12. Phansad Bird Sanctuary

Ever since we did this course on orinthology, Rajeev and I wanted to go to Phansad Bird Sanctuary, which is the largest bird sanctuary in Maharashtra. Though primarily a bird sanctuary it also harbours animals, snakes, insects, not to mention a variety of plants and trees.

So at the first opportunity we booked the forest guest house, got some directions, packed a few clothes, some food stuff and three packs of playing cards (our companion everywhere), and along with our friends, Dennis and Maggie, (our constant companions along with the playing cards), drove off - Pune to Lonavla got off the Express way towards Khopoli, Pen, Alibagh via Rev Danda, Kashid and Murud-Janjira.  After crossing Janjira, we kept looking expectantly for the left turn which leads to the Forest Inspection Hut at Supegaon. The first turn indicator to the Phansad Wildlife sanctuary was a red herring. We had to drive upto Ursuli Phata from where the road climbs approx.6kms to the top of the hill before one sees the gate to the Sanctuary. Along the route as the vehicle climbs up the mountain road you get a beautiful view of the sea off the Murud coast and for a moment you have a wonderful feeling of viewing the scene suspended in air.

At the beginning of the forest trail a notice indicates that the forest is a carbon neutral Zone and the trails inside are for trekking only and the vehicles should be parked outside. There is a two-room forest hut which accommodates 4 adults, so we had the whole place to ourselves. We stretched our legs after the long drive and gulped the fresh air while reading the various information boards around the place.

We learnt that Phansad Bird sanctuary is the largest sanctuary in Maharashtra, harbouring over 164 varieties of birds, 17 species of animals, 27 snake species, 90 types of flowering plants and 725 varieties of trees. The sanctuary is located on the hills of northern Sahyadri range and the western coast of India, with almost all the major species of the Western Ghats being found here. The forest is spread over originally 53 sq. kms now grown to about 70 kms. Over the passage of time the rulers of the Murud-Janjira state had preserved this forest as a hunting reserve. After years of exploitation and degradation, it was declared a sanctuary in 1986.

The forest guard met us and promised to take us down one of the forest trails the next day. So after requesting him to arrange for our meals, which somebody from a nearby village makes and brings to the guest house, – what else! –we sat down and played cards. We play this 30 card game, for no stakes, at every opportunity. One of the fringe benefits of retirement!

After an hour or so of cards, with a flask of milky sweet tea and “bhajias” we decided to survey the area surrounding our guest house. A warbler was foraging in the shrub nearby but was too frisky for me to get a picture and ID it. (also a cow was foraging in the forest, we,along with a labourer working there, managed to shoo it out of the gate). But I got a picture of two mating Shield Bugs inside this fruit with big shiny seeds which fascinated me no end. However, sorry not to be able to provide the name of the fruit here, (will be obliged if somebody can let me know).

  

With the sun going down, the cheery sounds and sights of the forest began to dissapear and we entertained ourselves chatting inside one of the rooms. Suddenly the lights went off and we were in pitch darkness. A small inverter tried to kick up but failed. So we went and sat outside in the starlight feeling a little queasy. The sounds of the forest at night for city bred people are a little unusual at best and downright scary at the worst, so it affected the four of us differently, which would be apparent if we were to write separate accounts of it. Speaking for myself, I was totally starry-eyed seeing a star studded sky unhindered by the city lights and smog. We tried to identify a few constellations with our limited collective knowledge. The crickets’ chirping was overpowering and camouflaged, to an extent, the small rustling sounds in the dry leaves, which were more scary as they activated Dennis’ fertile imagination, him being particularly wary of ‘creepy crawlies’. The distant hoot of an owl or a sudden shriek of the night jar added suspense and thrill. It was quite an experience trying to sleep in the pitch dark looking at the stars from the small window and a dim light flickering in the guard's room at some distance, while listening to the haunting sounds of the forest.  All in all, our first night in the forest was good except for a few encounters with the mosquitoes, inspite of the various mosquito repellants we had sensibly brought.

In the morning there was a minor catastrophe as Dennis discovered an orange frog in his red water bucket; as mentioned earlier creatures like that selectively try to scare him. Here are a couple of pics of the beautiful Fungoid Frog (Rana Malabarica) with a bright orange back and yellow striped legs. It emits a fungoid odour from its humeral gland, hence the name. 

True to his word, the forest guard, Mr Naik, took us for a fascinating trek inside the forest the next day. We saw some rare and amazing birds, animals and insects. The life of the forest are the watering holes (not unlike the pubs in the city – metaphorically called watering holes!) and most of the sightings happen near them. Naik showed us some leopard pugmarks and snakeskins but we were not lucky enough to sight the animals.

This is the picture of a Orange Headed Thrush which I saw for the first time. It had come for a drink of water and I enjoyed the sight of it (male and female look alike) dipping its little head over and over again in the water. Earlier we had felt a little whiff of air and Naik had whispered that the Paradise Flycatcher had flown over our heads, but the four of us couldn’t catch a glimpse of the phantom. Now at the watering hole we saw the female. The distance and my camera could not do justice to the beautiful bird so I'm not uploading it here.

The above bird looks like the White Bellied Blue Flycatcher to me. Enroute we saw somethings we had never seen before. Here is the web of the Funnel Web Spider (family Dipluridae). These are secretive and rarely seen. The deadly Sydney funnel web spider, which carries atraxotoxin, one of the most potent poisons in the animal kingdom, belongs to this family.

(The Perth Mint, Australia, has issued a silver coin on the Funnel Web Spider)

Below is a Harvester ant hill. They harvest seeds and grains and are active during the heat of the day. The circles are made in such a way that rain water drains off and does not enter the nest inside the ground.

The above is the nest of the Weaver ants made with leaves stuck together with a glue like substance  (called silk) by their larvae. What a remarkable feat!

This is a nest of the Giant Indian squirrel. If you look hard you will see the silhouette of the squirrel. We discovered the squirrel only while seeing the pictures at home.  An endangered species.

Last of all that day Naik took us to see a live nest of vultures! If you are a bird watcher you will share my excitement. Vultures are on the brink of extinction due to various reasons, still being researched. A drug named Diclofenac which is a pain killer administered to animals, reaches the vultures liver when it feeds on the animal carcasses and subsequently causes organ failure in the bird. Apart from this lack of food, electrocution from overhead wires are also cited as reasons.

This was indeed a beautiful sight. But there were a few forest crows harassing the vultures and trying to steal their eggs I hope the vultures managed to save them. 

On the way back suddenly Naik stopped dead in his track and hushed us to silence. We heard some grunts and a lot of rustling leaves under small feet, and the sight of at least 15 wild boars, just a few feet away, took us completely by surprise and the ping of Rajeev’s handycam surprised the animals too and sent them scampering for cover. He managed to get the last two on his camera. I was too shell shocked to react and could only gawk at them.

That  night Naik took us for another treat. We drove to a forest clearing in the pitch dark (which in itself was quite adventurous) and sat, quietly, expectantly, under the open sky. Suddenly around 8pm a small ‘chakku chakku’ sound arose from one side and soon there was an echo from the other side. In no time the whole area was reverberating with a symphony of ‘chakku chakku’ which is the mating call of the Night Jars. Just the way it had started, after about an hour or so, this amazing performance stopped. I tried to take a picture in the night mode but unfortunately didn’t have any recording device to record the sounds. That has truly been one of the most memorable moments of my life. What a wonderful day!

Next morning we thought we will explore the forest on our own. So we took a trail and thought we will be able to follow it easily. However, along the way we heard the gurgling sound of a stream and I was all for seeing it. Rajeev, forever cautious, kept saying we should not go any further but the sound of the water was really calling out to me. To cut a long story short, I kept going forward trampling through dense under growth with the others following reluctantly, Rajeev threatening to leave me alone in the forest, until – yes – we got lost! Everything looked the same and with Rajeev’s “I told you sos” getting on my nerves we bumbled around for almost 3 hours. Worse we didn’t see a single bird or animal nor the gurgling stream which must have been flowing hidden under rocks. Finally we could come out onto a regular trail and after applying some navigational techniques like the position of the sun etc. we did manage to reach the guest house. That was the thrilling end to a really wonderful stay in Phansad.

That afternoon we went to see Murud Janjira. But then that is another story……..

INTERESTING FACTS

About Harvester Ants: These are spotted in gardens and lawns too as they harvest grass seeds. One interesting fact about them is that before storing the seeds in their godowns they remove the seed plumule (the part that germinates to become the stem) so that they don’t start germinating in their nests!

About Weaver Ants : The aggressive little red ants you see in wooded areas are of this category and called Oecophylla. They build their nests on trees weaving the leaves together with great dexterity and intelligence. How they manage that is very interesting. The worker ants take the babies (larvae) in their jaws and move them along the edges of tender leaves which tickles them into secreting a sticky material called silk from their glands. The workers then fold these leaves and stick them with the glue. The leaves are mostly too far apart for these little creatures so they form ant chains holding each other’s waists to pull the two leaves together (how cute is that!). In the process some ants are suspended in air till the one catches on to another ant from the other leaf. It is a great example of team-spirit where cooperation, trust and selfless devotion to duty are amply demonstrated. The leaves of the tree are not damaged in any way as they continue to do what they are meant to do. In fact the ants protect the trees from other insect pests and even animals and birds and therefore share a symbiotic relationship with the trees. They are, in fact, being used in some S.E.Asian countries to increase the yield of fruit trees.

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