Trip Report: Bombay and Poona (India), January 5-18, 1996

In January 1996 my work brought me to Poona in India. Though I did not have a lot of time to do much serious birding I kept my eyes open all the time. This is a report of the 102 species of birds I saw in a two-week period in the Bombay and Poona urban areas.

My itinerary was as follows:

• Jan 5 - 6: Arrival in Bombay. Small boat to Elefanta Island.
• Jan 7: By car from Bombay to Poona, 4 hours through the mountains, the Western Ghats. Practically no stopping along the road.
• Jan 8 - 16: Poona. Guest at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) on the campus of the University of Poona, opposite the botanical gardens.
• Jan 14: birdwatching excursion to Pashan Lake outside Poona. My guide was local birdwatcher Yogesh Wadadekar of IUCAA.
• Jan 15: excursion to the Giant Metre Radio Telescope (GMRT), 2 hours north of Poona. Very little time for birding.
• Jan 17-18: back in Bombay. Again boat excusrion to Elefanta Island. Then departure.

1. The Common Birds

Some of the common and noisy city birds, which are hard to miss anywhere, and may be classified as pests, are the following:

2. Elefanta Island

After having seen the pests of Bombay, an interesting excursion is the boat trip to Elefanta Island. The boats for this 1 hour (10 km) boat trip leave from Bombay's Gateway of India. There are frequent boats. The whole trip is about 4 hours long. This includes 2 hours on the island. It is no problem to stay longer on the island, though. There are Hindu caves on Elefanta and these form the main attraction. However, some interesting birding can be done from the boat. I saw Herring Gulls, Common Black-headed Gulls, Brown-headed Gulls, 1 Heuglin's Gull (subsp. Herring Gull), 1 Great Black-headed Gull, 1 Parasitic Jaeger, 1 Sandwich Tern.

The island has a tidal mudflat right near the harbor and a few shorebirds and herons may be found here. Of the herons, the following were seen: Great Egret, Intermediate Egret, Little Egret, Indian Pond-heron, Western Reef-heron (2 dark-phase birds), Grey Heron, and Cattle Egret. Shorebirds were not numerous here, and I only noted Common Sandpipers, Greenshank, and Redshank.

I made the tour to Elefanta Island twice. Each tour gave me a few birds that were not seen on the other trip.

[1] Herring Gull. There were lots of Herring Gulls around Bombay, all having pink legs, and all having a tone of grey on the mantle, similar to that of the argenteus/argentatus subspecies. According to Peter Grant's Gull identification book, the European gulls do not winter in India and the Siberian Herring Gulls are darker backed and the one subspecies that is supposed to winter in the Arabian Sea, has yellow legs: Heuglin's Gull (cf. [2]). Where do these gulls come from? It seems unlikely to me that they belong to the group of Yellow-legged Gulls breeding across central Asia, since those gulls also supposedly have yellow legs. Anyone who can help me out with the subspecific status of the large number of Herring Gulls wintering around Bombay, is greatly appreciated!

[2] Heuglin's Gull. I saw one individual, and there is no doubt about identification. It is a large gull, on the large end of Herring Gull, with a very dark back, reminiscent of graelsii type Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and bright yellow legs. The head is not round but the forehead is flattened giving the gull a fiercer expression than a "standard" herring gull. The gull was swimming on the water, than flying as the boat approached it closely. Obviously different from all other Herring Gulls present.

[3] Great Black-headed Gull. I saw one individual, swimming on the water. The mantle color was light grey, as that of a Herring Gull. Very large bird with a lot of black on the neck from behind the eyes, all that is left of the black hood it carries in summer. The bill was yellow with a black band and red on the tip. This was easily discernable in the sunlight.

[4] Asian Koel. This is a type of cuckoo. The females are brown with white spots all over, the males are black all over, with bright red eyes. This turned out to be an abundant bird, and extremely noisy. Every now and then you will see them sneaking through the leaves of the trees. Early morning they make a loud concert of quite pleasant flute notes.

3. The Western Ghats

Bombay is built on several islands, now built together to form a peninsula, and is bordered on the east side by the Western Ghats, a steep mountain range with a large number of endemic birds. Unfortunately I did not have the time to explore this region and I was only shuttled through it by car. The drive to Poona takes about four hours and is quite beautiful. The road, with numerous hairpins, passes through a number of nice mountain villages, steep cliffs, and farm land. The following birds were observed along the route:

4. The University of Poona

For one week, the University of Poona Campus would be my home. I had a guest room at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, or IUCAA for short. This was located between the Main Building and the botanical gardens. Every morning, between sun up and the start of the little conference, I had one to one and a half hour of birding. The university campus is quite large and not at all build-up that much. A lot of scrub land is around, some small forested areas, and a large river borders the botanical gardens. Several small ponds are on the property. The diversity in habitat is great.

India is very densely populated, but these people are in general very friendly and will not bother you while birdwatching. I felt perfectly safe anywhere I walked, and I never hesitated taking a small path. The botanical gardens did not open early enough for me, but since the gate was always open I sneaked in regularly, even when the guards saw me. I was always greeted and never chased away. Indians like to have their pictures taken and they will frequently pose for the binoculars as well...

Anyway, I had a great time walking around the campus area. Below is a list of the birds I saw on the campus alone (including Botanical gardens). The table presents the "new" birds, i.e., the birds not mentioned yet. In addition to these, the following (already-seen-in-Bombay) birds were observed: House Sparrow, Rock Dove, House Crow, Common Myna, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Black Kite, Asian Koel, Indian Pond-heron, Little Egret, Cattle Egret, Little Green Bee-eater, White-throated Kingfisher, Long-tailed Shrike, Jungle Crow, Barn Swallow, and Red-rumped Swallow.

[5] Common Grey Hornbill. These were fairly common in and around the Botanical Gardens and the Main Building of the university. Not a particularly beautiful bird, it's dull grey and has a voice like a crow, but it belongs to an interesting family of birds, not like anything in either Europe or North-America.

[6] Spotted Owlet. I stumbled across this one by accident. It was sitting on a low branch in a tree. The only owl I have seen. No doubt there are more species on the campus, but it was not the right season for them to call and be very active.

[7] Large Grey Babbler. A group of these birds makes a variety of weird mewing sounds. It makes you laugh...

[8] Asian Paradise-flycatcher. One of the most beautiful birds I have seen. The males are brilliantly white with a dark-blue head. The females are duller and are rufous on the wings and tail. The tail feathers of the male are very long and hang down the tree in a gracious manner. These birds were fairly common in the higher canopies of the Botanical Gardens. I did not see them around the main university building.

5. Poona

There are several rivers running through Poona. These are not canalised and the birdlife is quite good. You can scan some interesting birds from the bridges, and also by floowing the rivers to more suburban areas. Here is a list of birds seen along or close to the system of rivers, all within the city limits of Poona, and not seen before:

6. Pashan Lake

Local birdwatcher Yogesh Wadadekar took me out to Pashan Lake, about 8 km from the university. This is a small lake in the hills outside the city of Poona. The lake is heavily disturbed by people's activities, but it still offers a variety of birds not seen elsewhere on my trip. It is easily reachable by public transport like auto-rickshaws. Apart from a large number of birds already seen before, here is a list of the "new" birds:

[9] Red Avadavat. In breeding plumage the male is very attractive: bright red with small white spots. It is a familiar cage bird. In the flock of about 10 birds, only one individual was brightly colored in breeding plumage. The others were in dull winter plumage. Only the bill is still bright red in winter.

7. Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope

Two hours drive north of Poona, at Khodad near Narayangaon, the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) is being built. Large satellite dishes are scattered over a large area of many square kilometres. The telescope area itself is closed for the public. We were invited to see the telescopes and a driver took us all together in a small bus to take us there. It was one of the bumpiest rides I have ever experienced, but the reward was several new birds not seen yet.

The habitat is mainly dry grasslands with scattered trees, and farmland. No forests, mainly dry. A habitat I had not visited yet. As usual, being the only birdwatcher in a group means you rarely have time to explore an area and on this day I did not have a lot of time for birding.

That brought the total to 102 species seen during exactly two weeks.

All in all a very interesting trip, not just because of the birds, but Indian culture is special, too. The people are great! The food is wonderful!

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