The International Writers Magazine: Nagarhole Park India

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The monsoon and bird watching in the Nagarhole National Park • Marianne de Nazareth If you are a nature lover, only then make the trip down to Nagarhole National Park where the long awaited monsoon has rejuvenated the park after three years of drought.

Leaving Bangalore at 7am for Nagarhole, the drive was fresh and breezy at that time of the morning. The four lane highway coming up to Mysore has changed the face of traveling that route, though guilt tugs at ones heart looking at the overturned stumps of huge trees felled to make way for ‘progress.’ Our Qualis pulled in for a delicious breakfast of idlis wrapped in banana leaf by 9 am, at the always packed Kamat on the way. The idlis with a cup of filter coffee is a must have and don’t be surprised if you rub shoulders with celebrities eating breakfast along with you here, and hold your breath, some cows in a byre, almost adjacent to your table!

The rain began once we reached Mysore and was a down pour through the Nagarhole forests. By the time we reached the Kabini River Lodge which is celebrating its 25th year of inception it was 12 noon. It was a lovely five hour drive from Bangalore, with just the track off the main road becoming tough to negotiate with its pot holes which need desperate attention.

The Kabini river was in spate, filled to the brim and was a turbid brown, flowing swiftly and silently with obviously dangerous currents in its eddy. However everything was green and beautiful in the forests of Nagerole and life suddenly switched to ‘unhurried’ mode automatically for us. We were being taken for a wild-life sighting, but all the animals besides a couple of deer and some curious black faced Langur were hiding from view. "Since all the waterholes and water bodies are full of water with the abundance of the monsoon, we will not see too many animals," said Umesh. Noticing our interest in the birdlife around, he shifted focus and began pointing out a rich variety of plumaged beauties to our eager interest. Passing his binoculars around the jeep he pointed to a group of common Rose ringed Parakeets calling harshly as they hopped around ficus tree, gorging on the fruit. There were a few Blossom headed Parakeets too making acrobatic turns to get at the fruit.

The monsoon obviously is the god of life and seemed to have covered the jungle with a coat of green. The rain had brought forth an explosion of new life and every once in a while a group of the shy jungle fowl and the Red Spurfowl an ancestor of the domestic fowl ran off the road, into the undergrowth. We were lucky to see several cocks which have a longer and more colourful tail. " They are ground birds and low-level fliers," explained Umesh. " Grains, vegetable shoots, insects and small reptiles are what they like to eat."

Lots of Spotted Doves whirred off from the wet jungle roads in front of the jeep, with their soft coos. They have white spots on a black nape and are usually found in pairs, the reason for their association with love. They feed on seeds and grain and insects which come out during the monsoons, from the ground. Several Brown Doves too flew off at our intrusion. These are smaller than the spotted dove and move around again in pairs or small flocks.

"In the monsoon the peacock unfurls its tail and does its famous rain dance," revealed Umesh our guide. He had hardly spoken when a couple of sallow looking pea-hens scuttled away with a magnificent male, that just strutted unhurriedly across the road, his enormous tail feathers looking a bit bedraggled with the rain. Nagarhole happily has a pretty large population of peacocks and we spotted them all over in our travels. One beautiful male sat high up on a dead branch, his tail hanging down in regal splendour and made a great photo op for all of us, wide mouthed birding enthusiasts! Suddenly overhead as our jeep passed there was a flash of brilliant blue and the Blue jay the size of a pigeon flew past and alighted on the overhead branches. It is a grey and white bird with a heavy black bill, but is strangely a bright blue in flight. Its calls are a variety of loud croaks and chuckle interspersed with harsh screams, quite scary if one is unprepared!

There were plenty of Red vented Bulbuls flying throughout the jungle, with their loud, joyous chattering calls. They make their presence felt all the time and are a lovely sound to listen to, sitting out in the garden at the resort sipping tea. We had an inquisitive pair busily building a nest in the hibiscus hedge close to the lodge. There was also a tireless pair of Black-headed munias with their weak peekt peekt flying in and out of a light shade in the verandah, trying to build a nest with fresh jungle grass. Discarded strands of grass lay all over the verandah, but they tirelessly flew in and out, carrying the grass all day, which was at least 5 times bigger than themselves.

We were woken up at 6am in the mornng and given steaming hot cups of coffee with Marie biscuits. Before the attendant could knock on our doors the crows were already lined up on the verandah cawing away harshly, demanding bits of our biscuits. Birds were everywhere in Nagerhole and to the uninitiated it is a great first time lesson.

One morning we were woken up to the loud tapping sound emanating from the back of the East Lodge. Ashutosh the manager of the resort had shown me a delightful book on birds written by RM Ray, Principle Chief Conservator of Forests ( Wildlife) & Chief Wildlife warden. From the book I learnt that the noisy bird tapping away on the trunk of a tree was Lesser Golden back Woodpecker. It was golden yellow on the back with a white belly, a crimson crown crest and black and white streaks on its cheek and neck. It was fun to watch it clinging to the underside of branches and creeping up spirally in short jerky spurts. They tap on the rotting bark for beetles, insects and ants. We saw Drongos and the Paradise Flycatcher which have a loud repertoire of whistles and loud calls and spectacular tails. Tiny little purple Sunbirds flitted among the Zinnias sipping nectar from the flowers with their long curved beaks. Magpie Robins running around the lawns with their tail constantly going up and down, prompted us to call them ‘wag tails’. Searching the liana hedgerows I looked for the source of the deep booming coop coop coop coop repeated quickly from the undergrowth. Finally I startled what the book called a Crow Pheasant with its frightening red eyes, long tail and chest- nut wings. It is magnificent so look out for it as its booming call gives it away.

Driving back home to Bangalore through the wet jungles was wonderful with the thick teak and rosewood forest cover, planted by the wise Maharaja all of 80 years ago.

Book well in advance and plan your holiday well, as the Kabini Lodge goes 94% full always as it is rated as a world class jungle retreat. Call Swarna on 9845740848 or book at 2nd Floor, Shrungar Shopping Complex, MG Road, Phone: (80) 5597021/24/25. www.junglelodges.com

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