A FIELD REPORT
Date of Trip: 05th September 2010. (Sunday)
Duration of Trip: 7:05 am to 6:35 pm
Location: By the sides of Badyabati Khal, a near about
100ft wide DVC Canal in the district of Hoogly in West Bengal.
Badyabati is a station in Howrah Bardhaman main line.
Temperature: (As in Alipur) Max 33.1°C and Min 27.7°C.
Humidity: (As in Alipur) Max 91% and Min 82%.
Weather: Partly clear sky, partly cloudy with
intermittent rainfall. Sometimes sultry, sometimes gentle wind.
Specially soothing wing in late evening.
Habitat: Cultivated lowland, grasses, deciduous and
evergreen trees, herbs and shrubs on both side of the DVC Canal.
BRIEF REPORT:
It was really quite sultry from the very morning when we got out from
our houses. From Howrah Station we boarded a train going towards
Bandel in the Howrah Bardhaman main line. Divided in 3 separate groups
(mainly due to walking speed) we started walking by the side of the
railtracks to reach the canal side. Subhankar da started his day with
a few House Swifts. By the time we were by the side of the canals, it
was pretty hot and sultry. Soumyajit da was as usual busy with
spotting and recognizing hesperiidaes and helped us a lot in
recognizing them. Arka Sarkar and I was busy checking out the odonates
but to our disappointment the variety and diversity was not in
abundance. Lots and lots of wood sandpiper sitting far in the
cultivated areas of the lowland and a few far views of the snipe(type
unidentified) made us really excited. Also some distant views of Brown
Shrike, Purple Heron, Grey Heron and Baya Weavers pleased our eyes. It
was getting cloudy and Black Bitterns and Yellow Bitterns gave us
visit. Riju (Abhisek Das) managed to spot a Little Heron amidst all
Pond Herons and got a good shot of the same. Above all the sweet calls
of Red-wattled Lapwings was heard almost uninterruptedly throughout
the day. As it started raining, we took shelter under the pool bridge
over the canal. After mid day lunch and refreshment and few nearby
shots of Little Grebe and Common Kingfisher, we started moving
towards the Silverline Sarani(as Subhankar da calls it) where
Soumyajit da got really excited by spotting a wild flower Glory Lily
[Gloriose superba, Beng: Agnisikha]. Midway to Silverline sarani, we
returned back and went to visit the other side of the canal. With
drizzling shower and gentle wind blowing and landscapes getting more
and more beautiful with different shapes of cloud and color of the
sky, it was a really memorable day for all of us. As we started
returning watercock greeted us with its surrounding call (utumb
utumb….) which caught everyone's attention. Very soothing wind and
drizzling rain drove out a hell lot of skippers above the leaves of
shrubs and herbs mostly being large-branded swifts, some being
straight swift and small-branded swifts. At last we were gifted with
two common shot silverline and we were really happy. With sun setting
and sky getting obliviously orange over blue, we boarded our train
back to Howrah at 6:35pm. It was a very successful and enjoyable trip
for every member of our group.
TEAM MEMBERS:
1. Subhankar Patra.
2. Sujit Das.
3. Arka Sarkar.
4. Avisek Chatterjee.
5. Soumyajit Chowdhury.
6. Saroj Kumar Tula.
7. Ushnish Das.
8. Susanta Bagh.
9. Subhendu Das.
10. Arundhati Guha.
11. Soumyadeep Guha.
12. Pradipto Bagchi.
13. Abhishek Das.
14. Raja Das.
15. Chinmoy Karati.
PLEASE NOTE THAT AN APPOXIMATE NUMBER OF A PARTICULAR SPECIES OBSERVED
IS INDICATED IN BRACKETS () BY THE SIDE OF THE NAME OF THE SPECIES.
Birds observed during the trip:-
----------------------------------------------
1. Lesser-whistling Duck(10).
2. Black-rumped Flameback(5).
3. Blue-throated Barbet(2).
4. Coppersmith Barbet(1).
5. Lineated Barbet(3).
6. Common Kingfisher(6).
7. White-throated Kingfisher(7).
8. Stork-billed Kingfisher(8).
9. Pied Cuckoo(2).
10. Common-Hawk Cuckoo(9).
11. Plaintive Cuckoo(1).
12. Asian Koel(5).
13. Greater Coucal(8).
14. Rose-ringed Parakeet(4).
15. House Swift(4).
16. Asian Palm Swift(35).
17. Spotted Owlet(2).
18. Rock Pigeon(20).
19. Spotted Dove(15).
20. Eurasian Collared Dove(20)
21. Yellow-footed Green Pigeon(40).
22. White-breasted Waterhen(12).
23. Watercock(2).
24. (Unidentified) Snipe(4).
25. Wood Sandpiper(35).
26. Bronze-winged Jacana(12).
27. Red-wattled Lapwing(22, heard call throughout the whole day).
28. Black Kite(3).
29. Shikra(2).
30. Little Grebe(3).
31. Darter(6).
32. Little Cormorant(20).
33. Indian Cormorant(10).
34. Little Egret(3).
35. Intermediate Egret(7).
36. Great Egret(2).
37. Cattle Egret(At least 200).
38. Indian Pond Heron(20).
39. Purple Heron(9).
40. Grey Heron(2).
41. Little Heron(1).
42. Black-crowned Night Heron(3).
43. Yellow Bittern(7).
44. Black Bittern(6).
45. Asian Openbill(At least 50).
46. Brown Shrike(3).
47. Rufous Treepie(12).
48. House Crow(50).
49. Large-billed Crow(20).
50. Ashy-wood Swallow(2).
51. Black-hooded Oriole(9).
52. Black Drongo(15).
53. Common Iora(1).
54. Oriental Magpie Robin(3).
55. Chestnut-tailed Starling(At least 35).
56. Asian Pied Starling(At least 100).
57. Jungle Myna(15).
58. Common Myna(50).
59. Barn swallow(5).
60. Red-whiskered Bulbul(4)
61. Red-vented Bulbul(50).
62. Zitting Cisticola(10).
63. Plain Prinia(20).
64. Common Tailorbird(12).
65. Jungle Babbler(15).
66. Purple Sunbird(12).
67. Purple-rumped Sunbird(5).
68. House Sparrow(4).
69. White-browed Wagtail(2).
70. Paddy-field Pipit(5).
71. Baya Weaver(At least 200).
72. Tricolor Munia(8).
Butterflies observed in the field trip:-
---------------------------------------------------
1. Common Rose(1).
2. Common Jay(3).
3. Tailed Jay(1).
4. Common Mime(8).
5. Common Mormon(10).
6. Lime(14).
7. Common Wanderer(5).
8. Common Jezebel(4).
9. Psyche(3).
10. Stripped Albatross(4).
11. Common Gull(1).
12. Common Emigrant(15).
13. Mottled Emigrant(35).
14. Common Grass Yellow(6).
15. Three-spot Grass Yellow(2).
16. Tawny Coster(2).
17. Common Castor(1).
18. Great Eggfly(6).
19. Danaid Eggfly(2).
20. Grey Pansy(7).
21. Peacock Pansy(8).
22. Lemon Pansy(1).
23. Common Bushbrown(2).
24. Darkband Bushbrown(2).
25. Common Palmfly(2).
26. Blue Tiger(4).
27. Plain Tiger(8).
28. Common Leopard(9).
29. Common Crow(2).
30. Brown King Crow(1).
31. Common Pierrot(5).
32. Quaker(2).
33. Gram Blue(1).
34. Lime Blue(1).
35. Dark Grass Blue(1).
36. Common Cerulean(1).
37. Yamfly(4).
38. Common Silverline(50).
39. Common Shot Silverline(3).
40. Slate Flash(3).
41. Monkey Puzzle(2).
42. Falket Oakblue(3).
43. Bush Hopper(1).
44. Chestnut Bob(4).
45. Grass Deamon(1).
46. Indian Palm Bob(1).
47. Common Redeye(1).
48. Brown Awl(2).
49. Indian Skipper(1).
50. Rice Swift(2).
51. Bevan's Swift(2).
52. Straight Swift(4).
53. Large-branded Swift(At least 15).
54. Small-branded Swift(7).
55. Another type of Straight Swift(1). (?)
Dragonflies observed during the trip:-
-----------------------------------------------------
1. Common Clubtail(1).
2. Trumpet Tail(2).
3. Rufous-backed Marsh Hawk(2).
4. Ditch Jewel(In Plenty, at least 35).
5. Ruddy Marsh Skimmer(In Plenty, at least 40).
6. Ground Skimmer(In Plenty, at least 40).
7. Pied Paddy Skimmer(2).
8. Green Marsh Hawk(In Plenty, at least 40).
9. Wandering Glider(In Plenty, at least 150).
10. Rufous Marsh Glider(1).
11. Common Picture Wing(3).
12. Black Marsh Trotter(1).
13. Crimson Marsh Glider(3).
14. Greater Crimson Glider(13).
15. Long-legged Marsh Glider(1).
Damselflies observed during the trip:-
------------------------------------------------------
1. Coromandel Marsh Dart(10).
2. Orange-tailed Marsh Dart(2).
3. Pigmy Dartlet(15).
4. Black Marsh Dart(5).
5. Blue Grass Dart – Pseudogrion Decorum(2).
6. Blue Grass Dartlet – Pseudogrion Microphelum(5).
WE ALSO ENCOUNTERED:-
--------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------
We casually watched a few other species which we encountered in the
field. Reporting of these species is done to give an idea of the area
which we surveyed and this is not a comprehensive report of mammals,
reptiles, amphibians or insects in that area. Any serious watcher in
these areas must watch much more than what we have encountered.
MAMALS ( 2 types) :-
------------------------------
1. Five-stripped Palm Squirrel(5).
2. Small Mongoose(1).
AMPHIBIANS (3 types) :-
-------------------------------------
1. Skipper Frog.
2. Indian Bull Frog.
3. Common Toad.
REPTILES (2 types) :-
---------------------------------
1. Garden Lizard(4).
2. Bronze Grass Skink(1).
SPIDERS (9 types) :-
---------------------------------
1. Daddy Long Leg.
2. Two-tailed Spider.
3. White Crab Spider.
4. Green Lynx Spider.
5. Brown Lynx Spider.
6. Spiny Spider.
7. Two Striped Telamonia.
8. 2 unidentified types of Jumping Spider.
ANTS (12 types) :-
-----------------------------
1. Bengali Name: Kalo Sursuri Pipre.
2. Bengali Name: Khayri Sursuri Pipre.
3. Oecophylla [Bengali Name: Nalsa Pipre].
4. Crematogaster.
5. Small Tetraponera [Bengali Name: Choto Kath Pipre].
6. Large Tetraponera [Bengali Name: Baro Kath Pipre].
7. Small Red Ant [Bengali Name: Choto Lal Pipre].
8. Large Red Ant [Bengali Name: Choto Lal Pipre].
9. Diacama [Bengali Name: Deo Pipre].
10. Golden-backed Camponotus.
11. Black-backed Camponotus.
12. Bengali Name: Gandhi Pipre.
OTHER INSECTS :-
------------------------------
1. At least 8 types of Grasshoppers(mostly short-horn grasshoppers).
2. At least 7 types of Beetles.(including a tortoise beetle.)
3. At least 3 types of Bugs.
4. Only 2 leeches.
5. Many other insects.
Thanks to Subhankar da (Subhankar Patra) for helping me and guiding me
in writing this report. His encouragement is helping us to produce
this weekly report on our field trips. Also thanks to all team members
for their contribution in bringing out this report. Thanks to Sujit da
(Sujit Das) for formatting the report in such a good way.
Cheers,
Avisek Chatterjee on behalf of the team members.
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