Editorial Ornithology Music & Art Short Story Musings Travel Short Story Folk-tale Humour Poetry Prev Issue Next Issue

Among Lofty Beings By- Alpa Sheth Alpa Sheth did her graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley in Structural Engineering. After a stint of working in the Bay Area, she now lives in Mumbai where she is a partner in a Design Consultancy firm.

Early this year, having had an idle half hour to spare between two meetings, I'd hopped across the street to the Bombay Natural History Society and in a moment of insane enthusiasm registered for the ornithology course. For someone who has been living in one of the greenest areas of Mumbai I was truly ignorant about bird life. I have consistently refused to look up at the antics of the purple sunbirds as they perch upside down dipping their long curved beaks into the blooming flowers on my neighbour's terrace. The golden oriole, a little soft in the head I suppose, would come daily to the mirrored glass across our flat and have an endless pas de deux with his reflection in the glass. I would hear its shriek call at precisely 7:30 each morning for 4-5 months the past year and would shake my head in despair. The tailor birds, Alexandrine and rose ringed parakeets, crimson breasted barbets, iora, night herons, magpie robins, barn owls, golden backed woodpeckers, bulbuls and white browed fantail flycatchers were all studiously given the short shrift by me. Or rather, I give them the bird. So when I announced my deed for the day, it was met with much derision. 'You can barely differentiate between a blue rock pigeon and a Myna' people at home sniggered. But the deed was done, the money was paid and what the heck, I had of late begun to enjoy the experience of suddenly spotting a colourful pair of wings when I was absently gazing out of the balcony.

In the 3rd week of November we had our first major field outing. A trip to the Corbett Park and Himalayan foothills - Ranikhet and Sattal. I was enthused with the adventure spirit. Having recently read the Jim Corbett Omnibus, a compendium of three of his books, I wanted to see Corbett country, follow his trail as he had tracked the Mohan Man-Eater and finished him off with his 450/400 rifle.

We gathered one bright Sunday morning at the New Delhi Station. A handsome bus awaited us. The driver let it be known in no uncertain terms that he was used to ferrying foreigners in his beauty and wasn't quite enjoying the prospect of plying a bunch of crazy desis looking out for birds in far flung areas. But ah, the magic of those doubleeyed thing-a-mes called binoculars! Once someone from the group showed him the hidden world that lay through these, he was a man hooked - He became an avid bird-watcher by the end of the trip though a cynical woman co-traveler claimed he sometimes spied on a different species altogether.

Our group was an interesting motley crowd teeming with doctors- 2 plastic surgeons, a General Medicine specialist, a radiologist, an ENT surgeon and even a homeopath. Falling ill was hence not taboo. Then we had some engineers, chartered and cost accountants, computer and air-conditioning engineers and suppliers, housewives, educationists, writers- Clearly, it was a complete, self-sustaining microcosm of the world that would have been ideal for those one year space experiments where you cannot leave your environment. The people seemed friendly enough without being overbearing. Atleast one could look forward to a peaceful onward journey with not too much of the juvenile song and dance routine that seems to be mandatory for any travel in India.

Our first halt in the Corbett National Park was to be in the reserve forest area of Garjia. The Park, established in 1936, is part of the Corbett Tiger Reserve, about 1320 sq. km in size situated at the foothills of the Himalayas. The Corbett park was originally in Uttar Pradesh but after the split of this mighty state recently, it now lies in the newly formed state of Uttaranchal. A large waterbody running through the spine of this reserve, divides it into the Corbett National Park and the Sonnadi Sanctuary. Garjia is at the southeast end of the Park. It appeared from our trip itinerary that we would be living in the deep forest. So at about eight in the evening when we crossed Ramnagar and entered into the outer forest area we almost believed we were venturing into land where few men had dared to go, except that across the road was the 5 star Claridges Resort! We dismounted and took on the arduous task of climbing up a small hill, luggage et al to reach our forest lodge - a 'short cut' which meant climbing up two to three feet high steps cut into the slippery clayey rock. After much struggle we reached up only to see a motorable road on the other side reaching right up to the lodge. We asked our Program coordinator why we couldn't have taken this road, he smiled and said, 'Well, I want to make you tough. Believe me, by the end of this trip you will all be tough.' Yeah sure, if we were in one piece until then. I have always suspected that everyone- from politicians to parents- in India have a hidden agenda for everything they do. Now I was convinced. The trip was not just about ornithology. It was about making good boy and girl scouts of us. And those of us who weren't upto it were little wimps, twerps who didn't have a rightful place on this rough and wild animal planet. For the uninitiated (like myself) the first night was indeed an experience- The nine women got one room between them and had to carry freezing water from about 60-80 yards or wait for the sputtering faucet to disgorge a tumblerful of water in a half-hour.

But the next morning we took a ride to Bijrani and some great sightings soothed our sore spirits and sorer backsides- It seemed like the birds had convened and passed a resolution to make our birding trip worthwhile, giving us A Peep Show to rival the best in Las Vegas. We saw a gallery of kingfishers- the brown headed stork-billed kingfisher, one of the larger ones in the kingfisher family patiently let us take its view from every angle. The small blue and the white breasted kingfishers were always around giving glimpses along the many streams we went across. A large serpent eagle waited motionless on a bare tree as if it was made of wood. Along the river, we saw a score and more of black necked storks. There were wagtails, yellow, pied and the large pied ones, redstarts, and a whole bunch of warblers, a changeable hawk eagle- the list was long. Quite a number of these birds we were seeing for the first time and even the more common ones seemed to be of a brighter, richer colour than what we see in the cities. While returning from our first birding trail we were greeted at the lodge by loud 'ki-wees' - and a green bird deigned to display itself from among the thickets. Bright green with a deep red in the wings and a bright red beak - Someone identified it as a green magpie - a hyperactive creature flitting from one branch to another making us jump up and down in sync with its movements.

Early afternoon we went by the dam at Ramnagar sighting some dabchicks, plumbeous water Red starts, brahminy ducks and large cormorants on our way into the deep jungle for our night halt at Sitabani but our journey into the unknown was soon brought to naught when the driver refused to negotiate a deep stream. A surprise treat of 3 trees which had not less than 50 vultures roosting on them was something we decided to come back to the next day. But the immediate concerns for the birders were less lofty ones- Where do we now stay for the night? The Coordinator's suggestion to trudge up bag and baggage back to the previous night's lodge was not taken kindly and in a swift move we were bundled to a nondescript hotel of Ramnagar. Under ordinary circumstances we would have wrinkled up our noses at the open sewers, the rats chasing each other gleefully, the stained sheets.... but not that day- We could only see soft mattresses, hot water- God, were these luxuries for real?

But the real icing on the cake was the wonderful slide show that night from our program coordinator. Any annoyance that we harboured towards inconveniences perceived or real, melted each night when, like Scheherzade of the Arabian nights, he would unfold the mysteries of the avian world through his magical slide shows.

The next morning we went back to the previous day's jungle site and while walking through the forest said our hellos to the lesser golden back wood peckers, the chestnutbellied nuthatches, wagtails, grey and bay backed shrikes all of whom we were to meet often enough on our trip. But our destination was those 3 trees where we had seen so many vultures. And boy, whoever worries that vultures are on the verge of extinction had only to see these trees - Four varieties of vultures all within a single binocular viewing!!!

There was the majestic solitary King Vulture with its deep red head reminding you of raw flesh, multitudes of White Backed Vulture with their distinctive white back , the Long Billed vultures with their white ruff at the neck reminiscent of a woman dressed for the opera with a fur trim at the collar and one Egyptian Vulture. It was a birder's delight. It seemed like we had more than we could take in for the day.

Later in the afternoon we headed for Bijrani where we were to stay for the night. Even serious birders should be allowed a bit of the touristy indulgence, we pleaded, and went tiger tracking in a Gypsy. Unlike at other reserves like Kanha where they have what they merrily call 'The Tiger Show' which ensures that a tracked tiger is visible to all and sundry, waiting elephants taking you for the 'dekko', the Bijrani safari left tiger sightings more to our luck and we had to make do with the fresh pug-marks on the sand and the territorial claw marks on the trees. Only one less sinful soul from our group got to see the tiger.

Tiger, Tiger Burning bright,
Wish you'd give us just one sight!
Tiger, Tiger Burning bright
Don't you see our desperate plight?
Tiger, Tiger burning bright,
Seems like we're out of luck alright. vTiger, Tiger burning bright,
Goodbye, we'll catch you another night.

Bijrani was a nice place to stay. We had real mattresses in the dormitory and just a couple of hours of diesel generated electricity. It is strange how quickly we adapt to our surroundings. The night was pitch-black and delightful, with just the right amount of nip in the air. A powerful torch shone randomly around the fence sprung scores of dancing pairs of eyes of spotted deer. The Barking deer were calling and a leopard or tiger lurking close by did not seem to be a non-zero possibility. But it was the sky which enraptured me completely. A starry, starry night, with a million diamonds in the sky. For someone who is used to the never- quite-dark skies of Mumbai where you rarely see any planets/stars but for Venus, this was unbelievable. I could have stayed up all night and watched the heavens.

The next morning all of one's residual misgivings were swept away on the wings of the beautiful pied hornbills we espied. Large creatures with a black neck and white underparts and their characteristic casque over the bill, they were perched cackling on a bare branch. Compassionate birds these, for their size makes sightings easy for the beginner birders. They take their 'I do's a little more seriously than the homosapien tribe and pair for life. I'd read once about how the male hornbill walls the female in the nest leaving only a hole for supplying food until the eggs hatch. I do have ambivalent feelings about that incarceration but never mind. We also caught sight of numerous barbets which abound in those areas - The crimson breasted, the linneated and the great hill barbets. Then there were the blackheaded orioles, the scarlet and the long-tailed minivets, a mixed hunting party of bulbuls - the black-crested, red-vented, red whiskered and white cheeked ones.

The same afternoon we went to Dhikala which lies geographically in the heart of the reserve. To the now almost- toughened birders, it was a bit too civilised. Dhikala stands at the edge of the Ramnagar reservoir and offers some rather comfortable lodging which was a tad too urbane for our liking. It seemed like all visitors but us had had some beautiful tiger sightings there. We had reached rather late in the afternoon and did not get much time for birding but we did espy a small tree full of weaverbird nests, an osprey and some wonderful hovering by a pied kingfisher. I was quite bad at identifying birds of prey and would watch jealously as fellow-birders rattled off names of eagles which seemed miles up in the sky. 'What's in a name, anyway? A rose by any....' I consoled myself. That night our coordinator gleefully presented another wonderful slide show with lots of birds and their nesting sites whilst we almost froze, seated as we were in the open air hall alongside the reservoir. Our coordinator was right. Birding is not for the faint-hearted. Also, the early morning birdings and the not- so- early nights made me feel like a zombie experiencing the birds descend upon her from across the flashing screen.

The next morning was a small trail through Mohan en route to Ranikhet where we saw some lovely displays by Tits- the grey, yellow cheeked and others. Nuthatches were aplenty and so were some wonderful woodpeckers- The pygmy, fulvous breasted, scaly bellied, large and small yellow naped. Then there were some pipits, and a memorable bird for me at Mohan was the yellow bellied fantail flycatcher- The sun's rays streamed through the translucent fantail and it seemed like we were watching slats of mother-of-pearl strung together at the base to make a lady's gorgeous hand-held theatre fan. Some of us climbed up a small hill and had a nice cuppa chai in a little gazebo amidst the woodpeckers. What shall remain forever in my mind's eye is the beautiful display by a pair of Himalayan pied kingfishers- O, how regal they looked with their imperial crests, like two Red Indian chiefs! We shall all remember their magical hovering as they fluttered at one place, suspended as they were in mid-air. One sees such acrobatics only in annual airforce displays and not without sometimes fatal consequences. But these guys were precision personified. No sketch in any of the books I have seen gives adequate justice to the grandeur of this bird.

The night halt at Ranikhet was the most luxurious place we had stayed. Did not quite go with our adventurous disposition, I would say. Why, they even had television in the rooms, that corrupted place! For me it was deja-vu as I had been to the very same place a couple of years ago. I remembered having seen a blooming padam tree in the neighbouring forest guest house which had birds in hundreds - I think they were munias, buntings and minivets. It is unfortunate that the coordinator did not heed my comment (ah, lowly birder that I was!) because besides the birds, that place has the most spectacular view of the Himalayas in Ranikhet. You could see the range with Nandadevi, Trishul, Nandkot, Chhota Trishul et al. But we did get to see a lot of different and more pronounced Himalayan birds on our trail- we saw many woodpeckers, the Himalayan whistling thrush, the Nuthatches, Himalayan Rubythroat, Black Capped Sibia, a red billed blue Magpie. We shall remember Ranikhet for another reason. It was the only place during the trip where we were given any dessert on the entire trip, in the form of kheer. Sugar-starved that I had been, I would have gladly exchanged my mother for a gulab jamun.

The last halt of our trip was SatTal or Seven Lakes. Sattal is about 50 km from Nainital, a popular hill station. And to make up for the luxurious stay at Ranikhet, we had a cottage up one of the lakes with shutterless windows. With a 2 deg temperature and cold water to be brought uphill from a hundred odd yards, it was a sort of coming full circle for us. But the place was simply beautiful- Virgin hills, pristine lakes- And O, what a feast of birds! One afternoon during a postprandial amble up the hill, some of us espied a redbilled blue (Himalayan) magpie. We moved this way and that, tracked it for a few minutes and when we thought we had lost it, it came swooping down to the open field not 50 yards away. And while we watched with unabashed glee another magpie swooshed down. And another. The landings continued with the precision of Frankfurt airport landings until there were ten magpies in all on that one tract of open land. Ten magnificent blue tails with a white end, ten magnificent pairs of red legs and bills. One of our fellow-birders braved the thorny bushes, inching his way through them to get near the birds for pictures and just as he was close enough for what would have been an award winning photograph, a woman walked across the field and the birds took flight! We went down to another pond and gazed at more kingfishers and woodpeckers when screechy sounds made us turn and lo and behold the magpies were right behind us. For once on this trip we were the chased rather than the chasing ones! But no photograph this time either for our hapless friend. This time it was the fading light that played truant. But really, some things have to be stored in your mind. For that moment, though, it seemed like the magpies were like common crows here. We confidently promised our less lucky companions that they would get to see the show like we did the next day. But no. Trust the magpies to play truant. Besides the magpies Sattal gave us so much to see apart from the scenic lakes- We saw the Bluethroated Barbets, The Plumheaded and Slaty headed parakeets, Chestnut bellied rock thrushes, tits, babblers, barred owlet, fishing eagles, pied woodpecker, pygmy woodpecker, Indian Tree pies not to forget a Blue Whistling thrush who got so friendly as to want to share our bed with us!!

By the evening of our last day we were so saturated with birds, we had them coming out of our ears!! We sized each other up- We all seemed, leaner, fitter and as our program coordinator would proudly proclaim tougher. But we were all sad to see the trip end. The 7 days of pure unadulterated pleasure had come to an end. How could one possibly go from such tranquillity back into the hustle of the city life? If only we were Himalayan birds!

Credits:

Comment on this article