The year was 1290 . A crowd had gathered around a clearing, where broken down pillars marked the presence of an ancient temple, now long gone. A young boy, just 14 years old, leaned against one of those pillars, deep in thought. Then, he began speaking, and the crowd fell silent, listening to his every word. He spoke without any notes, translating the Bhagavat Gita, from Sanskrit, which only the pundits knew, to the language everyone in the village knew and spoke – a variety of Prakrit which developed into the Marathi language. Even as he spoke, one of the men in the audience realized how momentous this event was, and how important this composition would be. He began writing down the words the young boy spoke, and this composition was named by its author and composer, the Bhavartha Deepika – the enlightening meaning (of the Bhagavat Gita). Now, the ancient, holy text, was no longer restricted to the pundits, but accessible to all, understood easily by them, composed as it was, in their...
“I have
never seen so many cameras at once!” was my first thought as I entered the Old
Magazine House at Ganeshgudi, near Dandeli. I already knew of Ganeshgudi as a
haunt of ardent birdwatchers, but even that hadn’t prepared me for their
cameras or the size of the telescopic lenses which greeted us on our arrival! I
wondered if I would be able to see any birds with my humble camera, and if I would
even be able to take it out amidst such magnificent specimens! As it turned
out, I needn’t have worried. While most of the ardent birding enthusiasts were
indeed focused on getting the perfect images, there were enough birds around
for us to see, and close enough for even me to get some decent clicks! However,
the best part of Ganeshgudi was that we didn’t have to go to see the birds –
they came to us! All we had to do was sit quietly and observe!
Our first
visitor was this White Bellied Blue Flycatcher, which is a common
visitor here, but a new one for us…
Next came
an Orange headed Ground Thrush… We saw this bird often during our
stay, but I chose to share this photo since it was clicked by Samhith.
The next
morning, I woke up later than planned, and missed sighting a Paradise Flycatcher,
and also an Indian Pitta – a lesson to us, never to wake up late, no matter
what the reason! Our first sighting was an emerald dove, but I didn’t get a
decent photo. I did, however manage to capture the White Rumped Munia…
And the Little
Brown Flycatcher, both of which perched happily on the water baths so
thoughtfully provided.
Taking a
short walk to the entrance of the lodge, we spotted a few more birds…. Such as
this pair of Plum Headed Parakeets….
And a flowerpecker…
Coming
back, we found this pair of Yellow Browed Bulbuls…
A little
away, this Ashy Drongo was busy flying to and fro….
Trying to
photograph a woodpecker I spotted among the trees, I glimpsed this Black
Lored Yellow Tit..
And managed
to capture the woodpecker itself, which was a Lesser Yellow Naped
Woodpecker…
And then,
along with them, spotted the Velvet Fronted Nuthatch too!
Amidst all
that green foliage, spotting the Leaf bird wasn’t an easy task….
I eventually did spot it though, helped by the others around me…
The Malabar
Grey Hornbill put in an appearance too…
And, though
we missed the magnificent Male Asian Paradise Flycatcher, we did
spot a juvenile….
Among other
birds, a pair of scarlet minivets kept us busy for a while,
And an Eurasian
Blackbird seemed to be the least colourful among all the birds we had
seen!
But it wasn’t
only birds that we saw here…. While Samhith was fascinated by all the spiders….
(as usual)..
We also spotted
a mongoose…. Which probably meant that there were snakes around!
Of course,
busy as we were, with trying to spot as many birds as we could, we had little time
to think of anything else!
We spent
just one day at Ganeshgudi, and I can honestly say that Samhith enjoyed the
experience as much as I did. He wasn’t the only child there, and had plenty of
company of his own age. They talked of games and built bonfires, and had a
blast, while the adults, though expecting complete silence, also happily showed
off their wonderful lenses to the children, letting them see through, and spot
birds, helping to identify them, and explaining their behavior. The staff at
Old Magazine House were even more helpful, always being on the lookout, though
almost invisible to our bird enchanted eyes!
I visited
Ganeshgudi in Jan 2014 as part of a trip organized by Dandeli.com, a website
dedicated to developing responsible tourism in Dandeli. The stay at Ganeshgudi
was arranged with my birdwatching interest in mind, and I am especially
thankful to both, Dandeli.com as well as Jungle Lodges, for making our stay
comfortable and memorable. This is one place I will certainly visit again,
soon!
Note to
self: Buy a better camera, or at least a better pair of binoculars before
visiting Ganeshgudi again!
Agree with you. These days I find bird watchers who hardly watch the birds but are busy clicking and sharing on SM.
ReplyDeleteWhat a delight it is to really sit back and watch the birds....
Thats a part of everything these days, Wandering Mist! whether it is birdwatching or travelling or even just any events, everyone is busy clicking and sharing. However, my experience at Ganeshgudi was a more positive one,because they werent just photographers, but naturalists, bird enthusiasts and generally people who spent a lot of time just looking at birds. we learnt a lot from them!
DeleteWhat happened to your DSLR which you acquired some time back.
ReplyDeleteI dont have a DSLR., PNS. what i have is a bridge camera which has a good zoom, better than the ordinary point and shoot cameras. however, it was no match for all those wonderful ones we saw there!
DeleteLooks really great! And you have managed to get some wonderful shots with your camera Anu...
ReplyDelete-- Houseboats of Srinagar
Thank you, Siddhartha!!! There were so many more birds that we saw! though I was happy to at least get some of them!
Deletethose are some beautiful pictures , you know I always wanted to take good pic's but for some reason I have never managed to get it right...
ReplyDeleteI am sure it was a great day out
Bikram
Thank you, Bikram!!! well, photography is just a part of it.... more important is to enjoy what you see, and remember it :D but then again, maybe you can try a photography course or something...that might help.
DeleteI love all the colorful birds; it's so interesting to see the varieties and how they differ from ours here in the Southeast U.S.! Thanks for sharing! One of my favorite things to do is relax for a few minutes and watch the birds at our bird feeders in the back yard (and let the dog out the patio door to chase off the squirrels that are stealing seed from the feeders!). I've tried to take some photos of the birds at the feeders but all I have is my cell phone and it's next to impossible to get a clear pic with it. I think even if I did have a decent camera I'd end up with blurry shots anyway; I am always half a second too late when I take the photo. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Natalie!! I would so love to see the birds you have, out there... and psst..letting you in on a secret... most of my shots are blurry too... these are probably one tenth of all the photos i clicked... only these came out decently enough to share.. the rest are all junk :( so dont give up!
DeleteWonderful avian captures. Would love to visit Ganeshgudi someday.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Niranjan! Am sure you will love the place! do go soon!
DeletePlace is just another heaven .!!!!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, Dilip!
DeleteNice place and good captures!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Aravind!!
DeleteLoved the trip report. Ganeshgudi is indeed a heaven for birders. OMH is the place to be when visiting Ganeshgudi.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kartik! I am glad you agree!! OMH is indeed the place to be at Ganeshgudi!
Delete