Skip to main content

Featured Post

Newasa - Encountering an unique form of Vishnu, and Sant Jnaneshwar

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...

Old Magazine House, Ganeshgudi - a Birdwatchers' Paradise!

“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!


Comments

  1. Agree with you. These days I find bird watchers who hardly watch the birds but are busy clicking and sharing on SM.
    What a delight it is to really sit back and watch the birds....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 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!

      Delete
  2. What happened to your DSLR which you acquired some time back.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I 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!

      Delete
  3. Looks really great! And you have managed to get some wonderful shots with your camera Anu...
    -- Houseboats of Srinagar

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Siddhartha!!! There were so many more birds that we saw! though I was happy to at least get some of them!

      Delete
  4. those 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...

    I am sure it was a great day out

    Bikram

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 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.

      Delete
  5. I 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. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank 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!

      Delete
  6. Wonderful avian captures. Would love to visit Ganeshgudi someday.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Niranjan! Am sure you will love the place! do go soon!

      Delete
  7. Place is just another heaven .!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Loved the trip report. Ganeshgudi is indeed a heaven for birders. OMH is the place to be when visiting Ganeshgudi.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Kartik! I am glad you agree!! OMH is indeed the place to be at Ganeshgudi!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks so much for stopping by. Please leave a comment for me so that I will know you have been here....

Popular posts from this blog

Gokarna Part II – The Five Lingams

We continued our Gokarna trip by visiting four other Shiva temples in the vicinity, all connected to the same story of Gokarna. The story of Gokarna mentions the Mahabaleshwara Lingam as the one brought from Kailas by Ravana, and kept at this place on the ground by Ganesha. (See my earlier post- Gokarna – Pilgrimage and Pleasure). However, the story does not end here. It is believed that, in his anger, Ravana flung aside the materials which covered the lingam- the casket, its lid, the string around the lingam, and the cloth covering it. All these items became lingams as soon as they touched the ground. These four lingams, along with the main Mahabaleshwara lingam are collectively called the ‘ Panchalingams’ . These are: Mahabaleshwara – the main lingam Sajjeshwar – the casket carrying the lingam. This temple is about 35 Kms from Karwar, and is a 2 hour drive from Gokarna. Dhareshwar – the string covering the lingam. This temple is on NH17, about 45 Kms south of Gokarna. Gunavanteshw...

Review of Executive Lounges at New Delhi Railway Station (NDLS)

During my recent trip to Uttarakhand , I was faced with a problem I had never encountered before. We were passing through Delhi, but we had hardly any time in the city. On earlier visits when I have had to change trains/flights at Delhi, I have always arrived in the morning and left again at night, visiting relatives in between. This time, I was arriving in the city at night, and leaving again early in the morning. There was hardly any time to visit people. I would only have a couple of hours with them before I’d have to leave again. For the first time, we considered booking a hotel, but there again, we were hesitant about the actual hotels, the costs involved, and the logistics of getting from the airport to the railway station and then back again from the station to the airport.  That’s when we remembered reading something about a corporate-managed lounge at Delhi station. We soon figured out that we could book online and pay by the hour. Besides, we also learnt that there wasn’...

Rama Temple, Gokarna

To my right , the waves rush to the shore, eager to merge with the sand. To my left, the same waves crash against the rocks, their spray diverting my reverie as I ponder over the beauty of nature, and wonder what first brought people here. Was it this beauty that encouraged them to build a temple here, or was it the fresh, sweet spring water flowing from the hill here that made this place special? No matter what the reason, I am glad my auto driver brought me here. We are at the Rama temple in Gokarna, just a few minutes away from the Mahabaleshwara Temple, yet offering so different a perspective.