Thank you Rajesh ji for such a nice detailed report. It is very helpful as you had given a list of birds, butterflies and scientific names of plants with its marathi name.
Thanks and Regards, Giby On 12 September 2011 15:03, Rajesh Sachdev <leopard...@gmail.com> wrote: > http://rajesh-sachdev.blogspot.com/2011/09/report-rajmachi-nature-trek.html > > Amidst the natural calls of Brown Headed Barbet, Grey Jungle Fowl and > Greater Coucal, my mobile alarm at 6`o clock performed the role of perfect > alien and played no difference to us since we were little tired and decided > to sleep for another extra hour, which was beyond the schedule. This was the > story of the second day`s start at Rajmachi, which had heavy cloud > gatherings on atop the fort, for which we were planned to explore on this > day, but couldn`t. The first day, given us many sightings, few of them > lifer, few were uncommon and few were expected but the second day, was not > that much promising. > > > The Rajmachi Nature Trek got 6 participants, a very decent number, ensured > good sightings. Specially, at such famous trekking destinations, where > hoards of people drop in during weekends and disturb the whole environs, we > were much comfortable in this size. > > > The 10th September, 2011, Sarang Naik, Tushar Parab, Sushant More, Manish > Nakhwa, Advait Ghaisas and me started our trek from Tungarli village, after > having our breakfast at Lonavala city, at sharp 9.15am, as pre-decided. > Rajmachi, > was a long trek, covering 16 Kms of uphill walk, the closest point for > Mumbaikars in Western Ghats. The sky was filled with clouds with slight > rains and limited light for camera savvys. Our day started with as usual > Red Whiskered Bulbul right at the base of Tungarli Dam and finished with a > filmy type fight between multiple frogs at night, for an earth worm. The > stunning Ulhas Valley and River, mesmerized all of us, with its fate, > further down at Karjat, where it is most polluted. The short discussion with > the local villager, confirmed the number of wild denizens have declined over > the last 4-5 years, along with tree cover as well. He affirmed that Hyeana, > Leopard and wild boar are still seen at occasions and predators were blamed > for carrying away the local poultry occasionally. He denied to have seen > vultures from last few years, which used to be abundant here, earlier > according to him. > > > The second day 11th September, was spend much of trekking down on slippery > hill slopes, on the way to Kondane caves and village, resulting in sudden > fall on mossy rocks and getting hurt and obvious victims were Sushant, > Advait and me. This day given us unforgettable sighting of an Orange > Oakleaf, which was in my wish list, and was earlier recorded from > Bhimashankar WLS. The surprising sighting was of Karvi, a single shrub, seen > in blooming. > > > The two days nature trek went absolutely fine and all of us were very happy > with the experience that we all had and promised to meet each other for > our next trek to Kas (Maharashtra`s valley of flowers), Satara, scheduled in > this month end. > > > > Classified Sightings: > > > Birding – > > Jungle Bush Quail > > Grey Junglefowl > > Indian Peafowl (heard) > > White Cheeked Barbet > > Brown Headed Barbet > > Grey Hornbill (heard) > > Small Blue Kingfisher > > White Throated Kingfisher (heard) > > Eurasian Cuckoo (heard) > > Greater Coucal > > House Swift > > Alpine Swift > > Laughing Dove > > Spotted Dove > > Yellow Footed Green Pigeon (observed at Karjat station) > > Oriental Honey Buzzard > > Pair of Common Kestrel (probably have killed a wolf snake) > > Little Cormorant > > Indian Cormorant > > Rufous Treepie (Heard) > > Large Billed Crow > > Eurasian Golden Oriole > > Large Cuckooshrike > > Common Iora > > Malabar Whistling Thrush (Heard) > > Oriental Magpie Robin > > Pied Bushchat > > Dusky Craig Martin > > Red Vented Bulbul > > Red Whiskered Bulbul > > Ashy Prinia > > Grey Breasted Prinia > > Jungle Babbler > > Sunbird (?) > > Wagtail (?) > > Scaly Breasted Munia > > > Butterflies – > > Plain Banded Awl > > Malabar Spotted Flat > > Common Spotted Flat > > Tamil Grass Dart > > Rice Swift > > Chestnut Bob > > Tailed Jay > > Common Mormon > > Blue Mormon > > Common Grass Yellow > > Common Jezebel > > Glassy Tiger > > Common Crow > > Baronet > > Common Castor > > Chocolate Pansy > > Great Eggfly > > Lemon Pansy > > Orange Oakleaf > > Blue Oakleaf > > Common Hedge Blue > > > Flora- (the name in brackets refer to local marathi name) > > Costus speciosus (Koshta) > > Clerodendrum serratum (Bharang) > > Hibiscus Tetraphyllus (Ran bhendi) > > Helicteres isora (Murud Sheng) > > Carvia callosa (Karvi) > > Ecbolium ligustrinum (Ekboli) > > Lantana Camara (ghaneri) > > Momordica dioica (Kartoli) > > Thunbergia fragrans (Chimine) > > Curculigo orchiodes (kali musali) > > Curcuma Pseudomontana (Ran halad) > > Hypoxis aurea (Sontara) > > Zingiber neesanum (Nisam) > > Eriocaulon sedgewickii (Gend) > > Pinda Concanensis (Panda) > > Begonia Crenata (Kapru) > > Celosia argentea (Kombda) > > Trichodesma indicum (Chhota kalpa) > > Corchorus olitorius (Banpat) > > Chlorophytum breviscapum (Phulkadi) > > Habenaria longicorniculata (sheput Habe-amri) > > Impatiens balsamina (Terda) > > Impatiens lawii (Jambhala terda) > > Exacum lawii (Lahan chirayat) > > Exacum pumilum (Jambhli chirayat) > > Aeginetia indica (Gulab-dani) > > Conscora diffusa (Kilwar) > > Senecio bombayensis (Sonki) > > Commelina haskarlii (Kamalini) > > Acacia Torta (Chilarwel) > > Commelina diffusa (Gandologi) > > Paracaryopsis lambertiana (Hirvi nisurdi) > > Eclipta Prostrata (Bhringaraj) > > Murdannia Spirata > > Murdannia wightii > > Murdannia versicolor > > > > So, this was an end of the trip report……… > > > > -- > Regards > Rajesh Sachdev > 9890255616 > http://www.facebook.com/leopardguy > > > -- GIBY KURIAKOSE PhD Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Royal Enclave, Jakkur Post, Srirampura Bangalore- 560064 India Phone - +91 9448714856 (Mobile) visit my pictures @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/giby
