Thursday, September 2, 2010

[BirdPhotoIndia] A Field Report of Thursday trip to CKBS, Kolkata, West Bengal - 02nd September 2010

Hi All,

A FIELD REPORT

 

Date of Trip:          02nd September 2010. (Thursday).

Duration of Trip:  8:30 am to 6:30 pm

Location:         Chintamani Kar Bird Sanctuary (CKBS) better known as Kayaler Bagan, a birding hotspot located at 24 Parganas (South) near     Narendrapur, West Bengal.

Temperature:        (As in Alipur) Max 34.1°C and Min 27.2°C.

Weather:               Cloudy morning then clear sunny sky for whole day interrupted very few time by light rain. Slight wind; Not much sultry.

Humidity:              (As in Alipur) Max 95% and Min 64%

Rainfall:                (As in Alipur) 0.4mm

Habitat:              Dense foresty area, Tall Grasses, Sideby waterbodies almost filled up with hyacinths, Herbs and Shrubs and deciduous and evergreen trees.

 

BRIEF REPORT:

I

t was a late Janmastami holiday for me from daily office job. I did not notice it earlier else I would have utilized same for a long weekend trip. Thinking of what to do and where to go, yesterday I suddenly found out that I have not visited CKBS for about a month or more now. Quickly I asked Mr Saroj Tula to join me and he accepted and he was there before my house with his car at around 7:45am. We went out and got inside CKBS to see a South African bird watcher Robin trying to figure out birds of Kolkata. He does bird watching in SA but it's tough for him to figure out birds here. He wanted to get around with us and we enjoyed his company. We started going inside, seeing flowerpeckers, orioles, tits, barbets, flamebacks and just then we saw a group of 25-30 girls coming in (A big disturbance). After enquiry we came to know that were from Loretto and on an excursion here. Their teacher wanted us to show them some birds. Seeing the number of ppl, most reluctantly we agreed but not of much help as mosquitoes were a big problem for them J.  Mosquitoes, yeah, they were in plenty and really creating a huge problem even for that SA birdwatcher. Bit irritated and also in a hurry to catch flight the SA birdwatcher left and girls left due to mosquitoes. Now it was 10:30am and we have almost lost the morning shift. Me and Saroj started real birding from then, spotted a few birds, butterflies. Saroj and I also spotted a Little Spiderhunter, first time for me at least.  White-eyes, great tits were also roaming here and there. After having a long chat with Haran da, Saroj left at around 11:00am as he had some duty in office. Now I was all alone in CKBS. Seeing a hell lot of common red-eyes, swifts, chestnut bobs and grass deamons, my hesperidae collection was getting bigger for the day. It seemed Common Bushbrown, Dark-brand Bushbrown, Common Four-ring, Common five-ring as if had taken a lease of that place. There were plenty of them. I then went outside towards the waterbody to find out a few dragon or damselflies. Seeing mostly Coromandel Marsh Dart, I just saw the recently David-identified Copera Cilliata, we can call it Black-kneed Bush Dart or Black-kneed Feather-legs as they call it in East-Asia. There were around 25 of them both the juvenile and the female one, I really wonder why I have not seen it before there. The weather was somewhat favorable throughout the day, although sunny but not much humid and sultry. It was a good experience for me as I watched what dragonflies and damselflies do, their behavior, prey-catching, habitats and also some special territory concerned dragonflies like Coral-tailed cloud wing, how they just fight with and get other dragon or damselflies out of his territory. With two times very close encounter with the large water monitor (Varanus Salvator) it was anyways a very good day. At the end of the day it gave me some new surprises as I found out the smallest damselfly (may be of India) Agriocnemis dabreui both Male, Female discovered in CKBS on 8th August and identified by David Raju. Also I got lucky to get few shot of this 14-15mm damsel. Then while coming out I saw another small damsel of 14-15mm size but the structure was almost same like Blue Grass Dartlet but size 14-15mm. A very new find but it needs to be identified.  Unfortunately cannot photograph same as it was almost dark and hardly my camera was focusing. It was really dark now and I came out with memories and photos of this very beautiful and fruitful day. Just to mention bird movement was moderately less throughout the day and overall butterfly movement was also less.

 

 

TEAM MEMBERS:

  1. Avisek Chatterjee
  2. Saroj Kumar Tula (who left around 11am -11:30am for official work)

 

 Birds observed during the trip:

1.      Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker.

2.      Black-rumped Flameback.

3.      Blue-throated Barbet.

4.      Coppersmith Barbet.

5.      Lineated Barbet

6.      White-throated Kingfisher.

7.      Stork-billed Kingfisher.

8.      Green Bee-eater.

9.      Common-Hawk Cuckoo.

10.  Asian Koel.

11.  Greater Coucal.

12.  Rose-ringed Parakeet.

13.  House Swift.

14.  Asian Palm Swift.

15.  Rock Pigeon.

16.  Spotted Dove.

17.  White-breasted Waterhen.

18.  Black Kite.

19.  Shikra.

20.  Little Cormorant.

21.  Intermediate Egret.

22.  Indian Pond Heron.

23.  Rufous Treepie.

24.  House Crow.

25.  Large-billed Crow.

26.  Black-hooded Oriole.

27.  White-throated Fantail.

28.  Black Drongo.

29.  Bronzed Drongo.

30.  Common Iora.

31.  Orange-headed Thrush.

32.  Oriental Magpie Robin.

33.  Asian Pied Starling.

34.  Jungle Myna.

35.  Common Myna.

36.  Great Tit.

37.  Red-whiskered Bulbul

38.  Red-vented Bulbul.

39.  Oriental White-eye.

40.  Common Tailorbird.

41.  Jungle Babbler.

42.  Pale-billed Flowerpecker.

43.  Purple Sunbird.

44.  Purple-rumped Sunbird.

45.  Little Spiderhunter.

46.  House Sparrow.

 

Butterflies observed in the field trip:

1.      Tailed Jay.

2.      Common Mormon

3.      Common Wanderer.

4.      Common Jezebel

5.      Psyche.

6.      Stripped Albatross

7.      Common Gull

8.      Common Emigrant

9.      Mottled Emigrant

10.  Common Grass Yellow

11.  Three-spot Grass Yellow.

12.  Common Castor.

13.  Great Eggfly.

14.  Danaid Eggfly.

15.  Common Baron.

16.  Common Bushbrown.

17.  Darkband Bushbrown.

18.  Common Four-ring.

19.  Common Five-ring

20.  Common Palmfly.

21.  Blue Tiger.

22.  Common Crow.

23.  Common Pierrot.

24.  Rounded Pierrot.

25.  Quaker.

26.  Ciliate Blue.

27.  Common Cerulean.

28.  Yamfly.

29.  Monkey Puzzle.

30.  Chestnut Bob.

31.  Indian Skippper.

32.  Grass Deamon.

33.  Common Redeye.

34.  Dark Palm Dart.

35.  Moore's Ace.(?)

36.  Small-branded Swift.(?)

 

Dragonflies observed during the trip:

1.      Scarlet Marsh Hawk

2.      Rufous-backed Marsh Hawk.

3.      Little Blue Marsh Hawk.

4.      Ditch Jewel.

5.      Ruddy Marsh Skimmer.

6.      Ground Skimmer.

7.      Pied Paddy Skimmer.

8.      Green Marsh Hawk.

9.      Blue-tailed Forest Hawk (?)

10.  Wandering Glider.

11.  Rufous Marsh Glider.

12.  Coral-tailed Cloud Wing

13.  Crimson Marsh Glider.

 

Damselflies observed during the trip:

1.      Coromandel Marsh Dart.

2.      Rusty Marsh Dart.

3.      Orange-tailed Marsh Dart.

4.      Pigmy Dartlet.

5.      Black Marsh Dart.

6.      Black-kneed Bush Dart or Featherlegs (Copera cilliata).

7.      Agriocnemis Dabreui – Yellow Pigmy Dartlet (Subhankar da given name).

8.      Lesser Blue Grass Dartlet [size: 14-15mm]. - Yet to be identified. Name suggested by me for relating the species.

 

Other than these we observed the following:

1.      Garden Lizard.

2.      Five-stripped Palm Squirrel.

3.      Bronze Grass Skink.

4.      Small Mongoose.

5.      Water Monitor (Varanus salvator).

6.      Skipper Frog.

7.      Indian Bull Frog.

8.      Common Toad.

9.      Many types of Spider.

10.  Many types of Grasshopper.

11.  Many types of Ants.

12.  Many types of Beetle.

13.  Many types of Bug.

 

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 Mr. Saroj Tula for accompanying me and for his valuable contribution in bringing out this report. Thanks to the South African birder Robin for accompanying us for an hour.

 

Cheers,

Avisek Chatterjee on behalf of the team members.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Cheers,
Avisek.

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