Navegaon Nagzira Camp by OikoEssence

clicked by Gauri G.

It was great to be in the forest of Navegaon Nagzira Tiger Reserve and to see some of the major characters of Epic story - The Jungle Book in reality. The forest has excellent species diversity.

Few of the sightings are listed below.

Plants

Dillenia indica

Mallotus philipensis

Flemingia spp

Eranthemum spp

Woodfordia fruticosa

Tectona grandis

Lannea coromondelica

Sterculia urens

Butea monosperma

Bombax ceiba

Schleicheria oleosa

Mytragyna parviflora

Helicterus isora

Terminalia belerica

Terminalia arjuna

Terminalia tomentosa

Termite hill clicked by Gauri G.

Ficus racemosa

Ficus religiosa

Shikra clicked by Gauri G.

Ficus benghalensis

Dolichandron falcata

Butterflies

Baronet

Common pierrot

Grass jewels

Cerulian

Common mormon

Grey Pansy

Arachnids

Giantwood spider

Box spider

Crested Serpent Eagle clicked by Gauri G.

Birds  

Crested Serpent Eagle

Orange-headed thrush

Indian pea-fowl

Green bee-eater

Spotted Dove

Collared dove

Indian Roller

White throated Kingfisher

Indian robin

Magpie robin

Rose ringed parakeet

Plum headed parakeet

Collared Scops Owl

Grey Wagtail

Jungle Babbler

Indian roller clicked by Gauri G.

Indian Thick knee

Shikra

Paddy-field pipit

Jungle owlet

Common myna

Nut hatch

Lesser goldenback

Racket tailed drongo

Purple sunbird

Red vented bulbul

Red whiskered bulbul

White browed fantail

Greater coucal

House Sparrow

Rufous treepie

Oriole

Ashy prinia

Wild boar clicked by Gauri G.

Purple swamphen

Bronze winged jacana

Garganey

Coot

Ruddy Shelduck

Blackwinged stilt

Cattle Egret

Eurasian Openbill

Mammals

Sambar deer

India gaur

Hanuman Langur

Spotted deer

Wild boars

Gliding squirrel clicked by Gauri G.

Wild Dogs

Gliding squirrel

Royal Bengal tiger

Leopard

Indian Mongoose

Bengal Tiger (T7, navegaon bandh) clicked by Gauri G.

Sloth bear

Nilgai

Rhesus macaque

Hanuman Langur clicked by Mr. E. Thiruvengadam

For future camps and trails please click link -
http://oikoessence.blogspot.in/2016/11/programme-schedule-2017-for-nature.html

Kumbhalgarh & Udaipur camp report

OikoEssence conducted nature camp to Kumbhagarh Wildlife Sanctuary from 10th to 14th December, 2016. We visited birding area withing & near Udaipur such as pichola lake & minara lake.
Lots of Flamingos, Pelicans and Bar headed geese etc.

Kumbhalgarh fort makes you wonder. How they managed to built-up such huge and continuous walls at that time? The length of the wall is 36kms. It offers a spectacular view of Aravalli ranges.

The Kumbhagarh sanctuary is nearby the fort.Which is really beautiful. It gives a true feel aravalli range. We saw sambar deers, Spotted deers, Nilgai and of-course few birds.

Here are some photographs clicked during the camp

Indian Robin - Female

Common Coot

Flamingoes

Flamingoes

Bumbble Bee

Magpie Robin

Bronzed winged Zacana

Asian Koyal

Prinia

Pondicherry, Vedanthangal and Pichavaram Camp

Vendantangal Bird Sanctuary

Vedanthangal is the oldest sanctuary in India. OikoEssence conducted a nature camp to Vedanthangal along with Pondicherry and Pichavaram - the second best Mangrove forest we have in India. Pondicherry has colonies that shows lovely french architechture. We also visited Archeological site of Mahabalipuram. Here is the list of birds that we sighted during our visit.

Vedanthangal

26 Dec 16

1. Little Green Bee-eater (Merops orientalis)

2. White-browed Fantail (Rhipidura aureola)

3. Indian Roller (Coracias benghalensis)

4. White-throated Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis)

5. Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis)

Spot billed Pelican

6. Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis)

7. Gadwall (Anas strepera)

8. Shikra (Accipiter badius)

9. Rufous Treepie (Dendrocitta vagabunda)

10. Red-rumped Swallow (Hirundo daurica)

11. Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope)

12. Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata)

13. Lesser Whistling-duck (Dendrocygna javanica)

14. Slender-billed Oriole (Oriolus tenuirostris)

15. Ruddy Shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea)

16. Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra)

17. Indian Pond-heron (Ardeola grayii)

18. Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis)

Black headed Ibis

19. Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus)

20. Painted Stork (Mycteria leucocephala)

21. Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus)

22. Oriental Darter (Anhinga melanogaster)

23. Black-headed Ibis (Threskiornis melanocephalus)

24. Spot-billed Duck (Anas poecilorhyncha)

25. Asian Openbill (Anastomus oscitans)

26. Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis)

27. Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)

28. Cattle Egret (Bubulcus Ibis coromandus)

29. Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia)

Jungle Babbler

30. Pheasant-tailed Jacana (Hydrophasianus chirurgus)

31. Bronze-winged Jacana (Metopidius indicus)

32. Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)

33. Grey-headed Starling (Sturnia malabarica)

34. Coppersmith Barbet (Megalaima haemacephala)

35. Greater Coucal (Centropus sinensis)

36. European Golden Oriole (Oriolus oriolus)

37. Jungle Babbler (Turdoides striata)

38. Indian Cormorant (Phalacrocorax fuscicollis)

39. Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea)

40. Spot-billed Pelican (Pelecanus philippensis)

41. Asian Palm-swift (Cypsiurus balasiensis)

Pichavarm

27 Dec 16

Pichavaram Mangrove Forest - Boat ride

1. Eastern Jungle Crow (Corvus (macrorynchos) levaillantii)

2. House Crow (Corvus splendens)

Black crowned Night Heron

3. Asian Palm-swift (Cypsiurus balasiensis)

4. Red-rumped Swallow (Hirundo daurica)

5. Indian Cormorant (Phalacrocorax fuscicollis)

6. Watercock (Gallicrex cinerea)

7. Spotted Dove (Streptopelia chinensis)

8. Eurasian Collared-dove (Streptopelia decaocto)

9. Rose-ringed Parakeet (Psittacula krameri)

10. Black-crowned Night-heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)

11. Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis)

12. Indian Pond-heron (Ardeola grayii)

13. Great Egret (Egretta alba)

14. Gull-billed Tern (Gelochelidon nilotica)

15. Little Tern (Sterna albifrons)

16. Common Tern (Sterna hirundo)

Potter Wasp Nest

Pondicherry Church

Auroville

Achanakmar Tiger Reserve Report

OikoEssence had a nature camp in Achanakmar tiger reserve from 3^rd Nov to 6^th Nov. The forest is also close to Amarkantak which is the origin of River Narmada.

Pic by Mr. E. Thiruvengadam

Pic by Ms. Rupali G

Pic by Mr. E. Thiruvengadam

Achanakmar is located in Chhattisgarh State which is known as one of the greenest states in India. 44% of its area is covered with forest. When we went the tiger reserve was just opened for visitors after remaining closed during rains. The forest lots of tree species and Sal is one of the prominent species. Also, the trees like Saja – Terminalia tomentosa, Tinsa – Ougeina spp and few bamboos are very common. Being in safari we could see very few insects.

Mormon clicked by Mr. Bhaskar P

Some of the insect sightings are –

Cricket

Katydid

Short Horned Grasshopper

Butterflies like – Common Sailor, Lime, Common Crow, Common Mormon, Striped tiger, Common Gull, Common grass yellow, Peacock pansy, Lemon pansy, Tawny coaster, Evening brown,cabbage etc.

Striped Tiger Clicked by Rupali G.

A list of few other fauna along with some photographs is given below

Creasted Serpent Eagle Clicked by Mr. Bhaskar P.

Birds:

            1.     Crested serpent eagle

            2.     Osprey

3.     Grey wagtail

4.     Racket tailed drongo

5.     Common myna

6.     White breasted kingfisher

Grey headed fish eagle clicked by Mr. Bhaskar P

7.     Alexandrian parakeet

8.     Rose ring parakeet

9.     Red vented bulbul

10.  Jungle babbler

11.  Common myna

12.  Greater coucal

13.  Black drongo

14.  Red jungle fowl

15.  Rufuos tree pie

16.  Grey-headed fish eagle

17.  Plum-headed parakeet

18.  Scaly breasted munia

19.  Green bee-eater

20.  Lesser whistling teal

21.  Lesser Flame-back 

22.  Grey hornbill

23.  Cattle Egret

24.  Intermediate egret

Copper-smith barbet clicked by Mr. Bhaskar P

25.  Spotted dove

26.  Yellow footed Green pigeon

27.  Copper-smith barbet

28.  Ibis

29.  Indian roller

30.  Great tit

31.  Button quail

32.  Dabchik

33.  Cotton pygmy teal

34.  Jungle owlet

Reptiles -

1.     Fresh water Crocodile

2.     Forest Calotes

Spotted deer clicked by Ms. Rupali G

Sambar  Clicked by Mr. Bhaskar P

 Mammals

1.     Indian Gaur

2.     Wild boar

3.     Sambar Deer

4.     Spotted Deer

5.     Leopard

6.     Rhesus macaque

7.     Palm squirrel

8.     Hanuman langur

9.     Malabar giant Squirrel

Gaur Clicked by Mr. Bhaskar P

Giant Squirrel  Clicked by Mr. Bhaskar P

Jackal  Clicked by Mr. Bhaskar P