OF SONGS AND FABLES|NAMERI NATIONAL PARK
DAY 1- JANUARY 6 TH-1 TO 4 PM-
GOOSANDER DONE! Out of the 2 unchecked boxes -for the birds I had aimed to see today - in my head, one of them had just been checked. A triumphant moment! I had specifically devoted my first afternoon in Nameri for seeing the not so rare but what would be a lifer for me : Goosander ; and a far more elusive species of the area , a bird of song and fable (I tend to exaggerate at times, bear with me ) : the Ibisbill. My plans for birding during my winter vacations around my home (recently transformed to a vacation home, due to my studying in Delhi…) in Dibrugarh (Assam) had been cruelly and brutally shattered by the rain heavy clouds, which are almost omnipresent here. Strangely, my lazy sleepy side wasn't too unhappy with the rainy mornings. Perhaps it had secretly made a deal with the rain gods? Anyhow, I (determined to get my way ) after long hours with weather forecast websites, made my way to Nameri (it was in my good books ,as my last trip to this blissfully less known park had been very exciting) , top on my list (after the wood duck of course) was the Ibisbill. Others followed these with tails between their legs…
So I had just seen the Goosander (mother, father, kids and all) sitting in a raft bumping through the rapids of the Jia bhorali river(as if the road wasn't enough!) with Sushil ,the guide(extremely well versed with everything , well, most things avian), 2 oarsmen (the currents are strong) and of course my companion in most of my birding excursions- Bipul Bhaiya .it was around 1 o clock (before we had seen an ORIENTAL HOBBY in the eco lodge itself ,the first of the season and a lifer!), apparently the best time for seeing Ibisbills in Nameri. We had so far seen plenty of Ruddy Shelducks, River Lapwings, a Blue Rock Thrush, literally thousands of Small Pratincoles, Plumbous water redstarts and the like … oh! And a Pallas Fish Eagle in his/her (I couldn't make out) nest too! And now a family of Goosanders! But after every five minutes, I kept pestering Sushil as to if we would be able to see 'it'… "Last kab dikha tha?? Aaj dikhega?" He managed to refrain from telling us to shut up.
In the end we did see Ibisbills!! And that too 9 of them in a flock and again a pair separately (is that envy I smell?) we were going through the stream when suddenly Sushil whispers to the oarsmen to stop the boat and (then to us in a calm whisper again) "Ibisbills! A group of them." After taking a few record shots, I asked him if we could go closer .The river was very shallow at that point. So we climbed on to a stony embankment some 10 metres from the rubber boat , after wading through ankle deep water(as I write, my shoe is outside ,drying)from there we counted a total of NINE birds and soon in our excitement (and by our ,I mean mine) we managed to make them fly of… I was ecstatic! Nine Ibisbills! The bird of song and fable! In front of the very un-fabulous me! I did have record shots! Nine birds!! But as soon as we had thought that our trip had become wildly successful, I suddenly saw this beautiful red curved thing on the rocks… "God! These picnickers" I thought, and then on further deliberation, this thought crept up my mind. "Could it be..?" on glancing at the rocks again, my doubts became reality. There they were! A pair of Ibis bills! Perfectly camouflaged (except for those bills. God bless those!) But by now, we had entered another one of those rapids! My luck has never been as quick in changing sides before! But , as is often said, in fables, anything can happen!
Maanav Nameri eco-camp
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