` Bibhutibhusan Wild Life Sanctuary(Parmadan) - A Trip Report Bibhutibhusan Wild life Sanctuary is the lone sanctuary in north 24 Parganas District. It is situated at a small village named Parmadan, in Bongaon sub division. Almost 200 species of tree & quiet yet elegant Ichhamoti river made it a hot spot for nature study. I had been to BWLS in Feb, 2007 & the trip yielded excellent result & avifauna of that remote place bedazzled me to a great extent. Notwithstanding the threat of somewhat erratic monsoon, me & Argha (an ever enthusiastic budding photographer) reached BWLS 45 minutes earlier than the usual time (12:00) for check in. Local people & stuffs of the forest Department frowned at us, as people seldom visit the place in monsoon. It seemed to have added spice to their curiosity as both of us were carrying rucksack. We started our activity at around 4 p.m.Melefluous call of the birds augmented our curiosity . Presence of Woodpeckers,Barbets,Oriols,Common Hawk cuckoo were percieved.We kept on trudging along the trail adjacent to the fencing & a mixed heronary took off from the canopy of some tall trees, all of a sudden. Majority of them were Open-billed Storks. Gradually darkness engulfed the forest and thanks to my LED head torch we returned to our rented sojourn, which we have booked from the Office of the D.F.O (24 PGS-N) of the the otherwise decorated guest house. On 28 th we woke up at 5 a.m and started our journey. After some hectic walk we captured Greater Flameback & Yellow-footed Green Pigeon. Scanty rainfall & heavy amount of jute processing transformed Ichhamoti in to a Shallow malodorous nullah. At around 8:30 a.m we returned and had our breakfast. Initially local people refused to entertain us but we came in contact with Nando daa who responded to our request for boating along the Ichhamoti river. At around 4:30 p.m we started sailing . This stint proved fruitful as we were able to take snaps of Green Bee eater, White-browed Wagtail, Common Kingfisher, White-throated Kingfisher, Changeable Hawk Eagle etc. Unless Nando daa's grim jawed effort to sail along the otherwise constricted Ichhaqmoti, we would return empty handed. In the morning session, on 29th we got some better images of Yellow-footed Green Pigeon, perched on a high tree. We captured some birds like Lineated Barbet,Rufous Treepie,Ashy Wood Swallow, Oriental Magpie Robin etc.On that very day we aboard the Nando daa's boat & this time we were able to take snaps of Black Hooded Oriole, Crested Serpent Eagle & White Browed Wagtail. Luck factor eluded us to capture stork-billed Kingfisher, Asian Paradise Flycatcher (F) and many more. On 30th we went to Gobindopur village. A lone Shikra is spotted there. But due to lack of time we preferred to return back to our guest house. We checked out at around 11:30 a.m. A hectic yet memorable trip soothed our mind and strengthened our spirit to respond to the beckoning of the wilderness. Here is the complete list of Birds & Butterflies which are observed & identified: Birds: Yellow- footed Green Pegion (Theron phoenicoptera) Gr Greater Flameback (Chrysocolaptes lucidus) 3. Fulvous-breasted Woodpecker(Dendrocopos macei) 4. White-throated Kingfisher(Halcyon smyrnensis) 5. Blue-eared Kingfisher(Alcedo meninting) 6. Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) 7. Crested Serpent Eagle (Spilornis cheela) 8. Changeable Hawk Eagle (Spizaetus cirrhatrs) 9. Black –hooded Oriole (Oriolus xanthornus) 10. Green Beeeater (Merops orientalis) 11. White Wagtail (Moticilla alba) 12. White-breasted Waterhen (Amaurornis phoenicurus) 13. White-browed Wagtail (Moticilla maderaspatensis) 14. Asian Openbill (Anastomus ostitans) 15. Asian Paradise-flycatcher (Tersiphone paradisi) 16. Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis) 17. Eurasian Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) 18. Purple Sunbird (Nectarinia asiatica) 19. Stork-billed Kingfisher(Halcyon capensis) 20. Shikra (Accipiter badius) 21. Coppersmith Barbet (Megalaima haemacephala) 22. Blue-throated Barbet (Megalaima asiatica) 23. Lineated Barbet (Megalaima lineata) 24. Oriental Magpie Robin (Dentrocitta vagabunda) 25. Lesser Coucal (Centropus bengalinsis) 26. Indian Pitta (Pitta brachyura) 27. Jungle Babbler (Turdoides straiatus) 28. Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus) 29. Red-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus cafer) 30. Grey Nightjar (Caprimulgus asiaticus) 31. Streak -throated Woodpecker (Picas xanthopygaeus) 32. Asian Pied Starling (Sturnus contra) 33. Rufous Treepie (Dendrocitta vagabunda) 34. Jungle Babbler (Turdoides striatus) Butterflies : 1. Common Mormon Princeps ( Menelaides) polytes romulous 2. Common Mime Chilasa ( Chilasa) clytia clytia 3. Common Emigrant Catsilia pomona 4. Common Grass yellow Eurema hecabe contubarnalis 5. Grey Pansy Precis atlites atlites I have consulted the Pocket Guide to the Birds of Indian Subcontinent (By Grimmett,Inskipp & Inskipp) and OM Field Guide : Birds of India (by Krys Kazmierczak & B Van Perlo) to identify birds. Mr. Sumit K Sen helped me to identify Changeable Hawk Eagle. For identification of Butterflies I relied on 'Banglar Projapoti' by Mr. Judhajit Dasgupta. For my photo stream visit: WWW.flicker.com/photos/avifauna Some pictures are available in my Orkut photo collection only for friends. Happy Birding.
1 comment:
Hello, did you able to click the image of India Pitta in Parmadan?
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