being constructed near these resorts. Possibly, a > huge forest land was cleared to create the catchment area for the dam. This > is of surprise to me, since I am frequent traveler to this area from last 3 > years, but this was something new to me. > > > > Anyways, proceeding ahead was the only option for us. Despite of a single > sighting of common flameback woodpecker, we wanted to leave that area > dam-m-ing area, because of noise coming out of JCB machine excavating the > soil near the dam structure. > > > > After a walk of 10-12 minutes we started hearing calls of an Indian > peafowl, infact there were two peafowls, the other was somewhere down the > valley. Slowly, gradually we were heading towards the culvert from where the > call was coming. And there we saw one. I was fully enchanted with this blue > pheasant, when Mane shouted and pointed towards a solitary Scarlet Minivet – > Male. Very soon we were disturbed by two fully loaded tourist vehicles full > of British, who traveled from Pune for tracking in Rajmachi. These trackers > were in much hurry, and were rushing towards the fort situated atop the > Platue. > > > > But, we were not in hurry, it was just 11.00 AM, we were waiting for > raptors and Butterflies to come out. Before Raptors could come out, what we > saw was White Napped Tit, an unspectulated sighting of the bird resident of > South – West and North-East India. Nothing else, but I shot an instant > SMS to Adesh Shivkar on this sighting. > > > > By now the day was hot, apprx. 12 PM and actually un-sustainable for me in > person. We decided to roll back to Lonavala. My decision turned out to be > right with sightings of Raptors such as Vulture, Shikra, Eagle and > Kestrel. > > > > With a promising commitment to visit Rajmachi again & again and again to > document the untamed wilderness of this "CRITICAL WILDLIFE HABITAT". I would > come back here. > > > > Compiled list of my sightings………… > > > > *Birds* > > * * > > White napped Tit > > Indian Peafowl > > Scarlet Minivet – Male > > Common Flameback woodpecker > > Brown headed barbet > > Spotted dove > > Crow pheasant > > White rumped vulture > > Crested Serpent Eagle > > Shikra > > Common Kestrel > > Golden Fronted leaf bird > > Long tailed Shrike > > Common Iora > > Blue tailed bee-eater > > Great egret > > > > *Flowers* > > * * > > Porona Malabarica > > Smithia setulosa > > Ipmoia NIL > > Impatiens Balsamania > > Trichodesme Indicum > > Solanum Anguivi > > Carvia Callossa > > Commelina forskalaei > > Chlorophytum bharuchii > > > > *Butterfly* > > > > Common Mormon > > Common Rose > > Common leopard > > Gaudy baron > > Baronet > > Chocolate pansy > > Great Eggfly > > Blue Oakleaf > > > > -- > Regards > Rajesh Sachdev > Wild Mumbai Nature Conservation > -- > "The tiger cannot be preserved in isolation. It is at the apex of a large > and complex biotope. 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